Exclusive Premiere: Scribe Take On “Cops, Cops (Cops, Cops)”

Scribe. Photo: Avni Murthy

When news of Scribe releasing their new album Hail Mogambo hit the interwebs in August, we weren’t sure if the Mumbai hardcore band would finally part with their long-overdue third album considering they have been talking about it since last year. What better proof than a single? Scribe have released their song “Cops, Cops (Cops, Cops),” the first track off Hail Mogambo.

Scribe first performed “Cops, Cops (Cops, Cops)” at the Rolling Stone Metal Awards back in June 2013, and vocalist Vishwesh Krishnamoorthy says the band rewrote drum parts later on. Says the vocalist, “This was the first song we started toying with.” Guitarist Prashant Shah adds that the idea for the single came to him five years ago, while he was stuck in a traffic jam. Says Shah, “Right next to me was a Piaggio mini tempo. The beauty about this vehicle is that whenever it’s stationary, the engine makes the most amazing poly-rhythmic groove patterns.” Shah recorded the patterns, which served as inspiration to begin the song. The guitarist adds, “It’s easily one of the simplest and grooviest tracks we’ve ever written.”

‘Hail Mogambo’ album artwork

The song also features super-fast rapping from Krishnamoorthy, something the vocalist says “wasn’t a conscious effort,” but attributes it to having worked with Mumbai-based a cappella group Voctronica and being influenced by beatboxer Shlomo. Since Krishnamoorthy’s usually going too fast for most of us to follow on “Cops, Cops,” he laughs when he’s asked what the song is about. The vocalist explains, “It’s about how you never say this word [”˜Cops’] just once. In this city, you don’t have to do anything for cops to pull you up.” Krishnamoorthy is quick to add that the song’s lyrics are only satirical and “not a pointed jibe.”

Hail Mogambo was mixed by Delhi-based producer Keshav Dhar [from prog metal band Skyharbor] in June and mastered by Swedish producer Jens Bogren, who has previously worked with metal bands such as Opeth, Soilwork and The Devin Townsend Project. The album has been in the works for more than two years, Krishnamoorthy says. While the songs for the 13-track album were written in a few months, the mixing and mastering stages took long. Bassist Srinivas Sunderrajan says that the album is slated to release mid-September or towards the end of the month. Says the bassist, “I think we’ve forgotten how to release albums.”

In terms of sound, Scribe says synth has taken much more prominence in their songs, compared to being used for filler tracks such as “Heidi” from their earlier albums such as Mark of Teja released in 2010 and “Old Nagardas Road” from Confect, released in 2008. Shah says, “This [”˜Cops, Cops’] is one of the few songs to which Akshay [Rajpurohit, guitarist] decided not to add any synths. You’ll hear a lot more of it on the album.” Rajpurohit adds that while there is a similar synth-led instrumental intro and outro on Hail Mogambo, he’s fused interludes into song structures. Rajpurohit says that he works on the tracks that can accommodate synth parts as soon as the first demos are out. He adds, “This album, in fact, has way more complex overlays of ambient and synth parts than Mark of Teja or Confect.”

Listen to “Cops, Cops (Cops, Cops)”

To download the song, click here.

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Hail Mogambo tracklist

“Hail”

“Calendar Khana Lao”

“Cops, Cops (Cops, Cops)”

“Groove Narmada”

“Return of Oberoi”

“Ha ha! We’re Poor!”

“Tomato Aryabhatta”

“Captain Raj”

“Jugal”

“Myothershirt”

“Black Diamond”

“The Fumanchurian”

“Le coupe France de hair”