There have been plenty of songs written about cops, but what about those written by cops?

Meet Blue Thunder, the crime fighting rock and roll band from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Formed in September 1991, Blue Thunder was comprised of four acting municipal police officers and one citizen volunteer from the Halifax Regional Police Department. Yes, they were real cops.

Over several years, the five-piece would play to over one hundred schools and local events in the Atlantic Canada region. As you may have guessed it, their mission was to warn the youth of the dangers of drugs and alcohol - with a rock ‘n’ roll twist! And believe me, if you saw five cops on stage singing about shooting up, you’d put the fucking needle down, too.

In June of 1995, Blue Thunder performed at the 21st G7 Summit in Nova Scotia. Known as the G20 Summit today, the conference brought together the leaders of the world’s richest industrialized countries. Being at the right place at the very right time, Blue Thunder performed at the expo finale to a crowd of 10,000 people. Sometime around then, the band gigged its way to the post-communist Republic of Slovakia for a concert that was the focus of a one hour special on the Associated Television Network.
 

 
I reached out to the Halifax Regional Police Department for more info and was connected with (retired) Constable Steve Saunders from Blue Thunder who wrote me with the following:

The band started in the early 1990s when drummer Darryl Lysens, a crime prevention member, became aware of a number of former musicians serving in the department and wanted to put something together for a multicultural dinner/concert.

Darryl had played in the 60s with a number of musicians prior to joining the police. Cedric Upshaw soon became the lead guitar and vocalist having played in bands in the 60s and 70s heavily influenced by the blues (great voice and guitar).

Ron Morgan, Dogmaster from Dartmouth Police, played guitar having a more jazz background with bass starting with a close friend of Daryl’s, Sandy Bryson (civilian) soon replaced by Ernie Retti, a staff member working out of the police garage and well known in the music circuit.

I have a long music and sporting background having played in bands for years and even joining a high school pit band for six years for their annual musical (also coaching the high school football team).

The band really took off for the first five years playing in middle schools, public concerts, a giant G7 (now G20) concert, the Nova Scotia Tattoo and travelling to the Republic Of Slovakia to introduce western policing to police and citizens.

After the jump, watch the Blue Thunder perform in all their law-enforcing glory…