LONE DRIFTERS: Peter Koppes Speaks On Departing The Church and His New Band, Syncretism

Peter Koppes, photo credit Mark Bundy

Peter Koppes, one of the founding members of seminal rock band The Church, has been in the news this month as the band recently announced on its Facebook page that Peter had departed the band “to explore his own musical path”.  Koppes, who is responsible for The Church’s signature intangible, brooding, and yet silky sound from the beginning, also personally revealed that he had started an exciting new project with longtime friend and collaborator, Dave Scotland, called Syncretism.

First of all, I can’t speak of anything regarding The Church without explaining how much the they meant to me.  A young kid in a small, Arizona town finds a stack of vinyl in his brother’s apartment that includes “Séance” and “Heyday”.  These change him.  There is an iridescent, bohemian quality to the songs that redefine what rock can mean.  A couple of years later, a Dodge Charger races through the red rock canyons of Sedona, the young man searches for himself in the ghostly arroyos, stark terrain, and in the haunting chords of “Starfish” blasting through the speakers.  The young man is not a musician, but he discusses with his friends how the guitars create textures and landscapes that somehow don’t even sound like guitars.  Then, as he goes off to college alone, carrying a backpack, with “Transient” blaring through his earphones – a song by Peter Koppes – seeming to define him.  Needless to say, I have been a fan of the Church for a long time.

And in my mind’s eye, Peter Koppes is always on stage, standing statuesque, a shock of dark hair in his face, his guitar slung over his shoulder, coaxing sounds out of it that seem impossible.  He is undoubtedly a vital part of that legacy of The Church, putting out well over a dozen albums with them.  But never doubt his well-earned rank as a solo artist.  An inexhaustible songwriter, he has an enormous catalog of solo work and collaborations with many other bands and artists.  His work with Dave Scotland is especially exciting, because Koppes and Scotland actually used to be in a glam band called Baby Grande that predated The Church.

They are preparing to release a new album called “Lone Drifters”, and Koppes released a sneak peak on Syncretism’s Facebook page – a shining gem of a song called “Sirens”.  Initially, Koppes’ trademark guitar style is recognizable, but upon further listening, there are so many added layers unfolding that this song is instantly unforgettable – a veritable collage of the talents of both of these artists.  I also got a glimpse at another song called “Flood or Fire”, a song marked by glittery yet watery guitars and Scotland’s smooth vocals.  Both of these songs are very moving to me in a way that Koppes’ music always has been for me.  If these songs are anything like the rest of “Lone Drifters” will be, then I see this becoming one of my favorite albums of the year.  This timeless music, excellent by any standard.

I recently had an opportunity to talk to Koppes about his new project.  Check it out:

Moroni Lopez Jessop:  It was recently announced that you have departed The Church to pursue other creative interests.  Wow, such a long and prolific songwriting career that has spanned nearly five decades and many, many albums, as well as creating The Church’s signature guitar sound!  How does it feel to have such a long, distinguished career?  Is your work with your new band, Syncretism, the next logical step in your musical evolution?

Peter Koppes:  My ambition was always to create mature music that I could look back upon with respect for the art. My long career was probably afforded by the attitude to not sell out, but I don't believe making commercial music is necessarily bad like most of it. Syncretism is the result of my re-acquaintance with the amazing guitarist from my first original band the included the lead singer from The Church. He generously shared his extensive knowledge of guitar technique/ tones and now I have returned the favour by complimenting his music. Maybe ironic or not, it sounds like my former band but still it is an evolution.

MLJ:  Your new band is called Syncretism, which is defined as an amalgamation of different religions, cultures or schools of thought.  What was the impetus of this project coming together?  What ideas or concepts created a “syncretism” with you for this project?

Dave Scotland

PK:  Dave and I have always been in contact and recently reunited with the Canberra band drummer while I was visiting their area. Dave wrote some music afterwards that inspired me to add my guitar and effects as well as write lyrics for the song called Their Song about leaving people behind. Syncretism, in a music reference book, describes it when a music idiom is modernized, and the development of Beatles inspired music seems to be our manifesto. I would venture that we can bring together audiences from different genres especially guitar aficionados. We originally had Lone Drifters?  Which was the working title of a song but it sounded like a gang name, and nobody liked it, so it became the album title instead and everyone seems to wonder if they belong.

MLJ:  You’ve visited many diverse and far flung locations, including a recent trip to Japan.  Do these visits give you any inspiration for the music you write?

PK:  The next preview release called Flood Or Fire lyrics were written half way up the main Japanese skiing mountain in Hakuba while watching my teenage son learn to snow board. Bush fires were raging in Australia, and climate disasters had been worldwide that year. My family relationship was threatened also, so I conflated the metaphors.

MLJ:  Syncretism is a collaboration with your old friend, Dave Scotland.  How did the both of you meet, and did you hit it off right away?  What sort of interests do you have in common, musical or otherwise?  What originally drew you to Dave to want to work with him creatively?

PK:  I first me Dave at an inter-school band jam. I was the drummer but was learning guitar from our guitarist who was very competent. In a break, Dave launched into a perfect rendition of Hendrix version of Star-Spangled Banner, which startled everyone of course. He then was in a professional band called Frosted Glass, and he was also the lead singer but regarded as the best guitarist in Canberra, if not Australia. He joined my new band Baby Grande, we had a very good relationship bonding over music, but I left after a few years to travel and study. Now we are together again, I wonder why we didn't sooner, but I was very busy with band or my solo activities.

MLJ:  What feels different between Baby Grande and Syncretism?  What experience are you both bringing to the table?

PK:  Baby Grande was a juvenile punk glam rock band. Syncretism is more mature and intellectual music. I have been reminded of the parallels with Pink Floyd actually. This is Dave's recordings of his music and voice with my lyrics and contributions, though we co-produce the recordings. Our guitar difference is his lead guitar playing is exquisitely passionate and during one of his live solos, I have seen a fellow guitarist smoke a cigarette quickly down forgetting to remove it from his lips! My guitar style is more effects driven. I play some piano too. We both especially love 60's and 70's music and is evident in our orchestrations.

Peter Koppes, circa 1990

MLJ:  You’ve made your new song, “Sirens”, available to hear on social media.  Amazing song, by the way.  The combination of the guitar work and keyboards is just shimmering.  What can you tell be about the title of the song?  What is this song about exactly, and what meaning does it have for you?

PK:  Thanks for the compliment. 'Sirens' is mostly guitars and effects that sound like keyboards. This project has inspired my lyrics to be playful like Dr Seuss and with serious undertones for people with life experience. The working title was Hope And Courage and is about our trials and now the celebration our musical journey together. "We're supposed to necessarily have fun!"

MLJ:   Can we expect similar songs on the new album, “Lone Drifters”?  What is the concept behind the new record?  Is there any special process behind the way you brought this project together?

PK:  The album is almost complete, but the full story has not revealed itself yet. Ultimately, we would like a rich and varied album of songs that will thrill us and our audiences. So far so good, actually. There does seem to be a pervading theme for me lyrically to heal as usual and the music is providing a perfect vehicle! The process is just Dave and I having a musical conversation.

MLJ:  Your music has always had an esoteric quality.  As a listener, your music has always been a veritable spiritual, or even metaphysical, experience for me.  Do you see yourself as a spiritual person?  And is your music a spiritual outlet for you, and is this a factor in your creative process?

"I believe great music is a relationship with the metaphysical... It is based in love and has given me strength in the face of incredible adversities..."

PK:  Great question, because I believe great music is a relationship with the metaphysical. I have always been aware of the spiritual with much evidence of guidance and maybe protection from the other side. It is based in love and has given me strength in the face of incredible adversities. Transcendental Meditation sharpened its focus for me, and these days I almost let my destiny lead all the time. A large component of creativity is experimentation with the spiritual influence.

MLJ:  I have to ask, because I always wonder – what music influenced you the most while you were growing up and had impact on your guitar-playing?  Which modern bands or guitarists have made a particular impact on you today?

PK:  First song that I remember liking on radio was a version Blowing In The Wind. I loved great drummers and was thus inspired at first by the music of Hendrix, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Santana and The Who. My favourite musician is John Lennon who was a great and inspired guitarist which contributed to his great song writing too. Not well known is a great lead guitarist called Bill Nelson who inspired me, and Dave greatly with his unbluesy rock style. The most impressive modern guitar technique is My Bloody Valentine with the flying guitar sound using slow whammy chords.

MLJ:  Thanks for your time.  I’ve been a fan for a long time.  The first album I listened to was “Heyday” when I was sixteen years old.  It may sound cheesy, but I asked my teenage sons to learn and play “Under the Milky Way” for my fiftieth birthday next month, even though I know you’re not the composer of that piece.  It’s still one of the great songs you played.  I wish you were there!

PK:  By the way, Under The Milky Way was written on piano as were many great songs and many of my own. The melody is very spiritual and soulful so I can understand people enjoying the song at ceremonies.

Ps Happy Birthday!

You can keep up with news, release dates, and new songs from Peter Koppes and Dave Scotland on the Facebook page for Syncretism at:

https://www.facebook.com/syncretismmusic/

Instragram:  https://www.instagram.com/syncretismmusic/

My Desert Island Top 10

There was a beautiful Tower Records store in Tempe right next to Arizona State University.  (Remember Tower Records??)  I sunk many a dollar there.  Every time you made a purchase, you were allowed to take a free issue of their in-store magazine - Pulse.  Every month, there was a section where readers picked their Desert Island Top 10.

The premise is this - if you were stuck on a desert island, but you had a chance to have with you ten albums, which albums would you pick?

This is always a tough one for me, because my top 10 invariably becomes my top 30.  I made a rule for myself that I could not list any band that I have previously reviewed on my blog.  So albums like Pixies' "Doolittle", anything by Cocteau Twins or Dead Can Dance will obviously not be on this list.

I also invite YOU to post your top 10.  You can know a lot about a person by the music that they like.  It is always interesting to see what music people like.

So here it goes, in no particular order:

1.  Avenged Sevenfold "Avenged Sevenfold" - This album represented to me a return to metal.  I belonged to a hotel renovation crew that worked all over the country, and, during our cross-country drives, we would always settled on Sirius's Octane station.  This was when I was first introduced to this band.  My daughter bought me this album for Christmas in 2007, and my next job took me to Albuquerque.  It was a cold January, and this album was on constant rotation on my mp3 player.  I have since acquired their entire catalog.  I think the thing that I have always liked about this band is that they remind me of one of my early favorites - Iron Maiden.  Just like Iron Maiden, this band has a flare for the theatrical - with their music ranging from Bible quotes to evoking Hunter S Thompson.  This album is no different.  From the Spaghetti Western "Gunslinger" (which reminds me of an episode of "Firefly") to the country twang of "Dear God".  My favorite track is the "A Little Piece of Heaven" which is obviously an homage to Danny Elfman.  It is a twisted piece complete with nightmarish orchestra that tells of a man who murders his woman.  Her corpse comes to life and exacts revenge, they forgive each other, and had a wedding in hell.  It was written by the Rev, the band's drummer who died tragically in 2009.  A7X is releasing a new album next month (which I will review).  It will be their first album written without the aid of the Rev.  It will be interesting to see how this album will emerge.

2.  The Church "Starfish" - The Church is one of several psychedelic, '60s-influenced jangle-pop bands that came out in the '80s.  But they are one of the bands that has had lasting influence on me.  This entire album is nostalgic, and, in particular, "Under the Milkyway", which is still a sort of personal theme to me.  The entire album is good, and the opening track, "Destination" is haunting, the lyrics having special meaning to me.  "Reptile" is an excellent guitar-driven song.  This whole album was written with nostalgia in mind.  Steve Kilbey wrote a poem that was included in the liner notes.  Here a part of it that sums up how I feel about this album:

Good, now and forever music reach and awakens

Swimming in the shallow end, down, down, remember

A need, a gnawing longing for what?

3.  Coldplay "X&Y" - Yes, I like Coldplay.  Thanks to "The 40 Year-Old Virgin", I must defend my heterosexuality every time I say that I like them.  Actually, I don't know how anyone could not like them.  Their songs are beautifully crafted and deliciously layered.  This is a band that I hope keeps putting out great albums, because every release has been spectacular.  I owned "Rush of Blood to the Head", but it was "X&Y" that sealed the proverbial deal, for me.  It was Father's Day in 2005, and my wives gifted me this album.  I took it with me to San Diego to do a particularly stressful hotel job.  This album was my only reprieve, parking at Ocean Beach, listening to this album over and over.  I love it all - the emotive ballads "What If" and "Fix You", the R.E.M.-inspired "The Hardest Part", and multi-faceted "Talk".  I can still listen to this album and not get sick of it.

4.  System of a Down "Mezmerize", "Hypnotize" -  Okay, this is cheating, because it's really two albums.  But they were released six months apart and are part of the same concept.  This is a band that I loved from the first time I heard them, and they have remained a favorite.  They are part Dead Kennedys, part Frank Zappa, and part Armenian folk music - and this is about the best and most accurate description I could give them.  Hard-driving guitars interspersed with the the quavering voices of Serj Tankian and Daron Malakian ("Killing Rock N Roll", "Stealing Society", and "Revenga") mixed with political satire (B.Y.O.B.", "Violent Pornography", "Sad Statue"), the absurd ("This Cocaine Makes Me Feel Like I'm On This Song", "Vicinity of Obscenity"), the obscene ("Cigarro"), the sad and contemplative ("Holy Mountain", "Lonely Day", "Soldier Side") as well as my favorites - "Radio/ Video" with its bridge of nothing but Armenian music, and the beautifully crafted "Lost in Hollywood".  This is not just a heavy metal band.  These are artists, and these two albums always stay on my phone in their entirety.

5.  Blue October "Foiled" - This is a band that will always be special to me.  They, also, will have a new release next month that I will review.  Temple, the mother of three of my boys, gave the best description of this band - soft violins combined with Justin Furstenfeld's growling vocals creates a pleasant effect, as in the plaintive "Let It Go".  This album is proof that beauty can indeed come from pain.  Furstenfeld has admitted to having mental illness, and this produces some starkly beautiful lyrics - the softly melodic "She's My Ride Home" about disposing of dead bodies on the way home, and "Drilled a Wire Through My Cheek" about torture.  My other favorites are "You Make Me Smile" with its Pixies-like tune and beautiful poetry, the hard-rocking "What If We Could", the Depeche Mode-ish "X Amount of Words", and the romantic "Sound of Pulling Heaven Down".  I accidentally stumbled upon this band in 2006, and they have become one of my favorites.  I have made some online friends who love this band just as much as I do, if not more.  (Hi, Becca!)

6:  Heather Nova "Oyster" - My brother, Tony, introduced me to this album around 1996.  I had just moved to my ranch.  I had no electricity, no power - the only way I could listen to this was in the car.  I gravitated to it.  It represented, in my twenties, a hope of things to come as my life unfolded in front of me - in contrast to now, where I have a sense that my life is essentially over.  Heather Nova wasn't just a beautiful hippie chick with a guitar - although I really like beautiful hippie chicks with guitars.  Her songs were wistful, sung in a deliciously breathy voice, sad, plaintive, and sometimes angry.  "Walk the World" could be an anthem to me - not in the sense of its sexual metaphors, but my true desire to walk this world again.  "Light Years" and "Verona" show that this hippie chick can rock.  "Heal", "Walking Higher", and "Doubled Up" demonstrate how much she can do with just a guitar and her voice.  My favorite song is "Island", which is about escaping your problems to a remote island.  It has a trudging pace, offset by her haunting melody and a cello.  There was a time in the '90s where this album was mostly what I listened to.  It still stands the test of time.

7.  The Hush Sound "Like Vines" - What do you get when you combine a rock guitarist (Bob Morris) with a classical pianist (Greta Salpeter)?  You get an awesome band like the Hush Sound, who were probably ahead of their time.  With their ragtime piano, vocal styles (both his and hers) that sound like they come from the Prohibition Era, they would fit right in with today's steampunk motif, taking a note from the Dresden Dolls.  Produced by Patrick Stump (of Fallout Boy) this album also has a Danny Elfman feel, like in the circus-themes "Lion's Roar".  Many of the songs are just dulcid - "Sweet Tangerine" and "Magnolia".  Some are haunting like the piano melody, "Lighthouse".  My favorite is "Wine Red" which is a funky piece driven by the piano and vivid lyrics:

The sea is wine red

This is the death of beauty

The doves have died

The lovers have lied

The Hush Sound broke up in 2008, but they recently reformed with talks of a new album.  I am excited.

8.  Dream Theater "Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From a Memory" -   When I was in high school, all of the and geeks were into Rush, who admired their technical precision.  Dream Theater - one of the last surviving hair metal bands - are one of those precise bands who seem more like jazz than metal.  What I mean by this -  long, extended jam sessions where each musician in the band gets some time to showcase their unique ability.  "Metropolis Pt. 1" was a part of a previous album, and the second part encompasses an entire concept album.  On the surface, this album could seem pretentious - written and divided into scenes and overtures and movements.  But it works.  The album tells the story of a man obsessed with a love triangle in the 1920s that ended in a murder.  This is progressive music at its best - ranging from hard and heavy to sounding like a Broadway musical.  As it should.  This album needs to go onto Broadway.  James LaBrie sings all of the roles, but this is definitely a theatrical piece.  Almost fifteen years later, I break out this album and still enjoy it.  It is such a concept that one song does not sit well by itself.  You have to listen to whole album.

9.  Modest Mouse "Good News For People Who Love Bad News" -   Around 2004, I was hearing a lot about Modest Mouse in magazines, and such.  So I decided to see what the big deal was, so I bought their album "The Moon & Antarctica".  I hated it.  Over the next couple of years, I would periodically pull it out and listen to it, only to have the same low opinion of it.  Then, I remember, it suddenly made sense.  I finally "got" it, and I loved it.  By then, "Good News For People Who Love Bad News" had come out, and it was much more palatable than their previous releases.  The catchy "Float On" and "Ocean Breathes Salty" reminded me so much of Wolfgang Press, but it is nice to see bands that are influenced by the same music I grew up listening to.  This band has a delightful penchant for the discordant as in "Bury Me With It" and "Dance Hall".  "The Devil's Workday" is a jazz song from hell played on brass.  My favorites are the songs that feature the stand-up bass and banjo - "Bukowski" and "Satin in a Cofin".  The album ends with a guest appearance from Wayne Coyne (from the Flaming Lips).  I have loved everything this band has done since, but this album is the one that stands out to me.

10.  Tears For Fears "The Hurting" - For my last album, I have to say - I am not a Tears For Fears fan.  In fact, they kind of annoy me.  No "Songs from the Big Chair" for me, no "Shout, shout let it all out", no "Sowing the seeds of love"...  I only like this album, and that's it.  This album is enough to establish them as musical geniuses in my book.  It is dark.  It is moody.  And that was enough for me when I was a teen.  This album encapsulated every heartache I experienced back then.  But it really is an original album.  "Mad World", with its infectious rhythm, has been covered ad nauseum.  But the original version is really the best.  Of course, everyone recognizes the early MTV staple, "Change".  "Pale Shelter" and "Watch Me Bleed" are unique, because in the days when electronica was new, they combined acoustic guitars with keyboards, something that other dark wave bands like Clan of Xymox later imitated.  "Memories Fade" and "Start of the Breakdown"are just dripping with angst, just what I needed as a surly 15 year-old.  I think this album stands the test of time.  It is an ingenious arrangement of piano, keyboards, and percussion.

So that's my list.  Now tell me yours...