June Suburban Home Buddy of the Month, Brett Cooper

I am excited to announce that Brett Cooper is our first ever Suburban Home Buddy of the Month. I first starting communicating with Brett when he and his fiance, Kristie, were planning on coming out to Colorado for the Drag the River “Reunion” shows in January of 2008. Both Brett and Kristie are both really nice folks from Arkansas and on that trip to Colorado, we got to know them well. In a van ride to the Ft Collins show, I learned that Brett had one of the biggest collection of Drag the River songs I had ever seen on his Ipod. He had tons of live recordings, demo recordings, 7″ tracks, b-sides, and albums. It struck me then and there that there were some people who truly loved Drag the River and as a label owner, that made me feel really good.

Since those shows in 2008, Brett and I have communicated off and on. He has been a big supporter of what we do and is genuinely excited about some of our releases. While talking about the Takers, a band that Brett has been super excited about, it hit me. Why not identify Suburban Home supporters, interview them, and feature them as our Suburban Home Buddy of the Month. Sometimes, I feel as though I neglect the Suburban Home site as there is always so much happening at Vinyl Collective. We have a Vinyl Collector of the Month, but until today, we never featured some of our greatest friends through music. The term Buddy is one meant out of love, a term I never used until Jon Snodgrass got me saying it. If you ever talk to him on the phone, he will great you with a “Hey Buddy”. I do it now, too.

Thanks Brett for the continued support and for taking the time to answer these questions. Please read on as Brett answers our questions about how he discovered Suburban Home, his favorite SH releases, a band we should sign, and a story relating to Suburban Home. It is a great interview.

SH: Your name and the city you live in. What do you do for a living?
My name is Brett Cooper and I live in Drasco, Arkansas. It is a small town about an hour and a half from Little Rock. I teach high school history and drivers education.

SH: How did you find out about Suburban Home, what was the first SH release you ever purchased?
I first heard of Suburban Home because of their affiliation with Drag the River.

I can’t remember for sure, but I think the first SH release I purchased was Drags “Its Crazy.”

SH: What is your favorite Suburban Home release? Favorite Suburban Home artists?
It’s tough to pick just one, but I would have to say Drag the River’s “You Can’t Live This Way.” It is just a great album top to bottom. “Speaking in Cursive” from Two Cow Garage is a close second.

My favorite Suburban Home artists are Drag, Two Cow Garage, Jon Snodgrass, Chad Price, The Takers (really excited for this release) Jr. Juggernaut, Ninja Gun, and Austin Lucas.

SH: What other labels do you follow?
A good friend of mine (Travis) works with Last Chance Records out of Little Rock. They just put out the new American Aquarium album “Dances for the Lonely.” It’s a great album and one of my favorites of ’09.

SH: What are some of your favorite non-Suburban Home artists?
Lucero, Glossary, Cory Branan, American Aquarium, Catfish Haven, The Drams, and William Elliot Whitmore to name a few.

SH: What is your musical format of choice? CD, Vinyl, Digital?
Digital, because of the convenience factor. Music is a big part of my life so I like that I can have hours of music with me at all times on my ipod. Some of my good friends have recently been singing the praises of vinyl, so I think it’s time to invest in a turntable.

SH: Where do you buy Suburban Home releases?
At the Vinyl Collective store.

SH: If you ran Suburban Home, what band would you sign?
Glossary. They are such a great band and also good people. If anyone out there hasn’t heard of them, their last album “The Better Angels of Our Nature” is still available as a free download on their website, glossary.us.
I have to add that Brett turned me onto this record, go download it, the album is amazing. And just so everyone knows, I would have loved to have signed Glossary, but they are putting out their next release on Lucero’s imprint. We are gonna help them out when they put out their music on vinyl. Amazing band. Todd from Glossary plays in Lucero and is known to back Chuck Ragan, too.

SH: Which Suburban Home artists have you seen live, which artist(s) on Suburban Home that you haven’t seen are you looking forward to seeing?
I have seen Drag and Two Cow Garage. Two Cow is an amazing live band that I go see every chance I can. Obviously I wish I had more opportunities to see Drag play, hopefully in the future. I look forward to seeing Jon Snodgrass when he comes to Arkansas in July with Cory Branan. Bands that I haven’t seen but would like to would be The Takers, Jr. Juggernaut, and Ninja Gun.

SH: We at Suburban Home realize that we are a small label and are always interested in hearing suggestions on what we can do better, any suggestions?
Not really a suggestion, but I wanted to mention that the deluxe set offered with many of the Suburban Home releases is the best deal around. A LP, CD, shirt, poster, coozie, button and pint glass for usually around $30? Great deal. Also, I really enjoy the “Under the Influence” series.

SH: Have you ever called the Drunk Dial Hotline? If no, why not?
I have not. I do enjoy listening to the calls though.

SH: Do you have any interesting Suburban Home related stories?
In January ‘08, my fiancée Kristie and I went to Colorado for the Drag the River album release shows. Virgil and Suburban Home arranged for a van to take us and some other out of town people to the shows that weren’t in Denver, and even took us on some brewery tours before the Ft. Collins show. It was a great weekend; we saw some great shows and made some new friends.