Nicole Brice
Sep 3, 2026
Knifetwister Records is more than just music.
What makes a great record label? These days, to me, it’s one that still believes in the artistry of music itself. One that still believes music has a pulse.
With a focus on authenticity and dedication to the craft, Knifetwister Records is a refreshing punk/metal/and ska record label out of New York, but they aren’t just a label; they are a magazine and more. In the music world, amongst a sea of generics all focused on stats and not on actual talent, Knifetwister stands proud. So, how did I hear about them? Oh, you know, just another one of those universal synchronicities, as I like to call them.
I guess you could say I’ve always been punk rock at my core, even before I knew what punk music was, because I have never identified with mainstream ideals or beliefs. Do I listen to all music? You betcha, but punk has always resonated with me the most since I first heard it, and later, hardcore came along. As a kid, I questioned everything, had very few friends, and often got lost in my head. When I discovered punk rock, though, this lightbulb went off inside of me, and I no longer felt alone in how I thought. It almost felt like it was okay to be smart and question things.
Punk rock is defiance, but it is also free thought. Not wanting to conform and being who you are. Not letting society tell you who you need to be, and Knifetwister Records embraces that.
Founder Raph Copeland is an absolutely amazing human, and his love for music is unparalleled. Born in the Bronx and raised in Westchester, NY, Copeland is cool as hell and easy to talk to. But not only that, he’s a huge supporter of all people, and to me, that’s what really shines for him.
In 2011, Copeland was honored with a formal citation for heroism after rescuing a woman and her infant from a serious car accident in Lakewood, New Jersey. The citation was presented during a Joint Legislative session of the State Senate and General Assembly in Trenton, sponsored by State Senator Robert S. Singer and Assemblymen Joseph R. Malone and Ronald S. Dancer.
In addition to just generally being a great human, Raph loves to play pool and spends his time working his day job in cybersecurity, running his label and magazine, managing the New York City thrash metal band CHAKA, and doing charity work when he can. He is a published author, having contributed technical writing to numerous medical journals, and his work has been translated into four languages. He has also worked for several charitable organizations in New York and New Jersey.
With a passion for the punk ethos, Raph Copeland has created something truly remarkable, and with Maya Bishop and Dan Dellechiaie at his side, he stands poised to make a difference in the broader music world with his slam-dunk team. Read on to learn more about Knifetwister Records.
MaM: I saw that you were honored with a formal citation at a legislative session for an act of heroism. Tell me more about that.
Raph: So, I was working for the Lakewood MUA in New Jersey; that’s the Municipal Utilities Authority, which is a fancy way of saying water company. I was the IT Coordinator. Not to paint with too broad a brush, but the town is not all that strict about ensuring you have a driver’s license.
MaM: Sounds like Louisiana.
Raph: You can be out on the street, and it’s almost like a bunch of pinballs going down the road smashing into each other. I was on my lunch break, and there was a serious accident. A woman hit an 18-wheeler, flipped over, and there was a baby in the car. I pulled the baby out. I pulled her out. She was completely dazed, the woman, and she started walking into oncoming traffic. I got her over to safety. I got the baby to safety. I waited for the ambulance, and then I got out of there because I didn’t particularly want my name in the papers, a, and b, the northeast is a little more litigious that other parts of the country, so you know there’s going to be a personal injury lawsuit, and I don’t want to spend the next two years in court, so I got out of there. Unfortunately, someone spotted me wearing my water company jacket and made a few phone calls. Now, on the board of the MUA was a state senator, the head of the state senate, and I guess he saw it as an opportunity for good publicity, so he pushed some things through. To be honest, the whole thing was a little embarrassing. I don’t need a citation in the Senate.
MaM: Let’s talk about the current state of the music industry now. I want your perspective. You’ve been doing this for quite a while, and how do you feel the music industry is right now? Do you feel like it’s strong, or that it’s weakening, or do we have a chance?
Raph: Well, as a punk publication, I have to really address this from a punk perspective. I’m a pretty serious pool player, as you can see from my shirt. The type of music I hear at my pool hall is that generic, A.I.- or possibly A.I.-adjacent music, and it’s less music than it is wallpaper.
(laughter)
Raph: It’s sort of just background stuff that people listen to when they’re drinking, and shooting poorly, and I can’t speak to that type of music because I just don’t know all that much about it. Is it profitable? It’s certainly more profitable because you can crank out a song every six hours. That’s how sophisticated it is. From a punk perspective, the state of the music industry is difficult. Like your magazine, and like mine, it’s a passion project. There is no financial remuneration whatsoever, and if you really break it down, your average punk band is going out of pocket for gas to get to shows. They’re out of pocket with instruments, tolls … the venues don’t pay anything. They maybe go into a studio; they’re paying for studio time. Possibly paying for a producer. So, they have a finished product, and say they put it on Spotify, and say your average punk band is going to get 800-1,000 streams, and they’re going to get a check for approximately half a penny. That’s a small slice of the punk scene and where it is today. There are certainly other aspects to it. Take, for instance, the fact that it’s such a big tent, and you could have political music, you can have people writing songs because of personal pain and catharsis, or you can have bands that are writing lyrics about drinking, smoking, and punching people in the nuts.
MaM: Right? (laughter)
Raph: It is really a big tent in terms of more or less everybody getting along. I know I spoke about the financial aspects, but there are really ten different sub-aspects that could be addressed.
MaM: Do you feel music has lost its soul over the years?
Raph: Yes, absolutely. One of the issues, and certainly not the main one, is that Spotify has sort of turned music into a commodity. Not unlike computer chips or tampons.
MaM: Right?
Raph: So far as I understand, the founders of Spotify are not particular music fans. This is essentially one of those slimy things with private equity involved, and so forth, and so the state of the music industry is that it is not the way it was back when bands were grinding it out on the circuit. Hands bleeding from stapling up flyers. It has turned much more into commodification, and it’s really sort of almost built on a social media algorithm type of format in that the songs have to grab you within the first five seconds, or someone is going to hit skip, because it’s so easy to hit skip on streaming services, as opposed to when I was young and bought an album. I have a personal bone to pick with Spotify, but the concept applies to all streaming services, since it concerns financial aspects.
To sum it all up, as an analogy or quick example, you take Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti; they were trying to put out the best music that they could. Their albums made a lot of money, and I’m sure they were more than happy to cash the checks, but that wasn’t the defining purpose. They were trying to make music with longevity. Music that would last. It doesn’t seem to be that way today.
As an example, Spotify allows a lot of A.I. music onto their platform. It’s not a matter of technology, because they could stop this. Immediately. Soundcloud has an A.I. detector when you upload an A.I. song to Soundcloud. It rejects it automatically. So, there is tacit approval from Spotify for A.I. songs. A.I. music is not about creativity. It’s inherently about streams, and inherently about money, and when the music industry's main focus is making money, that is a pretty good summary of where the music industry is today.
MaM: I saw that you do charity work, and I love that because we do charity work, too. We started our own organization here a few months ago, where we host charity shows and donate the money to different causes. Tell me a little bit more about all of that.
Raph: I personally do a lot of charity work. I volunteer teaching tech to seniors at a local LGBTQ Center. But in terms of the label, we put out a benefit compilation CD back in December, and it was 21 punk bands, 20 of them from New York, and it was called “Not in Our City” and all proceeds went to benefit The Bowery Mission, which is down on the lower east side of Manhattan and coincidentally the epicenter of 70s/80s punk, and in April we did “Not in Our City II”, which the focus was a benefit for an organization called Make the Road New York, which is for immigrant rights. Between the two compilations, I would say we raised over $1,600 for the two charities. It was kind of interesting because the first compilation was thematically about New York bands, since New York cares about New York, right? And my thought was: all right, if this goes well and we do it again, a great part two would be to show that the rest of the world cares about New York. So, the second compilation featured no New York bands from eight countries on five continents – 22 bands - and, of course, there are logistical problems. We had one band fall off. They sent us their audio file for the compilation, and then completely disappeared.
MaM: Like they disbanded?
Raph: Nope, they just stopped responding. Once you send an audio file for a compilation, the work isn’t over. We have to coordinate with PunkNews; we have to get them quotes for the write-up; we have to get them photos. Couldn’t do it, so we had to leave them out of the write-up. We also had a band in Indonesia, and I heard them and was like, "this band is sick," and then I started going back and forth with them via email to try and coordinate things, and the language barrier nearly made things impossible.
MaM: What is the number one mission you’d like to accomplish with the label and magazine?
Raph: That’s an interesting question, and it’s one I get asked, and I don’t like to give the same answer to everything, but the honest truth is that part of the fun in what we’re doing is not knowing what comes next. And, as an example, we started essentially as a traditional record label. Very early on, we added the magazine. Then, sorta out of nowhere, the idea for a compilation release came up, which wasn't planned at the beginning. We were approached by a really big band, actually, to release their next album, which was something that came out of nowhere. It’s sort of like being in a rowboat, and we do have paddles, so we can steer a little bit, but at the end of the day, if a large wave comes along, it’s going to push us in one direction or another.
Raph Copeland is punk rock all the way to his core, and through his passion for the genre and the local scene, he is leaving a legacy. Be sure to check out the website for Knifetwister Records as well as their most recent compilations and more. There is something for everyone.
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