It's A Long Way To The Top If You Wanna Rock n' Roll

By Joe Kavanagh

With the exception of acting, perhaps no other industry is so adept at eating its own young than the music business.

For every one act that makes it, there are literally thousands of souls who have suffered the ignominy of having their dreams and aspirations ground up in front of their very eyes, optimism turned into cynicism until even that crystallizes into the type of bitterness that can leave permanent scars.

It is one thing to be told straight from the beginning that you are no use, but, ironically, in many other cases where the act actually shows promise, the process between making your first public performance and calling it quits can feel like death by a thousand cuts.

The road to rock royalty is littered with the carcasses of talented acts that failed for reasons that were often nothing to do with their music.

Poor management, bad chemistry, unfortunate timing or even a simple lack of luck are sometimes the only barriers between success and failure and sometimes it is easier to be way off the mark than almost good enough, because when something is close enough to taste, it is also close enough to cause damage.

Encouraged by positive feedback, flirtatious industry folk and friends who implore them to "stick with it", these acts can take years, even decades to travel the long road to oblivion, picking themselves up like some battered boxer convinced that he can still throw that knockout punch that will win the title.

Kopek are one such boxer, having earned their stripes over a six-year career that has seen them enjoy false dawns aplenty as they cut their teeth in everywhere from 50,000-seater arenas to juke joints in the deep south.

Kopek, however, pack a punch that is truly potent and it finally appears that they will get their shot at the title.

Bassist, Brad Kinsella and drummer, Shane Cooney grew up on the same road in Dublin, and spent much of their time jamming together or in various other permutations, but in late 2001 the pair decided that they would form their own band and placed an ad in a local music store.

By pure luck, guitarist and singer, Dan Jordan, happened to see the ad and within weeks the trio began rehearsing assiduously under the name, Bloom.

Realizing early on that they had something special, they recorded an album, The Landing, while still playing under the name Bloom and, despite only passing it out to friends, fans and close associates, a copy somehow made its way across the desk of a journalist at UK newspaper The Guardian, prompting the scribe to notably refer to it as "just the shot in the arm necessary to kill off the Louis Walsh byproducts stunting the growth of Irish music today".

The sentence, however, proved somewhat off the mark as Louis Walshe's poisonous pop continued to rule the musical roost in the early noughties, along with a national penchant for simpering singer/songwriters.

Having already undergone a name-change to Kopek, the lads also decided that an address change was in order, given the adverse musical landscape in Ireland, so the trio relocated to Amsterdam, where they worked "in greenhouses and on music".

Again, fate would play a hand in their career, as an upstairs neighbor listened heard Jordan playing and singing one day and was mightily impressed by what he heard. The neighbor turned out to be a musician himself and he happily offered to let the band use his own band's rehearsal space.

He also offered to let Kopek use his campervan in case they wished to play any further afield and within a short time they began to travel to other cities playing in clubs and even at house parties.

After two years of this peripatetic, beatnik lifestyle, they brought their time on the continent to a close, but instead of returning to Ireland, they set off for the US, setting up camp there in 2004.

What followed was a mirror image of their time in Europe as they began playing venues across the country in such esteemed musical hotbeds as Nashville, Austin and Philadelphia.

They even managed to play in Johnny Depp's Viper Room and the late-great CBGB's, attracting a couple of high-powered admirers along the way.

Chief among them was Tom Petty's producer, Richard Dodd who took the band into his studio where they recorded a couple of tracks that would emerge on a later EP titled, Subhuman Lovesick Blues.

They also came to the attention of Kid Rock's former manager, Tommy Valentino, who signed the band to his company in the hope of landing them a deal with a major label but despite initial high-hopes, the latter deal failed to materialize and the band made their way back to Ireland in 2005.

Almost by accident, the three-piece decided to enter a neighborhood "Battle of the Bands" that was the local heat of a much bigger international competition.

They duly won and continued to win, eventually ending up in the London final where they faced stiff competition from bands from as far away as the US, Ukraine, Jamaica and Thailand, among many others.

In front of judges that included Sex Pistols' guitarist, Glen Matlock and U2 producer, Steve Lilywhite, the band's performance saw them crowned winners of the Global Battle of the Bands, walking away with $100,000 prize money and a world tour, whose highlight was a performance at Mexico's Zocalo Festival, in front of a crowd of 50,000 people.

Upon their return to the US as part of the tour, they also took time off to record several tracks with acclaimed producer, Danny Saber, after he had personally asked to work with them after hearing one of their demos.

Kopek again returned to Ireland in 2006 and far from resting on their laurels, continued to gig up and down the country with a show that manages to retain an utterly raw edge while simultaneously sounding highly-polished.

Anyone lucky enough to have caught the band live will testify to the fact that there are few bands on the island, up to and including the biggest names, that can hold a candle to Kopek's live act.

Brimming with energy, bite and pop-sensibilities albeit with an edge, Kopek is one of the most compelling live acts that I have had the pleasure of watching in Ireland, armed with songs that bristle with ideas, innovation and guile.

Also one could not talk about Kopek without mentioning Jordan's huge, gravelly-throated voice, which is certainly one of the best in all of Irish rock, effortlessly impassioned and blessed with a distinctness that immediately marks the band out as special when put together with a sound that incorporates influences from punk music, heavy rock and even club music.

Kopek are currently in Kilkenny putting the final touches on their long-awaited debut album, working with acclaimed producer Leo Pearson (U2, Elvis Costello) as they continue to do things entirely on their own terms.

Having recently caught them live and listening to some of the new material, it's not a stretch to say that Kopek are about to release one of the best Irish rock albums of the decade, packed with power, meaning and more than a little menace as they fuse big beats, with nasty guitars, fat basslines and Jordan's compelling voice. It may have been a long journey but Kopek are about to arrive.