Hello! Can you give everyone a brief introduction to the band and yourself?

Hello! My name is Joe and I play in a band called Copy Haho. We're from Stonehaven, a small village/town in the north east of Scotland. We like playing music together and have done (in various forms) since secondary school.

How long have Copy Haho been together in its current form? I know that a few of you used to play in Politik, and a few of you currently play in Project:Venhell.

Copy Haho has existed for around 2 and a half years now. You're absolutely right, three of us used to play in a band called Politik, but the less said about that the better, haha. Richard and I were also in an improv/noise band called Clive Ravensbey around the same time, which was hilarious. Both Rikki and Stuart play in PVH - I think they've been at it for as long as Copy Haho have.

Are you all looking forward to the few dates coming up with Dananananaykroyd in a couple of weeks and then the dates in mid April around the north of England?

We sure are! Dana are great live (Tony the Tiger "great", even!) and we're all good friends, so it's brilliant to be able to play together once in a while! The April dates should be fun too - I'm looking forward to hearing a variety of northern English accents!

They're definitely a force to be reckoned with. Are there are any other Scottish bands that you're all really enjoying playing with and watching at the moment?

Yeah for sure! Scotland is great for music in general I think. I really like Jesus H. Foxx, Hyena, Make Model - I just wish we could play with them all more often!

Onto the clichéd question! What kinds of bands mainly influence your songwriting and performing? The Copy Haho sound suggests you all listen to a wide variety of music.

I'm not exactly sure to be honest. I would definitely say our tastes are very varied. Personally, I've always been a bit of a sucker for late 80's and early 90's alt rock - Hüsker Dü, Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth, that kind of thing. Then again, we're all really into people like Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder and The Jackson 5. I think it tends to be anything with a really strong melody.

There were some rumours about you guys releasing a single through Leeds-based Jealous Records about 5 or 6 months ago. What happened there? Is there still something in the pipeline?

Yeah, we had planned to put out a single with them but unfortunately it didn't happen in the end. We're all still friends, it was more of a logistical/financial thing rather than a personal disagreement. We're talking to a few people about putting something out, it's early days yet though.

Yeah, there seems to be a lot of very good quality tunes and recordings doing the rounds on your MySpace profile at the moment, it's a shame no labels have picked up on them and put out another 7". I was wondering if there was any meaning behind the band name, or is it a completely nonsensical phrase?

Thanks very much! Yeah hopefully we'll get something sorted out soon release-wise. It's funny, a lot of people ask about our band name. Stuart, who plays guitar in the band, came up with it one afternoon at school. HAHO stands for High Altitude High Opening - I'm not sure why it became Copy Haho though - I think it had something to do with us wanting to sound Japanese. It was probably around the same time we all became obsessed with Cornelius.

I think that's a reasonable enough explanation. It makes sense, unlike a lot of band names. Which gigs, if any, stand out in your mind as favourites that you’ve played, and why?

Haha thanks! Hmm, show wise I'm not sure. The last time I was asked this question I mentioned the shows we played with Chin Up Chin Up from Chicago. Although, today I was reminded of a live student radio session we did in Glasgow last year. It was pretty fun! Someyoungpedro, Acronym and Frightened Rabbit played too. I don't usually get nervous before playing, but I remember realising my hands were shaking of their own accord.

Yeah, I caught one of the Chin Up Chin Up shows. I think it was the first time you'd ever played Leeds? Some of the banter was great with both you and CUCU. I think their keyboardist came out with some long-winded story about Quentin Tarantino attending one of the UK shows whilst guitar strings were being replaced in the background!

Yeah that was hilarious! At the Liverpool show, Quentin T was sitting around upstairs working the room, it was bizarre. I remember going upstairs to check - I couldn't believe how large his head was. I don't mean for that to sound horrible, it's just I was genuinely surprised!

Massive claim to fame! Not something the average Joe (forgive the pun) can tell the kids! "Quentin Tarantino attended my band's show!" I wonder if he paid in...

Hahaha

And finally, which other UK bands that haven’t already been mentioned do you recommend listening to/catching live?

I'd sure recommend Johnny Foreigner, they're great live and on record! The Douglas Furs, The Twilight Sad, Held By Hands and Shittalker are all super good too!

I can definitely back up Johnny Foreigner and SHITTALKER, I’ll be seeing The Twilight Sad for the first time in a few weeks hopefully so I’ll be able to report back. Thanks a lot for your time and enjoy band practice!

Thanks Matt!