Concert Review: Bad Cop/Bad Cop, Drakulas, Fea – Live in Denver

Marquis Theater – 18 APR 2022

A burst of radical feminist energy makes for one hell of a concert experience.

Years ago I made a comment on Twitter (on a now-defunct account) suggesting a tour with Bad Cop/Bad Cop, War on Women, and Fea. All the parties seemed to be on board with it, but it never fully materialized. Bad Cop/Bad Cop did wind up touring with both of the artistsI suggested separately. Does that mean I'm entitled to compensation for my idea? Who's to say? (No, I'm definitely not entitled to anything, it was a complete coincidence.) But I finally got to see one of the two tours that closely resembles what I suggested: Bad Cop/Bad Cop, Drakulas, and Fea.  

First up was Fea, who I've called, on multiple occasions, the best band that no one's talking about. (I've used that phrase to describe some other bands, too. I'm not that creative.) I was sitting at a table alone unaware that Fea was about to go on when their first single—“Feminazi”—came ripping through the room and I had to scramble to get to the dance floor. Luckily I got a second chance to see the beginning of the show, because the members forgot to check the vocal levels before the show and frontwoman Letty Martinez was not about to sing her feminist anthem without vocals. So she stopped the song, made a few jokes about “Well that's why we're the opening band” before fully recovering and making a second go of it. Martinez was a consummate professional and picked up where they left off. Fea is used to moving past hiccups, having just lost their guitarist yet again and touring with fill-in guitarist (who may or may not be a new permanent member) Adrian Connor. I only know she's new from reading their Facebook page. From her playing alone, nobody would have ever guessed was new. They played a good mix of tunes from the first two albums before Martinez, Connor, and bassist Jenn Alva collapsed onto the floor together in a move that was clearly choreographed but endearing nonetheless.  

Next up was Drakulas, the only act of the night to feature any men in it, but we won't hold that against them. They were also the only ones in the lineup that I wasn't familiar with already. Nothing against their style, they seemed to be good musicians, but their entire vibe was just weird. The lead singer started by standing up and shouting his band name over and over again. “Drakulas! Drakulas! Drakulas!” Eventually, the audience started to take this as a sign to say the name with them as almost a form of applause. They continued to do this between songs. This and their matching all-black outfits kind of just rubbed me the wrong way. I just didn't like their stage presence.  

Finally, we had Bad Cop/Bad Cop. This was my second time seeing them. The first time I saw them I really was amazed. The fact that they used three-part harmonies so much was my favorite part of the show because it made it feel like all three of the singers had a job to do for each song. Of course, everyone in a band has a job to do for each song, but there's something about harmonizing that feels more active than simply playing an instrument. And the end result is that you have this very visual representation of women supporting women: three lead singers, all of them clearly different women with different voices and different things to say, all working together to make each other's visions work.  

And this time…well, I got to see the same thing again. And this time around they had one more record than the last time I saw them, plus they had a lot more to celebrate. Stacey Dee announced that she just passed her three-year cancer-free anniversary, and Lihn Le was showing off her wedding ring having just gotten married before the tour. As for Jennie Coterill, she may not have had as much good news, but she certainly reveled in her bandmates' joy. Coterill also seemed to find a lot of joy in Banana Jeyy, the guy who shows up to every punk show in Denver wearing a banana costume.  

They had a lot of energy and related really well to the audience. They found ways to work their songs into current events, even if their last two albums were, in many ways, anti-Trump albums and Trump is not particularly relevant anymore. Instead of making “Certain Kind of Monster” about Trump, they tried to make it about Putin, which works if you gloss over some of the lyrics. The band admitted that they were bad at encores, so instead of leaving the stage and coming back, they marked the end of their set and the beginning of their encore by having a representative from Punk Rock Saves Lives come to speak to the audience. This organization, a Denver-based non-profit, went with the bands on this tour. They're mostly known for getting people to swab their inner cheeks at concerts so they can be tested to be bone marrow donors, but they also had things like Narcan and fentanyl testing strips that were available for all attendees. Then it was back to the music, Coterill made things awkward for a moment—well, I guess technically her bandmates made things awkward—when she dedicated a song to a friend in the audience who she said she went to her high school prom with but insisted “Nothing happened!” after which her bandmates started speculating on what could have happened anyway.  

Overall, you can tell that all four members of Bad Cop/Bad Cop really love and respect each other. Something that the representative from Punk Rock Saves Lives pointed out that I had hardly even noticed was that, in the classic riot grrl spirit, the front section of the crowd was almost all women. I could tell that the women in the audience really felt empowered by having two amazing all-female bands at this show, and you could feel that sense of empowerment in the air. Aside from a brief moment of panic when a friend of mine got elbowed hard in the face during “Pursuit of Liberty” (shout out to Dorrene who's a badass trooper, she's fine now), it was one of the best concert experiences I've ever had.