Introducing: Copy Haho

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In what will be our last ‘Introducing’ of 2008 we wanted to give you a band we’re really quite excited about. Recently signed to Big Scary Monsters, Copy Haho hail from Stonehaven in Scotland and produce – to put it in simple terms – really fucking fantastic pop songs. The kind that Los Campesinos! might make if they for one second what quit the pretentiousness.

So – if you like Johnny Foreigner and think Dananananaykroyd are the dogs nuts then these guys will almost certainly be your cup of tea.

For people out there that have never heard of you. Give us three reasons why they should…
Richard: I’m going to be really modest and not demand that they ‘should’ hear us – with impending recession doom they might be better turning their attention to getting a second job or something – my parents are considering getting a gardener if anyone is interested. Though I’d quite like that job myself to be honest.

Joe: We like what we’re doing – and that’s a good place to start. We’re not the most camera friendly pop-phenomenon of a band, but we do play music with enough punch to have your neighbors tell you to ‘turn that bleedin’ racket down!’. Also, When everyone dies and arrives at the gates of their respective heavens or hells, there will be an entrance exam solely based on the existence of our band.

Can you recall the moment when you first decided you wanted to become a musician?
Richard: Yes! Well, it was a combination of two moments which happened around the same time. When I was in primary school, my parents took me to see Meatloaf in concert, it was completely amazing (I’m being serious here). I also saw the film ‘The Last Waltz’ for the first time around that age, I didn’t understand how big half the performers were, or even who they were, but I was pretty blown away by it. I still am.

Joe: I started taking piano lessons when i was around 6 or 7 years old and it grew from there. I remember realizing that it might be possible (and far more fun) to make up my own songs instead playing like a robot/academic… I think that was around the time i quit.

Where do your songs come from? What’s your inspiration?
Joe: I think I’m equally inspired by the music i love as i am the music i hate. Sometimes song ideas or lyrics just fall out of my head and seem to work. Other times it can be the most difficult thing in the world. I keep a text file on my desktop that’s full of bits and pieces – it’s good to dip into now and again when i’m running out of ideas.

Name your Top 5 records.
Richard: Life Without Buildings ‘Any Other City’, Guided by Voices ‘Bee Thousand’, Mission of Burma ‘Signals Calls and Marches’ (ok ok I know it’s an EP), The Band ‘The Band’, Weezer ‘Pinkerton’

Joe: At the moment i can’t get enough of ‘Microcastles’ by Deerhunter. Also, ‘Rise Above’ by Dirty Projectors and ‘Venice’ by Fennesz are notching up a fair few plays.

What was the first gig you ever played and was it a success?
Richard: Secondary school talent show, it wasn’t a success as we didn’t win. We won the next year though, with a Tool cover. The first time we played, we were called Encountered Values, the second time, we were called Trust IV. Good times, rubbish names.

Joe: The first gig I played was at Dr Drakes in Aberdeen. I was really, really nervous and couldn’t get my guitar to stay in tune. It was pretty horrible.

What one piece of criticism has stuck in your mind and was it justified?
Richard: It’s not to do with Copy Haho, but I was watching an old Have I Got News For You last night, and Paul Merton telling Kilroy to ‘shut the fuck up’ is currently playing on repeat in my head.

What one thing has caused you to waste your free time in the past 6 months?
Richard: I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to find a frame for a Minutemen poster I was kindly given, for a reasonable price, to no avail. Also been playing a lot of Mahjong this week, it’s ace!

Joe: BBCiPlayer – I don’t have a TV, but I’ve been watching that program ‘Steven Fry in America’. Last episode he visited a brothel, no big deal.

If you weren’t making music, what do you think you’d be doing?
Richard: I’d like to write a TV show. In an ideal world I’d be a 7 ft. basketball player but that’s not going to happen any time soon unfortunately.

Joe: I’d be a vampire, a magician or a chef.

What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
Joe: I was briefly a kitchen porter at a posh hotel with really aggressive french cooks. They would throw scalding hot pans in the sink for me to wash without telling me – I burnt my hands quite badly on several occasions. I was 14 years old and they were having me work 7 hour shifts without breaks for £3.60 an hour. Scum bags.

We’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Pick five tracks with a theme of your choice.
Richard: Ace, ok the them of my “mix-tape” is called ‘my favourite songs right now’
Wonderswan ‘Hey Nature’
Triple School ‘Consecrated Bones’
How Deep is the Valley ‘Grinding’
Jesus H.Foxx ‘I Got The Sads Real Bad’
Plaaydoh ‘Mon Bicycle’

Joe: 5 songs to help cure a (my) hangover.
Joy Zipper ‘Out Of The Sun’
Nico – ‘I’ll Keep It With Mine’
Pixies – ‘Wave Of Mutilation (UK Surf)’
Spectrum – ‘Lord I Don’t Even Know My Name’
Jeremy Jay – ‘Till We Meet Again’

Copy Haho on MySpace