reprinted from an interview with Vegas Music Scene
https://www.vegasmusicscene.com/my-interview-with-knifetwister-records-raph-copeland/
My Interview with knifetwister records Raph Copeland!
Hello Rock Stars!
I had the honor of interviewing the awesome founder of NY’s knifetwister records Raph Copeland!
In this interview we talk about his humble beginnings, how knifetwister records came to be, the tense political climate in NY, the biggest misconceptions people might have about the NY Punk scene and everything in between. Here is his story in his own words, enjoy!
I also had the absolute honor of being interviewed by Mr. Copeland for knifetwister records about VMS, so please go check it out as well! 🙂
About knifetwister (Via Founder Raph Copeland):
knifetwister records is a fast-growing New York-based punk, metal and ska record label and digital interview magazine. Founded by longtime music nut Raph Copeland, it was founded on ethical, artist-friendly principles and simple love for the music scene. Their aim is to help promote the local scene as well as allow great bands to get some exposure and get their music and message out to readers and the general public. While initially starting off with the focus on New York, the magazine has spread to cover the East Coast, Midwest, Southeast, Pacific Northwest, and even Europe.
VMS: I think like anything, the best place is to start at the beginning! Tell me about your background and the importance of music in your life.
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: Sure, and thank you so much for having me. I was born in the Bronx; my parents left during the massive white flight of the mid 70’s – city was bankrupt, half of the Bronx was on fire, place was a shooting gallery; everyone who had the means to get out did. I still consider it my home, I even have the license plate BXNY, which comes in handy – the Bronx can be a rough place, not many people tailgate me.
When I hit my teens, the 80’s metal scene kind of exploded – I think Def Leppard’s Pyromania was my on-ramp, but it was just really fertile ground – over maybe a one year period, a ton of bands put out some of their best work – Ozzy, The Scorpions, Ratt, Mötley Crüe, Quiet Riot, Metallica, Priest, Maiden, Dokken, Anthrax, the list goes on. That was it for me, I was hooked. How could a 14-year old watch “This Is Spinal Tap” and not go all in? Punk came a few years later – Fear, Murphy’s Law, and Suicidal Tendencies were huge for me. Then third wave ska came along – Less Than Jake, Catch-22, Save Ferris, Reel Big Fish, Buck-O-Nine. I named my son after Tomas Kalnoky, the lead singer/guitarist of Streetlight Manifesto, true story. When Nu-Metal took over, that was bullshit, I bowed out for a while and just listened to old stuff, but then great new stuff started to come out – The Vandals, Rancid, The Interrupters, Overkill, Dance Hall Crashers, and one more band that I’ll get to later, but I guess you could say I’m a lifer.
VMS: What inspired you to create knifetwister records?
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, at first sort of being on the outside of the music scene, just a random fan, and then now being the famous, highly influential mover and shaker I am today. We wanted to create something different, and be the most ethical record label in the area. We are pretty explicit about artists on our label retaining all the rights to their music and all of their intellectual property. If a band on our label gets a better deal elsewhere, they are more than welcome to take it, with absolutely no hard feelings. We never interfere in the creative process of bands, we’re not going to say “ehh, that bass line kinda sucks, I’d do it differently”. I’ll probably get more into the whole ethical angle later on in the interview, but that’s kind of the basis.
So, I was at the point of pulling the trigger, and then I won a major 9-ball tournament. Okay, it was a medium-sized tournament, but since I won it, I’m calling it a major one. I’ve won three tournaments, I’m really good, except when I’m not. My life is pool and music – everything else is just background noise, I don’t have time for stupid stuff like getting my oil changed or eating. Anyway, that was a thousand bucks in my pocket, and I decided to pull the trigger. The website went up the next morning, and got a P. O. Box that afternoon to handle all the millions of letters from bands that desperately want to be on an influential New York label, but accidentally write to us instead.
The operation is really just me, but I added my dog Annika onto the website as a Senior Vice President, just so I could say “we” instead of “I”, you know, sound like a bigger operation. In truth, she actually contributes very little.
VMS: I know your magazine primarily focuses on punk and metal. What is it about those genres that speaks to you and inspires you? Why is punk important in your opinion?
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: First and foremost, if it’s not loud, fast and aggressive, I’m not really interested. If you ask me to name, I dunno, a Kanye West or Taylor Swift song, I can’t. Second, the element of non-conformism speaks to me – my political, social and ethical views don’t really fit neatly in anyone’s box. Punk to a great degree is about non-conformism. This is who I am – fuck you – take it or leave it. I love that. Took me many years to get to the point where I could even attempt to put it into practice. Some punk is about drinking beer, getting laid and punching people in the nuts, and that’s fine, it’s a big tent and I love that stuff too. It’s no coincidence that the bands I mentioned – Fear, Murphy’s Law, The Vandals – are piss-your-pants funny at times. But where punk really shines is where it pushes boundaries, makes you think, challenges authority, and makes a statement. That’s real. You’re not going to get that by putting on a Limp Bizkit CD.
VMS: From your perspective, what are your experiences in the New York punk scene, the pros and cons, and how it differs from other music scenes around the country? Is their anything that would surprise people to know about the NYC punks?
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: The New York punk scene is like no other. No offense to you guys out in Vegas, I love what you’re doing with The Scumbags and all the great charitable and progressive stuff, but there are 24 million people in the New York Metro area, our scene is naturally going to be a little larger. You could probably hit 15 venues in one weekend with some coffee and a handful of amphetamines. I’ve been in the punk scene for a long time and often find myself seeing a band and thinking “these guys rip, how is it I’ve never heard of them?” It’s because the scene is just huge.
Now this is something that is probably not unique to the New York punk scene, but I’ll give you an example of something that maybe people don’t realize from watching old footage of CBGB’s or people stabbing each other with kitchen utensils on the Lower East Side. I was at a Murphy’s Law show out in Jersey a few months ago (Jimmy saw me in the audience and blew me a kiss, which was pretty funny). The show was exactly what you would expect from the best punk band in NYC, people slamming into each other, beer flying, just total mayhem. At one point, a woman got hurt. Don’t know exactly what happened, could have been an unrelated medical condition, but she was in serious distress. People there formed a circle around her to keep her safe, helped her out to the ambulance, and sat out there to make sure she was okay. A lot of people not in the punk scene see scary looking people with tattoos and piercings and stuff and make baseless assumptions. These assumptions are wrong. Underneath the sometimes aggressive personae are very often good hearts.
VMS: What can we expect in the future from knifetwister records?
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: Oh, we’re going to be huge. I’m going to be sitting behind a desk chomping on a cigar, telling bands to write me a hit single or you’ll never work in this business again. I’ll probably have a secretary hired primarily for the size of her breasts who I will constantly tell to hold my calls, and I’ll go out for four martini lunches with other bigwigs who are of course going to be less of a bigwig than I am. I will probably get very comfortable yelling the phrase “do you know who I am?” and if I don’t get seated in restaurants right away, some maître d’ will be looking for work the next day. Will probably trade in my Honda Civic for whatever the most expensive Mercedes is, and drive like an asshole, and my coke habit will get way worse. I mean, I will develop a coke habit. Sorry, that was a typo.
VMS: I know I talked about how hard it is for the music scene here in Las Vegas, since we get overshadowed by the LV strip. What needs to be changed to make it stronger for these artists?
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: Okay, here’s my idea. We have things like the National Endowment for Arts, that kind of stuff, right? How about this – let’s cut the military defense budget by just 1%, which will free up roughly 800 quadrillion dollars. We’ll set up a New York City Fund for the Arts, and start paying these bands a living wage for performing. Think of the benefit to society if the musicians in our scene didn’t have to work hump jobs and could devote their time to doing what they love. It benefits literally everyone except maybe the CEO of Northrup Grumman won’t be able to have a third house in Aspen. How about funding The Greater Las Vegas Council On Hardcore Asskickery – where is the downside to having people with talent and devotion pursue their passions for the greater good? Ok, yeah, I’m a dirty New York socialist pinko commie, I know, but to me this is a no-brainer.
VMS: Tell me about your experience managing bands such as NY thrash metal band CHAKA. Any crazy stories you wanna share?
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: Oh yeah. So Mark Sokoll (bass guitar, vocals) from CHAKA is a brilliant guy, he writes the lyrics and music and is very interested in evolution and anthropology, and we describe the music as Cave Metal, and refer to ourselves as cavemen. So the other night we got together and decided to go out clubbing. We must have clubbed 25 people before the night was through! No, I’m joking, we only hit maybe 7 people tops. Managing CHAKA is great. I mostly agreed to manage them so that I could go up to women in bars, try to make plans with them and say “ahhh, I can’t, my band is playing that night” and then they would think I was cool. Unfortunately, I don’t like bars and I don’t know how to talk to women, so I’m kind of stuck just managing them. But nicest guys in the world, it’s really a privilege.
I also manage the band MANiK, also out of Queens, by virtue of knifetwister records having signed them last month, I threw that in there that I get to be the manager (mostly so I can get into shows for free, and also tell women in bars … never mind, I already mentioned that). These guys are amazing musicians, I actually met them when they opened for CHAKA down in Queens, and they just ripped. At their last show, Danny Sanchez (lead vocals, guitar) spoke out about what ICE is doing to our community, and he was wearing a knifetwister records t-shirt, and I could not have been prouder. Also, they’re all really good looking guys, and I think that is going to catapult them into possibly a Super Bowl Halftime Show down the road, you know how the industry is.
VMS: What social or political movements speak to you, or you’re passionate about right now?
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: Anything that furthers equality and humanistic principles. I don’t want there to be people hurting each other. Racism, sexism, homophobia, deportations, war, environmental degradation, exploitation, transphobia, food, housing and healthcare insecurity, embargoes, homelessness – all of this hurts people. Not numbers on a graph, not demographic percentages on a chart – real human beings. I’m passionate about that. My mom was an anti-nuclear protester in the late 70’s, and brought me along sometimes, and kids accept what they see as normal, right? I though it was normal for your Mom to be getting arrested for her convictions. I was maced by the NYPD during the Iraq War protests in 2003. We marched on DC while pushing my infant daughter in a stroller. I spoke in front of 2000 people this spring at the Hands Off rally here defending the rights of LGBTQ+ youth. At the same time, caring about things has it’s downside. It can be really disheartening, even depressing at times. Sometimes I do wish I was one of those 30-something finance bros who don’t care about anything that doesn’t affect them personally. But I’m not.
VMS: Congratulations on your directorial debut for the band Butterbrain’s song “Hold Tight”. What was that experience like and how did that project come to fruition?
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: This is a loooong story. If you don’t like long stories, scroll down, although I seriously doubt anyone else has a story quite like this one. And it’s honestly kind of touching, feel free to shed a tear or two, I don’t mind, may even join you.
I was in college in the summer of 1991 (I flunked like three classes and had to make them up) and I’m sitting around watching MTV, which people actually watched back then. And a video came on that changed my life. If I had turned on the TV five minutes later, things would have been very different, and I certainly would not be doing this interview. It was a video for the song Apple Pie, by the band White Trash. A metal band (from Queens, of course). A metal band … with a three-piece horn section. It was one of the best songs I had ever heard. 20 minutes later I was at Music City in Binghamton, NY handing over my $10.99 for the CD. The whole album slammed, and I had a new favorite band. I wrote to Elektra Records – there was an address in Los Angeles in the liner notes, and they sent me an autographed promotional photo and some other cool stuff. I got a poster and hung it on the wall of my dorm room. This was of course pre-Internet, so I didn’t know much about the band, other than the fact that their music was just head and shoulders above anything coming out in the early 90’s. They put out another album three years later, and I listened to those two albums twice a month for 30 years, I shit you not.
Fast forward to 2021, and White Trash reformed to play Queens Rockfest 2021. My first chance to see them live – I was upstate in college when they were active. Remember, these guys were my heroes. I spotted Aaron “White Owl” Collins, the original bassist, over by the side of the stage. I wanted to approach him, but I was too nervous to and so I just kinda hid behind a tree for like 5 minutes, and my wife is saying “come on, go over there” and I’m telling her “I can’t, I can’t”. I finally did but I don’t remember what was said at all.
Four of the original members of White Trash went on to form the band Butterbrain, and when I heard their debut EP in 2020, I loved it as much as the White Trash album 30 years ago. For the sake of brevity, I’ll (finally) cut to the chase. I became good friends with Aaron, Brendan and Mike of Butterbrain, all original WT members. I’ve been in their homes, they’ve been to my apartment, we’ve all shot pool together. We’ve all been friends long enough now that I feel comfortable with them, but maybe once a week, for just a few minutes, I’ll get a text from one of them and kinda travel back in time and think “wait a second – I just got a text from the drummer from White Trash”, it’s a weird feeling. Mike is going to read this and totally kill me. Shit. Okay, I know what to do, I’ll plug his company, it’s called Dispoze-A-Bowl, they make high quality eco-friendly recyclable pipes for smoking … um, tobacco, and you can find them at their website www.dispozeabowl.com or on Instagram or at a fine retailer near you or even on Amazon if you want to toss some money Jeff Bezos’ way just for fun. Dispoze-A-Bowls are my jam, go check ‘em out!
Sorry, sidetracked. Aaron asked me to do the video for Butterbrain’s song Hold Tight in September of 2024, we were standing outside The Bowery Electric, I’ll never forget it. The video is on YouTube – go check it out! It has 306 likes and 2 dislikes, I think one of those dislikes was me. It was a lot of pressure, mostly self-imposed. In December, he told me that PunkNews had picked up the exclusive premiere for it – on Inauguration/MLK day no less. The pressure doubled. I’m there doing a video for my favorite band, and I want to do right by them, and this fucking thing is going to be on the Internet with my name on it long after I’m gone. I was up until 9 AM a few nights working on it. I did dozens of revisions. I almost threw in the towel a few times. But, on Inauguration Day 2025, it went live on PunkNews, and my name is on PunkNews and will be forever and ever unless this Administration blows up the world which is looking kinda likely, but seeing my name on there made it all worth it. Would never do it again though. Well, maybe. Directing a video is like childbirth, when you finish it, you’re like I am NEVER doing that again and then of course a few months later you totally forget about the exquisite pain and morning sickness and everything I went through when I had my kids.
So, to sum up – I watched a video for a band that changed my life. 34 years later, I directed a video for them. How many people can say that? That’s not rhetorical, I do wonder. I really do.
VMS: I love that you work in the technology field, but it seems your passion and core of who you are is in the creative arts. What is it about music, and creativity on a whole that speaks to you. Do you think creativity and technology can be cohesive, especially with the controversy of AI right now?
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: I found AI kind of interesting in the beginning, being a tech guy and an early adopter of new technologies, and I goofed around with it a little, nothing major. But ultimately, AI is a tool, no different than a hammer. You can use a hammer to build a house, or you can use it to crack someone’s head open. A few months ago, as AI was starting to be used for drone strikes, mass surveillance and extrajudicial assassinations, I realized which of the two directions AI was going and decided I was out. When AI was in it’s infancy, I bought stock in Oracle and NVIDIA and a few others, and they just kept going up. Two months ago, I dumped all them. I don’t even like to think about the haircut I’m going to end up taking on making that decision, but I won’t have my money going to kill children that look exactly like mine, only with slightly darker skin. Fuck that.
VMS: What is the vibe right now in NY since Trump took office? Have you seen any changes, and how has it personally impacted your life.
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: The vibe is pretty shitty, but I don’t want to fall into the rotating villain trope. Trump is a symptom, not a root cause. This is late stage predatory capitalism, and the outcome is entirely predictable. Biden could have reversed all of Trump’s awful policies from his first term, he didn’t; in fact, he increased spending for the worst genocide of our lifetimes. Obama deported way more people than either of them, started the child separation policy, and his drone strokes killed women and children in Afghanistan. Trump has taken it to a new level, but if you’re going to start talking about Democrats this and Republicans that, you’re reducing things to the level of cheering for your own football team and booing the opposing one, which is useless. You do that, you’re doing exactly what corporate oligarchs want you to do. They want left leaning working class people and right leaning working class people to be at each other’s throats instead of working in solidarity against the billionaires who have bought and paid for this broken system. And sadly, it’s working.
VMS: We would love to ask you what music are you listening to right now, and what artists should we keep an eye out for.
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: Ok, there’s this absolutely slamming band called We Might Die, you’ve probably never heard of them, but I encourage everyone to check them out – they absolutely rip. Best new band I’ve heard in a long time. Actually, they connected us with the Vegas scene in the first place – we just kind of followed them at random somehow, and they actually messaged to say “thanks for the follow”, which nobody friggin’ does, and it went from there. But if you want some New York bands to check out – Butterbrain, CHAKA and MANiK of course, definitely check out Car Bomb Parade, The RBNX, GIFTSHOP, iLL RAiSED, God’s Favorite, No Call No Show, Best Bones, Rebelmatic – I could go on for half an hour. So I will! Just kidding.
Actually, follow NYHC Comics on Instagram if you want to see what’s up in NY, they put on Hardcore in the 914 monthly, it’s blowing up – Debo and Lee are killing it.
VMS: What would be your dream artist or band to interview?
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: There are a few. The first would require a time machine, which I’m not quite finished building yet, because I have a massive man-crush on David Gilmour (circa 1973 or so) and interviewing Pink Floyd back them would be a good opportunity to meet him back then, He’d probably be shorter than expected, everyone is.
Would also like to interview Faith No More circa 1992, because I have a massive man-crush on Mike Patton … wait a second. Yeah, this is going in the wrong direction, don’t print that.
There were a few interesting punk bands from the Bronx that I would love to interview, they were kind of offshoots of each other, but mostly I would really just like to interview the bands that my friends are in. I’d rather hear their stories and about their lives than about James Hetfield’s.
VMS: Tell me about the cool venues in your neck of the woods! Any favorite spots or haunts that you love to go check out the NY music scene?
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: Oh my God, is this interview ever going to end?
VMS: Anyone you would like to thank who has supported you?
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: Oh yeah – musicially, or like personally? I’ll do both. So, Mike, Brendan, Aaron from Butterbrain (Jay and Rob are great too), Mark, Frank and Mike (no relation) from CHAKA, Aaron, Danny, Jeff, Erik and Noe from MANiK, Nicole and Damian from GIFTSHOP, Stephanie who manages We Might Die who is totally awesome. I’m forgetting a lot of people, sorry – it’s late out here.
Personally, I’d like to thank a few people who have been supportive – KimmY (always a capital Y), Liza, Irene, D-Train, Alex, Ian and Cigarette Steve from my old building, Chad and James from my new building, and the entire cast and crew of the 70’s sitcom What’s Happening! Everyone always focuses on Rerun but I have to give a special shoutout to Shirl.
Since I live less than a mile from the best pool hall in the country, I’d also like to thank some of the people there, because going there to decompress allows me to keep doing the work I’m doing, so off the top of my head, thanks to Vance, Wayne, Eli, David, James – there’s way more but I’m just mentioning the people who beat me but not so badly that I go home crying.
And of course my three wonderful kids.
VMS: Once again, thank you so much for letting me share my story, and I’m so incredibly honored to interview you as well!
Raph Copeland, knifetwister records: Aww, you’re too kind. I am really starting to love Vegas, you guys are the best. I am totally going there soon, I gotta check out that awesome strip!
For more information about knifetwister records or Raph Copeland, please visit his websites:
www.knifetiwsterrecords.com
www.knifetwistermagazine.com
Instagram: @knifetwisterrecords
Personal Instagram: @giantpinball (if anyone would like to push me from 13 followers up to like 15 or 16)
—-Lara for VMS.