Stacey, Bad Cop/ Bad Cop’s guitarist and singer, pulls no punches when she tells me about the highs and lows of the past year. “The high was that we put out a full length that was received well and we went on the biggest tour of our lives. The low was that I was a drug addict and hit the bottom in the middle of it,” she calmly states.

In December, Punktastic included their debut album ‘Not Sorry’ on our best of 2015 list. Released on NOFX’s Fat Wreck label, it was well-received for coming out swinging. What followed was a whirlwind that ended up with Stacey in detox to kick a Xanax habit and the band taking therapy sessions.

Being on tour didn’t help the situation. “We were just exhausted. I’m not a big drinker but it added to the other stuff I was taking. Just being around everybody that was doing it… I just thought I was invincible, you know?” Stacey says.

Jennie, the band’s other guitarist and singer, laughs as she looks back at the black comedy of the situation. “It was heart-wrenching and super depressing because it blew up during this thing that we were expecting to be amazing,” she enthuses.

Stacey puts a lot of the problem down to expectations and ego: “There was a lot of pressure that I didn’t foresee and excitability. My ego got big, which is a bullshit thing to have. People keep telling you you’re great and you keep believing it. Then the bottom fell out in a really public and gnarly way. I’m strong enough to talk about it and without these three women, I would not have come out the other side.”

Bad Cop/ Bad Cop then went into what Jennie describes as “like family therapy”. “We had to talk about our feelings and get on the same page again,” she says. All four of them agree that they’re a much better band for it and Stacey calls them a team.

Drummer, Myra, points out that they got help from Fat Wreck, who sent Stacey to detox and told the band to sort themselves out. Linh (bassist) calls the therapy experience “heart-breaking”. She continues: “It’s hard to see someone you care about fall into that. There was animosity but not at individual people. As intense as it was, it pretty much resurrected us.”

Thankfully, the difficult process has brought them to a better place. Stacey has been clean for six months, which leads to a funny exchange where she offers me the beer from her rider and I have to explain that I also don’t drink. For anyone who knows the effects of addiction, being able to confront it and see such a sustained progression is incredibly reassuring.

I ask if all the pain they’ve felt over the past year will feed into their next record. “Hell yeah!” Myra cheers. “Jennie’s written some really angry stuff but they’re good songs,” Stacey says, prompting Jennie to complain that she doesn’t want to keep writing angsty stuff.

“We’re four different people but we all agree on certain issues like LGBT and animal rights. I trust all of you guys to come from a place that I can sympathise with,” Jennie says, making a point to connect with her bandmates.

Currently, Bad Cop/ Bad Cop are playing as many shows as they can and trying to show the world that they’re back on track. They’re in a good place and the future looks positive. Here’s to six more clean months.