* En anglais uniquement
Seattle pop-punk outfit
the Cops favor an old-school sound, far more reminiscent of
the Buzzcocks and
Undertones than
Green Day and
Fall Out Boy, right down to the hints of British Invasion punk forefathers like
the Kinks and
the Move. The Cops formed in 2004, originally as a '60s-inspired garage rock band under the name Hello from Waveland. Lead singer and rhythm guitarist Michael Jaworski and lead guitarist John Randolph recruited drummer David Weeks, a college friend of Randolph who had been a founding member of the very different psychedelic post-rock outfit
Kinski, and bassist Brian Wall before changing their name to the considerably less awful
the Cops and moving their primary set of stylistic influences up about a decade and across the Atlantic Ocean. Signed to the Seattle indie Mt. Fuji Records,
the Cops' debut EP,
Why Kids Go Wrong, was released in the spring of 2005. After sessions with the band's spiritual godfather
Kurt Bloch (
the Fastbacks,
the Young Fresh Fellows), the full-length
Get Good or Stay Bad followed in the fall. Former
Supersuckers and
Hater bassist Drew Church replaced Wall in the summer of 2006, before recording started on their sophomore album. ~ Stewart Mason