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The Cops.
Simon Carter coughs violently. The front man of The Cops is still getting over a flu he's been dealing with for the whole of the band's recent tour with The Von Bondies. It's been two weeks and he's still sick.
At least the band was in good company. "Yeah, they're really nice guys. And girls," Carter hastens to add. "I was feeling like a dog that whole tour, unfortunately. I'm also quitting smoking, so that might have something to do with it, as well."
I recount to Carter how ready The Von Bondies' singer Jason Stollsteimer was to encourage Australian fans to catch The Cops. This was in an interview done well before he had even come to Australia. "Yeah well, they had a copy of the album quite a while ago," explains Carter. "They're really good like that, you know - coming and actually watching the support band, instead of just going and sitting in their dressing rooms, like so many big bands do."
After their recent stint with the Bondies, The Cops have wasted no time in getting back out on the road for their own 14 date national tour. When they finally wend their way to Adelaide, they will have the honour of playing at the Rock & Roll, a night where punters can hire a bowling lane and watch a few great rock bands play. Carter, knowing nothing about this, expresses his approval as I explain it to him. "That's cool, that sounds very good! Can we bowl as well? I wouldn't mind having a bowl halfway through the gig!" he laughs.
'Stomp On Tripwires' is a debut full of attitude and gritty tales of the denizens of Cop City, and has been welcomed warmly all over the country. The Cops rapid ascension over the last year must have surprised the band. "Yeah it did at the start, because we'd all played in bands for quite a while in Sydney," Carter admits. "It sort of never got anywhere, even though the bands we played in were all great. And then all of the sudden it just started happening. I can't really put my finger on why, but we're certainly having a fucking good time!"
A turning point for the band must surely have been their signing to Andy Kent's label, Love Police Records & Tapes. "Well that's a turning point, obviously, for the band, but it wasn't one of the major ones. We just weren't really that interested in going with a major label, so we were just doing what we were doing and ended up with Love Police."
It's rumoured that the You Am I bassist went so nuts over the band that he pretty much formed the label solely for their band - and that no other bands are slated to go onto the label. "Yeah, pretty much. I mean we've known BT [label head honcho Brian Taranto] for quite a while, and it's just something that sort of fell into place. It wasn't premeditated or anything. They just came along and said, 'We want to start a label, would you guys want to be the band for it?' and we were like 'Yeah, that would be fantastic!'"
One thing that I noticed about their recent show with The Von Bondies was a tendency for Carter to bang on a cowbell throughout the set. As the cowbell features noticeably on 'Stomp On Tripwires', I ask Carter if it's something he's given to doing often. "Live, it depends on how much I've had to drink and whether I feel like I'm in time or not. I don't know, I just sort of pick it up and whack it whenever I feel like it, really. I shouldn't really do that though, should I? Maybe I should plan it a bit more."
Going back to the recording of the album, Carter was quite careful in trying to capture the raw energy and attitude of their live show. "Personally, I don't like when bands go to the studio and they get dished out a lot of money from the record company, they think 'wow, let's go get an orchestra in.' So it was a very conscious decision to try very hard, even though we don't play the album one hundred percent live, you definitely get as close as we can to it."
Eddie Chan
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The Cops headline the Rock & Bowl at the Woodville Bowl on Sat 20 Nov and 'Stomp On Tripwires' is out now through Love Police.
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