DEAD COPS

DEAD COPS were from Tokyo, and blazed their way through the scene there for about a year in 1983/4, releasing the rather ho-hum Kill The Cops flexi on ADK and this ripping live tape.  43 minutes of blistering hardcore and utterly inane between song banter from their American singer Roger Armstrong (who went on later to form the excellent thrash band SiC, and now lives in LA...he has a blog, check it out here it you like).  While the noteworthy aspect of this band has often been the gaijin on the mic, I suggest that you ignore the vocals here, which are pretty much on par with standard second rate 80s US hardcore fare (not good, not bad, just there), and listen to the fucking guitar!! Classic Japanese hardcore riffing on songs like "Both Sides Of The World," "Drop Dead" and the very unfortunately titled "Piece Of Your Cunt" give a clear glimpse of the magic that guitarist Tatsu would later create as axeman for the brilliant GASTUNK.  The playing is fucking flawless, and the leads would sound ridiculous if they weren't so perfect.  Bass duties are handled by Jha Jha, who would go on to sing for LIP CREAM (and later JUDGEMENT), making this a pre-supergroup of sorts.  They are somewhat all over the place stylistically, with the traditional Japanese style in the songs I mentioned before sitting  alongside very American punk sounding tracks like "Death To The Rich," "Kill The Cops," and "Sludge," that borrow so much from MDC's musical and lyrical output that it makes it impossible to think that the name DEAD COPS could have been an accident.  I wish that the Kill The Cops flexi had come close to this intensity.

Live at Shibuya Yaneura, January 1984