Copehill Down - Interview - PETE'S ROCK NEWS AND VIEWS.COM

Interview with Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (http://petesrocknewsandviews.com)

PD: What type of artist are you?

CHD: We’re an aggessive and emotionally charged, South Wales based metalcore band of five members. We’re a happily independent and very ambitious unsigned band.

PD: Tell us the brief history of yourself.

CHD: Neil (guitar), Dan (vocals) and James (guitar) have known each other since around 2011, which was when they were in another Newport based band together. Rhys (drums) came on board in 2018 and then Dave (bass) just last year. Copehill Down started as just a two person home recording project, consisting of Neil on guitar and Vocalist, Dan. After starting out as more of a hard rock band with clean vocals, our heavier, metalcore-based sound has gradually evolved over the last few years.

PD: Who are your musical and non-musical influences?

CHD: The common influence for all of us is certainly metalcore, right from the first wave of bands like Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying and Unearth right up until present day bands like Landmarks, Polaris and Spiritbox. We’re all also into different progressive, djent styles and that finds its way into the writing here and there. And of course, the classic metal of the 80s and 90s including Metallica and Iron Maiden, which inspire a lot of our riffs. All of these bands have helped us to grow into the band we are. Our favourite bands are:

Rhys (drums) – Meshuggah

Dave (bass) – While She Sleeps and SikTh

Dan (vocals) – August Burns Red

Neil (guitar) – Unearth and After The Burial

James (guitar) – Monuments and Parkway Drive

PD: What are your dreams and goals?

CHD: We’d love to play festivals, our aim is to get on to the festival circuit. We’d love to do the circuits in Europe, play the big German festivals. We would also love to support bands we really admire like August Burns Red. They’re a band we’ve loved for a long time and have a huge amount of respect for. They’ve worked really hard and crafted their art and sound and they’ve just kept on slowly rising up the ranks to become the respected band they are today. They’ve just persevered, and they seem like cool guys! Also got a lot of respect for Parkway Drive, they’ve literally done it all themselves, the tenacity that takes is something to be admired!

PD: Who writes your songs, what are they about?

CHD: Musically it’s a mix of riffs or melodies just coming together whilst playing, a hook or something might just form and then riffs are built around those. In terms of lyrics, we write about social commentary a lot, basically things that p**s us off and those things we have to deal with in every day life. For example, Type I is about the power structures in society and wanting to be independent of them. Other themes we’ve recently written about are all hinging on the decline of human civilisation. So yeah, cheery stuff ha ha!

PD: How do you promote your band and shows?

CHD: As an independent band we do pretty much everything ourselves. We record, mix and master our own songs, create all our own artwork and merch, and even shoot our own videos. All the money we save by doing this is put into online promotions including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube advertising. We also network in various metalcore Facebook groups and run a curated Spotify playlist which helps us to find new bands so we can promote each other. We’ve also recently partnered with a music PR company to help us boost our profile.

PD: What do you think about downloading music online?

CHD: It’s great that getting music out there has never been easier and that it’s now so easy to access music across world-wide streaming platforms and iTunes etc. But making money from streams is pretty much impossible, unless you have millions of listeners. The game has completely changed which opens up opportunities for independent bands who no longer require the large scale music production capabilities previously associated mith major record labels.

PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?

CHD: Mariana’s Trench by August Burns Red! The mesmerizing combination of beautiful, soaring melodies and brutal energy makes this song an absolute master piece in our opinion. This song manages to stand out among an incredible back catalogue. Truly inspirational!

PD: What are some of your pet peeves?

CHD: Haha! Way too many to discuss here, we are pretty easily annoyed by most things plus we don’t want to give away any of our upcoming lyrics and inspiration. Let’s just say we thrive on being p***ed off generally!

PD: What is your proudest moment in music?

CHD: So far, the release of our latest single –Akiya. It’s arguably our most aggressive and technical song so far and represents the end result of experimenting with our sound over the last couple of years. The song pulls on loads of influences and we’re really happy with the pretty unique sound we’ve landed on.

PD: So what are you working on at the moment?

CHD: We’re currently working very hard on an EP which is going really well! We’re aiming for an August release for the EP with two more singles released leading up to then. Our focus is on recording for the next few months but then we’re hoping to book some live shows and festivals around the UK later in the year!

PD: What music have you available online and where can we buy it from?

CHD: We’ve released five singles so far which are available on all major streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music and YouTube Music.