----------------
Friday, 16 May 2006
Interview with David Cook
David Cook, formerly of Axium, just released his first solo album. He has such an amazing voice and lyrics that always seem to tug at your emotions. He's just one of those writers that always seems to find the perfect way to present what he's feeling that everyone can relate to it. David recently took some time during the middle of the night in May of 2006 to answer some questions for us.
Nags: David, first I want to thank you for taking the time to answer these questions for us. I know you're a busy man, so I really appreciate it.
David: Any time. I'm a media whore, anyway, so this works out perfectly for me.
Nags: OK, so, this has to be a bittersweet time for you. For the past seven years, you've been fronting a band called Axium. You recently played your last show with Axium, and then right around the same time you released your first solo album. How has all this gone for you?
David: Axium was an amazing ride. I was fortunate that my first band ever was one that saw some realtive success outside of the high school parties that the band originated from. I love the guys to death, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss it from time to time. Plus, we couldn't have asked for a better fan base. It's a feeling I can't really explain adequately, when someone finds something for themself in a song you wrote about your own experience. The solo album is, so far (crossing fingers), doing well. Initial feedback has been positive, and as soon as I finish relocating to Tulsa, OK, I'm hoping to get some shows set up to support it. This album has been a labor of love for me. There's so much stuff that needs to be done on a consistent basis....It's a trip, man, but I'm loving it.
Nags: You are also playing in a band right now called Midwest Kings, how is that treating you?
David: MWK is the best band on the planet. Quote me. It's refreshing to be playing with some new musicians, playing new tunes, and meeting a new fanbase. I've been very lucky to get into a group with phenomonal fans. And the guys in the band, I've known for awhile, so while everything is new, it's also very comfortable.
Nags: So, this new cd. I see that it's 10 songs. Are you planning on touring behind it at all? And where can people hear it/get their hands on it?
David: I am going to work on getting some sort of a tour together, although it will be limited to the midwest for the first go-round. The CD itself is on sale now at cdbaby.com, and will be up on iTunes within a month or so.
Nags: I always like to find out what people are currently listening to. It's a great way to find out about bands that we may never have heard of. So, what's the top 5 cd's that you've been listening to lately?
David:
Acceptance - Phantoms
A burned CD of Flight of the Conchords
David Cook - Analog Heart (SHAMELESS PLUG) (**M=L Note: Click to go to Amazon DOT COM to buy the MP3 version of the cd**)
Revis - Revis
Jim Gaffigan - something with 'pale' in the title
Nags: What are your thoughts about downloading of music - let it be legal or illegal? Do you see it as a tool or as a crime?
David: that's a tricky subject. I can see both sides. Music is, in my opinion, the most emotionally-stimulating medium alive. It's meant to be accessible to anyone. I think the whole legal/illegal side of it is too touchy to touch on, other than to say Illegal is illegal, whether or not it should be banned. Hell, in Missouri, it's illegal to give or recieve oral sex. So laws can and sometimes are trite. Downloading, on any scale, should be viewed by industry as a tool. The problem is, most industry point fingers and don't offer any viable solutions to capitalize. Myspace, I think, got it right, to some degree. through their database, Aerosmith is of the same device as the hippo rapists from Butte, Montana. Every band is accessible to the same extent. Now, all that needs to happen is the bands need to figure out how to use that to their advantage. Some already have.
Nags: So, I know you're about to move, but have been in residing in Missouri lately. And I know the state nickname is "The Show Me State". Just what exactly are we showing you?
David: In grade school, I was taught precisely what that meant. Currently, though, I have no idea. Let me check the internet.....hold on...
This info taken from http://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org...es/moshowme.cfm The Missouri State Archives web site gives several theories as to the origin of Missouri’s unique nickname:
"There are a number of stories and legends behind Missouri's sobriquet "Show-Me" state. The slogan is not official, but is common throughout the state and is used on Missouri license plates. The most widely known legend attributes the phrase to Missouri's U.S. Congressman Willard Duncan Vandiver, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1897 to 1903. While a member of the U.S. House Committee on Naval Affairs, Vandiver attended an 1899 naval banquet in Philadelphia. In a speech there, he declared, "I come from a state that raises corn and cotton and cockleburs and Democrats, and frothy eloquence neither convinces nor satisfies me. I am from Missouri. You have got to show me." Regardless of whether Vandiver coined the phrase, it is certain that his speech helped to popularize the saying. Other versions of the "Show-Me" legend place the slogan's origin in the mining town of Leadville, Colorado. There, the phrase was first employed as a term of ridicule and reproach. A miner's strike had been in progress for some time in the mid-1890s, and a number of miners from the lead districts of southwest Missouri had been imported to take the places of the strikers. The Joplin miners were unfamiliar with Colorado mining methods and required frequent instructions. Pit bosses began saying, "That man is from Missouri. You'll have to show him." However the slogan originated, it has since passed into a different meaning entirely, and is now used to indicate the stalwart, conservative, noncredulous character of Missourians."
...Couldn't have said it better myself
Nags: If you had the chance to play a show with a group of musicians of your choice (living or dead), who would you choose to fill out a band?
David:
Vocals - me, because I'm a self-indulgent little shit, if not me, though, Raine from Our Lady Peace
Lead Guitar - Synester Gates from Avenged Sevenfold
Rythym Guitar - The Edge from U2 Bass - Geddy Lee (...of a SALESman!)
Drums - Tommy Lee
Nags: What was your first tape/record/cd?
David: Oh jesus... Kris Kross. I hate myself already....
Nags: What was your last tape/record/cd?
David: Acceptance - Phantoms Amazing album. It's epic. Makes me want to jump off a bridge, just to get the rush, you know?
Nags: A lot of people are stating that ROCK is DEAD. What do you think?
David: ROCK is not dead, it merely lies in a comatose state, frozen in some cryogenic lab. It'll actually be unfrozen in 2026, along with Rasputin's penis, and the head of Ted Williams....no, seriously....
Nags: And the question that everyone gets, if the statement, "You are what you eat" was true. You would be a what?
David: Right now, my hand...I'm f'n hungry. In fact, I'm leaving to go eat. So, in closing, I'll leave you with a quote from Will Ferrell, heard originally on SNL: "I'm outtee 5000! Take it sleazy!"
----------------------
He makes being slightly aggorant incredibly sexy, doesn't he?
@ Kris Kross and I hate myself already.
