Distorted Sound x SYNCR Music: Kopper
Through our partnership with the lovely folks at SYNCR Music, we have worked together to bring you another emerging band for you to fall in love with; KOPPER. Hailing from the south of the UK, this three-piece post-punk band is the brainchild of experimental musician Jon Williams. Joined by Ed Smith and Tim Robins, the band have put together a wild set; something louder, fiercer and more anthemic to defibrillate venues across the country and take audiences on an absurdist psychological post-punk trip.
Can you give a brief background to the band? Who are you, where are you from, what do you play?
KOPPER is a three-piece post-punk outfit from the South East with an ambition to produce high energy, preternatural deep alt-rock. We officially kicked off about six months ago. Jon (lead guitar) has been making music for years, but wanted to knuckle down and bring the concept of KOPPER to life. Ed (bass guitar) and Jon grew up together, and Ed flexed his musical savant muscles, picked up a bass and joined in. Our first batch of tunes have really been a deep introspective nosedive; exploring causes of personal and social ills in a dramatic noisy way. Tim (drums) was on loan from the studio where we recorded the EP; we were blown away by what he can do on a kit and somehow convinced him to stay.
Top five musical influences?
Too many to choose! Jon loves David Bowie because of his live performance style, and musically and artistically because he was so creative. Also, RADIOHEAD: their theatrical melancholy is something we wanna capture in our music: making emotional, heart-wrenching tunes that are still big and loud. People have also compared our music to SIGUR ROS, which is a massive compliment – they have this huge universal post-rock sound, that’s both beautiful and transcendental. Bands we love at the moment are THEE OH SEES who are, without a doubt, putting on some of the best live gigs of any band right now – with their fast, fun, trance-inducing, wild style. We would love to be playing to that level. And last but obviously not least, IDLES – they’re just so so good. We think they resonate so much with people at the moment because of the spirit of community they instil. We’d like to emulate that somehow through what we create; connect with people and build something bigger than ourselves.
Biggest moment you have achieved so far?
First time hearing the record on vinyl was pretty special (cheers Curved Pressings). After all the blood, sweat and tears that go into a first record, after struggling to find to the right sound, putting the band together – it takes so much out of you but then you get this utterly unique result. And it’s been so much fun putting the vinyl packaging together and sharing it with people. We can tell it’s more meaningful for people to have a physical thing you can connect music and a band to. The vinyl release party in London was also a real highlight. It was the biggest crowd we’ve played to so far and definitely felt like something big was coming on the horizon.
Immediate Future plans (touring/record releases?)
We are releasing our first EP Fading Fires on July 20th across all platforms – plus we have limited edition hand-printed vinyl which you can order from our Bandcamp or find in your local record shops across London and the South East. Right now, you can catch us gigging about London and we want to play more a lot more in the South to honour our roots, it would also be great to play the Midlands and beyond – find our spiritual homeland. Over the winter we’ll keep making music; the EP was a real experiment and we want to keep creating, really carve out our niche music-wise.
Where do you see the band in five years?
Jon reckons by then we’ll make a song so great it has the power to reverse time and we’ll go back five years creating an infinite loop of which no one can escape and become overlords. Otherwise, if we haven’t ended up in rehab for the inevitable coke/amphetamine habit, when the lifestyle and super yachts all becomes too overwhelming leading to a downward spiral into chaos and wretchedness, we’ll be churning out tunes at industrial scale, similar to KING GIZZARD, 42 albums and counting!
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