KOOPA

KOOPA is an Indy/Punk/Rock band from Essex, UK. Through hard work, determination and a fair amount of talent, KOOPA made music history in 2007, by becoming ‘The first unsigned band ever to have a UK Top 40 hit via downloads alone’. A feat the band has repeated twice, also making them ‘The first unsigned band ever to have a UK Top 20 hit via downloads alone’. Since then, the boys have gone from strength to strength.



KOOPA formed around 2002. Before ever gigging and after recording just two songs, KOOPA were offered record deals from a number of top labels, for life-changing amounts of money. But the band decided not to sell out to ‘the man’ too soon, so therefore spent the first few years of their career touring the UK in a small van, playing every toilet in every town. Gradually the KOOPA following got bigger, as did the venues, and by 2005 we were playing the likes of The Astoria and Hammersmith Apollo, as well as being invited to be the first band to play The Isle of Wight festival since the who.



With an ever growing fan base, KOOPA used the power of the internet to their advantage when chart rules changed in early 2007 and self-released the single ‘Blag, Steal & Borrow’ as a download only. The track sold in its thousands and ended up sitting at number 31 in the Official UK Top 40 charts, making history and earning the boys a place in the Guinness Book of Records. ‘Blag, Steal & Borrow’, was closely followed by the singles ‘The One-Off Song for the Summer’ (reaching number 21) and ‘The Crash’ (reaching number 16), proving that the first single was no fluke.



Since then, KOOPA have toured the world and have spent substantial time in the USA building a name for themselves on the other side of the Atlantic. With the success of the US tours, KOOPA were invited to record their third album with Mark Hoppus of Blink 182 fame as producer, and Chris Holmes (R.H.C.P., Audioslave, +44 etc) engineering. The results of which ‘Lies Sell Stories’ has already hit the album charts in Japan and will be available to the rest of the world soon!



In 2010, KOOPA took a small hiatus from playing live, through fear of becoming stale and just ‘going through the motions’. They locked themselves away in the studio, recording new tracks and refining a slightly new sound, keen to make sure that as the boys themselves grow and mature, so does their music. Bassist Joe described it well by saying: “It’s unfair of us not to give at least 100% each show when people have travelled far and spent their hard earned money to come and see us. We felt it got to the point where KOOPA was a job, rather than a passion, and that’s when we decided to take a break and change things a bit. We do kind of have a ‘new sound’, but it’s not a million miles away from what we were doing before, just a little more mature. We’ve gotten older as have our audience and we need to embrace that. There are still a few three-chord punk songs in our new stuff, but we’ve evolved a bit musically and are open to try new stuff. So there are a few big riffs in the new demos and we’ve concentrated on making the music a bit more interesting. We’re still the same band we were, but think that we may attract a fair few new, older fans as a result, but current Kooparites will still like it“.



Now the boys are back in the UK with plenty of new songs, a slightly new sound and a refreshed attitude to life in KOOPA. The world-wide release of ‘Lies Sell Stories’ is currently being finalised, followed shortly by an album of new material. They will also be back out on the road doing what the do best, so will see you soon!



Band Contact: Koopaband@sky.com



All other Enquiries: management@koopatheband.com