In the thirteen years since Copeland's debut LP, Beneath Medicine Tree, put them in contact with their first fans, frontman Aaron Marsh knows at least one thing.
DO THIS: COPELAND AT ORPHEUM 12.13.16
"I dunno if it’s feeling overwhelmed, but more than ever I feel grateful for the career and for the fan base," Marsh told CL as che checked in from a recent Ohio tour stop. "Not many bands can maintain a core base for over a decade. Whether it was something we did or the type of fans we attracted in the begining, some thing led to longevity. I’m grateful for whatever happened there."
He'll reconnect with those fans at Orpheum in Ybor City on December 13, but before Copeland arrives, Marsh took a few minutes to answer questions about a myriad of things including the Lakeland music scene, grandpa, gardening and the 2016 election results read our Q&A below, and get more information on the show via local.cltampa.com.
Hey are you still working in the garden?
Yeah, I do home gardening. These days my free time is a lot of house stuff and family stuff with the kids. My sons are three and four years old now.
Do you worry about the plants when you’re on tour?
No, I’ll just replace whatever dies. My mom also is a ballin’ gardener, though.
How attached to you get the records you work on at Vanguard?
There are different levels of attachment of different records. A lot of times it has to do with how much I wrote on it, as far as records I produce. Sometimes, I do feel that I can I let them go and move to the next thing, and sometimes certain projects make it so I just need to get out of the way.
Like with the Anberlin record, I felt like my job was just to make their ideas sound as good as they could be and get out of the way. It was the same with Lydia, I tried to find a spot where my input would be impactful, but other than that I just let them do their thing and let their ideas come through.
Then there are records like Leeland's where they came to studio with no songs. We basically recorded an LP from scratch. I would say 90 percent of what’s on there I came up with. Some projects call for more collaboration.
Do the band’s sleep at the studio?
There is an apartment attached in my house sometimes it’s good enough for someone to sleep in.
Can you tell me a little about your childhood, teenage years. Things like where you were born, grew up, etc.?
I was born in Eugene, Oregeon but was raised in Lakeland. My grandfather is an original Lakelander. There are streets named after him. He was an athletic director at Florida Southern and was influential in the creation of bike lanes around Lakeland.
What’s your label situation?
Tooth & Nail licensed the last record. We were on Tooth & Nail before we broke up, so for the time being we’re working with them. The band does not have any particular plans for the next record.
Do you have a favorite Publix sub combo?Turkey and the whole spinach bin. I was really feeling the buffalo chicken thing but I am trying to be an adult now.
You were just in Chicago, and are in Columbus tonight. How are you holding up on tour these days, we’re all a little older than we used to be.
We’re playing a whole lot. The idea of the tour was that we’d play a smattering of songs that we’ve done over the last fourteen years or so. It’s kind of a long set, and after all is said is done I am singing almost two hours every night — we’re almost playing two sets.
Tell me a little about why Rae Cassidy's role on this tour with you.
She plays a couple of songs to kick off the set and we join her. We have a string trio – Stephanie Brooks, Chelsea McGouh and Grace Chandler. Two of them are from Lakeland and one is from Atlanta.
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the fan support you guys get?
I dunno if it’s feeling overwhelmed, but more than ever I feel grateful for the career and for the fan base. Not many bands can maintain a core base for over a decade. Whether it was something we did or the type of fans we attracted in the begining, some thing led to longevity. I’m grateful for whatever happened there. When we started out you didn’t really have to be social media wizards, so now how it is simply just isn’t the world we came from. I guess I can attribute most of our early success to emotional connections and a fuck ton of touring.
How has having two sons changed your writing?
The world is different. It doesn’t even feel like it was. I was just writing young people drama. Now, the love for my family is a whole different level of emotion that I can pull from.
How often do you let yourself down musically? How much more responsibility to you feel when recording others’ work?
Definitely. I am always wondering or second guessing if there is another approach to a song. A lot of times stuff will come about a weird way. For instance sometimes it morphs from an acoustic thing to something different. Sometimes it was a bad idea from the beginning. I hate listening to stuff and thinking that we missed a mark. I take it seriously. I don’t record unless I feel good.
Back to this idea of Lakeland. How important do you think it is for Lakeland and Tampa to collaborate? How can they do more of it, if so?
There have been days of collaboration. It comes and goes it waves. There have been times when I felt a lot of connectivity between Tampa and Lakeland bands and that’s usually when there is a good venue in Lakeland and Tampa bands will come to play
Lakeland right now has a problem with a lack of a good music venue, not a lot of support for a music scene from the city.
Lakeland’s arts community feels like the music issue is not a part of that scene.
I’m trying to find ways to build us up. Things have been good in music here, but now is not one of those times. A lot of people think there should be less bars or kids around. It’s generational.
What keeps you in town then?
Our creative community is really awesome, right now it’s just lacking support for the musical component.
Did the election have and effect on you?
Kind of. I feel like i was gonna be bummed either way, but I know that I am definitely a little terrified over the next four years. I don’t know that I would’ve slept any better if Hillary won though. I guess hopefully our country is more than one leader and that the people are good.
Are you worried about the world your kids are going to grow up in?
My kids are in a good school, I’m not worried about the kids, they’ll be fine. I know that they are in an environment that embraces diversity and tolerance. I’m worried about our minority population and I’m worried about religious rights.
This article appears in Dec 8-15, 2016.