In case you missed my live my interview with Gabriel Añel on Hair Metal Mixtape from Radio Free Brooklyn (8/16/21), here’s a transcription of our conversation. (Click photo below for full show audio.) We spoke about my new Dweller EP, early inspirations, and drum heroes. Check it out…
GA: Stephen Chopek is a musician living and working in Atlanta, GA. Prior to releasing his first solo album in 2012, he spent over 10 years drumming on tour and in the studio with Charlie Hunter, John Mayer, and Jesse Malin among many others.
Full disclosure, Steve and I grew up in the same town together and have known each other most of our lives.
Stephen has a new EP out called Dweller. That’s right, man. A six-track EP that was released this past August 6th. It blends classic hooks reminiscent of some of power pop’s most iconic songwriters like Matthew Sweet, Ben Kweller, Bobby Bare Jr., Paul Westerberg, Tommy Keene, and Evan Dando.
GA: Welcome to the Hair Metal Mixtape, Stephen! How’s it going today so far? Are you there?
SC: Yo.
GA: Yo! What’s going on man?
SC: What’s up Gabe?
GA: How are you today?
SC: I’m doing well, thanks. Are we live?
GA: We are live, man. We had some technical difficulties in the beginning because the show is now back in Brooklyn. Some of the techs here had to get some stuff turned around and get it going. We are live and going. Welcome to the mixtape! How’s it going today so far?
SC: All good, thanks. Enjoying the afternoon here in Atlanta. Little bit of rain. Looking forward to hangin’ out for a bit.
GA: Nice, man.You got this new EP Dweller I just mentioned, but before we get into it I wanna play a track of my choosing for today off this new EP. The song I choose is “Unspoken Hopes”. Tell me a little about this song before I play it.
SC: Sure! I was working on this song last year when everyone’s plans either got put on hold or just changed completely. But there's only so long that you can ignore those things that you set out to do or left undone. Eventually those ideas and dreams have a way of finding their way out of your unconscious and into everyday life. “Unspoken Hopes” is about trusting your intuition, letting your inner voice manifest itself into reality; and while at the same time, leaving the past behind and letting your instincts bring you into the next thing.
GA: I love it, man. I love it! Alight guys, here we go. “Unspoken Hopes” off of Stephen Chopek’s EP Dweller, just out this past August 6th. Here we go! Hair Metal Mixtape on Radio Free Brooklyn.
MUSIC: “Unspoken Hopes”
GA: Oh yeah. There it is! “Unspoken Hopes” from the new EP Dweller that came out this past August 6th on Bancamp and all streaming platforms worldwide. First of all, congratulations; and second of all, let’s start with the title of the EP Dweller. It says on your press release that the EP’s title comes from the sudden universal concept of being locked down with nowhere to go; and the experience you had over this previous year, where you were, for the first time in your professional life, stationary. Can you expand on that? Is this an EP of songs you set out to put all together and release as an EP, or is this a collection of singles that you rounded up and released as an EP?
SC: Thanks for the congrats! The EP was in the works for a while, and it feels really good to get it out into the world. Pieces of these songs, they came together over the last few years, mostly while I was on the road drumming with other people or doing my solo thing. Then whatever time I had at home in between tours, I spent recording the ideas for melodies and lyrics just so I wouldn't forget them. And then when I got home from a winter tour, I was playing drums with Mike Doughty at the end of February 2020. I got home, everything started to shut down. I got kind of nervous about what that would mean for the music industry, and at the same time started to get anxious about the prospect of having all this time at home to finally sit down and focus on finishing the songs that I started. So, I wasn’t really conscious of the themes while I was recording; but what came out were the things that were on my mind, and maybe other people’s minds too. Things that are important to identity and livelihood, like… love, hope, and work.
GA: The three pillars.
SC: Yeah yeah.
GA: You gotta have those three pillars, man. Not only are you a singer songwriter, but a multi-instrumentalist, artist and many other creative things. But what I know most about you and have identified most with you in the past has been for your being a drummer. A professional for hire drummer that has led you to some pretty memorable gigs and tours, and stints with many different artists and bands from many different genres. Can you give us a quick little run down of your, I guess you call it your drumming resume, and maybe some memories that stand out from some of these gigs; and how you got into the drummer gig for hire thing to begin with?
SC: Yeah, definitely. I started playing drums in grammar school and was playing in rock bands all throughout my teens, while studying jazz drum set and classical percussion. And then after college, I studied with drummer Billy Martin from Medeski Martin & Wood, and also did a mentorship with jazz percussionist Leon Parker. Leon was the one who introduced me to guitarist Charlie Hunter, who invited me to play on a record that he was making at the time. And that led to two years on the road with Charlie, along with another album of his that I played on called Songs from the Analog Playground. After that, I toured with John Mayer for a year in support of his Room For Squares album. Did a summer with Marc Broussard, tours with Jesse Malin, two years with The Alternate Routes, and a few years with The Everymen. And then while doing all this stuff, playing gigs and making records with lots of other artists in and around New York City. I was living in Jersey City at the time. And then, in 2014 I moved to Memphis and met a whole other community of amazing musicians. I spent time on the road with John Paul Keith, Shannon McNally, Mike Doughty from Soul Coughing; while playing in a really fun band called Red Squad, an afro pop group called Obruni, and so many other fantastic players in Memphis.
GA: Dude. You gotta work, man. You gotta do the gigs, right? And it’s fun because you end up doing so many different styles of things that you just keep fresh on everything, you know?
SC: Totally! That’s what keeps things moving for me.
GA: Speaking of drumming, hair metal and drummers go way back for both of us. I was a multi-instrumentalist myself with drums being my first, but it was more like snare drum in marching band. One of the reasons I did it was because of my fascination for the drumming and antics of Tommy Lee from Mötley Crüe. I know the Crüe holds a special place in your hard rock / heavy metal / hair metal heart. When did they come into the picture for you, and how much is the Crüe still a part of your life?
SC: Man… Tommy Lee was my first drum hero, and I’m still kind of obsessed. Probably around, maybe Shout At The Devil era I became aware, you know? And like, I still stand by the fact that Tommy Lee is one of the greatest rock and roll drummers. I mean, he was basically a kid when he joined Mötley Crüe, and already he had a sophisticated approach to his playing. Great feel, great ideas, and had a really strong presence without distracting from the song or the band as a whole. His playing just had a certain attitude; and probably most importantly, he always looked like he was having fun when he was playing.
GA: Ha! Yeah. Tricks and everything. Around the neck. Around the head. Those twirls!
SC: Totally. Totally.
GA: You recently moved from Memphis, TN to Atlanta, GA and I’m sure you are still unpacking. We spoke the other night, and you mentioned a box of cassettes and other random things you have from the move, but still haven’t opened yet because I asked you not to open it. So let’s open it and see what’s in the box, man. What’s in the box?
SC: Alright, so what’s in the box. I took a peek and in the box I was pleasantly surprised because I knew that I had a lot of cassettes. I knew that I held onto a lot of cassettes from old band rehearsals and 4-track demos, but I thought for sure that I had more of my rock ’n’ roll collection like Ozzy and Ratt, Dio, and Poison, and all that stuff. I could see those tape covers in my mind, you know? But those, I dug and I couldn't find those. Apparently, at some point I got rid of all that stuff, but kept the really important stuff, which turned out to be the very first cassette that I bought which was Van Halen’s 1984. And then Mötley Crüe’s first four cassettes. Um, yeah. Like, THE cassettes that I had. And so those are the last men standing in the box.
GA: Since you found this, how much is hard rock and hair metal, that whole universe a part of your life? I mean, I knew it kind of was in the past. But past ’til present, is it still around for you? Do you have a favorite? I mean, obviously Tommy, right? Favorite drummers from back then, but even a couple more from back then and maybe even now? I mean, do we even know about some modern hard rock genre drummers now, or what?
SC: Well, it’s a good question. It’s like, a little couple parter. A few weeks ago was MTV’s 40th anniversary, and I thought about how much that stuff kind of shaped my musical tastes back then, you know? It introduced me to New Wave, indie rock, metal bands that I hadn’t heard before. And that concept of setting music to videos, it just hooked me. It seemed exciting, and a lot of it, when I look back on that stuff, a lot of that stuff holds up pretty well. And side note: watching all those videos back then, getting that stuff burned into my brain is probably why I like making my own videos now. I’ve been doing that a lot lately.
GA: And they’re fun.
SC: Yeah. So much fun! And as far as the drummers go, it’s tough to name just a few. I think about this sometimes, and it kind of divides into different categories. But like, the three big ones for me in like this particular world are John Bonham, Tommy Lee, Dave Grohl. Guys that I was really digging into coming up. And they’re all great players, and they all have a distinct feel with that, just like a little bit of swing to their groove, you know? They always come up with interesting parts that not just serve the song, but elevate the music all together. And two other guys in that kind of vibe are Phil Rudd - AC/DC, and Bill Ward from Sabbath. Bonham and Ward, I think they really kind of set the tone for the early hard rock vibe. And what made them stand out was that they were listening to music that eventually led to rock ’n’ roll. They were in the UK, but were probably listening to, and playing a lot of American blues, soul, and R&B stuff. So like, they imported that stuff and gave it back to the US with a new twist and an edge, you know? One way to put it is they rolled as much as they rocked. And the godfather of that feel was Earl Palmer who played on all of the early tracks from Little Richard and Fats Domino and all that stuff. And that dude was from New Orleans, so he came up in the jazz world. So he took that swing, put a back beat on it, and you know, made rock ‘n roll.
GA: Is there anything I missed that you may want to mention?
SC: Man! Getting rolling with stuff with you, it’s like we could talk about this stuff all day. You know, we could have our own series. But man, great questions. I think we covered a lot of stuff, and the people probably wanna hear the music.
GA: Plug zone time, man! Where can everyone find you and your music these days?
SC: You can find me and everything that I’m working on at my website which is stephenchopek.com along with links to all my socials - Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, all that stuff. And in addition to just music, you can find the videos that I mentioned earlier. The videos that I’ve been making, and the photo projects that I’m working on.
GA: Ah, dude that’s awesome. Thanks so much for coming on and chatting, and giving my Hair Metal Mixtape listeners a little taste of your music and a little insight into your life. Thanks for sharing. And thank you for the beats you have provided for at the top of the show as well. Thanks for those beats!
SC: Man, it’s my pleasure! Thanks for asking me to contribute to the show, and thanks for having me. Thanks for doing what you do. It’s great that you started Hair Metal Mixtape, and awesome that it’s now on Radio Free Brooklyn. Looking forward to seeing what you guys do in the future. And you know, there’s lots of metal music lovers out there, and we appreciate what you’re doing.
GA: Awesome, man. Thank you so much!
SC: Thank YOU!
GA: Later dude.
SC: See yas.
GA: Alright guys. There you have it, folks! Go get Stephen Chopek’s new EP Dweller wherever you can and please support!
