'A Wake-Up Call': Copperline’s Brad Christmas Breaks Down New Album 'Sleepwalking'

From pandemic wake-up calls to AI fears, Copperline frontman Brad Christmas reveals the stories behind every track on 'Sleepwalking' for Countrytown.

Copperline

It’s a big day for Sydney-based country rock band Copperline, who released their highly anticipated third album, Sleepwalking, today (14 August).

The eleven-track record, written over several years, explores a range of subjects, including modern-day distractions, technology, relationships, and heartbreak, all set against the changing world around us.

Based between Sydney and the Blue Mountains, Copperline formed in 2018, with frontman Brad Christmas joined by Gareth Richards and brothers Paul and Matt Handel. Multi-award-winning producer Shane Nicholson, who’s worked on their previous records, also left his touches on Sleepwalking.

In the lead-up to today, Brad Christmas has been busy with his other gigs: being a sought-after session musician has led to touring opportunities with Boney M, Steve Kilbey of The Church fame, and Dragon’s Mark Williams. He recently toured a show celebrating the music of Tom Waits alongside Dave Graney, Hugo Race, Richie Lewis and Peter Fenton.

Additionally, he’s busy with Manyana Creative, a business he founded with his wife, which specialises in copywriting, storytelling, fundraising and communications for purpose-driven organisations such as Sydney Children’s Hospital, Cancer Council, World Vision, Oxfam, Médecins Sans Frontières, and more.

He also released his debut young adult novel, Saltwater Boy, in 2023, which was shortlisted for the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year at the 2024 Australian Book Industry Awards.

But today, all focus is on Copperline. To celebrate the release of Sleepwalking, Brad Christmas caught up with Countrytown to share a track-by-track exploration of the band’s new album. Read on to see what he had to say!

**Copperline – Sleepwalking Track by Track by Brad Christmas**

Sleepwalking: I wrote this song as a kind of wake-up call to myself back in the pandemic days. Like a lot of people, I felt like I was going through life on autopilot, sleepwalking through my day in a cloud of my own thoughts. The song was a reminder to get out of my own head once in a while, smell the roses, and take the time to appreciate all the good things I have in my life.

FOMO: Sometimes it feels like the world today is designed to make us fear how much we’re missing out on. The places we could be. The people we could be hanging out with. The life-changing experiences we could be having.

But the problem with FOMO is it stops us living in the moment and appreciating the beautiful chaos of the here and now. This is a song all about choosing to turn my back and drink in every drop of the precious moment.

Songs Still to be Sung: Songwriting is a little bit like an addiction. Once it bites, it holds a kind of power over you, and it’s something you feel compelled to do. This is a song all about my lifelong addiction to songwriting. About the gateway drug artists who turn me on to it, and why it still nourishes my heart and soul.

Seven Bridges: This is a song all about driving back home to the one you love after taking her for granted, and the many rivers you pass over crossing the country to get back home. It's all about that moment you realise you’ve been chasing the wrong girl.

Hold You Tonight: This is a song all about the tension that exists in a troubadour’s heart. The struggle between the desire to love and the desire to be free, and the compromises we have. It’s about savouring those moments of joy that we find while finding the path we need to walk.

Lonesome Barstool Lady: This song was inspired by my songwriting heroes, most notably Kristofferson and Cash. I wanted to try and write a classic honky tonk country song that captured the age-old experience of sitting in a nearly empty bar, wondering if the person on the other side of the room could be your new kindred spirit.

Method to My Madness: This is a song about a big night out on the town that goes a little sideways. It’s all about throwing yourself back out in the world after a heartbreak, when you’re perhaps not quite ready for it emotionally.

Good Enough: This is my attempt at a love song. I’ve always struggled to write love songs. I’m afraid of falling into cliches and melodrama that don’t do justice to the emotions I’m trying to express. I tried to get around it here by writing a different kind of love song.

Instead of writing about the intensity of new love, I wrote this about a love that’s been around for a lot longer but has only grown deeper because of it. A love that keeps you warm through winter.

Beautiful Things: This is a song I wrote about how quickly technology like AI is changing our lives. It’s about my fear of all the beautiful things we risk losing if we walk blindly into this uncertain future. It feels like the wisdom, the knowledge and the art that have sustained us for so long risk being swept away by an overwhelming tide of change. This song asks the question: what will we be left with when they’re gone?

Faint Praise: This song is my response to all the armchair critics. The people who love to sit back and tear down others but never find the courage to put anything of their own out there in the world. It’s a reminder to those people that artists make themselves vulnerable when they share their art, and to take a moment to think about that when they’re sharing their opinions on things.

Midnight Vagabond: I wrote this song as a kind of companion piece to Sleepwalking, the album’s opener. It’s all about moonlit walks. The ones you take when you can’t sleep because of all the things on your mind. When moving your feet and gazing up at the night sky is the only thing that will ease your troubles and worries and help you see the way forward.

Sleepwalking is out now. Copperline will soon tour across New South Wales and perform on the following dates: