Formed in early 1999 (rumored to be on Valentine's Day '99, but who knows?), The Koopas were comprised of 2/3rds of the Texas punk-pop group JOE JITSU - Charmin' Charlie on bass and Tron Carter on drums, along with Poppy Robbie (who, at the time, was most recognizable for his efforts with an online pop punk review ezine called "The Punkhouse") on lead vocals and guitar. The three members had grown up together, playing alongside in various short-lived childhood musical projects and at this time were all in their final year of high school in their hometown of Silsbee, Texas. After only their second show, the band temporarily switched bass players during the next year of 2000, bringing in another close friend, Jacob Vance in Charlie's place while he returned his attention to his primary project, Joe Jitsu.
The Koopas began playing semi-regularly in the Beaumont/Houston area of Southeast Texas and could soon typically be seen playing alongside other underground Texas pop punk bands of the time like Joe Jitsu, The Wallys, The Diabetics, The Put-Downs, The Dropouts and The Gargamels.
Soon after recording and releasing a cdr demo containing live tracks which was given out/sold in very small numbers at early shows, the group recorded an 8 song project which was initially planned to be a srcd with Mutant Pop Records , but then was ultimately picked up by Smelly Menace, a small upstart label from Texas, as their first release in 2001. By this time Jacob had moved and Charlie had taken back his post as bass player in the band - for history sake, the recording was coupled up with the two demo tracks from the demo cdr, making the Smelly Menace project more of a complete history of the recordings of the band before the (then) present time: all of the recordings with Jacob Vance on bass.
Later that year, in Fall 2001 with Charlie back on board, the band released their most notable record, self-releasing a 6 song 7" EP titled "When Opposites Attack" under the name of Top Five Records. The record recieved rave reviews from those in the pop punk community and helped the band reach a few new ears outside of their geographical area and abroad.
The Koopas soon recorded once again in early 2002, material that was intended to become an EP for Mutant Pop Records, entitled "New Wave of An Old Sound". Soon the label would go on hiatus and the release got lost in the shuffle of time, remaining unreleased to date. The band continued until mid-2002.
Today, Charlie and Tron are performing in their new group CLOSET DRAMA . Robbie has been playing solo since 2003 and is also working on a new project called THE BOX SET
OTHER KOOPAS PAGES:
The Koopas on Virb: virb.com/thekoopas
The Koopas on Purevolume: purevolume.com/thekoopas
PAST RELEASES: (OUT OF PRINT / NO LONGER AVAILABLE!)
