image//barbara soto words//dave haddad

Eric Copeland makes some music– primarily as part of the 3-piece band Black Dice, but also under the elusive solo moniker “Eric Copeland”. Seeing Black Dice live, you will probably observe some people in a sort of trance (partly thanks to the volume) alongside others covering their ears (definitely thanks to the volume). Wherever you fall within that spectrum, dancing is highly recommended.

Is there an ‘Eric Copeland inspiration bank’ that you open up when working on new projects? Or is it more of an in-the-moment process when working alone?

Continuously working is what works best for me—and making that work as fun as possible. So I spend a lot of my time with music, tricking it out, or making little things… Not everything I do makes it out of the gates, so to say. So I have a lot of small ideas and eventually they will fall by the wayside, then reappear later with another small idea. At least right now that has been what I do—not follow one idea until it’s completely done, but just follow whatever inspiration presents itself during the day and work until I don’t want to anymore.

Does that change when working as part of Black Dice?

With Dice, I tend to either bring in something that I’ve been working on that I’m really excited about, or try to play what I play more like a conventional instrument. So sometimes I can show up completely blank and work from there. And sometimes I have a more refined idea to present to the other guys and just go from there. I guess the short answer is that I try to keep busy and leave my prejudices/opinions out of my working process, as sometimes I find my favorite ideas and sounds in the worst of places…

Is there any favorite sound or visual from your childhood/past that you’ve tried to replicate? Like a long-time favorite TV show or video game?

Not really. I don’t go for nostalgia too often. Tends to be a dead end when I’m trying to make things. I guess I am attracted to music that has references in the real world or in our memories, but also sounds new and exciting to me. That’s the main thing; I tend to follow the ideas that excite me most at the time. And repeating my ideas or anyone else’s is not exciting to me.

I’ve read in past interviews that environment has been an influence in your sound [especially when using samples]. Does it help to be touring/traveling a lot in 2009?

Er, I don’t know. I’ve pretty much been living in a practice space for the last 15 years it feels like. And all practice spaces are the same pretty much. With sampling, I try not to restrict myself. Because of this, I will dredge some dirty sounds. And that can include a lot of “other” sounds that get in there. In that way, yes, I’m more interested in environments than, say, a sample of Puff Daddy’s. But lately, I wouldn’t want to exclude those ideas either as sometimes that path leads to something pretty unexpected. Strangely, with touring, I tend to stop making music. It stops me from working as we’re always driving, sleeping, eating, playing shows… It’s good to balance these parts of music making—keeps me going.

Do you have a favorite concert experience from 2009? Would you play ATP New York again?

I always like playing Floristree in Baltimore. Dice haven’t played there though. With Black Dice, we had a great LA show this year. And we’ve played Brooklyn quite a bit lately, which I always love. Up above the auto parts store. ATP was good, would do it again if schedules permit… I love the Market Hotel; all of our Todd P shows are great—I love working with him. We played with Animal Collective for the first time in years and that was fun—real different audiences than our norm. It’s been a lot of shows this year, so I’m honestly pretty exhausted from it. Still recovering.

I lived in Byron Bay, Australia for a year from 06-07, and I was psyched when I learned thatBroken Ear Record was recorded there. What was it like recording in a small coastal Australian town? Would you recommend working in a small and exotic place to other artists?

It was the best place to relax, lots of beaches. We wanted to treat ourselves to something really different and that’s where we found ourselves. I don’t know if it added anything to the sound. It definitely wasn’t a stress-less record to make; tape machine caught on fire, I was not the easiest person to be around, and there were many distractions. And we were around each other for all parts of the day, which in itself is stressful. It was an experience and I’m glad we took it. It’s good to shake things up. I think we needed that experience to keep moving. I wouldn’t recommend much to people, but I support whatever someone needs to do to keep growing and moving.

Beaches & Canyons had a serene/organic vibe, whereas Repo feels very urban/street. The other LPs seem to fall in-between to me, but the two I named feel like opposite ends of a spectrum. Would you agree? If yes, was this planned?

I don’t know if I agree. I think they are different for sure. But to me, it’s more of an attitude that I notice. I never think of us as being organic or serene. I only hear the tension. Beaches & Canyons feels like the beginning of a journey to me. Like there’s a big horizon in front and the path is still a little unclear. And this is one type of freedom. But then Repo is further along that path. We know more and have done lots. And we are making a different type of freedom, something closer to us. We live in New York, so maybe we work within these ideas. I also don’t think of us as very urban though. It’d be naive to ignore it, but I feel like we are always coming from a pretty anonymous practice space/internal headspace.

Do you ever use colors to describe your own sounds or when working with Black Dice?

No, we don’t really talk conceptually—sometimes referentially.

If you could live inside any 80s movie, which would you choose?

If I had to, I’d live in ET. But, for a moment, maybe Poltergeist? Or Close Encounters? I don’t know, there’s a million I’d do for a minute.