Men still use flat irons and emo is not dead. At least that’s what the sold out show at Slim’s taught me when Copeland made their final appearance in San Francisco this past Saturday, bidding their career as a band “farewell.”

Though I was unable to get pictures of the band (the first 20 feet back from the stage were a hot, sweaty mess, and I was hungover), Copeland definitely seemed like they were on their last leg. Singer Aaron Marsh (pictured in tie) has always seemed to have problems delivering vocals live, despite his polished albums. So as a first time seeing the band (and last), I feel better knowing that I didn’t ever see them before. In fact, I’ll be blunt — I left after five songs. Even though they were playing songs off their deep catalog of five or six albums that at one time or another I’ve been obsessed with — the weak link was definitely Aaron’s pipes, and I didn’t want to ruin my affection for their music.

Ace, the lead singer of I Can Make a Mess Like Nobody’s Business (pictured) might be Michael Cera’s almost-famous twin. From about 20 feet away the resemblance is uncanny. The innocent looking lead has a leg up on the dry comic though. He can write songs that seem influenced by Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba (a band I despise), and sing them in a way that doesn’t come off as an after affect of the once popular emo movement. He’s got pipes, and his recent record The World We Know has been in constant rotation since I got it. His banter is also witty — as he was disturbed by side-stage “Eunice” between each song, and made light of the ordeal, i.e. “You gotta be nuts, who on earth would ever eat a kryptonite sandwich? You’re crazy, Eunice.”

So if I call it post-pop-emo will you hate me or will you even listen? Probably not, ’cause you’re probably wishing that genre would die. Look, so am I. It was fun while it lasted, but I’ve since thrown away my flat-iron, bought shoes other than Chuck Taylors, and stopped wearing jeans so tight it might jeopardize my ability to father children one day. Check out The World We Know on Amazon, and let us know what you think. We quite like the name and the tunes.

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