Interview with Copper Thieves

So if you have not guessed by now, it’s officially ”Copper Thieves” week here at MotorCityRocks.  Background - the Copper Thieves may be relatively new on the local Detroit scene but their members are anything but rookies. You may recognize their bass player Christian Doble from his other bands Child Bite and Kiddo or guitarist John Nelson and drummer Andy Roy from New Grenada. We recently spoke with the Copper Thieves to learn more about why they do what they do and their upcoming record release show at The Berkley Front on tonight.

So how did you guys get together?
Our drummer Andy Roy had some song ideas and added me to play guitar and sing. I was like “thanks for the add!” I added Christian to play bass and sing, he replied “thanks for the add, luv the jamz!” We decided to add someone else, and since Tony Rochon (Back In Spades) had played organ on the record, he seemed like a good fit. He has been able to help us play our instruments better.

Tell us about the new record?
The album is called From Way Out to Way Under. We recorded it with Chris Koltay at High Bias. You can download the entire album for free for a limited time. We were lucky to get a song in a Ford commercial which helped pay for stuff. We’re putting out a 7″ to go along with the album; that will be available at the Berkley Front show tonight.

When I listen to the record I hear a lot of elements that are different from some of your other bands.
Christian has an uncle with some industry connections, who told us that if we could build a band with the right sound, there was a good shot we could get the opening slot for Steve Miller at DTE this summer. That didn’t work out, but we were able to score the Bad Company/ Kansas/ Sterling Knights gig at Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort.

I hear some jam elements going on in the album, how does that come through in your live show?
We don’t really go into any extended “jams” live, but the songs do have a lot of riffs. We are proud of the bodacious riffs we write, but the lyrics, hooks and arrangements are just as important.

With your other bands, how much time are you going to be able to focus on Copper Thieves, will you tour?
We took the finances we set aside to tour, and are going to an Arapaho reservation in Wyoming to write our next record.

Have any of you actually stolen any copper before?
There are some stories floating around that may have taken on a life of their own, but we won’t confirm or deny them at this point.