Kopek – White Collar Lies

I’m pretty judgmental when it comes to straight up radio rock, so I’m not surprised that I met the first few riffs from Scottish rock act Kopek’s debut, White Collar Lies, with rolled eyes and a skeptic’s sigh.  But as I was soon reminded, bias can lead to premature – and unfounded – conclusions.  While the rest of the radio rock world goes on listening to the same shallow, Nickleback, Theory Of A Dead Man,Papa Roach dominated landscape from the past decade, Kopek offers something with a whole lot more heart.  In fact, I’d venture to say that Kopek is one of the few rock bands that actually love what they do, rather than just going through the motions in a futile fight for some top 40’s airplay.

I say this because of the group’s history and apparent chemistry.  Only a special breed of band could be willing to exist on a live level for eight years, slugging it out confidently on the ground floor in international battle of the bands arenas, before finally feeling ready for a formal introduction.  Believe it or not, Kopek has been touring relentlessly since their formation eight years ago.  And rest assured, they haven’t wasted this time bar hopping, just trying to get by – no, they’ve been touring with the best in the business, and traveling the world to boot.  And let’s not forget the fact that they’ve kept the same lineup since 2002 – these guys are in it for life.

The album opens with the great example of all American rock, “Cocaine Chest Pains.”  Thanks to some swaggering southern riffs, and a support guitar that just knows how to blend into the background and pipe up when the time is right, Kopek makes an initial impression that will have listeners making early comparisons to past hard rock greats.  Vocalist Daniel Jordan was born for this.  Commanding a voice as expressive as Guns n Roses, and a clean grit that would make Nickelback jealous, Jordan’s presence sounds shockingly sincere – and most importantly – entirely his own.

From there on in, Kopek continues setting high standards in a genre that threw out benchmarks years ago.  “Fever” achieves a massive sense of stadium filling power without feeling pretentious, “Sub Human” makes a hero from an unlikely Australian didjeridu and folk laced acoustic guitar pairing (proving that they can still rock without a hometown advantage), and “Bring It On Home” marches on with a steady beat that just itches for a live setting (cheesy, over the top organ solos never sounded so good).  Kopek is a band with confidence.  The best example being how “Love Is Dead” chains together some pretty big claims (i.e. “pop is dead,” “grunge is dead,” punk rock music isn’t dead,” and so on), but assumes such authority that listeners will be waiting with baited breath for their next verdict.

Now, Kopek hasn’t created a flawless album by any means, but that can’t change the fact that every song is exciting and authentic.  A couple of slower tracks (“White Collar Lies,” “Floridian,” and a couple of rogue bridges spring to mind) come dangerously close to generic rock ballad territory, but the band’s genuine enthusiasm and love almost always overcomes such shortcomings.  If like me you gave up on radio rock years ago, I can think of no better vehicle for re-acquaintance than White Collar Lies.