Kings and Queens: An Interview with Coopertheband
Cooper Brown never wanted to be a solo artist. From taking
drum lessons in high school to watching friends practice chords and repeating
it on a borrowed guitar, he knew that music was his career path – but with the
help of some friends.
Brown studied music and songwriting at Belmont University in
Nashville, Tennessee before moving back to his hometown of Jackson in 2014.
Although he was playing shows on his own, through networking he met Phoebe
Scott, Will Kwasigroh, Matt Hammonds, and Joseph Kyle.
Scott remembers playing at a dive bar in Jackson. She was 15
years old at the time, so when Brown flagged her down after her set and asked
her to join his band, she had to get her parent’s permission. With a yes from
mom and a cautious dad who attended the first few practice sessions, Scott was
just one of the puzzle pieces that made Coopertheband.
“After a few practices and time spent getting to know each
other, we quickly became more than a band,” Brown said. “We became very close
friends and family, each of us believing in the band as a viable career option
and what it could become.”
The name Coopertheband stuck for a few reasons. Besides
wanting to steer clear of a full-on solo career, Brown said the single word
represents the closeness they are to one another. Despite joking about the band
name, Scott agrees that the name represents all of them.
“The rest of band likes the say that Cooper is just a
narcissist so we’re just “theband”, but really Cooper is just a seasoned
professional and the actual backbone of the band. He earned his spot at the
front of the name, and the front of the band,” she said.
The band’s latest release, Kingdoms, began as a concept album based on the life of David from
the Bible, which is a follow up to their last release, Kings. As they were going through the writing process and comparing
David’s life experiences to their own, the concept of the songs became more of
an exploration of the human experience. While they all connected with David and
thought his story was important, they began to write their way through their
own experiences – marriage, death, relationships – and it became more about
what they wanted to say versus what David had already said.
Songs like “Home” and “Collarbones” took a single day to
write while songs like “Undignified” and “Abigail” bordered on months. Despite
the ups and downs, their Crowdfunding campaign succeeded and gave them the
opportunity to write, record, produce and release Kingdoms.
After achieving that kind of substantial progress,
Coopertheband are motivated to continue together through this journey that they’ve
begun and spread their word to anyone who needs it.
“One of our main goals in writing the songs was to help others
find joy and hope even in the midst of pain or suffering,” Brown said. “Our
hope is that you can feel some sort of joy or hope after listening to this
album. And if so, share it with your
friends so hopefully they can too.”
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