Koopa (band)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Koopa was a
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
band from
Sible Hedingham Sible Hedingham ( ) is a large village and civil parish in the River Colne, Essex, Colne Valley in the Braintree (district), Braintree District of Essex, in England. It has a population of 3,994 according to the 2011 census. Sible Hedingham li ...
, near
Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...
,
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
, England. The band formed in 2000 by the brothers Stuart Cooper (drums) and Oliver "Ollie" Cooper (vocals and guitar), plus Joe Murphy (vocals, bass, production). The band became the first act to have a
Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
UK Singles Chart hit based on download sales only, and the first act to have a charting single without being signed to a record label, both facilitated by then-recent changes to rules for eligibility for the singles chart.


Career

The band began working together whilst Ollie Cooper was a teenager at school. In 2003 they made some recordings with
B-Unique Records B-Unique Records is a London-based record label, and publishing company founded in 2001 by Mark Lewis and Martin Toher. It is one of the UK’s most successful independent labels. B-Unique's current roster includes Irish indie-folk trio Kingf ...
and
EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
. Between 2004 and 2007, the band toured continuously, both locally and nationally. During this period, they released two singles on Mad Cow Records. "No Trend" made the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 71. Their records included "Stand Up 4 England", a
World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
related song supporting the England national team, the lyrics of which were written for the band by Paul Baker. The single featured on the 2006 re-release of ''England (The Album)''. At the end of 2006 the band released a non-chart-eligible EP called "Three in a Bed with Bobby George". The cover featured the band in bed with the darts player,
Bobby George Robert Francis George (born 16 December 1945) is an English television presenter and former professional darts player. He is widely recognised as one of the game's biggest personalities, known for his flamboyant entrances in which the "King o ...
. The EP also featured "Erin's Main Obsession", "Pop Rock Factory", "How True" and "Unique" as well as "Blag, Steal and Borrow", the song that went on to become the band's download-only history making single.


Breakthrough

In January 2007, changes to the chart rules in the UK meant that songs which are not released on physical formats (such as CDs or on
vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...
) would now be eligible to chart through
download In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar systems. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...
ed copies. Koopa's single " Blag, Steal & Borrow" was released through music distributo
Ditto Music
and charted at No. 31 on 14 January 2007, making it the first single to chart without ever being 'released' in the traditional sense.
Gibson, Owen; ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
''; 16-01-07; Accessed 18-01-07
Koopa were reported as being the first 'unsigned' band to reach the charts. Although "self-issued" records are fairly common for unsigned bands, the costs of doing so mean that it is relatively rare for enough copies of such records to be produced in order to gain a chart position. Wealthier artists who are able to fund their own record label have also previously charted without a record deal. KOOPA's achievement is to have entered the Top 40 Chart as an unsigned band through sales of downloads alone, there being no physical copy of the single in existence. In June 2007 the band were invited to open the
Isle of Wight Festival The Isle of Wight Festival is a British music festival which takes place annually in Newport, Isle of Wight, Newport on the Isle of Wight, England. It was originally a Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture event held from 1968 to 1970. Th ...
from the main stage. On 11 June 2007. "One Off Song for the Summer" debuted on the midweek chart at No. 12, later in the week it dropped to No. 17. By the following Sunday, 17 June, the single had fallen to No. 21 in the charts. October brought further success for the band when they returned from the Glasswerk New Music Awards with, not only the MySpace Award in recognition of their successful use of the site in their self-promotion, but also the final award of the night, The 2007 Achievement Award. On 29 October 2007 "The Crash" was released which listed in the midweek chart at No. 12, appearing in the Official UK Singles Chart the following Sunday at No. 16 making them a "Top 20" band.


Signed band and inactivity

On 15 January 2008, Koopa announced on their MySpace page, that they had signed a deal with record label Pied Piper Records for three albums. On 13 February 2008, again on MySpace, the band announced that their new record company; Pied Piper, had given them the opportunity to record an album in the US, which was to be produced by
Mark Hoppus Mark Allan Hoppus (born March 15, 1972) is an American musician and record producer. He is the co-lead vocalist, co-founder, and bassist for the rock band Blink-182 and the only member to appear on every album. Hoppus became interested in ska ...
(
Blink 182 Blink-182 is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Poway, California, in 1992. Its current and best-known line-up consists of bassist and vocalist Mark Hoppus, guitarist and vocalist Tom DeLonge, and drummer Travis Barker. Though its so ...
). The band also announced the album was receiving its final mix and that they would be main support for
Bowling for Soup Bowling for Soup is an American rock band formed in Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1994. The band consists of Jaret Reddick (lead vocals, guitar), Gary Wiseman (drums, percussion), and Rob Felicetti (bass, backing vocals, acoustic guitar). The band i ...
on a UK Tour. The album was mastered by Brian Gardiner and was released at the beginning of 2009. In August 2008 the band announced that the first single from the forthcoming album would be "Gimmie It Back" which was released on 24 November 2008. In February 2009, the
Hoppus The hoppus cubic foot (or ‘hoppus cube’ or ‘h cu ft’) was the standard volume measurement used for timber in the British Empire and countries in the British sphere of influence before the introduction of metric units. It is still used in ...
produced album ''Lies Sell Stories'' was initially released in Japan via Yoshimoto records. The accompanying radio single "Gimmie It Back" received substantial air and video play on various broadcasters including
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
. After this the band were invited to perform a short promotional tour of Japan, accompanying
Metro Station A metro station or subway station is a train station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the syste ...
. In April 2009, it was announced on their MySpace page that the ''Greatest Hits'' set – "''More hits than a porn website''" was slated for release on 8 June 2009, via Genepool/Universal distribution. As of June 2009, the band have licensed all vintage material to Cohort/Brilliant records in the UK, are signed to Yoshimoto R&C In Japan, and other material including the album ''Lies Sell Stories'' is owned by the band. However, the album was never released in the UK, and no music has been released by the band since.


Discography


Albums

*'' Blag, Steal and Borrow'' ''Japan only'' – Pyropit Records (2007) *'' Lies Sell Stories'' ''Japan only'' – Yoshimoto R and C (2009) *'' Greatest Hits (Part One)'' – Brilliant/Universal (June 2009)


Singles


References


External links

*
Pied Piper Records


{{DEFAULTSORT:Koopa English musical trios English punk rock groups English pop punk groups Musical groups from Essex People from Sible Hedingham