Check out this interview where Joshua talks to Aaron Marsh of Copeland about his “to do” list that has as many items as his piano has keys.
Joshua Hammond, PopWreckoning: Let's start here: you guys often get mislabeled as a ministry band. Where do you think this misconception stems from?
Aaron Marsh, Copeland: Our music has kind of a hopeful quality to it. Some of the bands that we toured with in our earlier days may have been and now we are on Tooth and Nail which has a connotation. We have never really been a ministry band. We're just a regular band. Everyone likes to categorize stuff. It is just human nature, so we'll take the good with the bad. 
PW: Speaking of Tooth and Nail, the last time I had checked, you guys had taken You Are My Sunshine to 48 on the US charts. I think this is the highest chart for a Copeland album. Are you guys pretty happy with your new home at Tooth and Nail?
AM: They've been so great. They have, well, pretty much everything that we've asked for, they've done. They haven't said no to us once and we're really excited about them. They're really great about not giving up on records if they don't immediately take off. A lot of labels will. If something doesn't start moving in the first couple months, they'll give up on it, but Tooth and Nail is good about sticking with something for awhile. As long as the band is willing to work, they're willing to push the record.
PW: That's rare.
AM: Yeah
PW: On that same album, you guys featured a song called "Chin Up." What made you decide to rerecord "Chin Up" for this album?
AM: Well, we had never done a real recording of it to begin with. The version that was on the b-sides record was just a demo. We never had actually gotten to do a real studio recording of it.
PW: You recently began working with Stephen Christian of Anberlin on his side project, Anchor and Braille. I know that you have also worked with Stacy Clark in the past. Do you have any future plans to work with up and coming artists?
AM: I just finished a record with the band Person L, which is Kenny [Vasoli] from the Starting Line's new project. I just did that record. I've been working on records on the production for probably longer than I've been recording my own stuff. I used to record the bands at my high school in my garage. That's always been a big part of my life. A big kind of hobby/career aspiration.
PW: Following that, of all of the songs you have written with and for Copeland, which do you think that you're the most proud of?
AM: Probably "Chin Up" actually. That's the first song we had finished for You Are My Sunshine. We had fallen on some hard times after our third record with a lot of major label hiccups and stuff like that, so the fact that we got "Chin Up" in the vault waiting to be put on a real record kind of gave us some inspiration to finish writing the rest of the record. That song, it kind of in a way, kind of sealed the deal to make You Are My Sunshine because it kind of healed us to finish writing a new record.
PW: After that, I'm going to go back a tiny bit in time, and this may be a hard question because it has been awhile since this has come out, but what was the thought process behind picking and recording a covers only EP.
AM: It wasn't really our idea. That was something that the label wanted us to do. We did a Police cover for a Police tribute album and our A&R at the label really liked it and said, oh it would be good to have an entire EP of cover songs if you guys want to do it. And we were like alright. We'll pick a few songs. The songs were kind of early songs that had developed as an early musical influence. Stuff we had heard growing up that our parents really liked. Just songs that we remember hearing. That was the theme of the song choices.
PW: I definitely think the cover of "She's Always a Woman" is absolutely beautiful. The piano part is great.
AM: Thanks.
PW: My last question is kind of a bland, generic question, but what do you feel that Copeland's greatest accomplishment is?
AM: I think our greatest accomplishment is being able to write some songs that matter to people and to be able to have that kind of connection with people. To write a song that will have some sort of healing qualities, create memories, or mark a point of time in a person's life, that's a huge honor. When I think of the same kind of music that meant that to me, it is pretty cool that I've made something that something to someone else like that.
PW: That's a good answer. Well, I'll let you get back to your day. Thanks.
Copeland: website | myspace | You Are My Sunshine review | @ the slowdown
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