Copper Hill, a local cover band, began the second set of their performance at Fresco II in Palmdale a little after 11 p.m. I wish I had been there to hear it that second set.
The band started playing at about 9:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 30. After three drinks, an interview with lead singer Donna Sweikow, and an hour and a half of music, I was walking through the parking lot, having sort of been kicked out of the place. But more about that later.
Copper Hill’s regular lineup consists of lead singer Donna Sweikow, guitarist Carl Newton, bassist Tom Lawlor, keyboardist Dave Robison and drummer Randy Simer. On April 30, local actor, writer and musician Chris Cooke filled in for Simer.
The band has an extremely polished sound, a rarity for many bands in the Antelope Valley. Part of the reason the band sounds so good is that they have been playing for a long time.
“Copper Hill’s been together for about twelve years now,” lead singer Donna Sweikow said. “It was a different lineup, different musicians. My keyboard player Dave Robison has been with me the whole time.”
Sweikow and Robison started playing together in Test Flight, Antelope Valley College’s band, in the early 1990s. The band, originally playing country music, did not have a name yet.
The band’s name came about when Robison spotted a new housing development in the Santa Clarita Valley called Copper Hill. With Sweikow having red hair, the name fit perfectly. Ironically, years later, the band would meet its maker, so to speak.
“We did a private party two years ago at a lady’s house in Acton and her boyfriend came in. He said, ‘Do you know that I was the head guy on the whole thing? I built 673 homes over in that development,” Sweikow said. “They were so jazzed to have band named Copper Hill.”
The band was set up at the south end of the dark bar of Fresco II. What looked to be a hundred different cords were plugged into amplifiers, speakers and instruments.
The crowd was made up mostly of men and women in their 40’s and older. The place exuded a certain kind of class that comes with the higher priced menu items. Here, men were just as likely to order a glass of wine or cocktail, as they are a beer. In fact, the old-fashioned that I sipped was made expertly.
Their first set included other classic tunes like Tommy Tutone’s “867-5309/Jenny,” The Romantics’ “What I Like About You,” Badfinger’s “No Matter What,” and a couple Fleetwood Mac songs.
Carl Newton’s epic guitar solos set the crowd on fire, and fill-in drummer Chris Cooke didn’t miss a beat, singing backup vocals with the rest of the band in perfect harmony. Sweikow moved throughout the crowd singing directly to several patrons. She exuded confidence and charisma.
Copper Hill is a band that anybody looking to escape the boredom that occasionally sets in here in the Antelope Valley won’t want to miss. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened to me when I was kicked out of Fresco II.
The band had just kicked off their second set with the Journey classic “Don’t Stop Believing,” when a man introducing himself as Lenny stood next to me and asked me what I was writing down in my notebook. I explained that I was writing a review of the band for the AVC Examiner. Lenny proceeded to tell me that they had caught a man in the restaurant who was copying the menu and food items.
I showed him my notebook so he could see that it was all notes of the band. Lenny didn’t seem convinced. He remained standing next to me. Finally, I said I would leave if it would make Lenny more comfortable. He didn’t say a word, but the look on his face told me that it was indeed time to leave.
I learned three things on the night of April 30. The first was to not miss a single performance of Copper Hill, as they seriously rock. The second is that I love a good old-fashioned. Or three. The last and most important thing I learned was to never write inside a notebook at Fresco II.
-by Kevin Michael Kramer
