Cop Shoot Cop
with Bile at The Middle East Cafe
by Smak
photo by unknown
There’s been quite a bit of hoopla lately about Cop Shoot Cop. If you’ve ever bothered to turn on ‘FNX, you might have heard the militaristic drum beat and slithering horn blasts of “$10 Bill” emanating from your speakers. I’ve been an unabashed fan of them ever since I heard “Room 429” on the Mesomorph Enduros compilation that J. G. Thirwell (of Foetus fame) put out. So, of course, when they played at the Middle East, I was chomping at the bit to be there.
It was quite a wait until Cop Shoot Cop finally took the stage. Then the first thought to enter my mind was, “Where did they find this sound guy?” The mix was pretty bad – all you could hear was the sampler, the vocals, and the kick drum. Eventually the sound got better, but it never reached full volume. And Cop Shoot Cop is one band that really deserves to be played LOUD.
However, this was my only criticism of the show. They’re a band that doesn’t need to resort to macho posturing or cheesy thousand-beats-per-second speeds to be heavy – they play loud and hard naturally, like it’s in their blood. With most bands, the show starts with a bang and gradually heads downward; not so Cop Shoot Cop.
Their sound does nothing but build with each passing moment, like a boa constrictor squeezing your intestines out. And when they’re finished, you wind up with more energy than you started with. They played for close to two hours, and by the time they ended with “Money-Drunk,” there were more people gyrating in the pit than at any other point in the show. And, for a change, the audience seemed to jump around just for the sake of release, not doing those annoying Karate Kid moves seen in Boston pits of late. As a result, it was a great show, even with the bad sound.
Their latest disc is called Release (Interscope/Atlantic), and is well worth picking up. In fact, everything they’ve put out is wholeheartedly recommended. If you pass up a chance to see them live, then you’re a fool. At the very least you should buy their albums. You won’t be disappointed.
P.S. The other band was Soul Coughing. I came at the end, and my fellow reviewers were envious of that fact. They had cool samples mixed with danceable white-boy hip-hop. Bloated and self-serving, but with rap-a-long commentary and an energetic beat. Ed
