Yakkie: Kill The Cop Inside Your Head
(self-released)
Vinyl |CD | DL | Streaming
Released February 11th 2026
Yakkie unleash Kill The Cop Inside Your Head: a fierce punk rock debut album born of activism, anger and solidarity. Exactly what we need in 2026.
“The cop inside your head will talk you out of your own power before you’ve had a chance to taste it. He wants your despair to calcify into defeat so you roll over for fascism and tell yourself there’s nothing you could have done to stop it. If you don’t kill the cop inside your head, you will become him.”
It’s abundantly clear from the moment the album begins that Yakkie are a band with a fire – no, a raging inferno – in their belly. Punk can take many forms but if anger, passion and purpose were once deemed an essential prerequisite, then this London-based four-piece really are bringing it on home. While it effortlessly incorporates 90s alt-rock rock and grungy tendencies, Kill The Cop Inside Your Head remains unmistakably punk. If the genre – and what it stands for – still mean anything to you, then you’re in the right place.
Yakkie are something of a punk supergroup with members from bands like Petrol Girls, Colour Me Wednesday, itoldyouiwouldeatyou and Personal Best. You can really hear that experience on the record too. Singer Janey Starling left Dream Nails after the bands excellent self-titled debut to focus on activism and co-direct Level Up, an organisation that focusses on ending imprisonment for pregnant women. Starling is pretty much the living embodiment of the walk-it-like-you-talk-it punk rock ethos and it’s that energy and activism that drives this album forward.
Kill The Cop Inside Your Head – the title track and the album opener – is about killing that internal pessimist and embracing hope. Admittedly, not the easiest of tasks in 2026. The fact that said message is delivered over a heavy and urgent PUNK ROCK BANGER makes it all the more enticing. “Our hope is a muscle… That we have to use every single day” insists Starling. Consider Yakkie your very own personal trainers. The band follow this up with the melodic rush of Criticise Me; a song about breaking away from toxic control. A triumphant, exhilarating and life-affirming anthem if ever I’ve heard one.
He Sleeps Alone starts with guitarist Robin Gatt unleashing a badass bluesy riff before the chorus rises like a phoenix from the sludge. The lyrics tackle arrogant yet inherently insecure masculinity and point out that, “muscles never made a man.” I can think of a few people that might benefit from a listen. Lean Out leads with a filthy noise-rock riff as Starling delivers a feminist call-to-arms. “They call it care/ We call it unpaid work!” she sings as the band goes in for the kill. If the hairs on your neck aren’t standing up, you’re just not playing it loud enough.
Every track practically takes my head off: the riffs are consistently fantastic while drummer Maeve Westall and bassist Laura Ankles prove to be an absolute punk rock powerhouse. Oh, and I have to mention those brilliant backing vocals that give the songs that irrepressible, last gang in town energy. I reckon Yakkie are going to be a real force-of-nature on stage.
Quite unexpectedly, Atlas switches things up with an emotionally charged, slow-burning ballad. “I wish it was simple/ I wish I could stay in love with you,” coos Starling moments before the song explodes in a noisy, emotive and thoroughly heart-wrenching crescendo. Bloody hell, this band really are shaping up to be something extremely special. Next up, we’re jolted back into action with the riotous Rabbit’s Got The Gun. The track was recorded live in one take and that spontaneous, unfiltered energy can be felt in every single second.
“Another man killed his wife today/ The paper’s say that she’s to blame,” go the opening lyrics to Right Of Reply. The accompanying music is suitably furious while Starling spits and shouts every word with the appropriate levels of venom, rage and indignation. It’s an incredibly powerful song. According to UK domestic abuse charity Refuge, “Of the 111 domestic homicides recorded in the year ending March 2025, more than two thirds (75) were women aged 16 and over. Of these 75 women, all but four were killed by a man.”
In the wake of the Epstein files, a song like Secrets feels particularly pertinent. “You thought I would keep your secrets/ You will have to cut out my tongue… I’m not the only one,” sings Starling over the songs hazy, grungy psych. Take It All charges in next with snarling guitars and energetic punk rock empowerment. It’s a good song but the band is utterly ON FIRE as the final track kicks in. Under The Pavement Is The Beach ignites the speakers with an irresistibly propulsive groove and some of Gatt’s wildest guitar work. It’s a great way to end what is undoubtedly the first truly essential album of 2026.
At its most potent, punk feels political, proactive and socially relevant. It’s about community, collective strength and speaking truth to power. This is a record infused with that spirit and a tangible disgust at a world where fascists and misogynists feel emboldened. This isn’t a band or an album interested in playing it safe. And isn’t that exactly what we need? Kill The Cop Inside Your Head is a raw and accomplished debut album born of activism, anger and solidarity. This is your brain on hope.
~
Yakkie can be found on Instagram and Bandcamp.
All words by Andy Brown. You can visit his author profile and read more of his reviews for Louder Than War HERE.
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