CONGRATULATIONS, BRO’:

Hard Rock Band Copper Takes the Gold
FARMINGDALE, NY, July 22, 2005—It’s happened. A winner has been selected for the historic J. D’Addario/Guitar.com, Fuse TV “We’re Listening” contest, which drew nearly 3,000 bands and 41,000 individual voters. Copper, out of Knoxville, Tennessee have been chosen as “The greatest band we’ve never heard” – until now.

Nearly 3,000 bands uploaded songs in MP3 format onto the We’re Listening web page with more than 41,000 votes cast to whittle the entrants down to a top 150. The voting closed April 15, and D’Addario’s panel of judges carefully listened to each Top 150 song, breaking the group down to a Top 20, which was then scrutinized once again. The judging was done by a panel of experts at D’Addario plus guest judges Jeff Stinco of Simple Plan, former Marilyn Manson guitarist John 5, Jane’s Addiction bassist Chris Chaney, former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson, producers Roy Z and Joe Beressi, and others. At the end of the long, intense judging process, Copper came out on top.

Copper, a melodic hard rock band, won the judges over with their song “Turn.” The band nets prizes ranging from an endorsement deal from J. D’Addario, a place in the next D’Addario television advertisement on Fuse TV and an appearance on Fuse TV’s live “Daily Download,” to full-page print ads, lots of J. D’Addario product, including gear from D’Addario, Evans drumheads, and Planet Waves cables and accessories, and more. Although Copper has not been signed to any label, they’ve been making a good name for themselves on their own, performing more than 200 shows a year in 23 cities.

This is my youngest brother, Brad, not the history-professor brother. You can hear the tune online here.