If “paying dues” is an essential means to rock stardom, then New Jersey pop-laden rock outfit COPPERPOT must have a lot of overhead. Logging over 170 shows a year and with over 10,000 copies of their eponymous release sold without the aid of an indie or major label, ( 6,000 of those in Japan alone) this quintet is poised to become the next major export from the muddy banks of the Hudson River. Their “do-it-yourself” ethos have earned them opening slots for such national acts as Sugarcult, Motion City Soundtrack and Butch Walker, garnered them over 130,000 plays and 90,000 views on popular online community MySpace, as well as gotten them placed into countless network and MTV programs such as “The Real World”, “Road Rules” and “Pimp My Ride”. You seemingly just can’t spell the word “Copperpot” without the letters D-I-and-Y. 2006 finds the boys from the Garden State (Jarrett Randazzo [vocals, guitar], Anthony Natale [lead guitar, vocals], Jarrett “Worth” Beeler [bass, vocals], Matt Magnusson [keyboards, vocals] and Scott Ingwersen [drums] ) readying their next and most ambitious effort to date. Music that is mature and realized like the haunting Beach Boyesque “Burn”, or the straight ahead guitar-heavy growl of “Scared Tonight”, to the familiar top-of-the-pops sheen they’ve mastered in “Girl Next Door”. Though their core sound and sensibility still remain very much intact, Copperpot doesn’t seem weary about taking chances this time out; crafting songs that step out of the concise three and a half minute formula they utilized so brilliantly in their 2004 self-titled release. Tracks like the alternative-country twang of “Now or Never”, or the brit-rock swagger of “Stutter” show growth and promise in a band already at the top of their game. Their next four song EP will be released on the 11th of July and will include the songs “Lay Me Down”, “Scared Tonight”, “Girl Next Door”, and the b-side “Please Serame” and will serve as a teaser to their next full-length offering slated for the fall.