Jason Copps, lead singer and guitarist of the Deadly Vibes, doesn’t want to talk about his previous band, the Daymakers. He doesn’t want to talk about how his bandmates JT Long (on drums), and JD Long (guitar and backing vocals), are identical twins. And he doesn’t want to talk about being an expat in a band in Taiwan.
Copps, who in person is a mild-mannered, soft-spoken alter ego to his maniacal, writhing, howling stage persona, wants to talk about rock ’n’ roll. He utters the phrases “rock and roll” and “rock and fucking roll” eight times during our short interview.
And why not? These boys will rock your socks off. Their CD release party is tomorrow at APA Lounge 808 — and if it’s anything like their previous shows, it should be a leg-shaking, hip-grinding, hair-swinging rock-a-thon.
PHOTO: ALITA RICKARDS
The band recorded the album independently, said Copps. “JT recorded it in our jam space on an 8-track digital recorder because if you record in Taiwan it gets overproduced. Listen back and you think it’s not even you. Doing it ourselves, we could catch more of our raw, live sound.”
Songs off of their new CD Feels So Good … I Wanna Do It Again are only one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half minutes long. They’re punchy, catchy and extremely danceable. Copps leaps around the stage kicking and jumping, striking rock star poses and growling at the audience, while the Texas twins coolly make the music and maintain the beats.
With lyrics like “When you’re young you’re dumb/So come on baby let’s have a little fun/Whoo hoo!” Copps said he is “obviously not trying to be too poetic, I’m trying to write lyrics about living life and enjoying life. I’m not trying to write a novel or anything, just trying to have some fun.”
The band has a definite 1950s greaser-rock feeling, which they play up by using pulp fiction images on their posters and CD cover.
The bands they have chosen to play with them compliment their sound while providing enough variety to mix things up a bit. 130 Dollars is a Japanese rock-a-billy band from Tainan with a 1950s edge. “After a few drinks the singer is a total fun-loving maniac,” Copps said.
New Hong Kong Hair City will follow, with their rock/funk sound fronted by saxophone player and vocalist Macgregor Ian Wooley. Finishing the night will be alt-country band Johnny Fatstacks, who have become amazingly tight over the last year and put on a killer live show. Jesse Morden-Green and Ben Cunningham both do vocals and guitar, with the essential Dan Plimmer on drums and Nick Chen (陳信伯) — called “Kid Nicky” because he’s only 21 — on bass.
Cunningham also plays “talk box,” a weird device he sticks in his mouth and hums on. Morden-Green tried to explain it in a recent interview: “It’s a mini amplifier, the sound comes out of the tube into your mouth and the sound resonates within your mouth which acts as a sound chamber. Then it’s amplified through the mic.”
Copps said they are all “going to totally rock the house and have everyone shaking and grooving. Come prepared to get drunk ’cause beer and mixed drinks are going to be strong and cheap. There will be a lot of chances to win free drinks and CDs and if you’re lucky enough you might even go home with a pair of Deadly Vibes underwear!”
At their last show they were handing out Deadly Vibes condoms. With the underwear, you could be looking at a real “rock and fucking roll” experience.—
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