2009 Year in Review Pictorial

Now that 2009 is coming to a close, i decided to find some pictures of most of the shows we played this year and post them on here considering i never actually post any pictures. Enjoy, and be sure to come out to the NYE show with Gift Eaters tomorrow night!

Click the images to make them bigger. I also added some brief notes and info at the bottom of each portion of photos. This is the last post of 2009, see you in 2010.
-Durell



The Hydeaway. February 27th. Photos by Kelsey Huget.
This was our first show of 2009, and our first show with then newcomers Maus and Goose. Maus and Goose killed it that night, we sucked. What are you going to do? It was a fun night regardless.



Ritchie Hall. March 20th. Photo by Chelsea Kempinski
This was the first time we would play Ritchie Hall in 2009. Withdrawal from Winnipeg and High Jinks also played this show, making it one of the best of 2009.






Love is Still Love Benefit. Circles. April 9th. Photos by Andrea Janzen
The unholy trinity of destruction was formed that night. Wolfgoat. Cope. Gift Eaters. Anyone who was at this show saw all three bands absolutely destroy anything and everything that was in their path. This was also the show of the infamous ceiling incident. All i initially intended to do was pass around some of my cymbals at the end of our set so that random kids in the crowd could play them while Matt ended with some drone stuff. Well, needless to say, this didn't happen. As soon as i saw one of my drums go flying across the floor, i just figured "aw, fuck it!", and smashed my ride into my bass drum. Kev then sat inside my bass drum, who then got lifted up by the crowd while still in the bass drum, who then climbed up into the ceiling, and then finally who fell through the ceiling. Goddammit...





Ghost Throats Fest. Ritchie Hall. May 16th. Photos by Andrea Janzen
This was one of the best shows of the year. I mean, look at those pictures! How could it not have been with a bunch of crazy kids flying around everywhere? We are still incredible appreciative to have been a part of this fest, and to CJ and everyone else who helped make it happen.




Ritchie Hall. June 19th. Photos by Chelsea Kempinski
This was a ridiculous show since Hominid and Begrime Exemious also played. It was great to finally play a show with Hominid again. We use to play with them all the time the previous year but didn't in 2009 until this show happened. This was also the first time we played with Begrime Exemious, the band of original Cope drummer Derek Orthner.



Avonmore Hall. July 12th. Photo by Matthew Cuthbert
This was our last show before setting out on our 2009 tour with GSTS!. This was also Red Hot Daggers last show, which was a bummer, but it made for good times. We also filmed our set for the Edmonton local hardcore DVD that night, so hopefully sometime in the future we'll have live video/audio from this show.



Cope hanging out before playing our first show of the 2009 tour in Abbotsford, BC. Photo by Drew Reikman



Fun House. Abbotsford, BC. July 17th. Photo by Andrea Janzen
This was our first show on tour with GSTS!, and their hometown show. That being said, kids came out and the show was pretty fucking nuts. A bunch of kids crammed into a tiny basement made this the perfect way to start off tour.




The Anti-Poverty Committee. Vancouver, BC. July 18th. Photos by Andrea Janzen
This wasn't our best show, but fun none the less. I remember us having some guitar gear malfunctions during our set, which sucks, but whatever. We got to play with Damages and hang out with some Vancouver friends that night, so that made up for our set.



Cope and GSTS! hanging out in the woods of BC. July 19th. Photo by Todd Skitsko




Ymir Hall. Ymir, BC. July 20th. Photos by Taylor Geddes
This was the weirdest show on tour. We showed up to this middle of no where town with children and dogs running around the hall we were suppose to play in. But as it turned out, this was one of the funnest shows on tour. We had a band-off with GSTS!, setting up our gear all at once and taking turns playing songs, which was really fun. We also got to see The Kettle Black play that night, which is an incredible one man band. We stayed that night at the Taberfucks cabin, who also played that night, so a big thanks is due to them.



Cope and GSTS! hanging out with some locals on a beach near Regina, SK. July 24th. Photo by Todd Skitsko





War On Music Record Shop. Winnipeg, MB. July 25th. Photos by David Van Den Bossche
This was another weird tour show, only because we didn't actually play until well past midnight. But regardless, the promoter was a rad guy, the kids that did come were cool, and playing in a record shop right next door to an amazing vegan restaurant was a plus.



Cope and GSTS! hanging out in Ontario. July 26th. Photo by Todd Skitsko




Black Pirates Pub. Thunder Bay, ON. July 27th. Photos by Taylor Geddes
This was the farthest east we played on our tour with GSTS!. Not a big turn out, but it was fun. I remember talking to Kev about how weird it was that we were playing a show in Ontario that night and being so far from home.



Cope and GSTS! on the last night of tour. Saskatoon, SK. July 30th. Photo by Todd Skitsko






New Black Center. Clagary, AB. October 17th. Photos by Trista Croft
This was our first show with Nathan playing guitar and it was fucking nuts. Calgary always goes crazy, especially since Kali, Maus, and Creeper were on this bill. What a good night.



Cope's current line up after playing in Calgary on October 17th. Photo by Mark Arsenault.
From left to right: Durell, Nathan, Kev, Todd

GSTSSTTSSSTSTSSTS

GSTS!, probably some of the best musicians i've ever spent a lot of time with, have a video of themselves playing live. Check it out.



-Durell

Ending 2009 With A Broken Cymbal Stand

We're playing a new years eve show with Gift Eaters and Wolfgoat. Here is the poster, additional information can be found on our myspace page. Show up on time to catch us. Stay for the onslaught of Edmonton hardcore.



-Durell

Smash Out The Old, Smash In The New

The monthly update of band updates.

First things first. Writing has been going incredibly well. We're getting a bunch of new material ready and its sounding so good. Here is a demo of one of the new songs we wrote with the new line up. It's super dirty sounding, but you get a good taste of things to come.

Second. We're planning on playing a Edmonton show sometime soon in December. This one will cause so much destruction and chaos, you'd be kicking yourself in the ass if you missed it. More info on that as soon as i get it.

Third. Plans for the summer 2010 tours is underway. One tour will bring us to western Canada with a stop over the border. The other will bring us far more east into Canada than last year, again with a stop over the border. As soon as i have confirmation from the rest of Cope, i'll post the dates.

Fourth. I don't know where our 10" is. Pressing plants and their constant failing at replying to inquiries frustrates me, but it'll be here eventually. Show some love for Nathan at xTRUEx and check out the 7"split he just released in the meantime.

Fifth. Here are some pictures of the above mentioned new lineup from our show with Creeper and Maus in Calgary last month. (click to enlarge)






That's it for now.

-Durell

First Show With New Lineup - Calgary

Finally. Fucking finally. Playing a show. This Saturday, the 17th of October. We couldn't be more stoked. This will be our first show with Nathan playing guitar. We'll be playing some new songs as well as some from the EP that have been fined tuned. Others playing are Creeper, from Toronto, and our friends Kali and Maus. Creeper will also be playing a Edmonton show the night before. Here's all the info for Saturday's show.

Saturday October 17th

Creeper
Maus
Cope
Kali

CALGARY
New Black Center

#200, 919 9 ave SE

$7
5:30pm

People have asked why we are not playing any Edmonton shows. The answer is that we're still taking a break from shows, with the exception of the show mentioned above. We've been wanting to play with Creeper since Gift Eaters met them on their summer tour and had nothing but good things to say. When the Edmonton show was booked up, we decided to get on the Calgary bill. Edmonton has heard our songs over and over again. We want to play a show at home when we have new songs to wreck everything to. We've only played Calgary a couple times so they haven't heard our old songs to death. THOUGH, some new songs will definitely be played. This Saturday could be considered a preview of things to come.

Here's a poster for the show.




That's it.

-Durell

Anyone That Thinks Thunderstruck is a Monumental Achievement In Musical History Deserves to Die

This is what we've been up to...




Other than mountains of nachos, we are very pleased to announce that Nathan Levasseur has officially joined Cope. We've already started jamming and writing with him, and so far everything has been sounding just as good, if not better than before. Hopefully we'll start playing shows towards the end of the fall, but for now, we're in write mode. The next time Cope plays a show, we'll have a whole new bag o' songs ready to insinuate destruction. Heavier. Faster. Louder. Fuck i can't wait.

Other than all that, if you reside in the Edmonton area, you should really check out Maus' first show back with their new line up. All info can be found here.

To finish off, here's the best picture of Nathan i could find.



-Durell

Line up changes, new bands, records, oh my!

I actually have stuff to talk about, resulting in me actually updating this thing more than once a month.

Cope and Matthew Lecky have parted ways, amicably. Sometimes life just goes on and you find yourself with limited time, in other words, going to school. Everyone is on the same page and though this may not be the most positive of events for us, everyone remains good friends. We wish Matt luck on all his future endeavors.

Which brings me to my next point, our replacement for Matt. Nathan Levasseur of Goose fame will be jamming with us for a bit, and if everyone's feeling it, will join Cope. We're really excited about this as Nathan is a fantastic guitar player and can bring a whole new level of playing/writing to the table. Though his position as a permanent member remains up in the air, everyone seems optimistic and is eager to get this thing rolling again. Who knows... maybe a Cope/Goose summer tour to go along with a Goose/Cope split 7" (yeah, it's still happening). But one thing is for sure, we're not letting this be the downfall of Cope. We're not breaking up. If anything, this is really a step in the right direction and we can only progress from here.

That being said, Kev, Todd, and myself have other bands aside from Cope on the go...

Kev is now playing drums in a band featuring members of Snic, Gift Eaters, Red Hot Daggers, and Maus. Last i heard, they were calling themselves Book of Caverns and have a really rough demo of a song. From what i heard of the demo, it's sounding pretty rad and fans of Envy-esque stuff will more than likely dig this. But i mean, with that line up, how could you not produce good music?
Todd has been talking about starting up or joining another band. I hope it's a really good post metal band. Bug him to start/join a really good post metal band.
I play in a doom metal band called Cygnus with the Orthner brothers, Derek and Gary, who also play in Begrime Exemious and Hominid, respectively. It's really fucking heavy and really groovy. I love it. Anyone who likes Electric Wizard, Sleep, Pentagram, or other traditional doom metal bands would more than likely dig Cygnus. We already have a near complete set written, so expect to see us play shows by the end of October or beginning of November (hopefully).

So, the 10" is still in the mail. When it's here, you'll hear about it. All our other planned recordings (collab with St.Gilles and Split with Goose) are still going down, regardless of member changes. We had a number of songs completed for these projects, but with Matt's departure goes some of those songs. But, i'm sure writing with a new guitarist will help produce some good new tunes.

There you have it. We're sorry we couldn't play the August 19th show. We'll be back soon enough. In the meantime, go check out Goose and Maus when they start playing shows again. And for all the Edmonton kids who might be reading this, go start new bands. There's nothing that your favorite locals bands do that you're not fully capable of doing yourself. It's a lot of fun, trust me.

-Durell