What’s That Dude Play? » My Kinda Copely

My Kinda Copely

October 8, 2009
by Blake

Guitarist Marc Copely is no stranger to the road. Out this summer as the complementary axe man on Billy Squier’s All Night Long tour, Copely has shared the stage with the likes of U2 and opened in support of bands like Coldplay and Our Lady Peace among others. This summer, Copely released his second solo album, a rootsy slice of Americana and blues called Harp & Plow. WTDP? had the chance to catch up with Copely – a self-professed pedal hound – before he hit the stage with Billy in Houston last weekend to talk about his gear obsession, the new solo effort and his plans after the road.

WTDP?: How long have you been out on the road with Billy?
MC: We’ve been out since June. We actually left on the 22nd of June. Today is really, technically not the last day of the tour, but we fly back to New York tomorrow and we have a couple of days off, then we go to Vermont, then New York City and that’s it.

WTDP?: Your touring pedalboard has a lot of Hartman Pedals on it. How did you get hooked up with Theo?
MC: This guy, Michael Whalen, he’s a composer… he hired me to do all of this stuff and we were talking about pedals one day because when I work with him I always bring in a different… I have like three pedalboards working at once. I have a small one set up for around town and setting up with friends, one medium sized one which is the one here tonight, and one enormous, humongous studio set-up with wheels and everything. So he was used to seeing me coming in and out, changing pedals all the time and he asked, ‘Do you know Theo Hartman?’ I didn’t know who he was, but he (Whalen) got us in touch and we hit it off. We talked on Facebook and e-mail and he sent me a bunch of stuff to check out and soon as I plugged in that germanium fuzz I was like ‘Oh shit!’ We actually started talking about all of the old fuzz pedals, which I have a huge collection of like old Univox fuzz or the old Orange K fuzz like Daniel Lanois used on the ‘Sling Blade’ soundtrack. It’s real grungy sounding. Over the years I’ve collected a lot of fuzz pedals and a lot of delays. So Theo sent me these things and they were totally just killer right from the top. Between him and Keeley you can’t go wrong. I’m set. Those things are amazing.

WTDP?: Keeley had a pretty tough year with the fire and all.
MC: I met him in Oklahoma. They came down to a show. His brother Jason was hanging out with me.

WTDP?: So your collection… how many pedals do you own?
MC: I don’t think I’ve ever sold any effects pedals. I think it is an awful thing! I started out playing blues so I never really used pedals, but as a started getting into different kinds of music when I was younger… it turned into an awful addiction. I’d guess I have around a hundred, maybe more… probably more.

WTDP?: Do you have any favorites?
MC: I do. As far as esoteric shit I do have an original Univox Super Fuzz pedal – the old grey box like what Townshend used. When I got that, maybe five or six years ago, I got it for a good price and I was like ‘Yes!’ It was one of those moments. I have an original TS-808 from back in the day that I got for $15. I love the Fulltone tape delay. I use one of those. I had it out on this tour, but I don’t use much delay on this gig as I would with like… I did a thing with U2 about a year and a half ago and had to learn all of Edge’s rig and that of course delay-wise was very… we worked with stereo delays a lot. For that I’d been using the Eventide Timefactor, which is great because it’s small and doesn’t seem to screw up the sound of the amp. That’s great because I use my fingers a lot and sometimes I can feel when certain effects are screwing around with the sound. That doesn’t seem to do it. It’s a good box.

WTDP?: You came out with your second solo record, Harp & Plow, earlier this summer. It is a lot more organic and earthy than the 2002 debut. I’m betting that was a conscious decision.
MC: That definitely was a decision that I made. My first record was on RCA. It was a big budget thing that was more about ‘making the star’ than making an artistic statement. It was a great experience and I learned how to kind of find myself, because I had to. After that, I was like… ‘that didn’t sound like me!’ I grew up playing blues and slide guitar and this was a modern rock album. It was good though because it helped me become a better songwriter and it was more about my singing. I never even considered myself a singer. It was an interesting thing. With this one, I decided really early on to, you know, go up to Woodstock and make a hippy record, and get musicians that I loved playing with.

Marc Copley – What Might Have Been (from 2009’s Harp & Plow)

WTDP?: What is next for you after the Billy Squier tour?
MC: I get off the road here and I’m right in the studio with a French pop singer Chimene Badi. She’s is a pop-singer/songwriter type. Her label wanted her to do a hipper record I guess. Her records sound great, so I don’t know what they’re going for. She’s amazing as it is, but I guess they wanted her to work with American musicians. I’m doing this right around the corner from my apartment. I have one of the best studios in the world right here – Avatar… it used to be Power Station.

WTDP?: Is there another Marc Copely record on tap for 2010?
MC: I hope so, yeah. It had been a long time between records and what I really learned on this album is how much I like doing it. Getting back to being a singer again always gives me a little heart attack. I’d rather just play guitar. It’s a lot easier for me.

: Marc helps out with the vocal harmonies.

: Marc works a little slide during 'Lonely Is The Night'.

: Marc's Hartman-heavy pedal board, which also includes a Keeley-modded Boss Blues Driver and Tremolo. A Keeley True Bypass Looper, Maxon AD-999 Analog Delay and T-Rex Replica are also present.

: Marc's guitar rack boasts a Bill Nash T-style guitar, a Les Paul and a PRS (You can also barely see the head stock of the Bill Nash S-style guitar to the left.).