Released Separately, 'Based On' and 'A true Dream' make up Steve Kopandy's debut double album. Inspired by world travels and living in Europe, this emotive journey through living, loving and leaving comes with a photographic journey. So far it's received great reviews in Australia and the USA.

Founded in piano and guitar song writing, the music is embellished with lush synths, guitars, loops and harmonies. Steve covers the ground of stripped back piano balladeer, Ryan Adams'esque, in Songs like 'Paris in the Winter' and 'Corona and Lime', right through to the wide layered production that Simply Red or Tears for Fears taught in the 80's, in songs like 'Amsterdam'.
 

Artwork Credits by Steve

Tim Adams and I worked several months coming up with artwork concepts and refining them as the music developed. In the end, we decided to go with photo collages, made up mainly of my travel shots in Europe from 2004-2008

Many people think the cover shot is my home town of Newcastle, because of the ships. It's actually Main Beach Barcelona. The photo was snapped by a couple of girls I met on a bike tour. It wasn't supposed to be anything more than an average holiday shot. I think it's a great representation of the record.

The back cover is a shot of the Berliner Dom and Palast der republik, with the Berlin TV Tower behind, taken 2004. Palast der Repiblik is a communist era building which has been dismantled due to asbestos (RIP). The red tinge came out naturally because it was a faulty film taken with my old analogue camera (also RIP).

Inside the first booklet, the first shot was taken at Concorde, in Paris. The second is the Paris Opera House. The final shot is me and my friend Becky D at a bus stop in North London, 2005.

for the 1997teen spread we decided to put photos of me and my friends in our youth, to fit with the theme of the song. The 2 gorgeous girls in the centre left are Meg and Sara, snapped at my 27th Birthday in Newcastle. Top left is San and I in Antwerp, followed by some long exposure photography tricks by CJ and I in Newcastle. The ipod shot is Sarah N and I on the Eurostar to Belguim, DJ'ing a mix for each other. Below that is Becky D and I in the Trafalgar Square fountain late one night after a summer ball, splashing around like kids, and below that, me hugging Becky D at my London farewell at my former local, The Raven, Stamford Brook, West London. The light, top right, shined down from the roof cavity of the original Motown Studio,  Detroit. This is a pretty significant place as all Motown recordings were sent through a speaker and picked up by another mic in this natural reverb chamber, thus creating the distinctive sound that Motown became famous for. Jordan Brown (one of the Based On Producers) used a similar tactic on 'The Wire', by re-recording the song through mic'd up AM radios. The little white specs are not falling stars, but falling snow one night in Kew Bridge, West London, where I used to live.

This is Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin. Corona & Lime is set in Berlin, so we had to choose a shot form there to go with the lyric. This one typifies it perfectly- I even snapped it the actual morning that the song is set in. I didn't think that much of the photo but When I showed Tim, he loved it. Couldn't believe I hadn't put if forward for the artwork earlier. It was one of the later additions to the booklet.

This is Amsterdam Central Station. Just waiting for a train to Alkmaar so I snapped some shots. Tim did the cool photoshop edits.

Back at the Bus stop in North London, this time with Ash and Bec. It was after midnight, waiting for the N52 to come, so we took about 50 photos. This was the cool arty 'money shot'.

The first Panel in 'A True Dream' is a shot of me in a Tokyo casino, by Tim Harris. We both loved this wall and the artwork and I had a feeling it would end up in a CD somewhere. I don't know who the aritist is. If anyone does, please let me know. On the right is Highgate Underground station, North London in 2008. I'd just finished Rock Trivia at the Boogaloo with Ali Kerry, Ben Hutton, Ben Capp and a few others. On my way home, fell in love with the lack of advertising. It looked beautiful. The crowd spliced in between are watching a live performance at Amoeba Records, Hollywood. I was shopping there with my friend from LA, Nikhil Korula, and performing was Patty Smith, recently inducted into the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame.

No we're not in Amsterdam. On the left is Kurashaki, Japan, and on the Right is Wels, Austria. Both of these shots taken on my world tour with Tim Harris in 2007. It was 6am and freezing in Austria as you can probably see. Tim and I had no sleep, having just finished an Australia Day party with some locals. 

Solerno, Southern Italy. Get the ferry to Amalfi and you'll walk past this scene. I love the Amalfi Coast. I went back to Rome, picked up my family and friends and went straight back there.

The shot on the left was taken with my analogue camera in 2004. It was August in the Netherlands, and I love this beach scene near Alkmaar, not far from Amsterdam. On the right, I'm with Angie Graham and Chad mason, on the Gold Coast, Australia, somewhere in the corner of a cafe. Chad, Angie and I were doing shows in Brisbane and hanging out with Angie's friends on the Goldie. Down the centre are some photographs taken by Rachael Devlin in her Apartment in Carlton, Melbourne. We were trying to get cover shots for A True Dream but it didn't work out. I like them here though.

Up in the distance are Tim Harris and Meg Russel at Allawah Station, Sydney. We were heading into the City for a night out, and I saw this photo. I told them to walk ahead.

Production Credits