Magnetic pop with a groovy twist - neil finn mixes with dave matthews and the beatles

10 MP3 Songs
POP: Beatles-pop, ROCK: Americana



Details:
After playing nearly ten years in the northwest music scene with funk and jam bands (Pale Green Pants, The Furleys), Brian Copeland is returning to his roots and focusing on structured melodic pop tunes - songs that strike a chord with people, songs that people really feel. Enter his new project, the Brian Copeland Band. The band released its debut recording in November to a standing room only crowd at Portland (OR) hipster hangout FUEL. Folks are taking notice. The new CD has been getting rave reviews ever since its release. Portland newspaper Willamette Week says: "The Brian Copeland Band is a lot like a northwest version of Matchbox 20...both projects contain saccharine lyrics, and pop orchestrations so sweet they'd leave Bigfoot a drooling, drunken beast." In addition, the CDs title track "Daffodil" recently made it to the semi-finals of the international Makeastar.com songwriters contest. The band is currently performing at venues throughout the west coast in support of the new recording.

The Band

With mature songwriting and a new recording, the Brian Copeland Band delivers powerful magnetic pop with rock and funk flavors. This time around, Copeland has joined forces with lead guitarist/vocalist Jon Taubman. Jon's jazz background (he holds a jazz composition degree) combined with his keen pop sense and vocal capabilities make him a key addition to the band. Taubman blends sweet lead lines and vocal harmonies with Copeland's rhythmic strumming and lead vocals to give the band its warm, multi-layered sound. Also joining Copeland is the talented, heavy-duty Pale Green Pants rhythm section of Gene Ermel (drums) and Rob Schrecongost (bass). Finally, the band utilizes a rotating cast of top-notch performers, including Wayne Thompson (keys, accordion) and Jake McLain (tenor saxophone) to round out the sound. In addition to performing with the full band, Copeland and Taubman perform acoustic version of the songs as a duo.

The Recording

The band spent a good portion of 2003 at Dead Aunt Thelmas (Portland, OR) laying down tracks for the debut album "Daffodil". The record highlights Copeland's arranging and production chops (Copeland co-produced the new recording with Josh Millman), as well as his talents as a singer and guitarist. As a result of his song-oriented approach to writing and collaborating with talented musicians over the years, Copeland has grown not only as a musician, but also as a songwriter. "I feel the new recording is my strongest so far, which is a partially a result of playing with so many great players over the years." The diversity of the songs is a definite strong point. From the upbeat pop tune "Daffodil" to Nashville flavors of "Ride" to the nostalgic romanticism of "Long-forgotten World", the recording touches on a variety of themes and musical expressions, with the main focus always on the melodies and songs.