Back in The Saddle

Back in the saddle

Ottawa country-rock heroes the Cooper Brothers jam again
Lynn Saxberg, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Friday, February 08, 2008

Photo Above: Ottawa band the Cooper Brothers, Brian Cooper, centre, and Dick Cooper, right, are making a comeback with the help of old friend Les Emmerson, left.
Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen

The release of the Cooper Brothers' greatest-hits disc a couple of years ago made Dick Cooper realize his rock 'n' roll dream was still alive.

The disc marked the first time that Cooper Brothers' songs could be purchased on CD, and it sparked a flurry of interest from long-dormant fans. E-mails poured in to the band's website as people rediscovered great tunes like The Dream Never Dies and Rock 'n' Roll Cowboys from Ottawa's country-rock heroes of the 1970s.

And after a wildly successful CD-release gig at a Centretown tavern, it finally dawned on Cooper that it might be a good idea to get the band back together and play music again.

"It was too much fun," Cooper says, describing the line to get in that stretched around the corner, and how all their friends dropped by to jam. By all accounts, the Cooper Brothers' first taste of the music biz in 20 years was a blast.

Enter Todd Littlefield, the Ottawa-based booking agent and manager, who knew Cooper through tennis. He eventually persuaded the singer-songwriter-guitarist to wade a little deeper into the waters of the music biz by tackling a gig at Barrymore's Music Hall. The show is tonight.

Although there were a couple of rural fair appearances for the Brothers last summer, it's the band's first headlining role in ages, and their first in 28 years at the venerable Bank Street club.
It's also shaping up to be the first step in a somewhat serious comeback effort that's getting some extra prodding by the band's old friend Les Emmerson, who joined Cooper for a recent interview with the Citizen. Emmerson, a fellow Ottawa rock star from the late-psychedelic era, produced the Cooper Brothers' first two singles, and used to play regularly with them, though he's best known as the creative force behind the Five Man Electrical Band.
Emmerson, of course, wrote the 1971 Five Man classic, Signs.

Thanks to a 1990 versions by Tesla and a prominent sample on Fatboy Slim's 2005 track, Don't Let the Man Get You Down, the royalty cheques never stopped and he has stayed in music. These days, Emmerson plays and sings in both Five Man and the Cooper Brothers, and will be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame during a gala in Toronto on March 1.

Cooper, meanwhile, has worked in television, designed video games, raised a family and written two novels. The first, Jukebox, the entertaining tale of an aging musician, came out last summer; the second is due this year. He left his full-time job as a creative director for Artech last year.
"It was a great break from the music business because now I'm actually excited about it again," he says. "These guys are all buddies. It's kinda weird to be back playing with everybody again. At this stage of the game, there's really not much pressure on us."

(The band's other Cooper Brother, Brian, is a civil servant who ducked out of the interview in order to get back to his desk.)

Both Cooper and Emmersen feel they still have something to offer fans. Holding up the recent success of the Eagles' new record, Emmerson says it shows there's a market that's being overlook

"I've always been under the impression this demographic is not being served very well," Emmerson says. "I want to cut another album of new songs, done in the style that everybody loves. Guys like the Eagles are doing it and they're selling a ton of records. The audience is there."

Both men have been writing songs, and they're planning to unveil a few new tunes tonight. Though Cooper insists tonight's show is for fun, he admits he was curious to see if anyone would buy tickets. Selling out two weeks in advance was an encouraging sign -- he's already looking forward to the prospect of playing a few more shows this summer.

"I don't think there's any big game plan. This was kind of an experiment, this Barrymore's gig," Cooper says. Is it a comeback? "Kinda, I guess," he says, not sounding convinced.
But then Emmerson jumps in: "You get tired of reminiscing and you get tired of looking back so sometimes you just gotta bring yourselves out there and make yourself play," he says, "because fans want to see it and they'll come."

The Cooper Brothers play Barrymore's Music Hall tonight, with an opening set by Becky Abbott.

The Ottawa Citizen 2008