Lullabies and Melodies: An Interview with The Coppertone

By: Curtis Sindrey –

Amanda Zelina of The Coppertone

With a new album already in the works since releasing “Hymns For The Hollow,” back in May, Toronto rockers The Coppertone are ready to unleash their brand of indie rock onto the world.

With five albums worth of material already written, front-woman Amanda Zelina (guitar/vocals) has been in the songwriting process since recording “Hymns” but she has faced some creative snags along the way.

“It has taken me awhile to get to the place where I actually have a clear vision of where I wanted to go, everything was coming out of me naturally, but I didn’t want to force the songwriting,” said Zelina.

“Finally, now things are starting to pan out and sound right so I think sooner than later we’ll hopefully get a role in getting it all put together.”

While Zelina doesn’t have a preference for releasing either EPs or LPs, she puts careful consideration in the exact story she is trying to tell with her music.

“It’s just a matter of where I feel emotionally ready at the time, like sometimes I’ll only have a handful of songs that I feel strongly about, and than sometimes there will be a whole story to tell,” said Zelina.

“It’s how thick of a storyline do I have here, is it tiny enough to put into a bedtime story or is it long enough to sit down with a cup of coffee for a while.”

Zelina also puts heavy consideration into how well her songs will translate into a live setting, and with new member and bigger arrangements, the translations have to become tighter and tighter with each album.

The Coppertone’s “Hymns for the Hollow” is the successor to 2010’s “Hidden Dreams,” which was the band’s debut album.

“The Coppertone started out as a two-piece and within that I always thought about how that would translate to a live setting and whether it would be full enough,” said Zelina.

“Than organically it has grown into a bigger thing, the arrangements are bigger and there’s new members, but I always have a thing about how it will work live and that’s apart of the aesthetic that I try to do with my music, is having that raw, visceral feeling around it,” she said.

Zelina places an importance on fan engagement, often preferring face-to-face contact to digital communications with her fans. Over the course of her career, she has often received suggestions and feedback, from song and arrangement suggestions to do a certain type of tour such as a house tour or renting a boat.

“Social media has always been a big thing for me with being able to connect with people and the way the industry is now it’s so important to have people resonating with you,” said Zelina.

“The people who are drawn to my music are awesome people and I learn a lot from them and sometimes they know where I’m going with my music better than I do,” she said.

Following her performance at Edgefest 2012 in Toronto, The Coppertone will be heading into a solitary cycle to focus on the writing and recording of her follow-up album to “Hymns.”