Stephie Coplan and the Pedestrians is a band from Hoboken that formed in March, but judging by their resume and accomplishments, a fan would think they’ve been around for longer.
The new band recently won the People’s Choice Award at the Hoboken Music Awards held at Maxwell’s earlier this month, and was nominated at the show as Best Band in Hoboken.
Now, just a few months after they officially formed, the band’s new song, “Jerk!” can be heard regularly on a popular alternative radio station in Boston. The music video for the song was shot in Hoboken.
Deli Magazine NYC also recently nominated the band for their Artist of the Month contest. If they win the contest, the band will receive free recording time to produce a new single. All this has happened while their first album has not yet hit the stores.
Day jobs
Coplan currently works as an operations manager for an educational non-profit during the day in Newark, but hits the Hoboken, New York City, and Boston music scene at night. The biggest recent break that the band received, Coplan said, was being discovered and given airtime on a Boston radio station for the song “Jerk!”
The band is officially releasing their first CD in January, 2012.
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Coplan, who lived in Boston for a few years before moving to Hoboken, said she used to listen to the station all the time when she lived there.
“The program director saw our video and just really liked it,” he said. “He said he wanted to play it that night. I said to him, ‘Like on the radio? Or like on the internet radio?’ He said the real radio station, and soon we were being played on one of the biggest stations in Boston.”
Coplan, who moved to Hoboken in August 2010, is a Washington, D.C. native. Stephie Coplan and The Pedestrians is her first band.
“I’ve been playing as a soloist since 2009,” she said. “This is my first time playing with people backing me up. I absolutely love it.”
Coplan is a vocalist and pianist.
“We play piano rock,” she said.
Coplan said she’s been compared to Katy Perry, which she says “is an awesome comparison because I love her,” as well as bands such as The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Metric.
The band is officially releasing their first CD in January, 2012.
“We’re doing a CD release party in Hoboken on Jan. 26,” she said. “Then we’re going to Boston and D.C. to do CD releases there. Then we’ll start working on a new album.”
From open mic night to the radio
Coplan started her music career in Hoboken in a way that many other artists break out on the music scene: open microphone nights.
“When I moved to Hoboken originally over a year ago I was interested in recording an EP (extended play),” she said. “I got in touch with a few people in Hoboken and one of the people I got in touch with owned a studio…Then, I would go to Northern Soul, and they had an open mic night. I would play that a lot.”
Last year, the Hoboken Music Awards took place at Northern Soul, so the contest caught her eye.
“This year I found out we were nominated for outstanding band and the People’s Choice Award,” she said.
So the band reached out to friends and family to raise awareness for the contest. And on the night of this year’s awards, held at Maxwell’s, the band won the People’s Choice Award.
The band also recently produced their first music video, and Hoboken residents will recognize some of the locations. Coplan said the goal was to have 3,000 views over a long period of time. A week after posting the video to YouTube, the band had 2,950 views, and easily eclipsed the 3,000 mark last week.
“A friend of mine who manages a successful New York band is friends with one of the directors, and he called me and said, ‘I can do this in one day,’ ” Coplan said. “Within a week, we had the video together…it was stressful and a long day, but we didn’t have any emergencies or problems.”
The Hoboken waterfront is prominently featured in the video of “Jerk!,” including scenes in Pier A Park.
For more information about Coplan and The Pedestrians, visit StephieCoplan.com
Ray Smith may be reached at RSmith@hudsonreporter.com