Kopecky Family Band Interview: SXSW 2010

How did your band form?

We started as two people in a practice room at Belmont University in Nashville, TN just wanting to make music. During the fall of 2007, writing sessions grew one member at a time until all of our best friends were playing together. We wrote our entire EP that fall and played a few shows in Nashville before releasing our first EP, The Embraces EP, in November 2008. Since then we have caused quite a stir in Nashville being called "The Biggest Surprise of Next Big Nashville Music Festival," and have toured a substantial amount for a band with four members still in college. We will be releasing another record entitled 'The Disaster' this April 2010. This record is an exciting release for us. We teamed up with producer/engineer combo Russ Long and Chris Grainger who have taken time to understand our sound and help us capture it on a recording. What's next for us? Hopefully a big tour this summer to support our new record.

Describe your sound in your own words.

To start out, we have seven band members: Gabe (Vocals/Guitar), Kelsey (Vocals/Keyboards), Steven (Guitar), Corey (Bass), David (Drums), Ben (Violin) and Markus (Cello). Our music [is] composed, intelligent, well-arranged, textured, energetic, approachable, welcoming and real, toe-tapping, haunting melodies, causing the listener to lean in and listen hard.

What are your musical influences?

Grace Slick, Radiohead, Sigur Ros, Menomena, Pedro the Lion, Al Green, Nick Harmer.

How did you come up with your band name?

[We got it] due to Gabe's speech impediment when meeting Kelsey Kopecky and saying it sounded like a "Polish family band." He kept saying "Kopecky Family Band" over and over. So it just stuck.

What's your biggest vice?

Sibling rivalry.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Per diem envelopes. Every tour, Kelsey decorates an envelope for each band member with an encouraging message. Inside is the spending money for the week.

Even exits Dairy Queen. If there is an even exit along the way to a city and a Dairy Queen on that exit, we will stop. No matter what. Cherry dipped cones are good for the soul.

Bread and peanut/soynut butter. We make band lunches at rest stops with a loaf of bread and peanut butter. Kelsey is allergic to peanuts but welcomes Jelly and soy alternatives. A loaf only lasts about a meal in the Kopecky family.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

No doubt, Hootie & the Blowfish.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

We went to Louisville on a whim since a show fell through in Indiana. We lined up a spur of the moment show at a brewery and even played a show on the street. With no lodging lined up beforehand we ended up asking the audience if anyone wanted seven visitors that night. Turns out one guy with a heart of gold offered his house with open arms. His apartment was great and he was really nice. When we asked what he did for a living he said he "repairs CB radios." Since the demand for CB radio repair is less than intense, we determined he was a successful drug dealer. When we were finally ready to leave Louisville we could not find our van keys anywhere. It was a huge mess. We had to tear everything apart in the search.

What do you hope to gain from your trip to SXSW this year?

More memories, lifelong friends, and a booking agent to get on the road this summer!

What can people expect from your live show?

Markus, our cellist, running around beating drums and taking off his shirt.

What is one thing people should know about your band that they might not know?

Every morning the band will wake up to a text message that includes an inspirational quote or joke and the Nashville weather report. This is Kelsey's way of helping the boys wake up on the right side of the bed. Gabe's glasses fall down his nose without fail every set. David is a tech savvy genius. Markus is one of six kids. Steven lived in the Philippines for most of his life. Kelsey runs eleven miles on the weekends for fun. Ben can play every instrument and everyone's parts, probably with his eyes closed. Corey will teach you a life lesson without saying a thing.