Bad Cop/Bad Cop Interview
Bad Cop/Bad Cop’s four female rockers draw the audience into their live show with a driving punk beat, melodic, catchy vocals and three part harmony. From the opening of their set these girls have audience members, male and female alike, singing along. By the Barricade traveled to The Redwood in Los Angeles to witness Bad Cop/Bad Cop’s dynamic performance at the first stop of their “Sleepover Weekend” with The Bombpops and Murderland. This show also featured The Shell Corporation. Bad Cop/Bad Cop’s set included fan favorites such “It’s My Life” and “Rodeo” along with several new songs from their upcoming full length album, Not Sorry, to be released this June on Fat Wreck Chords. The band’s blend of kick ass and sweetness creates a chemistry that is apparent on and off stage. Even the interview that follows felt like a fun and interactive conversation more than a question and answer. Find out what makes Bad Cop/Bad Cop tick below in the transcripts that follow!
Stacey Dee – Vocals/Guitar
Jennie Cotterill – Vocals/Guitar
Myra Gallarza – Drums
Linh Le – Bass/Vocals
To start things off, let’s talk a little bit about your beginnings –
Stacey – I read that you started with drums as a kid in your house and learned a bit of guitar basics from your dad. How did that inspire you to be in this for life?
Stacey Dee: All I can say is that as a little kid I had a feeling that I knew more about music than the rest of the kids. I never really did anything about it but I had little singing groups and things. Then I was a teenager and I was into boys and drugs. After that I decided to get my life together and that is when I said, “Dad I want to learn how to play guitar.” That is when he taught me the two chords. I moved to Santa Barbara and came back a few years later and I said, “Dad, I think I’m a songwriter.” He said, “Yeah, right.” I played him this song that I wrote and he had no fuckin’ idea that I could do it. I guess I was just supposed to.
Linh: – You mentioned Opera singing training in high school how did that move you into what you are doing now?
Linh Le: I did study opera in high school but playing bass it was because of an accident. I used to be a gymnast and I suffered a really bad accident and was hospitalized. I got sick of watching TV so my parents got me an acoustic guitar and I couldn’t play that worth a shit at that point in time but I started to play bass lines on the acoustic guitar. Through that I started developing an ear for playing bass.
Jennie and Myra, how about your music background, were you self-taught or trained?
Jennie Cotterill: I found this toy guitar in the crawl space of our basement when I was 12 years old and I wanted to be Kurt Cobain real bad. The only person that I knew who played guitar was my friend Sarah. She came over the next week and tried to show me and she was laughing and said, “This is a toy.” I didn’t know because I had never seen a guitar in real life. Later I got a real acoustic guitar and that was the beginning. I should be real good for playing for that long, but I am not because I don’t know how to read music or anything.
Stacey Dee: I was a pussy and took that class instead of taking a real music class. In college I took theory and got an A. I said, “This is easy.” It’s something that make sense to you or it doesn’t.
Myra Gallarza: Everyone always thought I took theory, but I did not. A long, long time ago my parents used to go to church and made me go with them and I learned to pick up drums at church. I couldn’t sit still because I was hyper as a kid. My grandfather was the guitar player in the church band. One day I saw that there was a drum set there and I just sat down. I started messing around with the drum kit. He said, “Pick it up, pick it up!” I was about five years old when I started doing that. This is where my interest in going to church happened because I thought, “Cool! I can go to church and play drums!” I would go just for that (no offense God, but I did) because I hated going to church but playing drums would keep my attention. I would always go because I knew there was a drum kit there. The pastor was kind of like a drum teacher to me, he would show me jazz elements, rudiments how to count and he would also tell me that I played too fast and hit too hard for church music and to “Slow it down.”
Stacey Dee: “You have to walk before you can run young lady.”
All: *Laughing
Myra Gallarza I hated being restrained but this was church so I had to be good. I remember when I started playing I couldn’t even reach the pedals. I was pretty much self taught.
Stacey Dee: Did you start off right handed?
Myra Gallarza: Yes, I am a lefty but I play righty, I tried playing left handed but just couldn’t do it.
Stacey Dee: She is truly ambidextrous.
Myra Gallarza: I was going to church at least two or three times a week the more I played the better I got, by seven years old I was able to play and be in the church band. It was crazy, I was just a kid. To be the only girl playing drums at the time, I mean there were no other girls doing that shit but me. I used to be told that drums where for boys, but that didn’t stop me. They tried to make me play piano or something else more girly but I would refuse.
Jennie Cotterill: Like “Myra try the flute.”
Myra Gallarza: I was cute, I used to wear these cute little dresses all the time, here I was wearing a dress playing the drums to me that was funny.
Stacey Dee: Those little white socks and the white hard shoes. Church shoes.
Myra Gallarza: That’s where it started, I noticed more and more people where coming to church just to see me.
Jennie Cotterill: No way! What?
Myra Gallarza: Totally, I thought it was weird I always saw somebody taping me and shit.
Jennie Cotterill: They were thinking, “Jesus has blessed this tiny girl.”
Myra Gallarza: They loved it and I realized, “You’re not here to praise Jesus. You are here to watch me.” As I grew older I never thought that I would be in a band but as I got older I got into music more. I never thought I could actually do it for reals, I always thought of it as a hobby or pastime. My interests went away in my teen years.
Stacey Dee: That always happens that way. That always takes us away.
Myra Gallarza: No one was serious about being in a band at the time, there would be talks about starting a band but nobody had the resources, money or actual gear to play. Everyone wanted to party instead. When I was in Jr. High and High school I tried to be in the school band but drums where never available because there was only one set of drums. So I had to go for the flute or another instrument. I just wanted to be in music class to play and learn music.
So you transitioned from worship music to punk rock music?
Myra Gallarza: My parents did not like the music I was listening to. They thought I was going to be doing something in christian or religious music. They hated all the music I listened to and the fact I loved KISS they would tell me, “No, you can’t love KISS that’s the Devils music, Do you know what KISS stands for?” I didn’t at that time but they still wouldn’t let me put any of their posters in my room or buy their albums. That’s what happens when you grow up in a religious family. My mom is totally cool with it now because I’m grown and has accepted it.
By the Barricade: You guys aren’t a chick band, you are cool girls that can hang and play music with any band male or female. How did that translate into the band name Bad Cop/Bad Cop?
Stacey Dee: We like funny things and at the time it was funny. I have to say it was before that movie, The Other Guys. They did say bad cop/bad cop in a movie but it was before that and we thought it was really funny because it was like one person egging the other person on to do even more bad stuff.
Myra Gallarza: We were thinking of movies that we like and themes in these movies. We were coming up with names.
Jennie Cotterill: It was a short conversation.
Myra Gallarza: We said Bad Cop? That kind of has a ring to it. How about twice? People can remember that.
With the current media coverage of police do you have any cop stories of your own that you can share?
Jennie Cotterill: Oh my God, we are so relevant.
Myra Gallarza: Lots of bad cops.
Jennie Cotterill: I got through a DUI checkpoint pretty quick because they thought it was funny. We don’t have any real stories.
Linh Le: We aren’t actually getting haggled for our name or anything.
Stacey Dee: Cops love it more than anything else.
Myra Gallarza: One day a cop stopped me as I was walking by and asked me what my shirt said. I was kind of scared to reply to him because I wasn’t sure how he was going to respond and I wasn’t trying to make fun of cops. I said Bad Cop/Bad Cop, he laughed and said that’s so cool and wanted to know all about our band. I was like whaa?! “Can I give you a sticker or put it on your car?” I think I was in Hermosa Beach or something and when we walked by, my friend tried to put a sticker on their cop car after a few attempts he finally did. For sure I thought they were going to come after us.
Stacey Dee: I smoke a lot of marijuana and I have always been scared to drive with marijuana in my car. But now I have my license and prescription so now I am ready for them to pull me over.
You have been doing this for a few years but people are still finding out about you, what keeps you going?
Jennie Cotterill: It’s cheaper than therapy to go to band practice every week. Everybody is into and if we all weren’t feeling it, it would be different.
Myra Gallarza: I think since day one we have felt it. When we first got together we didn’t know what to expect or what was going to come out of this. We just thought we would play for fun.
Stacey Dee: Jennie started singing harmonies to me right away. And I was so happy. When Linh joined it was three part harmonies. I don’t think I have another option in life. It is this until I die. It’s great.
Myra Gallarza: We have all been in different bands so to be in this all female group together is kind of a dream. I have always been in bands with dudes or that where female fronted. Luckily my last band I was in was a 3 piece all female band. I’ve always been a fan of lady bands; it’s hard to find available female musicians when you need them.
Jennie Cotterill: There are tons in Pedro.
Myra Gallarza: They are either all in bands or there is always something restricting them.
Stacey Dee: This was meant to happen. I don’t think it could happen without us four. It has to be us or it won’t work. We love it and we love writing songs and playing our songs and hanging out with each other. We like each other.
Linh Le: We are family.
Myra Gallarza: We keep each other going.
Besides of course, inviting Fat Mike and Soma to see you at Lilith Bear which ultimately led to your band being signed to Fat Wreck, do you have any other moments that you consider to be key breaks in your career path so far?
Stacey Dee: I have a bunch. Mike and I have been friends and he has liked the bands that I was in. He liked my singing voice. One night after my old band, Compton SF played with the The Loved Ones, Mike was at the show and we all went to the Eagle afterwards and were shooting pool. I said, “Ok Mike, let’s play and let’s bet. If I win you have to write a song that I get to sing on with you. If you win I’ll have my ex-husband (who had radio show on BBC) play your worst selling band on his show for a month.” So he is kicking my ass and he is about to go for the kill shot of the 8 ball in the corner pocket and I just say, “Big, black, beautiful titties.” And he scratched on the 8 ball and I won. I wrote him about 3 days later and he said, “I never welch on a bet.” So that is what kept us close and got me to sing on the musical (Home Street Home) with him. Who knew taking that chance and betting on pool would work out like that.
Jennie Cotterill: For us, I think it was when we got Lihn. We had another bass player originally and she had different expectations for the band and limitations like weekends only, only when you feel like it and super casual. When we got Linh it was like this person who had a great amount of energy and dedication and really was unparalleled. The sound, the tone really upped everyone’s level of seriousness.
Stacey Dee: It took off. It was the thing that put us over the top.
Myra Gallarza: That was really our breakthough, the missing link.
Linh Le: Aw, you guys.
You are going to be touring with Good Riddance for their California dates in April. What do you like best about being on tour?
Stacey Dee: So free.
Myra Gallarza: Traveling
Jennie Cotterill: Not worrying about work or taking care of things in your house.
Linh Le: No work, no stress.
Stacey Dee: You get up and do this thing with your best friends.
Linh Le: It is like a job but it is a job that we all are enjoying and dream of doing. Any job has its stressful moments but we know we will pull through.
Jennie Cotterill: Getting up late and staying up late is what you are supposed to be doing as opposed to when you are trying to do your day job after staying up late and feel like garbage.
Myra Gallarza: Tour Riders! Ha! No work, playing a different venue in a different city every night, seeing the world and playing music with your best buds.
Stacey Dee: I don’t have a job right now but even being at home without being on tour is pretty sad and depressing. Seeing the world and getting to play your music for even one person that gets it makes my heart happy.
Myra Gallarza: It’s great seeing more and more people at our shows singing our songs and having a great time.
Linh Le: It is humbling.
Stacey Dee: If there is anything close to godliness, I feel blessed.
You have shared the stage with a wide range of acts in the U.S. and Europe is there a place you haven’t played but hope to?
Jennie Cotterill: Oh my God! The U.S.! We haven’t been anywhere yet.
Linh Le: I’d love to play in Philly at Electric Factory, The Trocadero, Filmore or TLA. I worked at those venues and it would be rad to actually play those venues.
Stacey Dee: I’d love to do a tour around Mexico. I think that would be awesome. There are great punk bands down there and great lovers of punk music plus swimming in the ocean is just awesome. But also Australia, Japan. Let’s go everywhere. I want to go to fuckin’ Mars.
Myra Gallarza: I want to go to Canada. Hopefully one day we can.
Linh Le: Also the Midwest. There are so many awesome punk bands like Masked Intruder and Banner Pilot. All those guys are from the Midwest. Off With Their Heads is from there too. It would be great to be more exposed into areas we are not used to, just like we were in Europe and we got to see the crazy power of what we can bring.
Myra Gallarza: People love music out there that is the big difference. You really feel the love. It’s crazy good.
Stacey Dee: They appreciate it.
Linh Le: We had squatter punks from Munich travelling to Nuremberg and then traveling to Hamburg just to see us.
Stacey Dee: That was so cool. We just decided to go for it and said, “Let’s tour Europe.” Then we headlined the whole tour which is crazy.
I’ve read about work on a full-length. What updates do you have on that?
All: June! A june release.
Jennie Cotterill: It’s happening, it’s real.
What do you wish people knew about you either as a band or personally that you never get asked about?
Jennie Cotterill: You are always surprised when you find out what people don’t know about you because it is so important to yourself.
Myra Gallarza: I think it is the age for me. People don’t think I am really as old as I am.
Stacey Dee: Me either and let’s not tell them. I think people should ask us more about what we believe in and things that drive us. I rescue animals. Jennie is big into feminism. I think we all are. We are into humanism and making a better place for everyone.
Myra Gallarza: We all have different passions. Jennie has a passion for art. I have a passion for music. We also all love animals and have a passion to help, save and rescue them.
Jennie Cotterill: Human rights.
Stacey Dee: When you know it is the right thing to do, we are for that.
Myra Gallarza: I don’t like to get too political with things. These two (Jennie and Stacey) can go at it. You know once you say something everyone is going to attack you. When you say feminism everyone comes out of the woodwork.
Stacey Dee: We want to be given as many chances to fail and succeed.
Have you been asked to play shows that benefit any particular causes?
Linh Le: Coming up we are in San Francisco for suicide prevention.
Jennie Cotterill: We have not really been looped into girl power stuff. We are open to it. I am going to do some work with the Rock N Roll Camp For Girls. I want to see if we can play for that. It is a very third wave feminist, super positive. It is also for female identified persons it is all inclusive regardless of how much money you have. They make sure you can come if you want to. It is a great organization.
Myra Gallarza: We need places like that for girls to go and not be afraid to pick up an instrument.
Stacey Dee: In the past I have heard, “When I saw you take the stage I thought oh, great it’s a girl band but then soon as you started playing I thought wow, this fucking rocks!”
Jennie Cotterill: That is not a compliment.
Myra Gallarza: Some girl once said, “You guys are actually really good. I was really surprised.” I wanted to punch her.
Linh Le: We want to break that barrier. We are a band, we bring it. It’s not because we are women we are going to be good. Don’t be surprised by it.
Jennie Cotterill: They always compare us to female bands and I am suspicious comparisons that are limited to female bands. We’ve been written up as sounding like No Doubt and I can’t say that I hear the parallel beyond a woman’s voice on the record. It’s a little like telling every Asian woman you meet that she looks like Lucy Liu. It tells me that women –and womyn—need greater visibility in the music world.
Stacey Dee: Getting off stage and hearing Joan Jett or Pat Benatar when you get off stage 7/10 times is pretty funny.
Myra Gallarza: There aren’t a lot of female drummers. There are other female drummers I admire as well as male drummers. For me, I just wanted to be the best. Like when I played sports I wanted to be the best.
Linh Le: I played in a psychobilly band for a while. As rare as female drummers are, there are really very few female upright bass players as well. I played in a band that promoted the sexuality of women. I had to dress up in a negligee and wear heels all the time. Finally I decided that I would play in what I wanted to play in or I’m out. I don’t ever want to hear you are a great chick player. It shouldn’t be separated by gender. That’s what we try to promote. We are just ourselves. We are individuals and we embrace it.
Myra Gallarza: We don’t try to be anyone. We’re not The Runaways. People always compare us to other female bands.
Jennie Cotterill: They always compare you to female bands and we really don’t sound like those bands. There is nothing wrong with those bands but people are so unfamiliar with it that those are the only bands they think of.
Myra Gallarza: I am inspired by those bands.
Linh Le: It’s flattering because they are inspirational people but at the same time it shouldn’t have to be the only comparison.
Some bands flaunt the sexy female angle and you guys are taking a stand against that.
Jennie Cotterill: It is an angle and you can work it but that isn’t even part of my repertoire. We would be a different band if that was part of it.
Stacey Dee: There may be a day that I wear panties on stage but it’s not because I want to be sexy. I just want to wear panties on stage.
Linh Le: We are just ourselves and each one of us are individuals and we embrace that and it shows. The fact that we our differences as vast as they are and yet we work together so well. When we are able to reflect that to our audience, they are receptive to that. It is incredibly powerful. Not to mention we have different nationalities, different upbringing and backgrounds.
Is there anything else you want to tell the readers of By the Barricade?
Linh Le: Come out and make party.
Stacey Dee: If you have ever wanted to pick up an instrument and play it just do it. You never know what is going to happen.
All: Do it!
Myra Gallarza: Start a band. Mike Watt is known for saying that. If you have ever seen that man, every time he plays the last thing he says before he gets off stage is, “Start your own band!” I have always remembered that ever since.
Stacey Dee: Don’t be scared. Look in your heart and whatever it is that it is telling you to do, go do it. Don’t do anything else!
All: Don’t ever give up!
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