Interview with the Cops
Never heard of The Cops? You will. The Seattle punk/garage band is a rising star in a small but burgeoning revival taking place across the country; mixing political ethos with deadly guitar thrashing, the band’s goal seems to be to start a worldwide revolution. After signing up for his militia, Culture Bully’s Jon Behm asked lead guitarist Michael Jaworski some questions for this week’s segment of Five Questions.
Jon Behm: Forgive the clichè, but many of your songs seem to be directed against “The Man.” Who is the man for you?
Michael Jaworski: I’m hoping “The Man” is the same thing to me as it is to you. The Patriarchy, the status quo, the majority of the leaders in this country, and primarily CORPORATE FUCKING AMERICA. All of which need to be obliterated. At a minimum, the power structure in this country needs to change badly.
JB: Your song “Mega Suicide” makes me want to quit my boring corporate day job. Any ideas for how I could go out in style?
MJ: Have you ever scene the movie Office Space? I think Milton Waddams had the right idea.
JB: Who do you think would win in a fight, Pete Shelley or Richard Hell? Why?
MJ: While I don’t think either one of them would get into this scrap, I’m going to put my money on Richard Hell. Pete Shelley seems a little tougher, but I have a feeling Richard Hell has been in some trouble and I’m guessing he’s a dirty scrapper.
JB: What are you listening to these days that is completely blowing your mind?
MJ: My most recent discovery is The Wipers. You may have thought that I would have listened to them by now, but it wasn’t until a couple months ago that I bought the vinyl reissues of Is This Real? and Youth of America and I’m obsessed. The Blind Shake’s new record and live show blow my mind. Other new records I dig are The Night Marchers, The Oh Sees, The Roots, Atmosphere, and I think the latest Les Savy Fav record is tops.
JB: If you could go down in history as “the band that _____” – how would you choose to fill in the blank?
MJ: The band that ended poverty, war, famine, overpopulation, racism, sexism, bigotry and all evil in the world. Or, the band that overtook Dethklok as the next world superpower!
The Cops “It’s Epidemic” [MP3]
The Cops “Terribly Empty Pockets” [MP3]