ALTESCAPE spoke to Good Cop all about their latest EP ‘Having Fun At Gunpoint’, their unique musical process, and plans for the future.
Good Cop are a London based hardcore punk outfit that formed just after October 2021. Still expanding and finalising the line-up of the group, Good Cop’s debut EP ‘Having Fun At Gunpoint’, released on the 29th of June, was crafted by Elliot, Vic and Tom, however since then the 3-piece have worked alongside Jared and Phoebe who are now on rhythm guitar and drums.
After finding each other on ‘joinmyband.com’ the formation of Good Cop ‘flowed organically’. Originally under the provisional name ‘Superhans New Year Party’, they developed their sound with inspiration from the ‘North Herts hardcore scene’ ‘Bands like Chinned (RIP), Trading Hands, Skullfucked, Death Goals’. On a bigger scale, Good Cop are influenced by bands such as: ‘Static Dress, Spazz, Cockney Rejects, Cock Sparrer, Dillinger Escape Plan and SeeYouSpaceCowboy’.
‘Having Fun At Gunpoint’: experimental, intense, explosive, angry. This 7 minute 16 second EP is a violent punch introducing us to the evolving world of Good Cop. Exploring politics, self-harm, ‘wanking and getting fucked up’ this EP is an honest introduction like no other. Both angry, and comical Good Cop is unafraid of exposing their leftist political perspective whilst not shying away from their lighter, laughable side.
The 5 track EP opens up with a critique of the overarching elitism that pollutes the UK and the limitations imposed on the working class at the hands of those in positions of power- ‘*loads rifle with anarchist intent*’. This intense yet vital introduction to the EP sets the tone, foreshadowing pent-up explosive anger set to be unleashed in coming tracks.
Considering ‘Having Fun At Gunpoint’ as a whole, Good Cop says: ‘We wouldn’t say there’s a singular main inspiration behind Having Fun At Gunpoint. The one thing that links all the songs is anger. They were written at different times for different reasons, and because of that, in different styles. We were just pissed off at the state of the world, and we still are, so that made it’s way organically into the music’.
‘The actual subject matter is all over the place. Left wing politics permeate all of the tracks, but they all focus in on different things. For example: “A Case Study In Self Destruction” is quite explicitly about self harm, and the self hatred that permeates through your entire body as someone who self harms, whereas “Waiting For The End of The World” is about climate change and a sense of exhausted apathy about that entire fucking shit show’.
A personal favourite track from the EP, ‘A Case Study In Self Destruction’, plays with hardcore vocal growls, wrenching riffs, and tormenting lyrics. Showcasing Good Cop’s heavier side, this track evokes a need for more releases similar. Regarding hardcore elements, Good Cop expressed that all members are in fact ‘hardcore kids that grew up on bands like Bring Me The Horizon, Thy Art Is Murder and Whitechapel’, and more metal characteristics can be expected in future tracks. However, Good Cop’s Vic was quick to emphasise that ‘There are a lot of absolutely incredible bands that do the “tough guy” hardcore sound really really well, but we are not one of them, so we’re trying to incorporate all sorts of different styles of extreme music into the new releases’.
With the entire EP totalling 7 minutes 6 seconds, ‘Having Fun At Gunpoint’ is loaded with short, punch-like tracks. For Good Cop this happened completely naturally. The beauty of this record is that Good Cop say exactly what they need to say and leave the listener hungry for more and, frankly, astounded. Regarding this, Vic outlined ‘Frankly speaking none of us are a fan of music that overstays it’s welcome. We said what we wanted to say, and did what we wanted to do with it, then we shut the fuck up’.
Good Cop’s favourite track on their debut EP is actually the track that the group released as their first single. I have a subtle feeling that this track will become an iconic moment in Good Cop’s history. Here’s what Vic had to say about ‘One Off The Wrist’: ‘It’s 42 seconds long and it’s an Oi! An inspired power violence song about wanking and getting fucked up. There’s no elegance or subtlety to it, and it’s incredibly fun to play live’.
Being socialists, communists and anarchists, Good Cop both explicitly and implicitly utilise their political beliefs and political anger within their music, yet despite the inclusion of political leanings, seemingly, Good Cop’s aim for the tracks is to have fun and enjoy the process. ‘Good Cop in general started as a joke. Something to just fuck around with and have a laugh about, and it to be honest that’s exactly what it still is. But with the amount of nice things that people have said about the music, it’s something that we’re at least a little bit proud of’.
‘We made it for ourselves, and we’re just happy that even a handful of people resonate with it’.
Having already released a track since their debut album, ‘FlagShagger’ to ‘celebrate’ the jubilee, the outfit will be back again soon with new releases- ‘We’re working on something in tandem with the absolute noise punk monsters People Look Like Dogs’. If you want to catch Good Cop live, head over to Shoreditch on the 19th of September at the Old Blue Last, Good Cop will be playing alongside People Look Like Dogs, Jawbone and Gorilla Cake, and the best part is the event is free entry!
You can listen to Good Cop’s debut album ‘Having Fun At Gunpoint’ now on all major streaming platforms and find out more about the band here.
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