Copy Haho
BIOGRAPHY
Just outside of the city of Aberdeen sits a small town called Stonehaven, a place which, under Google scrutiny, is easily identified by its New Year’s ‘fireball swinging’ party – a ceremony in which huge, burly Scottish men swing huge globe-like burning maces around their huge burly heads (Seriously – it looks absolutely nuts, far better than any New Years I’ve ever had - www.stonehavenfireballs.co.uk/). Other than that, the only possible claim to notoriety this town may have comes in the shape of porcupine-sharp melodic indie-poppers Copy Haho (Brit. caw-pee ha-hoe).
In a our current post-structuralist musical climate of pimping, profiteering and, err…pumping, the signified term “Indie” has become so fully dislodged from it’s initial signifier, “A Band/Artist who releases material through an Independent record company”, that the word has been sliced brutally open, spread wide on a silver plate, injected with saline solution and plastered grotesquely across the faces of certain mainstream, major label acts.
Copy Haho, however, are Indie in the bestest and most truest sense of the word. They recently put out an ace 7” single on Too Pure (to buy click here), but they still remain mind-boggingly unsigned/unabused. Musically they write skewed pop songs that sit at a delightfully oblique angle, kind of like trying to keep your body upright while walking sideways along a slope. Single note guitar lines wind and twist like solid smoke over gently overdriven strummed guitars, while singer Joe Hearty’s playful lyric’s ground the songs, bringing humour and cheer into what could otherwise slip into formulaic self-indulgent territory. Track ‘You Are My Coal Mine’ is a joyous thwomp of an old school indie toe-tickler, and features the brilliant line ‘You are my coal mine/I am the dirt in your nails/you’re the dirt in my mine…I am the sh*t on your shoe/You’re the sh*t on mine.”
Copy Halo are also key protagonists of the virulently DIY ethic that has been spreading across the U.K., playing shows with Good Shoes , Chin up, Chin up as well as a number of dates with fellow scots Danananananaykroyd, including a floor-destroying gig played especially for RockFeedback. Clearly the hard-working, heavy-gigging mindset has been paid off, creating a Hornet-nest buzz of interest around the four fellows, playing a session for Huw Stephens at Maida Vale studios (See clips below). The band are embarking on a mammoth tour of the U.K, hitting a new town/city every night with a barely a day off. Go show your support.
TOUR DATES
16 Nov – Sugarmill, with Good Shoes – Stoke
17 Nov – The Cellar – Oxford
18 Nov – Central Station with Good Shoes – Wrexham
19 Nov – The Cockpit 2 with Good Shoes – Leeds
21 Nov – Priory with Good Shoes – Doncaster
22 Nov – The Harley – Sheffield
23 Nov – Fibbers with Good Shoes – York
24 Nov – King Tuts w/ Good Shoes – Glasgow
25 Nov – The Doghouse w/ Good Shoes – Dundee
26 Nov – Electric Circus w/Good Shoes – Edinburgh
27 Nov – Digital w/Good Shoes – Newcastle
7 Dec – The Basement – York
8 Dec – Brudenell Social Club – Leeds
9 Dec – Ruby Lounge – Manchester
10 Dec – Buffalo Bar – Cardiff
11 Dec – Lexington – London
12 Dec – Jam – Brighton
13 Dec – Hamptons, Deli – Southhampton
14 Dec – Victoria – Birmingham
15 Dec – Upstairs @ The Garage (Too Pure Christmas Party!) – London
16 Dec – Boiler Room – Guildford
17 Dec – The Royal - Derby
NEWS –
As well as dragging their tired musical feet across most of the country, the band also have a 7” single out on Too Pure, entitled ‘Wrong Direction’ (Buy here). You can also buy their first E.P. Bred for Skills and Magic released through Big Scary Monsters here.
LINKS
All the usual blurb, the band have a wordpress site/ blog at copyhaho.wordpress.com which is updated quite regularly with Copy Haho news, but they’re heading off on tour, so if you want to find out when they’re near you, or even to grab free guestlist passes to their shows, join their Twitter feed. Oh, and of course there is their MySpace and Facebook, if you’re that way inclined, and some good little interviews here and there. You can buy their music too, if you want to, which is something we encourage.
VIDEOS –
words and thoughts by Samuel Smith