28 Apr Copeland’s Aaron Marsh Talks New Album and SunFest

Aaron Marsh hates performing in his hometown.

The lead singer of the indie rock band Copeland — who broke up in 2008 and reunited with a new album in 2014 — stepped onto the stage of the Polk Theater in Lakeland, Florida last Saturday, April 25.

“The hometown show was pretty nerve wracking,” explained Marsh. “It was lots of people who’ve known me for years and it’s hard to get into my indie rock zone when I’m looking into a bunch of familiar faces.”

It was the band’s kickoff show before embarking on a five week tour, which is making it’s way through SunFest on Thursday.

Marsh stepped onto the stage of the atmosphere theater — popular theaters from the 20s where the rooms are modeled to look like exotic courtyards or villas. The ceiling was blue with twinkling lights representing stars, the audience was packed with 1,000 in the crowd, the lights were blinding and Marsh was grateful.

“When I go on stage, I have to turn off certain conscious parts of my brain and go into an internal place where I can connect with the songs,” said Marsh. “There’s a lot I block out of my conscious mind when I perform so I can focus on my performance. And if I look out into the crowd and see a familiar face, it kind of immediately wakes up that consciousness.”

Marsh explained that he was thankful the lights were bright because it blew out the audience’s faces. “I would’ve been thrown off my game if I was able to see who was out there, definitely.” Those in attendance included Marsh’s friends, family, past coworkers, former classmates and even his preschool teacher. “It was so cool and awesome to play for those people but also incredibly nerve wracking.”

The band is touring in support of their recent album, “Ixora,” which released in November of 2014.

“I’d say it’s kind of picking up where we left off,” Marsh said of the album. “The older music definitely had a more poppy-emo pop vibe to it. It kind of had some more catchy hooks and that kind of thing. that’s not exactly what we go for with the new stuff we’re more focused on having songs that have more subtlety to them.”

The album has received high marks from critics such as Metacritic and Absolute Punk, but that’s not the important part, Marsh explained. “We’re real proud of it, so I’m glad people are liking it,” Marsh said. “But at this point, we’re making records because we wanna make stuff that we like.”

“We’re not actually like a full time band so at this point the only reason to make a record is because we want to make something. So, we’re not super concerned about if it’s going to sell really well or have a radio song. We’re just kind of making it because we want to make it.”

“Ixora” was completely self produced by Marsh, who owns a recording studio. “This one was just us. We did it in our studio in Lakeland.” Marsh continued, “I’m really kind of focused on production value and very interested in the sonic side of recording.”

“That’s something I’ve become a little bit nerdy about. Well, I’ve always been kind of nerdy about it but I’ve just become a little bit next level nerd over the past few years.  I try not to get too far away from the song writing because I still feel like I’m a songwriter at my core but my passion lies in the producing side and how we change the song and record the song and how they’re recorded basically.”

To sum it up: “the song is the picture and the production is the frame. And I’m super into the frame lately.”

The album also includes string accompaniments, that Copeland plans to use on their tour stops, including SunFest. “I can’t picture these songs without the strings,” Marsh said. The four piece band will be joined by four string players on stage. “It was like if we’re ever going to do it this was the time to do it.”

As for what SunFest fans can expect, “It’s been quite a while since we’ve played West Palm,” Marsh said. “Probably ten years or something.”

According to Marsh, Copeland will play a mix of new and old songs.

“We’re feeling pretty invigorated. We’re not burnt out on tour yet. we still have some energy and we’re excited for the show.”

Copeland performs on Thursday, April 30 at 7 p.m. at the Ford Stage.