The Cops (Australian band)
Australian musical group

The Cops were an Australian rock band that formed in late 2003 by songwriter Simon Carter and bass player/keyboardist Rebecca Darwon (ex-Fyreflyes, Del-Emmas) in Sydney.
History
Initially, Simon Carter began recording songs in his parents' basement, which were unlikely to see the light of day, until he sat down with his bass-playing friend Bec Darwon and offered to play her his demos.
"One day Simon asked if I'd like to hear some of his demos I didn't even know he had any so he put them on and they were awesome,"
"I told him we should start a band and it was funny because he didn't think they were any good but I thought they were great!"— Rebecca Darwon
The Cops' original line-up also included Simon Meli (The Widowbirds), Jimmy Stacks (who previously played with Carter in 'General Lee'), Andrew Gilbert (Whom Carter played with in 'Hush Honey') and Nick Kennedy (ex-Big Heavy Stuff).
In early 2004, the band released their debut self-titled E.P. on Reverberation. In late 2004, The Cops signed with small independent record label Love Police Records, releasing the debut album Stomp On Tripwires in September that year.
In 2005, the band undertook numerous tours, with support slots for bands such as Blondie, The Dirtbombs, The Distillers, The Donnas, Dallas Crane and The Von Bondies; while also receiving nominations for 'Best Newcomer' and 'Best Bass Player' at the 2005 Jack Awards.
In May 2005, Jimmy Stacks left the band. This was followed by the departure of guitarist Andrew Gilbert and drummer Nick Kennedy. Carter and Darwon decided to rebuild the band, with Todd Smith being retained on keys, Jarrod Murphy, (ex-Major) on guitar and Nicholai Danko (78 Saab) on drums. The band also left their label, Love Police Records, and signed to Inertia Recordings in 2006 as the label's first exclusive recording artist.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “The Cops (Australian band)” is australian musical group. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Cops, Australian and band, not as a finished interpretation.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7727589. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.
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