Kopecky Family raises the bar with album

First off, the band is on its way to Rock Island to perform at Daytrotter – a website for the recording studio Horseshack, which hosts recording sessions with many popular and typically up-and-coming indie music acts.

If that’s not enough, the band was signed to ATO Records, the label founded by Dave Matthews that also is home to My Morning Jacket, Alabama Shakes and Old Crow Medicine Show. And, the band released its album, “Kids Raising Kids” on Tuesday.

Personally, Simon is a newlywed.

“It’s all been a blur,” he says during a recent phone interview. “Everything has been happening so fast and we’ve been going with the flow. It’s really cool for things to actually be taking off, though my wife might beg to differ because I’ve been away for so long.”

Simon says The Kopecky Family Band was founded in late 2007 when he and Kelsey Kopecky decided to become friends with four others who shared a mutual vision.

In the past five years, the sextet has planted seeds that have been nurtured through persistent touring and recording – and those seeds are rapidly reaching maturity.

“We’ve become a much stronger band in that time,” he explains. “It’s great to be in a band where we all get along and share mutual likes. Of course, there are the disagreements, but that’s just normal for any band.”

	Kopecky Family Band With The Eastern Sea WHEN: 9 p.m. Monday, April 8 WHERE: Low Spirits Bar & Stage, 2823 Second NW HOW MUCH: $6 at holdmyticket.com or 886-1251

With the release of “Kids Raising Kids,” the band is ready to get its new music out to the masses. Simon says the first single off the album is “Heartbeat,” for which the band also made a video.

“It’s an homage to late-’70s and early ’80s videos,” he explains. “We wanted to film the video at a tennis court and so many things came from it. First off, the video only cost about $20 for us to make, which just may be the cheapest video ever. Also, I was wearing Adidas shoes during the shoot and the company ended up using the video on their site to promo the shoes. It also helped get our name out to more people.”

Simon says writing the songs for the new album took nearly a year because many of the songs had been around for a while.

“We were playing the songs live and testing them on the road,” he says. “But we also had songs that we were sitting on for a while and rediscovered them. It’s amazing to me to see how a song will grow into its own when left alone. The songs that we picked for the album we’re all ready to be released. The inspiration for the songs came from all over the place and then we just put our stamp on them.”