KOOPA INTERVIEW

How did the band get together?

Joe:  It just happened.  Stu & Ollie are brothers (and have been since Ollie was born!) and it was obvious they would always end up in a band together.  Stu and I have been best mates for about 6 years and it was clear from then that us three would form a band as soon as Ollie was ready… or at least the world was ready for him!  We didn’t form the band to take over the world though.  We just wanted to play music, even if it’s only us three that hear it.

Stu:  Joe used to play guitar along with Ollie and we tried various different bass players, but it just didn’t work.  They were either the wrong style or not committed enough… some were even too good!  We decided it was best if Joe or Ollie played bass and stick to the three of us.

Ollie:  Joe offered to play bass as he thought it’d look better!  A bass is bigger than a guitar and Joe is bigger than me, so in makes sense!  We haven’t looked back since!

How long have you been a proper band for?

Stu:  As we are now, about a year.

Ollie:  We started ‘properly’ in about August 2003, but we were a 4-piece then and as we said, Joe played guitar.  The bass player at the time didn’t really fit in, as he was too good!  After a month or so of trying out different bassists, but with no luck, that’s when we had to decide that either me or Joe should play bass and we’d be a three-piece.

Joe:  Yeah, we tossed for it and I came first!  HA!

Where did you get the name KOOPA from?

Joe:  From Stu and Ollie’s surname.

Ollie:  But we changed the spelling.

Joe:  Really?  I thought that’s how you spell Cooper?

Stu:  Dyslexic idiot!

Was it fun shooting your video?

Joe:  Hell Yeah!  It was amazing!  Totally surreal, but amazing.  We were treated like proper rock stars!

Stu:  I think Joe liked the make-up!  Seriously though, the video is gonna look sooo good!  We all can’t wait!

Who writes your songs?

Stu:  I do!

Ollie:  HA!  Yeah right!  We all do I guess.

Joe:  At the start we pretty much only played Ollie’s songs as the ones I had at the time weren’t really right for Koopa and Ollie’s songs are the tits!

Stu:  Now we just use my songs!

Joe:  Ok Stu!  There are still a few more of Ollie’s songs in the set, but there’s also a load of mine in there too.  But then again, all songs are written together in the end.

Ollie:  Yeah, one of us brings a new song into the studio and we all put our ideas into to it make it better.  Sometimes it can change quite a bit.

Joe:  Also, we never tell each other what to play, so we all have our own input anyway.  Stu’s written some songs recently too, that we’re gonna stick in the set.  He writes them all on a keyboard and then sits down with me and Ollie and we make them into songs.  So I guess your answer is all of us!

Stu:  But mainly me!

Ollie:  Shut up dick!  We do have about another 50 ‘new’ songs between us that no one’s ever heard.

Where do you get the ideas for your songs from?

Joe:  Everywhere and anywhere.  Sometimes I’ll just come up with a riff or chord progression and gradually turn it into a song.  Then you have to add lyrics and I sit down and say ‘What do I want to say today?’.  Or, you just come up with a vocal-line or a melody and you build the song around that, that feels a bit more natural to me as I usually sing a line off the top of my head and write the song on that subject.

Ollie:  Yeah, the same for me.  Sometimes I can just be bored though and say ‘I think I’ll write a song’ and see what happens.

Stu:  Also, sometimes things happen when we’re together and one of us says, we gotta write a song about that!  Like one of our new ones called ‘Lost in Madrid’.

What is your favourite song you've recorded?

Joe:  It’s always fun recording, so it’s hard to choose.  We much prefer recording when we’re doing it all our selves though, that’s when we’re most productive.

Stu:  I like playing a lot of our newer stuff and I love playing 500 Miles, which is the only cover we do.  The Proclaimers rock!

What are your musical influences and which bands/singers inspire you?

Joe:  There’s been loads during my life from The Beatles to Guns N’ Roses, but I’d have to say some of the American punk/pop bands like Blink (182) and Green Day are most influential for Koopa.  There’s also hints of British bands in there, from punk bands like the Sex Pistols, Sham 69 etc, but some people have even mentioned Supergrass and The Jam!

Ollie:  We’re inspired by a lot of stuff though, not just punk.  I like some heavier stuff and Joe & Stu like all different types/

Stu:  Exactly.  Big influences on me are more kind of funky stuff like the Chili’s, Stevie Wonder and Dave Matthews etc.  We also love a bit of Paul Simon and Neil Finn.

How does it feel to know your single is being released?

Joe:  Great!  We can’t wait.  I must admit, we do feel we slightly deserve it as we’ve worked so f**kin’ hard this year, but it’s still well exciting.

Ollie:  Even though we’ve shot the video for it, we haven’t actually recorded proper single.  We played along to the demo at the video shoot.  But we’re dead confident the final single will sound ace!

Stu:  Yeah, we’ve booked the studio we could find and we’re having it mastered in Hollywood by the same guy who mastered Blink(182)’s ‘Take Off Your Pants and Jacket’ album.  Also, we got permission from The Proclaimers to use 500 Miles as the B-Side.  It’ll be slick!

If you had to choose, music or girls?!

Joe:  Hmmm.  I’d have to say music.  After all, if you play music, you usually get the girls anyway!

Stu:  You won’t though, you’re too fat!

Ollie:  Yeah!  And wouldn’t you prefer boys anyway!?

What is the best thing about being in a band?

Joe:  All of it!  Mainly we just love to play, whether in rehearsal, or at gigs, we just wana perform.  As we get on so well we also enjoy the travelling and stuff.  We’ve seen almost the whole of the UK and every week we go on a new trip to places we wouldn’t normally go to if we weren’t playing.  We’ve also met some great people.  We’re already having great fun, whatever happens in the future.

Stu:  Exactly.  And can I say, the tea and coffee making facilities have been first-class!

Ollie:  Don’t forget the trouser presses!

Joe:  Hosenbugler!  (That’s trouser press in German).

What’s your best Koopa gig so far?

Ollie:  Chelmsford Civic Theatre!  The audience were great, which makes a massive difference.

Joe:  Yeah Chelmsford was ace.  We also had a great gig at the Carling Academy in Liverpool.

Ollie:  Yeah, that was cool.

Stu:  And the gig with Ned’s (Atomic Dustbin) in Sheffield.  Where was that?

Joe:  The Boardwalk.

Stu:  Yeah, sold out wasn’t it?  Mental crowd!

What do you like to do on the road, when not playing?

Joe:  We’re quite boring!

Stu:  Yeah, we just chill.

Ollie:  We like to sit in the dressing room, hotel room or the van, playing the Playstation or watching DVD’s.

If you could be in any other band, which would it be & why?

Stu:  I like what I’m doing now more than anything I’ve done before.  I wouldn’t want to change at the moment.  If I had to choose, I’d say I’d like to be in Blink 182 or the Chili Peppers, but it wouldn’t be fair on them as I’m no Travis or Chad.

Ollie:  You’re right there…. Get the drum machine Joe!

Joe:  I’d like to play with the Foo Fighters.  I don’t think I’d want to join them as I wouldn’t get to watch them play then, but to do a song with them would be amazing.

Ollie:  I intend to be Cliff Richards’s guitarist!

What do you think of reality shows like 'The X Factor'?

Joe:  They’re OK.  They have a massive audience and people love to watch it.  Us included if we’re honest.  Although the show is usually bigger than the product it produces.

Ollie:  I have full respect for Simon Cowell though.  Yeah sure, he doesn’t find artist who play the sort of music I like, but love him or hate him, he makes sh*t loads of money.

Stu:  What happened to that fat bird?

Ollie:  Didn’t Joe sleep with her?

Joe:  Shhhhh!

Dare I mention Busted?

Joe:  If you want!

Ollie:  This is where we’re meant to get angry right!?  Ok, so we don’t listen to them, or really approve of the way they’ve got where they are, but the have a market and like X-Factor, sell loads of CDs, so you can’t knock them for that.  Even if their playing ability isn’t that good!

Stu:  We’re not bothered by them, they’re a different style to us; more pop, no doubt they’d say that themselves.  I think they have a short shelf life.  I’m sure their personal hygiene is first-class though!

What would you like to happen with Koopa in the future?

Stu:  I just wana play drums for a living.

Joe:  That’s about it!  We’d like to earn enough cash so money isn’t problem and we can just concentrate on writing good songs and playing well.

Ollie:  To be millionaires would be nice.  I think we owe our parents a few quid!

What are your dreams?

Joe:  I wana play football at Highbury.

Ollie:  What about the new stadium.

Joe:  That’d do!

Stu:  Joe dreams about men really!

Where will you be in 5 years?

Joe:  To the day?  I couldn’t be sure. I’d have to check the diary.

Ollie:  At a guess….  Kilmarnock?

Stu:  I’ll be at number 1 with my latest solo single, ‘Stu is the King!’.

And the last word?

Joe:  The future’s bright, the future’s Koopa!

Stu:  Ha!  Yeah and buy our single!

Ollie:  Please!

Joe:  Although the last word of this interview is prognosis!

11/01/2005