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Copper Bio:
On July 11, 1994, Copper was formed in Hibbing, MN by high school friends Joe Galatz(vocals, guitar), John Skoy(bass), Chris Madrinich(drums), and Pat Galatz(keyboards). For the first 2 years the band spent many an hour honing their skills in the attic of Joe and Pat's garage. Pat decided against continuing on in the first year, and the first lineup of the band was secured as a threesome. After a couple of self put together shows and small parties, Copper got it's first big opportunity to play for a larger crowd at the Annual Vesli Festival in Vesli, MN, in August of 96. With the coming of fall, college beckoned the three members, and Joe left for Colorado College. With Copper seemingly finished, John and Chris, attending college in Hibbing, formed the band Allusion with Abe Fering and Greg Johnson. Chrismas 96 brought a reunion of Copper as Allusion and Copper played a concert in Hibbing. Soon after, Joe made the announcement that he would be returning to Hibbing in the spring of 97. Copper picked up right were they left off and started gigging locally. The fall of 1997 brought the Bandarama 97 battle of the bands. Copper competed and won a demo recording with Living Water Music. Over the winter, Copper wrote new material and recorded. This would prove to be the beginning of Coppers difficulties with album releases. For the next year and a half, the band played local shows and struggled with getting their demo. Then in 1999 Copper went into the studio at Underground Sound in Roseville, MN to record their first full length album. A day before their first session, Copper received their demo from Living Water. 4 of those tracks would end up on the album. The band wrapped up everything in the studio in the summer and made the move to Minneapolis. Copper struggled with duplucation on the release of the album and the next year was spent trying to get the album released and writing new material. The bands inner turmoil was becoming a factor. Spring of 2000 saw Copper moving back to Hibbing to regroup and weigh options. They played the college and the WTBX Battle of the Bands and yet things were still not quite right. Over the winter and early spring the band recruited a new member, Rich Templin for bass. John and Joe began sharing guitar and vocal duties and in May of 2001, Copper debuted their new lineup at On-Cue at the Irongate Mall. It was to be the only show to see that inception of the band, as soon after, Joe was dropped from the group and Copper was three once again. The band saw their heaviest summer of gigging yet in 2001 and in the fall made yet another move to Mankato, MN. The band played regularly in Mankato and Hibbing and in the spring of 2002, Atlantic Records called and requested a demo. Copper headed to the studio for a third time, this time at Rainbow Recordings in Mankato. Gigging continued and in the summer of 2003, four years after recording it, "Dead End" was released along with the EP demo of the work sent to Atlantic. Late 2003 and most of 2004 saw Copper in the studio again, recording their second full length album to be released in October 2004. |
