After riding high with The Ride (2020) the punk troupe from Los Angeles return with Lighten Up, produced by NOFX's Fat Mike. The four-piece band convinces with endless power and energy on stage, including two main female singers. And musically they do not stand still, but expand each time. "Life is hard, but it's still beautiful. Stop picking the hard shit to look at_look at the beautiful stuff too. Lighten up." Lighten Up (Fat Wreck Chords) the SoCal punk group Bad Cop Bad Cop's fourth full-length, paints a striking portrait of life's hard-won victories and hard-fought losses.

Recorded at the Compound in Long Beach, home to veteran producer Antoine Arvizu (Sublime, Ryan Bingham).

The band loved recording the singles "Shattered" and "Safe and Legal" there in 2023 with Arvizu and Migs (Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, Long Beach Dub Allstars. Bad Cop / Bad Cop stretches their signature hooky, melodic punk into unexpected places, like the jazzy "Las Ventanas," the dub-inflected "Note to Self," or "Johnny Appleseed," a reimagining of the Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros classic. After tracking the instruments, the band spent 10 intense 12-hour days recording vocals with longtime collaborator John E. Carey Jr. (Old Man Markley, NOFX, Get Dead).

"The singing was the most important part for us. We really tried things out," Dee says, adding that Gallarza stepped up to sing third harmony for the first time. Lighten Up also benefits from Windsor, an expert guitarist who not only shreds (check out the end of "I4NI") but whose music theory knowledge proved invaluable. "Alex's guitar playing is just so fantastic and has really elevated our songwriting, truly," Dee says. Everything about Lighten Up feels elevated and genuine. "This was the first time we didn't give a fuck about what anyone else was doing or wanted us to do. Lighten Up was for us" Dee says. "We had a complete and total ball making it and we love it so much."

A1. All Together Now
A2. Strugglinh
A3. Straight Out Of Detox
A4. Note To Self
A5. Disbelief
A6. See Me Now
B1. Human Is Human
B2. I4NI
B3. Las Ventanas
B4. Dead Friends
B5. Johnny Appleseed