Features

If you've listened to any SoCal punk rock in the past 10 years, chances are you've listened to the badasses that are Bad Cop Bad Cop whose records never have a dull moment. Case in point: Lighten Up, the band's most personal album to date, out now via Fat Wreck/Hopeless Records. Julian got a chance to talk to Stacey Dee about the why's, how's, what's, and when's.

PRT: First off, absolutely love this new record. I think Stacey's description of 'most authentic and it's awesome to listen to front to back' totally comes across. The songs have a super comfortable and excited vibe to them all. Why do you feel this release is your most authentic?

Stacey: Well, I think it’s the most authentic because we didn’t have anyone producing us that made us sound like what they wanted rather than who we are. My boyfriend Michael Happoldt (Sublime, Long Beach Dubs, Slightly Stoopid producer) produced us and he believes a band should sound like themselves. We played all these songs together. We used our amps and drums and guitars. We were never split up and didn't let someone else put our songs together the way they wanted them to be. Everything we did here was our decision. And I think it is so important for a band to have its own sound. This is our true sound and expression.

PRT: What changed that you got to do the album exactly the way you wanted to this time around?

Stacey:  Well a few things. On Warriors, I had just gone through a massive life change and I really needed help with my songs and I think we all did. We made a lot of records with Davey Warsop (Boss Lady, Not Sorry, Warriors and some of The Ride) and he had strong opinions on how we should sound. On Warriors I remember getting our mixes back after we recorded and he had really built the record. We were all like, Wow. Surprising. I guess it was a way to make everything sound perfect. Fat Mike was also heavily involved with Warriors. And The Ride started the same way, but then Fat Mike took the record away from Davey because he wanted to work on it with his team “The Decomposers”. That’s where we were introduced to working with Johnny Carey. Who we really made The Ride with. But we were all separated. No one had to be in the studio at the same time. And again, it sounded perfect. But there wasn’t much character to it. On Lighten Up, we didn’t have either Davey or Fat Mike. Or our past member Jennie anymore. This was the first time I didn’t give a fuck what anyone else thought, what anyone else was doing, thinking or making. All I cared about was what we were doing. What we sounded like. And having my boyfriend Michael Happoldt, who really pushed us to lean into that, made it just so much cooler.  

PRT: What advice would you give a songwriter who's always been apprehensive to write music for themselves?

Stacey: Don’t be afraid of anything. Trust yourself. Believe in yourself and in your ability to be original! I wish I had the confidence to have that perspective on our earlier records. 

PRT: Right away the wall of harmonies hits me like ....well, a wall! They sound absolutely superb. Was it hard to dial those in? And did you spend any time worrying about you pulling them off live? (Way to go Myra, you sound fucking awesome!)

Stacey: We recorded all the music with Antoine Arvisu, but for the singing we went back to Johnny Carey. I love working with Johnny. He is one of the best harmony writers I know. And I just adore him as a human being. We spent 10-11 hour days just singing the record. And we all worked together to come up with the best possible melodies and harmonies. Linh is a natural harmony singer/writer. And Myra is a great singer, she just always wanted to play the drums. But with Jennie not here anymore and us wanting to keep our three-part sound, Myra had to jump in. And I’m so glad she did. Quite honestly, we were never afraid about whether we could pull the harmonies off live. We’ve always been really good at that. 

PRT: When a punk band releases a ska song on their 4th full-length, it could easy sound forced or out of place. That's not the case with Note to Self. Totally fits the vibe at that point in the record, especially with the ripping B part. Whose idea was it to write a ska section?

Stacey: It was mine. I had written a demo of it with a beat buddy drum machine, and tracked it into a 16 track Tascam. The song had three parts, three different tempos in it and Myra always really liked it and wanted to record it like the demo was. So that’s what we did. I just love punk and reggae and hip hop so much. I think those three styles of music sum up who I am as a music lover. I know it’s got a vibe, but it’s still a punk song. I wrote all the lyrics in my head driving from Oregon back to Los Angeles. Haha.  

PRT: The songwriting as a whole has really leveled up from your last release, but everything still very much sounds like Bad Cop Bad Cop. Really cool chord changes, interesting chord choices that fit perfectly, transitions between parts are super neat and unexpected in a good way. What was it that made you push yourself so hard this time around?

Stacey:  I didn’t push myself hard, I just let myself be me. We all did. It was a joy to make.  

PRT: By the way, I really like the loungey sounding chill vibes at the start of Las Ventanas! COOL. that's all i had to say about that, no question involved.

Stacey: Haha, thanks!  What a fun one! 

PRT: The lyrics on these songs are very honest and open. Listening to a song like Dead Friends, I can see how that would be a tough one to write. Do you feel like you've been able to honour their stories with the words you wrote?

Stacey: I think so. Those are all true stories. I still cry listening to it and in showing friends that I grew up with, they all just get the feels about it too. We were all devastated by so much loss. It brought much trauma and I think it’s cathartic to put it here and let it go and sing for those ones we lost every night in celebration. They will not be forgotten.

PRT: What are you hoping to achieve with this record? I'm not talking sales/reach/etc, I'm asking from a human perspective.

Stacey: Haha, I hope it helps us move up a few slots at festivals. Kidding. I hope it connects deeply with people and helps them see that though life is brutal, it’s still worth living the best you can. The happiest and healthiest we all can. I really believe that if we can heal within ourselves, we can heal what’s going on in the world. To make it better for everyone! I hope it helps people to “Lighten Up” a bit. To still enjoy and love their lives.  

PRT: Why did you choose to cover Johnny Appleseed?

Stacey: It’s one of my all time favorite songs!!! I just didn’t think we had the whole record and we needed a cover or something. And the message in it is just the same as our record. I thought it was a beautiful way to sum up everything we were saying.  

PRT: Have you noticed any major differences between playing in North America vs playing in Europe?

Stacey: Yes, Europe takes better care of you. They feed you better and get you hotels and more people come to the shows.  

PRT: What's your favourite memory of touring Europe? What about your worst memory?

Stacey: Boy, so many great memories. The first time we played Groezrock, like 5,000 people came to watch us. At the time that was the most amount of people we’d ever played in front of. It was like WHOA! That felt good. The worst…. Hmmm, not sure. Sleeping on floors, haha. Maybe flying home from our first tour, pretty broke and having to pay $1,000 to get our stuff home. Actually, my worst memory is this: I got sick for the second time that year with an abscess in my abdomen and had to drive from Germany to England to get to a hospital where they spoke English. Turns out I was septic again and had to be hospitalized for 6 days in an English hospital. The band left me there and then I had to stay another week so the band could figure out how to fly me home. It was brutal.

PRT: Probably a dumb question, but when and why did you decide to leave out the / between Bad Cop and Bad Cop?

Stacey:  We had to choose to solidify one way of writing out our name, so we just chose to leave it out.