Copperline return with their first new music since the award-winning 2022 single ‘Lucinda’, which drew a wave of new fans to the country rock outfit. Now, the 4-piece offer a first glimpse of their forthcoming third studio album with the release of ‘Sleepwalking’.
The gritty mid-tempo track is built on big guitars, sharp hooks and introspective storytelling – a sound the band has built from the ground up with long-time producer Shane Nicholson (Alex Lloyd, Tori Forsyth, Amber Lawrence). Working with the band since 2018, the multiple ARIA and Golden Guitar winner has an innate ability interpret their sound.
“We’ve formed a great creative partnership with Shane, working together across three records. We love the way he takes the time to understand and capture the things that make us unique as a band. And the way he finds the human touches in the performance of a song that make it unique and real.”
Lyrically, the song wrestles with the push-and-pull of drifting through life, half-awake, until the realisation hits that something has to change. “I wrote this song as a kind of wake-up call to myself,” shares frontman Brad Christmas. “I felt like I was going through life on autopilot, sleepwalking through my days in a cloud of my own thoughts. The song was a reminder to get out of my own head once in a while and smell the roses.”
The single follows the success of ‘Lucinda’ – a haunting ballad from their 2022 sophomore album Borrowed, Broken and Blue. Written for Christmas’ late daughter, the track climbed to #6 Most Downloaded and #3 Most Streamed single on the Play MPE charts, won Ballad of the Year at the 2023 Australian Songwriters Association Awards, and has since notched over 182,000 streams on Spotify.
Since their 2018 debut Rusty Fords and Weatherboards, Copperline have steadily built a reputation as one of Australia’s most distinctive country rock bands, earning radio play nationwide, stepping onto festival stages including Toyota Park at Tamworth Country Music Festival, and sharing lineups with the likes of Andrew Swift and Bill Chambers.
With 5 x Australian Songwriters Association nominations – including the 2023 win for ‘Lucinda’ – and 3 x Tamworth Songwriters Association nods, Copperline have firmly established themselves as one of the country’s most respected songwriting outfits.
Frontman Brad Christmas has also played sideman to a slew of music royalty, performing with Boney M, Steve Kilbey (The Church), Mark Williams (Dragon), and Steve Balbi (Noiseworks). He and drummer Gareth Richards are also part of indie-rock collective The Gin Palace, who have performed alongside the Charlatans, Inspiral Carpets and TISM.
With ‘Sleepwalking’, Copperline lean into the grit, urgency and humanity that defines their sound, proving that they’re ones to watch. If you haven’t heard Copperline yet, it’s time to wake up and listen.
