Hartness, left, in 2011. Still from a music video by Seth Graves.
Music City has lost another innovative player. Alex Hartness, co-founder and guitarist of the shape-shifting rock outfit Bad Cop, has died. He was 27.
Since Hartness and frontman Adam Moult started the group in 2009, they've steadily broadened their palette, rolling influences from proto-punk to art-rock to dream-pop and beyond into a sophisticated sound. Though there were periods where Hartness didn't play with the group, his guitar work played a key role.
"Alex was a sweet guy who, for a someone who musically really just existed in the underground rock scene, could play circles around a lot of guys without giving it much thought," Battle Tapes Recording's Jeremy Ferguson tells the Scene. Ferguson engineered Bad Cop's debut album Harvest the Beast as well as their 2013 EP Light On. "Some of my most exciting memories of working with Bad Cop in the past were watching him pull guitar parts out of the air that totally made the song but were obviously improvised. And they were always hooky and memorable, which is where my bread is buttered. I haven't seen Alex in a minute but I'll always remember him as the good looking kid who was kind to my family, could play his ass off, and meant everything to his friend Adam."
%{[ data-embed-type="oembed" data-embed-id="https://twitter.com/BadCopMusic/status/770732744955486209" data-embed-element="aside">The group was also close to Cage the Elephant, whose guitarist Brad Schultz produced Light On. CtE offered their condolences on Twitter.
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Last Friday, Bad Cop premiered a song from their forthcoming record Hello Mr. Sunshine via Paste. Take a listen below.
