Sister Hazel guitarist Drew Copeland on Pittsburgh-born song, the band's longevity and more

Sister Hazel rhythm guitarist Drew Copeland can easily recall what he ate — if not the restaurant’s name — the day he wrote “Roll On Bye” with singer Ken Block more than a decade ago.

“I was just telling a story this past weekend. We had the Hazelnut Hang in Charleston, South Carolina, and we played a song that Ken and I wrote with a friend of ours,” he said. “When we were playing up in Pittsburgh, we wrote a song called ‘Roll on Bye.’ I can’t remember the name of it, which is embarrassing, but there’s a place that puts french fries on their sandwich…”

That would be Primanti’s, where they went for lunch on a rainy day after writing the song backstage ahead of a show that night.

“Honestly Ken and I, we’ve been playing together since 1991, but we’ve only written probably four or five songs together,” Copeland said. “We haven’t written that many, and that’s one of them, and we wrote it there in Pittsburgh.”

Copeland said he might have to revisit Primanti’s when Sister Hazel comes to the area for an Aug. 27 show at Jergel’s Rhythm Grille in Warrendale.

Sister Hazel, which started in 1993, has featured the same lineup — Copeland, Block, bassist Jett Beres, guitarist Ryan Newell and drummer Mark Trojanowski — for more than 30 years, a fact Copeland took pride in. Besides their biggest hit, “All For You,” in 1997, the band pioneered music cruises with the Rock Boat and has raised more than $5 million for children’s cancer research with their Lyrics for Life nonprofit.

In a Tuesday call from his Florida home, Copeland discussed the impact “All For You” had, their latest album, music cruises and more:

With the song “All For You,” how did that change the band’s career with the success of that song?

Wow, man, I can’t emphasize enough what that song did for us. From the get-go, before we even were signed to a label, that song was connecting with people. And live, it was one of those songs that just immediately fans were singing it back to us. It really opened so many doors for the band and even to this day when we play that song, there’s a reaction that is difficult to describe. I feel very blessed that that song is ours and that Ken wrote that song because it’s one of those things that has transcended time. I mean generationally, there are young kids and there are older families and things like that that just connect with that song, and it’s amazing to see the reaction every time we play that live.

That hit big back in 1997, so if you think back to those years, what comes to mind for you?

When our band was up and coming, back when we were still in vans and trailers, we had just come through a time period where bands were really competitive, but it had moved into a thing where all live music musicians, guys that were playing original stuff, they were very supportive of each other. It was a great community to be involved in, and I just remember that a lot of great – and I know I’m biased – but I just remember a lot of great music came out of the ‘90s.

Especially early on, it was the last of the people that weren’t in the digital age yet, you couldn’t download our stuff for free yet. There were true music fans that came out and bought CDs and whatever else we were selling and it was just a really special time, right before everything turned digital. To have been a band for over 30 years and we’ve got five of the same band members that we started with for over 30 years, it just doesn’t happen a lot. I think if people did research and tried to find any platinum-selling artist that has been together for over 30 years and still has all the original members, it’s a very small club. To be able to still do it is just amazing. It’s a tough business as it is, but especially to have a career that has lasted as long as ours has is something that we’re extremely proud of.

It’s been more than 30 years together, so what’s it take to keep it all together with all the same members?

A lot of work, but we got to a point where we had been through all the craziness and all of us were kind of heading in the same direction, we’re all married and have kids and we love what we do. I think probably one of the biggest factors in us being able to stay together for as long as we have is we all have really sharp senses of humor. Everybody’s pretty sarcastic and we laugh a lot. We’ve often talked about how a lot of times, it’s like going to camp. When you leave the house, you’re going to camp and hanging out and laughing with your friends and playing music, so it’s kept us young, but it’s something that we’ve managed to hold together for a long time.

With the new album (“Sand, Sea & Crash Debris”) out last year, what were some of the inspirations behind the new music? Is the creativity just as strong as it was years ago?

Yeah, and maybe even more so. We have all really settled into our roles specifically in the studio, and everybody’s a lot more open to other people’s ideas. There’s not as much of a stiff approach to, ‘Hey man, this is my song and this is how it goes and it needs to go just like this.’ Everybody brings in songs and lets everybody do what they do best, and it takes shape in a really great way. This album really came together. Sister Hazel has always been a band that serves the song, and that means that when it comes in, we don’t try to shoehorn it into something that it’s not. We let it grow the way it wants to grow, and you can certainly hear the diversity in the songs on this record. It was a lot of fun to make, and I’m just thrilled that people are still connecting not just with our old music, but with the stuff we’re putting out now.

“Live Again” is a song that you co-wrote, so what’s the message of that song?

I’ve been married for 23 years, and relationships go through ups and downs. It really depends on the person’s commitment to holding those things together. This goes for the band, too. I’ll tell you, man, being in a band with the same guys for 30-plus years was a real interesting tool to help our personal lives because you learn how – because you’re basically married to five dudes, you know what I mean? It’s basically four other dudes you’re married to. Because you have to figure out how to get through things when you agree or disagree or have differing opinions, and it’s really helped with marriage, and “Live Again” is one of those things where you can make the decision to give up on something or you can fight to try to hold it together. That’s really the relationship story behind that is just man, if something’s worth having, then it’s worth fighting for.

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This year marked 25 years of music cruises with the Rock Boat. When the idea for that first popped up, what were your thoughts? Did you think it would be this successful?

No, we had no idea really what we were getting into. That’s another thing that we really can hang our hats on: our Rock Boat is what inspired so many other music cruises. Everybody from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Kiss to Train to you name it. There’s been so many that have done cruises after that. So it’s something that we’re really proud of. I know I’m biased because it’s ours, but it just has a vibe. It’s not like any other cruise you go on. When you get on the boat, everybody is kind of heading the same direction. They’re all there to have fun and listen to music. There’s just this community feel of a lot of really friendly people. And it’s just been a thrill. It’s something that I hope lives long after we’re done. Because it’s really taken on a life of its own.

It seems like the band has made the fan experience a pretty big priority: The Rock Boat and the Hazelnut Hangs. What’s made the connection like that so important to the band?

We realized early on we’ve always been very approachable, and I’d like to think that we’ve been fairly humble about the fact that if people decide that they don’t want to support our music, then we don’t have a job anymore. So we’re very thankful to the fans that continue to connect with our music, and we’re very thankful for all the stories that tell us ‘Hey man, thank you so much for this song or that song. It’s been a big part of my life.’ That kind of stuff really matters to us, and we’re very thankful for that. These fan-driven events are just a way for us to continue to connect with the people that allow us to do what we do for a living. So that for us was always something that was kind of ingrained in what is going to continue to help our army march. We’re very thankful for all those outlets.

Charity is also pretty important to the band, as the Lyrics for Life events surpassed $5 million this year. Could you ever imagine that happening?

No, not at all. And even more than that, we have another part of Lyrics for Life was Camp Hazelnut. We haven’t done that for a while. Since covid hit, we haven’t been able to crank that back up. But that was another event that helped these families that were going through cancer with their kids. It helped them just be normal for a weekend and their siblings to come and participate in what was going on. That was very cool. Lyrics for Life itself, this past year, 90 was our number. And it was because through the research that Lyrics for Life has funded, there were types of cancer that had a very low percentage of curability. Through the research that Lyrics for Life has funded, it is now at 90%. And that is something that beyond everything else to know that people are given a chance to survive these different types of cancer because of the money that we’ve raised through Lyrics for Life is overwhelmingly gratifying.