Roll of the Dice: 10 Questions with Stacey of Bad Cop / Bad Cop

California’s Bad Cop / Bad Cop are DONE with this pandemic. The band are hitting the road in force to make up for two years of (mostly) quiet by playing gigs all over the place (all current dates listed at the end of the interview). TGEFM got in touch with Stacey Dee, guitarist and co-vocals, for a round Roll of the Dice. We rolled a TEN.

1) Now that concerts and festivals are starting back up again it looks like you will be busy. You just had Punk in Drublic, will be out this weekend and then a mountain/midwest tour to round out the month, and it was just announced you will be touring up the east coast and then on the lineup for Pouzza 10 in Montreal (May 20-22), then Europe in the fall. Is the plan for this year to just play as many live shows as you can? 

I think the plan for this year is to stay alive as a band.  Play as much as we can but without killing ourselves the way we used to. It looks like we’re doing a lot but it really is a lot less than in previous pre-pandemic years. 

2) It’s been almost 2 years since The Ride came out. Are there any current plans for some new music this year or next? 

Yea we are actually writing music together again, like we did at the beginning of the band.  It’s been so fun.  We know so much more now and putting it all together has been joyful.  I’d keep my eyes open for something new from us in the next year or so.  

3) I believe all of you or at least most of the band write the songs. What is that process like to take a song one of you have written and make it into a Bad Cop / Bad Cop song? 

It is true… Linh, Jennie and I write the BCBC songs.  Sometimes alone and sometimes together.  Usually one of us comes up with a good guitar riff and melody and shows the rest of us or someone has a whole song ready to go.  We show each other and decide if it’s a BCBC song or what.  Then we decide what needs changing lyrically or what chords could be better etc… sometimes one of us will have a great piece of music but not great lyrics and someone else has the lyrics so we fit the two songs together.  We are all pretty open to making the songs the best we can no matter what.  

4) Fat Mike said in 2020 that Warriors is the best all girl band album in rock-n-roll since The Go Go’s. I believe you are fans of the Go Go’s, at least Stacey is, what are your thoughts on that high praise? 

Well, that is a rad thing to hear.  “Warriors” is definitely one of our strongest records and we poured a lot into it.  I love The Go Go’s so much.  They were the first concert I went to when I was 6.  They were the first band I chose as a little girl to be “my music”.  So being compared to them in anyway makes me smile.  Myra and I are going to see them this coming Monday!  Woo!  

5) Speaking of The Go Go’s, I have read that some of your musical influences for The Ride album include artists like Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, The Police, XTC, and The Jam. What are some other bands that influence you either collectively or individually? 

I think everything we’ve ever heard plays a role in how we write.  I never know what little piece of someone else’s song may get into my head and then comes out of me in a new way.  From vocal and guitar melodies to drum beats…. And everything in between.  A Tribe Called Quest song may influence something I come up with.  You just never know.  I will say that we have a broad taste in music and we all share what we love with each other.  

6) In a 2018 interview with Erin Micklow, it was mentioned that the band name could’ve been Lethal Weapon 7. How serious was that possibility, and do you ever regret not going with it? (laughter)

Haha.  No.  We were all heavily into It’s Always Sunny in Philly at the time and honestly, that was their joke. 

7) Name some bands on your radar that TGEFM readers may not know about, but you think they should? 

The Venomous Pinks, Upper Downer, Jakob Nowell’s LAW, Hail ACAB, Catbite, the Bloody Benders out of Mexico City, DollSkin, Frankie and the Studs, Dead Bars, Coma Twins, Gil Migs Rog, Ras1, The CoDefendants, Beebs, Tunnel Vision, Dog Party, Pity Party, Gillian of HiHo, Jen Carlson, Boss’ Daughter, It’s Embarrassing, Dimber, Froggy…. There are so many great bands and musicians out there.  These are all friends with awesome shit going on! 

8) You have played with some incredible bands over the years, if you could pick your dream lineup of bands to play a show with, who would it be? 

SHIT!  This is hard…..

We get to play awesome lineups at festivals and my favorite lineup would be like the BEST festival day.  We have been kicking around the idea of bringing back an all Femme festival… I would love a lineup that was all my best friends in music on different stages you could walk around and see all day long.  I wouldn’t want that day to end.  AND it would have way too many bands to name here.  

9) You’ve also had some great artists featured on some of your songs like The Bombpops, Fat Mike, Eric Melvin, Yotam, are there any artists you want to work with in the future that you haven’t had the chance to yet? 

Yes we have been blessed to get to have rad folks featured on our records. It would be rad to work with Kathleen Hanna and Brody Dalle and Billie Joe Armstrong and Sting and Joe Jackson and Fleetwood Mac and Dave Grohl and Joe Strummer (rip) and also Kim Shattuck (rip)…. I would LOVE to have a Graham Maby bass line on one of my songs someday.  

10) I know you have played some acoustic shows and have played with the Gimme Gimmes. Do any of you have any other side projects or solo work we should know about?

Jennie, Linh and I all have acoustic sets we do outside of the band.  I wouldn’t put it past us all to have a solo record at some point.  We all have songs that aren’t BCBC songs but are awesome and should see the light of day. We all have so much to say….  So, stay tuned!  

BC/BC Tours and gigs (note- below dates are a mix of headliners, support, and festivals. Check in with venues for exact information on your local gig)

Apr 01 – House of Blues Anaheim – Anaheim, CA

Apr 02 – Marquee Theatre – Tempe, AZ

Apr 07 – Three Links – Dallas, TX

Apr 11 – Off Broadway – St Louis, MO

Apr 13 – Beat Kitchen – Chicago, IL

Apr 14 – X-Ray Arcade – Cudahy, WI

Apr 15 – Mortimers Bar – Minneapolis, MN

Apr 18 – Marquis Theater – Denver, CO

Apr 20 – Yucca North – Flagstaff, AZ

May 18 – The Funhouse at Mr. Small’s – Millvale, PA

May 20 – The Bug Jar – Rochester, NY

May 20 – Pouzza Fest – Montreal, QC

Jul 07 – The Roxy Theatre – West Hollywood, CA

Jul 09 – Great American Music Hall – San Francisco, CA

Aug 20 – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre – Greenwood Village, CO

Oct 18 – Kesselhaus, Schlachthof Wiesbaden – Wiesbaden, DE

Oct 20 – Kavka Oudaan – Antwerp, BE

Oct 21 – dB’s studio – Utrecht, NL

Oct 22 – Helios 37 – Cologne, Germany

Oct 23 – Mephisto, Faust – Hannover, Germany

Oct 25 – Hafenklang -Hamburg, Germany

Oct 26 – Cassiopeia – Berlin, Germany

Oct 27 – Generator – Złotów, Poland

Oct 28 – Klub 007 Strahov – Prague, Czech Republic

Oct 29 – SBÄMoween – Linz, Austria

Oct 31 – Club Vaudeville – Lindau, Germany

Nov 01 – Dynamo Werk 21 – Zürich, Switzerland

Nov 03 – Connexion Live – Toulouse, France

Nov 04 – Stage Live – Bilbao, Spain

Nov 05 – Nazca Club – Madrid, Spain

Nov 06 – Estraperlo – Club del Ritme – Badalona, Spain

Nov 09 – The Grand Social – Dublin, Ireland

Nov 10 – Voodoo – Belfast, UK

Nov 11 – The Bread Shed – Manchester, UK

Nov 12 – Redrum – Stafford, UK

Nov 13 – The Hairy Dog – Derby, UK

Nov 15 – The Parish – Huddersfield, UK

Nov 16 – Mama Liz’s Bar & Voodoo Lounge – Stamford, UK

Nov 18 – Exchange Bristol – Bristol, UK

Nov 19 – Underworld – London, UK

Nov 20 – Underworld – London, UK

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Roll of the Dice is a short interview format with a variable amount of questions. A Pair of dice is rolled and the total, between 2 and 12, is the amount of questions we can ask. All questions are given to the interviewee(s) at once, and no follow-ups are allowed.