Courtesy Cu Chulainn Dillingham
Audio By Carbonatix
Sometimes being blunt is better. There’s something powerful about cutting straight to the point, saying what you really mean and not leaving anything open to interpretation.
Shouting through a megaphone is helpful, too. At least that’s how fledgling Denver hardcore-punk band Cop Killer sees it.
“A megaphone has become very important to the delivery of some of our lyrics. It just works,” says bassist Max Kaufman. “There’s no two ways about it.”
The four-piece, which comprises Kaufman, vocalist Alex Goldsmith, guitarist Bonner Alexander and drummer Jack Megquier, is loud and proud, that’s for sure, and not afraid of letting you know exactly where they stand with its recent self-titled debut, featuring such anti-authority songs as “Copaganda” and “Three Letter Organizations.”
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“This is a thing I’ve been wanting to do forever. Alex and I just agree on all the political stuff. That helps. We’re in the same boat,” Kaufman says. “And just the timing, sometimes you just have to be on the nose with the name. For me, I was a little skeptical — like, this is really on the nose — but it just keeps working to my surprise. We just got to lean into the Jello Biafra-y-ness of it all of going over the top with it.”
Being named after the infamous 1992 Body Count song, which Cop Killer covers (it’s “Cop Killer” by Cop Killer off of Cop Killer, like Black Sabbath’s “Black Sabbath” from Black Sabbath), Goldsmith thought it’s ironic how Ice-T could write such a violent fuck-the-police anthem yet play a cop on TV.
“Copaganda is Law & Order, the media to pump up the police to make it look good in the public’s eyes,” he explains. “The fact that Ice-T has some pretty cool believes, then has played a cop on TV for twenty years is not the most consistent.”
Then there’s “Police State,” with its succinct chorus of “Stop watching me!”
“It’s very clear, very direct,” says Goldsmith, who is responsible for writing most of the lyrics after they’re typically crowdsourced from the band first.
Similarly, “Three Letter Organizations” flips off regulatory and surveillance organizations “that we don’t like,” he continues.
“We just keep listing them; the DEA, the NSA, all that stuff,” Goldsmith adds.
Courtesy Ethan Cook
Yeah, Cop Killer doesn’t mince words. See Goldsmith give it his Gibby Haynes best at hi-dive on Friday, December 19. The all-local bill includes Cheap Perfume, GUNK! and Arson Charge.
“That’s pretty much exactly what I’m doing,” Goldsmith says of his on-stage presence, which is akin to the Butthole Surfers frontman, though he doesn’t have his own “Gibby kit” yet.
When it comes to performing, Goldsmith is as unhinged as can be, which has always proved to be effective in punk music.
“All my ‘vocal’ influences are all performance influences,” he says, listing off Iggy Pop, Lux Interior and Greg Puciato of the Dillinger Escape Plan. “Dudes who are fucking crazy on stage. That’s what I’ve always wanted to do. The music can be whatever, but if you sell the performance that fucking matters. Our music is pretty fucking good, but I’m absolutely selling the performance.”
It’s not like Cop Killer is playing polka up there, either. Heavily influenced by My War-era Black Flag, the band rips between that type of hardcore punk and vintage-tinged garage rock, but infused with a more modern political potency, inspired by Goldsmith and Kaufman’s shared affinity for Run The Jewels. And then some.
“The last couple shows we played a Creedence cover,” Kaufman says. “It started out as a joke, but we just turned it into this fucking ripper of a song. It’s one of those things, Creedence was a political band, so it works with what we’re doing.”
While Cop Killer prefers to stream solely on Bandcamp, tapes and CDs can currently be found locally at Scavenged Goods and Drop To Pop Records and Curio, thanks to a partnership between Drop To Pop and Fort Collins independent label Braeburn Records. There are plans to press vinyl, too, so keep an eye out for that if you prefer wax.
But next time you’re walking past a local venue and hear “Fuck the CIA!” blaring out of the speakers, don’t be surprised to find Cop Killer on the megaphone.
Cop Killer, with Cheap Perfume, Arson Charge and GUNK!, 8 p.m. Friday, December 19, hi-dive 7 South Broadway. Tickets are $19.
