The Kopecky Family Band
A lot of things are born out of something simple, and that is the case with the Kopecky Family Band. The "family" came together after a game night and someone pulling out a guitar being passed around. Kelsey Kopecky and Gabe Simon soon after pulled together a talented group of friends, and they have been having fun and making inspired music ever since.
Kelsey, Gabe, Corey, and Steven took a few minutes with us at the Albino Skunk Music Festival to talk about the band. We later caught them performing at Fall For Greenville, and filmed and shot some photos of their set. Sroll down below the interview text to view the interview video, additional photos, and live performance videos.
CM: How did The Kopecky Family Band come together?
Kelsey: So the band came together, about 6 years ago actually, when Gabe and I met. We were playing games one night – playing board games at my house. We decided to pass around the guitar, and I heard one of his songs and felt like he was my soul mate – musically, that is (As Gabe cracks up). It’s funny. One of our previous interviews, quoted that ‘I found my soul mate’, and then they went …
Gabe: They went quickly to clarify ‘Gabe’s also married’.
Kelsey: I was like...
Steven: Strictly platonic, right?
Kelsey: I was like “Pretty sure you stretched it a little bit…” But musical soulmate? Yes.
Kelsey and Gabe simultaneously: Definitely.
CM: Clarify for our readers - you guys are not Biological Siblings.
Gabe: Technically, we are not family. We don’t have the same mom or dad, or anything. Over the last 6 years it’s been like a thing where like.. It started off where we were just six friends, and then just where being on the road, being in the van all the time, and realizing we were going through almost every life experience possible with each other. And having a joke of a name like “The Kopecky Family Band” when we started, turned into this meaningful thing where the six of us were really a family there for each other all the time. And it’s grown to this idea where we sponsor kids internationally, and we like to bring in our fans in this “we’re all in this together” mentality, really wanting them to be part of our family every night at every show.
CM: How would describe the style of your music?
Kelsey: We’ve heard everything from a mix of My Morning Jacket and a modern Fleetwood Mac, to what we call ourselves - Indi Rock. Kind of Arcade Fire meets a lot of…
Gabe: It’s just an adventurous experience. I can’t really pinpoint one thing, what I think it is. It’s one of those things where there are six of us, and we have to look at every moment in every song and go “What needs to be here?” And I think that drastically changes the creative direction on every piece. So if there needs to be two drummers in the song, then we need two drummers. If there needs to be lap steel, then there needs to be lap steel. But if we need three guitarists, and Kelsey to play bass, and cello, and tambourine, and a triumphant drum part, or we need trombones, ten we do that. We just kind of follow wherever it needs to go. So it’s really hard to say “we sound like this”. I think that’s the best part about being in this band. I can’t really say we always sound like “THIS”…
Kopecky Family Band Interview Video
Photos
Courtesy of Mother Shutter