An Interview With KOPPS On New Music and More!

Learn more about KOPPS in the following All Access interview:

Thanks for your time! What is on tap for the rest of your day?

Prepping for our upcoming party! (Sat, March 9 in Rochester, NY)

Now that a new year has started, what musical goals does this band have for 2019? What are you most proud of about 2018? Do any of you make any New Years Resolutions?

We will be releasing a lot of new music that is finished. Possibly an EP or album – 2018 was a great year for us. We released two tracks and two videos – one for “Hott” and one of “Baby I’m Dead Inside” and people really seemed to really be into both.  We also toured with our friends in Joywave, and wrote a bunch of new stuff.

Can you recall the moment when you thought you could be in this group together? Was it hard to think of a name that you could agree on?

At first the project was just two of us and the name was kind of a joke – as the project got more serious we added new members for the live show until finally the lineup was in it’s final form of today.

How do you think your hometowns have influenced the sound and how you all carry yourselves in this group?

Definitely – All of our stuff has a little bit of a darkness to it, whether it’s the lyrical content or the sounds chosen – and I think growing up in a very cold, economically failing community probably had a subconscious hand in that. (Our town houses Kodak – which we all watched crumbling while growing up)

How has your various musical backgrounds helped shape the sound of this band?

We always joke that we don’t really have a genre and it’s hard to place us in a box – and we happen to all have very diverse tastes, so I don’t think there is any surprise in that, really. If something is good – it’s good. It doesn’t matter the genre and it can be inspiring to us during our writing process.

How do you think that you have grown as a band since forming? What has remained the same?

I think we have come to learn the ins and outs of each other’s personalities, which is something I don’t think enough musicians talk about. It’s almost like this sort of sibling situation – and it has to be navigated or dysfunction can definitely happen. I think we all know each others triggers and moods that come and go – and I think it takes a pretty long time to become more keenly aware of.

Let’s talk about your newest single and video for “Virtual Reality”? What was the inspiration for this song? What was it like making the music video for it? How creatively involved were you with the making of it?

Virtual Reality is basically a song about online stalking someone you’re into. And in that way, we think it’s pretty relatable to basically everyone. We are all creeps, let’s just face it. The song points to how that behavior isn’t healthy while simultaneously taking a non-chalant attitude toward it- which I think as a society we are collectively engaging in right now.

We shot the video in LA with BearPunch productions which was great! They understood the vision for the video perfectly and worked with us on the treatment- we have created many of our own videos so we prefer to be involved in the creative process as much as we can be.

Do you have plans to release more new music soon and a full album of new songs?

We will be releasing a compilation of some sort in 2019!

Generally, how do you all go about writing your music? Do you write together or separately?

I am always writing independently, trying to think of concepts or creating lyric clusters if I think they have potential – I know Kyle sometimes also brings a concept to the table. A couple of us also at times will present a chunk of a track if we think it might work as a starting place. Whole songs are definitely a team effort, though.

Where do you think you are all happiest- in the studio recording new music, on stage performing or elsewhere?

I love performing, I think it’s as much a part of who we are as the songs- our live show is very important to us and I think if you haven’t seen us you can’t truly understand the bands personality fully. Of course, creating is equally as fulfilling, just in a much different way- it’s more cerebral and analytical whereas performing for me is a moment of auto pilot, let go, let my emotions guide my body spontaneously thing and I can’t really get that anyplace else

Where can fans see you perform next? What do you think makes an ideal show for this group?

A large stage. I love a large stage because I like to run around a lot and have room to flail limbs without the fear of hitting my bandmates!! We are throwing a Y2K themed party Saturday, March 9th in Rochester, NY and will be performing!!! We are the only band playing and the rest of the night will be a dance party withsome of our friends who are great DJs.

Do you find that all of social media and keeping up with your fans has gotten so overwhelming? Or do you rely heavily on others to take care of that for the band? Which platform would you say that you enjoy engaging with the most?

We are completely self sufficient in pretty much all respects and that includes socials. The pressure to “stay relevant” and churn out content is REAL and can be overwhelming at times, but I also enjoy expressing who we are in that way and mixing in things that I just think are funny or things that I’m charged up about happening in the world. But yes. When I’m rolling around on the floor of my foyer playing sexy to get a pic for Instagram, sometimes it can feel a little like, “WTF…why? …which is the reason I also try to show myself in REAL environments as well. Glamour is not a 24/7 business and even the most famous people on earth, (yes Beyoncé, too) get home, whip theirs bras off, rip their wigs off and call it a fucking night. Lest the public forget !

We are currently living through a very trying and politically charged time right now so I am curious to know how you all think being musicians and in this band still gives you the most joy in life today? Do you find that your music is an escape to all the current events? 

It is, and I think that’s the strongest message we are trying to convey to fans. You have limited time on this earth and some of us live  in places that allow us the privilege to be able to let go for a second and enjoy art, and try to suck some joy out of a world where really horrific things continue to happen everywhere. We tend to poke fun at a lot of societal stuff in our visuals and our music, so it’s not all completely surface if you take a closer look. 99 percent of the small stressors we get wrapped up in simply do not matter. Most of it won’t matter by tomorrow. So sweat it out, forget about it, fucking dance while your legs work.

What musicians would you love to work with in the future? What artists have really been inspiring this group and your music since day 1?

I would love a collab with Cupcakke. She’s really ballsy with her music. I love the Sophie/ag Cooke, charlixcx crew as well and have since Charli released Nuclear Seasons… but honestly who doesn’t? Then to take it way back- Missy Elliot is a genius as a producer and artist, and she was always ahead of her time…that collab would make my life

What do you hope is the message of your music? What do you hope people continue to take away from your songs?

Above^ repeat!

Is there anything else that you would like to share with our readers about this group?

We are here to entertain y’all, like it or not.