2002 Interview-The Copus Family-The Final On Vinyl Podcast #2

I had another fun talk with Pamela and Randy Copus. Sarah was not available for this one.

It's a great listen music, fans!

Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:12

Hello everybody, this is Keith MuzikMan Hannaleck with the Final on Vinyl Podcast.odcast. And tonight we are interviewing for the second time the band 2002, who are the Copus family, Pamela, Randy, and Sarah. Hello, folks.

Speaker 0:28

Hi, how are you? How are you doing?

Speaker 1 0:31

Good. Good to hear your voice and thanks for coming on board to tell us about the new album that I just listened to and reviewed.

Speaker 0:38

Oh, thank you so much for that review.

Speaker 2 0:40

Yeah, thank you very much. Sarah's not with us tonight. She's she's uh she's got a martial arts thing she's doing, so she couldn't make it here.

Speaker 1 0:49

Martial arts is good. Time traveler, great album. Love the artwork. Uh, what was some of the inspiration behind that? How'd you come up with that title and was the process any different this time around for you when you recorded it?

Speaker 2 1:03

Well, I think um if I recall correctly, I think you named it, didn't you, Pam, uh, the Pimelow, the the uh didn't you name it Time Traveler?

Speaker 1:10

Well, I think we named the song Time Traveler last year, and then when the album started to, you know, grow, it turned into that the whole concept of it because we just got to thinking about, you know, it's as if you no one ever really goes away, you know, they're always with you. They might be in your heart, they might be in your life now, but it's as if they're always there, just maybe just on the other side of the veil, as the Irish say, you know. And so that a lot of songs were inspired by people that that we love, and some of them aren't physically with us now, and some are, and and that you're traveling in time and you're gonna meet these people again along some other pathway.

Speaker 1 1:50

Yeah, I believe that. And uh I also believe that when you're in a d in a deep dream state, uh it's another another level of consciousness and quite possibly, you know, what we consider is heaven, you know, when you actually see people that have passed and you're talking to them, maybe you're right there. I mean, uh, I've considered that.

Speaker 3 2:12

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 2:13

Yeah, it's it's amazing how close it is, you know, at a at all times. It seems like a faraway place sometimes if you think about it, you know, from a certain point of view, but all of those places talking about heaven or whatever we would call it, it's right there. It's right there, just right on the other side of you.

Speaker 1 2:32

There's probably a lot going on that we don't see. That's for sure.

Speaker 2:36

Well no, it's like you know how you run into a friend you haven't seen in years, but you just pick right back up where you left off as if you saw them yesterday.

Speaker 1 2:44

Yeah.

Speaker 2:46

Yeah. It's kinda like that. We we'll always see those people.

Speaker 1 2:49

So a lot of emotion and thought went into this music.

Speaker 2:52

Oh yeah, very much. A lot of inspiration.

Speaker 2 2:56

We lost some friends and close people too, you know, during during the process of making the record too. So that oh you know, that kind of I don't know, added added to the whole thing that we've been talking about, I think. You know, just just uh you know have friends and and loved ones that are you know that that that move on to the next place.

Speaker 3:17

But they're still with you, they're part of you. They're still with you, yeah. That's part of you.

Speaker 2 3:21

Yeah, but we don't want to make it sound like it's sad or anything. It's not. It's it's actually the opposite of that, you know. Um, I just think that we're it's more it's more like because we know that we're still with them, it's it's not sad at all. It's a happy thing because we know that we'll be reunited and rejoined with those people and those you know, all of the important things that are in your life. Even, you know, pets and things like that, someday if you you know, you'll be rejoined with them. I believe everything is is you know, like that.

Speaker 3:55

Well, time is just kind of a made up construct anyway, isn't it?

Speaker 2 3:59

Yeah, well time.

Speaker 4:01

Yeah. Exactly.

Speaker 2 4:03

A made-up construct. I like that, yeah. Um yeah, time is time is it's it's just a thing that we have here, but the but the rest of the universe isn't restricted by it, you know. And when we when we leave this place, we'll be in a d I I believe we'll be in a dimension where time doesn't exist, at least not in the form that it does here.

Speaker 1 4:25

I agree.

Speaker 2 4:26

To have time you have to have distance. You know, and and I believe the place where we're ultimately going, there is no distance.

Speaker 1 4:34

And it's like eternity, they say, right. I mean it's because there's no time, it's like it's just forever, right?

Speaker 4:45

Infinity, yeah.

Speaker 1 4:46

Yeah, forever. Infinity and beyond.

Speaker 3 4:53

Who said that? Buzz white year.

Speaker 2 4:55

Buzz white year. Yeah, we're not that old. We know about Buzz White Year, so Well, I'm glad you're not that old.

Speaker 1 5:03

Jeez, it's even if I remember it. I know I'm older than you guys.

Speaker 5:08

I'm not telling you.

Speaker 1 5:09

I don't know. Probably not. I don't see how you could be.

Speaker 5:14

Sure, we started thirty years ago, but we were like, you know, five, six years old. Yeah, I know.

Speaker 1 5:19

Right, right.

Speaker 5:22

We met in preschool.

Speaker 1 5:24

We did.

Speaker 2 5:25

We're we are thirty thirty-three years now?

Speaker 5:28

Thirty the wings came out in ninety-two.

Speaker 2 5:31

Yeah, so thirty-three years that we've been doing this. Almost thirty-four years, yeah.

Speaker 1 5:36

Wow. Did you play different instruments this time around? Try anything you know, different and experiment?

Speaker 5:43

Oh my gosh, yes.

Speaker 1 5:44

We did.

Speaker 5:45

Ran around to do yeah.

Speaker 2 5:47

Yeah, I d I just have I've I've always been completely intrigued and and wanted to learn something about the theremin. It's it's a it's a fantastic You're familiar with it, right?

Speaker 1 6:01

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 6:03

Yeah. And um, I mean when the first time that I ever heard recordings of Clara Rockmore playing it from gosh back in the 30s and 40s, you know, but it was just but it was still just it was a you know, and of course there's the sci-fi aspect of it, you know, and then the you know, the Beach Boys with their, you know, their vibrations and all that. And there's all those uses that it that it had, but but but at the same time, it is actually capable of of great beauty as far as as as far as musical expressiveness in the hands of somebody that really knows how to work it, uh it it can just be a phenomenally beautiful musical instrument. Um unfortunately it's extremely difficult to learn to play it. To learn to play it well. Um and one of the reasons for the well, probably the main reason for that is because it's really one of the only instruments, or maybe the only instrument, where you're not touching anything at all. Your your hands are moving freely in the air. You have one hand that is controlling the pitch, and there's no settled place, you have to just have the pitch and know where to go and and know how to tune to it. And then and then there's the hand that plays the volume of the instrument. And so trying to trying to play the air, it's it's really a difficult, I mean, aside from air guitar or something like that, you know, trying to play air is really a difficult concept because you're not touching anything. There's not even any place like a violin has no frets, uh, but you still can learn from muscle memory and learn where your your fingers are to go on the fretboard, and and you you learn how to hit those notes. With a theremin, you don't have that physical structure. Yeah, you don't have any way to you're just playing the air and you've just got to you gotta be very careful. And the problem is that you would think, wow, you could probably do that if you would just breathe, you know. But the problem is you're not even allowed to do that. Because when you breathe in front of a theremin, you're moving the pitch up and down when you move your your you know when your your lungs move in and out. Wow. Yeah, so that's why that's why all the great masters that you see playing them, they're they're they're moving their arms, but their upper bodies are very, very still. They're not they're they're like locked, you know, and not breathing. Not breathing, and that's why they sort of purple. So I've I I guess I I I felt like I got good enough, at least with one of the songs I was working on, to to uh to actually put it on this album. And it's the uh it's I think it's number 10. It's Where You Are You Are Where You Are And, you know, sort of a theme with a Theremon taking, you know, with the piano uh as the main instruments. But it's really, in my opinion, it's it's a blues song. And it it if you listen to the structure of it and the way that the the um that the chords move, it's sort of like a cosmic blues song, I sh I guess I should say.

Speaker 1 9:16

Um well I have I have to say I never knew that much about the pheromin. That was a a good educational piece for myself and others that I hope listen to this. And you know, you mentioned that Beach Boy song, uh Good Vibrations. It's always the first one that pops into my head. Did you know it took 90 studio hours to complete that one song?

Speaker 3 9:36

Whoa. Yeah, I didn't know I did I did know that.

Speaker 1 9:40

Um That's crazy.

Speaker 2 9:42

Brian Wilson, Brian Wilson is a genius, and it's also the fact that that it was actually not a theremon that was played in good vibrations. He wanted a theremon. Yeah, no, Brian wanted a theremon and he had one. He bought he purchased one, but he found it too difficult to play. And he wanted to to have something that was, you know, that sound, but something that was easier to play. And so I think he reached out to Bob Moog, the of the Moog Corporation, who made theremans at the time, and asked him, is there anything we can have? And so what they what they did was they made like this little strip, it's like a it's like a ribbon strip that's one continuous pitch going up and down, but it had marked out little keyboard notes on it where you could like go up and so they actually played it on this little slide, it sort of looks like a big long ruler, and that's how they actually played that sound. It's the sound of the Theremon synthesizer, but just not played in the traditional Theremon way. It was played with their fingers on a little cheat.

Speaker 1 10:48

They got the easy button this time, right?

Speaker 2 10:51

You know what, it doesn't make it any less great of a song, you know, and and um I'd love one of the great masterpieces of that era, I think.

Speaker 1 11:01

Oh yeah, definitely. So who who did the artwork and you know, who came up with the concept?

Speaker 11:08

Well, I usually do all the the artwork, um, and I usually kind of get an idea of what I want and then I go looking for it, and it sometimes it takes a very, very, very long time, but I came across that image. Um and uh I I love the colors on that. They're usually hard to reproduce in a physical copy, but it actually printed out really well. I was surprised. But the uh the artwork was actually done by a fellow named Romolo Tavani, he's the one that did the cover. And uh I we purchased the you know the rights to use it, but I don't know, there's just something about that cover, it just kind of bespoke the whole thing. You know, you're in in the clouds, but are you? You're in an ocean, but you're on a ship and you're going somewhere.

Speaker 2 11:48

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 11:49

You know.

Speaker 2 11:49

Right.

Speaker 11:50

Yeah.

Speaker 2 11:51

And then you did all the layout for the entire the all the panels and the layouts and all the artwork.

Speaker 11:57

I've always done all the layouts and the market up and ship it to the factory to be reproduced and stuff.

unknown 12:02

Yeah.

Speaker 2 12:03

We wear all the hats around here. Yeah.

Speaker 1 12:05

Yeah, I know, you guys do everything.

Speaker 2 12:07

So Yeah, we're even mastering our own music now.

Speaker 12:10

It's it's just Yeah, and Randy did this one, this is his first Atmos album. And mixing and everything is all right.

Speaker 2 12:17

Yes, we just we just got it it's amazing. You wouldn't believe it, Keith. We've got we've got eleven speakers in here wrapped around us, and and four of them are like perched up in the air on these contraptions that I made. And I just hope they don't fall and kill me. But but they're they're all up there in this atmosphere. It's like it's like surround used to be. Remember 5.1?

Speaker 1 12:38

Well, this is like Yeah, I had it for a long time. I yeah.

Speaker 2 12:43

Yeah, I still have it. We I still have it upstairs on our little modest little home stereo, but but this is like twice that many speakers, and um it's full and then including speakers over your head, and it's it's fully immersive, and I'll tell you it was it was very complicated uh to learn, very expensive to to get involved with, but but what you can do with it, especially with this kind of music, is really incredible.

Speaker 13:10

Um it it really is you're inside the music.

Speaker 2 13:15

You are. You are and then and then when you know when the voices come up, you know, but they come up behind your head and then they come over the top of your head and that kind of thing, it's it's really Yeah, it's the goosebumps.

Speaker 13:26

Yeah, it does.

Speaker 2 13:26

It gives you it gives you a different perspective on that kind of music and how just inside of it you can be.

Speaker 1 13:32

Well, I'm sure. I'm sure. So when are you guys gonna do vinyl? I'm still waiting.

Speaker 13:38

Oh, I got asked that yesterday. Oh dear.

Speaker 2 13:42

I know.

Speaker 13:49

Time to make a vinyl album.

Speaker 2 13:51

I just hope we can sell more than four copies of it, you know. That's the that's the only thing. It's just vinyl is another you know you know, it's another thing to do because you have to remaster for it and and you have to do certain you have to do certain things to the music before you can have it put on vinyl, or you could have one of those where the you know the needle skates off and it doesn't work.

Speaker 1 14:14

Well, what what you could do is the pre-order thing. And people have to have to know that it's gonna be months before they get it. Sometimes six months out. But if you get enough pre-orders and get that money up front, then you're able to do it and make a little money, then your fans get the vinyl. You know, ever think of it that way.

Speaker 2 14:35

Oh wow. If it I mean, seriously, even if we could just break even with vinyl, we would probably do it.

Speaker 14:41

That might be interesting. Just because it would be, you know, we could poll the people, you know, put a newsletter out or put it on a website and just take a poll. Would would you want this?

Speaker 2 14:49

And that's a good idea, right? See how many people would say, yeah, I think that'd be interesting, you know. Of course, it's the the greatest thing about vinyl, in my opinion. I mean, it sounds good and all that, uh I guess, but the greatest thing about it, I think, is is the the fact that you have twelve inches of artwork. That is so cool. I mean, don't you think those days?

Speaker 15:11

I mean, I still have all mine.

Speaker 2 15:13

Yeah, you should she still have you still have a big box of them up there, yeah. Boxes of them up there, and and they're in perfect condition because that's the way she would treat them. Mine would become Frisbee's after two weeks, you know, but but uh but she kept really good care of her, so they're still up there.

Speaker 3 15:29

Oh yes.

Speaker 1 15:30

Maybe you need to be inspired and take a few out and give them a spin.

Speaker 3 15:34

Yeah.

Speaker 1 15:34

Yeah, we need to. Think about what this artwork would look like on an LP the front of an LP.

Speaker 15:45

Yeah.

Speaker 1 15:45

It would be great.

Speaker 15:46

It'd be hang on the wall, wouldn't it?

Speaker 2 15:48

Yes, it would. I mean on the little C D here, you know, and I'm I'm thinking how great it how glorious it would be in the you know on a s on on a on a vinyl disc.

Speaker 15:59

Maybe it's time.

Speaker 2 16:01

I don't know. I I guess we have to be the one to do it with.

Speaker 16:04

We'll have to ask our new distributor.

Speaker 1 16:06

Yeah. Are you folks on LinkedIn by any chance?

Speaker 16:10

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1 16:11

Uh do a poll there for free.

Speaker 16:15

Oh. That's interesting.

Speaker 1 16:18

Yeah.

Speaker 16:20

Okay. We've given us a lot of homework, please.

Speaker 1 16:24

Just some food for thought. I would l I would just love to hear it in vinyl. You know, and you talk about an immersive experience. For me, that's what vinyl is. It's it's the total experience. I mean, I listen to your stuff on these little speakers, and it sounds amazing. And I was like, oh, wow, I can't imagine what this would be like on vinyl, cranked up. It would just fill the whole room and that would just disappear for a while, you know?

Speaker 3 16:53

Well, thank you.

Speaker 1 16:54

Well, thank you.

Speaker 2 16:55

I appreciate that. Yeah, we we listen to um, you know, all of our stuff is digital, of course, but the but but the stuff that you hear that you hear on this album, it all came out of a console. It came out of an analog console with analog high-end gear attached to it that it's coming out of. Analog instruments and uh and and I mean even even the like the sample stuff we play are strings that we've there are libraries that we've composed that we've put together. There's the voices that we've put together and done ourselves. Yeah, so it's it's all we're very we're very analog oriented here, even though the of course in our modern day, you know, digital is the way we deliver everything, and I don't have a problem with that because I came from the tape day. Pam and I both came from the tape days. And you just I'm I'm sorry, digital is so much better when you make when you know when you create music. Uh all that old tape and stuff was just so problematic. People forget. They get a lot of things.

Speaker 17:56

The first few the first few albums we had to actually put on splice, you know, record on reels, put them on a splicing block, get a razor blade, you know, move things around. It was like that.

Speaker 2 18:06

Yeah. We'd put them on a razor blade and put the little repro head on and woo, ooh, ooh, ooh, rock it into place and then mark it. And cut it. Cut it. Every time you would cut it, you know, you were cutting a little piece of your soul because if you got it wrong, it there was no uh you're gonna have to re-record the whole piece now, you know.

Speaker 3 18:24

Oh yes.

Speaker 2 18:25

Well, oh my god, I can't imagine. Especially in the the big videos, we'd work on two-inch tape, you know, the two-inch wide tape, you know, like with twenty-four tracks of stuff that the the group and or you overdubbed for months, you know, and here you are cutting it with a razor blade, you know, probably late at night. You know. And you know, it's just but I'm glad those days are over. If we if we cut something like that up late at night on our computer, we just come back in and go get a copy of tomorrow morning, you know. But but yeah, delivering on vinyl, uh that that is a great thing. That's something we have to look at.

Speaker 19:06

Yeah, why not? Yeah.

Speaker 1 19:08

And you know what? I'll listen to it on vinyl and I'll use this review, but I have my thoughts about the vinyl, so you get a second review, and I'll just pop it up there on my vinyl site.

Speaker 3 19:18

Oh, okay.

Speaker 2 19:20

It might be worth it just making a vinyl, just press one for you.

Speaker 1 19:26

Yeah, you're too kind, really.

Speaker 3 19:29

No, I'm not sure.

Speaker 1 19:30

It's always fun talking to you folks. It really is. And um, I always appreciate your time and your music, of course, and uh look forward to the next chapter with you folks. And I uh keep me uh updated. I would like to know if you actually do um put the vinyl out. I would love to hear it.

Speaker 19:49

We will look into it.

Speaker 1 19:50

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 19:51

Yeah.

Speaker 1 19:52

Okay. Well, thanks for being on the file on vinyl again, and we look forward to talking again. Thank you so much.

Speaker 19:59

It's so good to catch up with you. Thanks.

Speaker 1 20:01

You too. Take care. Bye.

Speaker 20:03

You too. Bye. Bye bye.