London-based folk duo Copper Viper released their latest single Hung Up Alone in August via Under The Bower Records.
Beginning intimately with just Robin Joel Sangster (vocals /acoustic guitar) and Duncan Menzies’ (vocals / mandolin / fiddle) intricate vocal harmonies and the gentle hum of frogs croaking in the distance, a sense of warmth is immediately apparent. The pace then picks up as Menzies’ mesmerising fiddle playing comes into play alongside Sangsters’ melodic acoustic guitar, giving Hung Up Alone a truly traditional British folk feel. As the song progresses, the duo’s dynamic vocals soar effortlessly, as does the searing musicality, sounding akin to the likes of Seth Lakemen or The Milk Carton Kids.
In this interview feature, I chat with Copper Viper about their latest project, challenges, motivations and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
We’re both big fans of stripped back acoustic music, and especially anything with harmony vocals, so naturally we were drawn to the folk music traditions from both sides of the pond.
What led you into this journey with music? And further, what drives you to push it out to the public?
We’d both been keen to play this kind of music for a number of years; in 2017 we met through a mutual friend and decided to have a jam.Once we’d been playing together for a few months and had some songs we really liked, the desire to share it with other people was the most natural thing in the world, as I’m sure any musicians reading this would understand.
Who or what influences your creativity? Have your tastes in music changed over time?
Our biggest influences are artists like Simon & Garfunkel, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, The Milk Carton Kids and The Be Good Tanyas.Our tastes are certainly changing all the time though; Rob’s 2 year old son just taught him a great song about some wheels on a bus.
Were you trying to accomplish anything specific on this new project? Creatively or otherwise?
We set out to write songs that reflected the influences mentioned above, while trying to establish an individual and unifying sound for the band.We feel like we’ve achieved that with our first album (which will be released soon!); we also want to make sure that the sound evolves with each album, so we make a point of trying to add some different ingredients to the new material we’re writing at present.
What was the last song you listened to?
Church Street Blues – Tony Rice
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Vinyl
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
We’re not experts on the subtleties of digital music distribution – anything that helps get the music out to people is fine by us.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what is the biggest challenge you face when trying to connect with or find new fans?
We’ve been compared to hobbits a few times; perhaps if we resembled some of the more imposing residents of Middle Earth (elves?) it might be easier to catch people’s attention?
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more music?
Our website www.copperviper.com has links to all of our social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Spotify), and we’ll be posting plenty new music in the coming months.
Anything else you’d like to add before signing off?
We’ll be releasing the video for our first single “Hung Up Alone” on the 28th of September – give it a watch if you’d like to see us “pretending” to get drunk and fall asleep on the pool table that was left at Bear Creek Studio by Dave Grohl.
