Bad Cop Bad Cop released new album ‘Lighten Up’ and share video for ‘Disbelief’

Bad Cop Bad Cop have dropped a heavy dose of punk energy. The beloved female punk band have released their sparkling new record – “Lighten Up”, out now via Fat Wreck Chords / Hopeless Records. The band have also dropped their full-length music video for “Disbelief,” their latest single. Watch HERE.

With “Lighten Up”, the fearless four-piece deliver their most potent and polished album to date, with songs that feel innately personal and powerful throughout. 

STACEY DEE FROM BAD COP BAD COP SHARED HER FEELINGS ABOUT THE NEW RECORD & SINGLE:

“Disbelief is one of my favorite songs on the record.  It was one of those songs that came out of me at one time whole, music and lyrics.  I remember telling myself not to be too hard on myself and just let it come out the way it’s supposed to.  And honestly, I didn’t change anything. Myra and I would kind of jam it in the studio when we were alone and I loved the drums she put on it.  I just let the universe dictate how that song was supposed to be and I’m glad I did.  One night, after recording it, Linh and I listened to a rough mix on the ride home, and it sounded so cool, we actually grabbed each other’s hand like, “wow, we really have something here”.  I love the singing on this song probably more than any other song on the record.  It’s just beautiful.  The song is about how some people have no belief that life could be any better.  That a popular human thought it that we are all just victims of what life gives us.  When the truth is, we are the creators of our lives.  We are the ones building the lives in front of us, with our thoughts, actions and behaviors.  We get what we give and sometimes the same old negative repeating loop in our heads win.  Leaving us stuck believing nothing could ever be better.  I honestly think that people who are okay with limiting beliefs, keep humanity suspended in negative energy. And that energy is so strong it just keeps perpetuating.  So here we are….”

“This record really means the world to me.  It is the first time we got to do everything we wanted.  We trusted ourselves to make something we love with people we love and who love us back.  This record feels the most authentic and it’s awesome to listen to front to back.  These are our personal stories and we truly hope to inspire other folks to find the good stuff in life, even when life is hard.”

The band can’t wait for their headline European run starting in October – see dates below:

In the final moments of “Dead Friends,” the penultimate track of the new Lighten Up, Bad Cop Bad Cop guitarist-vocalist Stacey Dee sings, “So try to love your life, while you can.”

These words serve as a powerful thesis for Lighten Up (out September 19, 2025 on Fat Wreck Chords/Hopeless Records) the SoCal punk group’s fourth full-length. The album paints a striking portrait of life’s hard-won victories and hard-fought losses. 

“I think that’s what I write my songs about,” Dee says. “Life is hard, but it’s still beautiful. Stop picking the hard shit to look at—look at the beautiful stuff too. Lighten up.”

Dee and her bandmates—bassist-vocalist Linh Le, drummer-vocalist Myra Gallarza, and guitarist Alex Windsor—know what it takes to persevere.  Resilience surfaces throughout Lighten Up. In “Strugglinh,” Le confronts self-doubt and finds strength, and in “See Me Now,” she turns family loss into triumph. “Straight Out of Detox” details a transformational night in Dee’s life, and “Note to Self” is her reminder to keep things in perspective, aided by iconic LA underground rapper 2mex. 

Playing like a big-hearted sibling to the Jim Carroll Band’s iconic “People Who Died,” “Dead Friends” has been in the works for years.

“This was the first time that I dug in to tell stories that I was too afraid to talk about prior,” Dee says. “We’ve made records that were unapologetically strong, but the way we got to be unapologetically strong was dealing with things like this.” 

Unapologetically personal best describes Lighten Up.

“It started with having the girls over on Sundays. I would cook brunch, we’d drink tons of bottles of Prosecco, and we would write music together,” Dee says. “This was family the entire time. It was who we trusted, who we loved, who we knew we could work with.”

That’s why Bad Cop Bad Cop 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 Dee’s partner, Migs (Sublime, Slightly Stoopid, Long Beach Dub Allstars). 

“The way that Miguel produces, he lets you be you until something needs to be added or reeled in. He always says, ‘Never a dull moment on a record,” Dee explains. Bad Cop Bad Cop stretched 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”