“COPE remains my favorite little piece of madness that we have conjured as Manchester Orchestra. The album was made during a time of both exhilarating freedom and an understandable fear of our future. Being 100 percent independent at the time, I look back proudly at our band. We created what we internally needed to create, regardless of anyone’s opinions but our own. Around a year ago we rented out the legendary EARL in East Atlanta to celebrate COPE and performed the album in its entirety to our fan club. It was truly epic. Raw, loose as hell and incredibly fun. As the five of us crammed into Tim’s car on the hour long drive home (the way it should be after playing THE EARL) we almost ran out of gas. I remember thinking that even if we got stranded we would make the most of it and eventually get home. We would laugh and work our way through this hurdle the same way we have in the past.


As I’m sitting here writing this I realize that’s what COPE really means to me. It’s an album of persevering, laughing our way through the fog and kicking all of the ass while doing it. It’s our pleasure to premiere COPE LIVE AT THE EARL the film on YouTube on April 25th, and release COPE LIVE AT THE EARL the album on April 26th. As the creative side of Manchester Orchestra dives head first into our new album, we are so excited to take a few violent breathers and celebrate this album with you on the road this year (with a little HOPE involved if we’re lucky). We can’t wait to see you all.”