This may be a very lonely thread, I fear. It seems I rub very few shoulders in the Cop Shoot Cop hallelujah choir, and that's a damn shame, as I think they were one of the few great, original, intense, visceral bands of the last two decades. Second only to my beloved Killing Joke, COP $HOOT COP were virtually the perfect band for me. Intense, angry, needlessly hostile, loud, cynical, unconventional...what's not to love?
I'd heard about them first, via their flyers haphazardly plastered around the Lower East Side. Sometime in the fall of 1991 or so, a NYC free weekly named New York Perspective assigned me the task of interviewing a local, up'n'coming band. I chose Cop Shoot Cop. The band were about to release their second record, White Noise and were touring with then-incongruous Brit labelmates, Carter USM and opening at the Roseland Ballroom in midtown Manhattan for the then band of the moment, EMF (of all bands).
The band were a flithy, black, vindictive smear on an evening of otherwise sunny, banal pop, and christ how I adored them for it. White Noise was such a fresh blast to my ears (despite obvious nods to Big Black, Swans, Pussy Galore and a dash of Gang of Four) that it swiftly became my favorite album of the moment. The halfway point between their wilfully dissonant origins and their comparatively poppy faux-industrial suck-up days (which I also loved), White Noise is the perfect orgy or wit, abbrasion, noise and even a dash of swing. No guitars. No conventional rhythms. No apologies. A twelve salvo middle-finger to posers, religious fanatics, corporate whores, scenesters, and authority figures of all shapes and sizes, White Noise is a dizzy celebration of depravity, violence, sincere suicideal tendencies, and all-around loathing. It was the ideal soundtrack to walking around a snowy Lower East Side (when it still had a whiff of danger, drugs and squatter's riots about it).
It's also the album with the band's strongest tunes. Between Tod [A]'s lyrical pastiche's and black-humored one-liners, the guitar-less ensemble clatters and rattles away in ever-throttle-shifting herkajerk motions, grinding a whirling like a rusty, broken machine about to throw a spoke and bulldoze through the wall.
Between its bevvy of quoatably bleak mantras ("CHANGE WHAT YOU CANNOT ACCEPT/DO NOT ACCEPT WHAT YOU CAN'T CHANGE!", "THE EARTH WHICH FED YOU NOW CONSUMES YOU!"), the dueling bass bouts (Tod on "high-end" noise-making and Nasty Jack Natz on "low-end" rhythm batttery), Cripple Jim Coleman's arsenal of bizarrly disarming samples and Phil Puleo's stiff-backed, precision drumming, it's as cathatrtic a noise as could be found in its day (and a welcome antidote for the then-percolating grunge scene which would eventually overtake and drown NYC's then-thriving scene of like-minded bands.
In any case, I could prattle on about favorite tracks like "Heads I Win, Tails You Lose" or the surprisngly melodic "Hung Again," but I'll see if anyone bites first.
White Noise by Cop Shoot Cop. It rocks.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 17:52 (twenty-one years ago)
― adam. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 19 October 2004 17:56 (twenty-one years ago)
― charlie see, Tuesday, 19 October 2004 18:06 (twenty-one years ago)
― kephm, Tuesday, 19 October 2004 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ben Dot (1977), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)
It's an album that at times doesn't seem to know what its strengths are - "The Coldest Day Of The Year" is far and away (for me at least) the best song on it, but is buried in the middle of side one almost as an afterthought - but has more stone cold classic songs than any other CSC record. Plus it could never have spawned a daytime radio hit in the same way Ask Questions Later did ("Ten Dollar Bill" was played on daytime Radio 1 - was Jakki Brambles' single of the week at one point - alongside the pop hits of the day like Michael Jackson or whatever).
― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 07:48 (twenty-one years ago)
Alex, you're ace at reminding me of things I should listen to. Lemme bat one back maybe - Swell '41'.
― Neil Kulkarni, Wednesday, 20 October 2004 08:38 (twenty-one years ago)
― Kevin Gilchrist (Mr Fusion), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 08:49 (twenty-one years ago)
This is also making think of some of those Noiseville bands like Bench and Action Swingers who I guess would have been sharing the same bills as them.
― NickB (NickB), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 08:59 (twenty-one years ago)
CSC fans should check out:http://thepolywog.com/copshootcop/
It's run by Phil Puleo of CSC and is kina a farewell. You can read all the dirt about what happened in the end, download a bunch of CSC outtakes/live shit/final recording sessions, buy RedEXpendables (CSC minus Todda A) and learn all kindsa extra worthless CSC knowledge.
Dig IT,WEENIS
OH SHIT, Swell '41', don't get me even started about how amazing Swell is (well, were)
― Weenis, Wednesday, 20 October 2004 09:43 (twenty-one years ago)
but I was disappointed in the records - which sounded to me like rambling late Foetus or The Fall on an off day. maybe time has been kinder but then, based on the live sound, I was looking for something heavy as Swans - Filth or, yeah, Young Gods.
― Paul (scifisoul), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 10:28 (twenty-one years ago)
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 14:09 (twenty-one years ago)
― Wooden (Wooden), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 14:15 (twenty-one years ago)
Alex and Neil and others are far more eloquent on the matter than I, but FWIW my stumbling attempt at a review for the AMG here.
Swell? Great band.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 14:42 (twenty-one years ago)
http://homepage.mac.com/alexinnyc/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2004-06-01%2007.13.27%20-0700/Image-61C6DD0BB3D511D8.jpg
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 14:48 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)
― Ian Christe (Ian Christe), Wednesday, 20 October 2004 14:58 (twenty-one years ago)
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 1 November 2004 20:36 (twenty-one years ago)
Been listening to this record again constantly for the last couple of days, and it makes me weep bitter tears that no one seems to make music like this anymore. With the sole exception of "Empires Collapse" (which, I believe, is wilfully unlistenable), there is literally not a bad track on this fucking record. I love Firewater, but damn do I wish Tod would get back down to this level of vitriol.
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:45 (twenty years ago)
― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:48 (twenty years ago)
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:49 (twenty years ago)
Total Fucking Godhead of a record. The best Cop Shoot Cop ever made, and that's saying something...I think it's possible that I have forced "And If Tomorrow Ever Comes" on more unwilling listeners than anything other than "Throne Of Agony" by Foetus. Permanently and absolutely entrenched as my second favorite album of all time (following, unsuprisingly, "Nail" in spot one.)
Unlike a lot of what I was listening to at the time, it seems to be sort of timeless, never dated or quaint sounding, kind of like "Gimmick" by Barkmarket, which I've always thought of as the poppier, goofier "White Noise"
Ah. I'm rattling on again...thinking about C$C just makes me so goddamn giddy.
HOORAH!
(Dan, I can probably help you out on obtaining this album in some digital format. It's going to be rather hard to find, I fear.)
― John Justen (johnjusten), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 16:10 (twenty years ago)
― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)
http://www.derekhess.com/images/gallery/1992/cscflyer92.jpg ihttp://www.musicclub.it/aprile2001/images/cop%20shoot.jpg http://www.thepolywog.com/copshootcop/other/posters4sale/cbgb92.jpg http://www.thepolywog.com/copshootcop/other/posters4sale/us.tour94.jpg
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 16:45 (twenty years ago)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 17:24 (twenty years ago)
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 12 September 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)
― noise is shit, Monday, 12 September 2005 18:31 (twenty years ago)
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 12 September 2005 18:34 (twenty years ago)
For the uninitiated, the album is chock full of mind-numbing brilliance. Also (sadly) out of print. As a result, and for the purposes of bringing y'all into the fold, I humbly present...
http://s6.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=13ZLGKVS2T4EW0DVBAXTR29UTO
"And If Tomorrow Ever Comes", by the way...
― John Justen (johnjusten), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 05:30 (twenty years ago)
http://www.thepolywog.com/copshootcop/mp3/cscbackcat.html
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 13 September 2005 12:17 (twenty years ago)
Very strange. Very sad.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/49073-ex-cop-shoot-cop-dude-attempts-boneheaded-robbery
― Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 13:17 (seventeen years ago)
I really thought this'd be Jack Natz...is this the guy that joined as guitarist / trumpeter / percussionist around the time they started to suck?
― Matt #2, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 15:10 (seventeen years ago)
at what imaginary "started to suck" point are you thinking of?
this is sad, although I'm thinking this is somebody who was never on an album, right?
― John Justen, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 15:35 (seventeen years ago)
Mike K. joined after Steve McMillen (the guy Matt was talking about) jumped ship (he got clean and sober, moved to Texas and put himself through Law School). Mike K toured with C$C on the Release tour and went into the studio to record a follow-up. Tod (A) bailed out of the band in mid-session, meanwhile (to finish work on what would become the first Firewater record). Natz, Puleo, Phylr and Kaminsky soldiered on as Red Ex or The Red Expendables (it's a "Star Trek" allusion). Interscope dropped them immediately, however, and the band had to release it themselves (you can still get it on the C$C page, I believe).
― Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 4 March 2008 18:53 (seventeen years ago)