Hailing from Seattle, The Cops feature ex-members of Kinski and Hello From Waveland. They’ve recently played Bumbershoot Festival and have toured as support for the Hold Steady, Cursive and The Constantines. Critics compare them to a number of legendary acts such as the Clash, the Buzzcocks, early Replacements and the Fall with a Kinks meets Elvis Costello influence. They just released their second full-length album, Free Electricity, as a follow up to their previous, and lauded Get Good or Stay Bad.
“On Free Electricity, the Cops’ staccato stop-and-go six-string rhythms couple with abusive drumming to create a surprisingly danceable set… compares to Wire and Gang of Four 45s played at 33 1/3 RPM.” – Spin
“The Cops’ debut, Get Good Or Stay Bad, flagged the Seattle band as uppity punk revivalists with an axe to grind. On the new Free Electricity, their politics are no less incisive – only now there’s a sharper edge to the music to match. Catchy yet dark, the disc ditches the bits of reggae and funk that marred Get Good in favor of twitchy, tightly clenched rock… The Cops are what Radio 4 should have become.” – AV Club
“The Cops are the obvious progeny of the aught-decade garage rock movement, but they are distinguished by a unique tough-guy-artist attitude and muscular musical chops.” – Alarm Press
“Free Electricity a rock-minded record that owes every bit of its existence to punk’s founding fathers without getting stuck in the genre.” 4/5 – Aversion
”(The Cops) can fucking rock… A taut-wire musical force backed by an upbeat shower of machine-gun power chords and growling bass – a veritable tsunami of energy.” – Portland Mercury
”(The Cops deliver) a thunderous live set of political, yet danceable punk.” – KEXP
“Timeless punk rock riffs, playful, groovy bass lines and simple but effective and often surprising drums do more than evoke the classic danceable punk rock of decades past; they make for a damn solid record.” – Splendid
“Make no mistake, true believers, this Seattle quartet are firmly in possession of “it” – that indefinable combination of blood, sweat and sharply focused adrenaline that makes rock feel revolutionary all over again. Their full-length debut (Get Good or Stay Bad is) one of the year’s best.” – Isthmus
“The Cops play throwback, ‘77 style punk with a certain pop sensibility… incredibly catchy, with a rhythm section that even in the whitest of white boys could find the groove in.” – Treble
“Sharp, danceable rock spawned from layers of stuttering guitars.” – Spin
“adrenaline rock fueled by blunt bare-knuckled riffs.” – Columbus Alive
“On their first full-length, Get Good or Stay Bad, the Seattle punk quartet deliver their state of the union in a natural extension of late-’70s British punk. Though their guitars are tuned to 1977 London, their message is for our country today.” – The Stranger
“Taking heavy hints from the Kinks and the Clash and reminiscent of Social Distortion, the Cops return to the rock ‘n’ roll influenced punk of yore.” – West Coast Performer