David Cook interview with IdolNow at the Morongo Casino on 2/27/2010
David's sitting on a sofa backstage at the Morongo, looking amazing.
Fred: David, Hi, it's great to see you. David: good to see you. Fred : Ok, thank you. Let's just start...Even though it's been a while now since it's been out, I want to talk to you about the first album. David: Ok Fred: So...did you go through a bunch of titles before you decided to call it David Cook, as we say in the biz, the eponymous title. Or.. David: (laughs) You know I'd kind of flirted with the idea of naming the record something, but when I stopped to really think about it, I'd done records before Idol and all that, but I really felt like for a lot of people this was it, this was like my introduction to the music world. I really just wanted it to be like an introduction and so I didn't want anything to take away from like people real ly focusing in- Ok this is David Cook, this is the kind of music he wants to do. This is the kind of music he's going to do. And so the self title thing just se emed to make sense in that regard. But now as we start working on the second rec ord and I'm starting to think of names and stuff like that, art directions, I ju st feel like a neurotic cause it's just like nothing's good enough. I'm like can I just name this one David Cook again, like maybe do the exact same cover, just change all the red to blue or something. It was a weird process that first reco rd. Um and...but that was something I think once I really tuned into naming it D avid Cook, I think it just made sense. Fred: There is a precedent you know for calling every album by your name -Peter Gabriel. David: yeah that's right! Fred : 5 albums called Peter Gabriel David: Um, Well, I'm not quite Peter Gabriel level, ha ha I'd like to be, that'd be great, but.. Uh Fred: we all would. David: Exactly Fred: Food for thought..Well, you mentioned the second album. We should get into that. What stage is it in? Are you songwriting? Recording? David: We're writing right now. We've kind of banked about 30 some songs so far and I've had an absolute like just stellar time doing this.. We finished touring on first record on Dec 1st and the next day I was in New York, writing on the n ew record, and I wouldn't have it any other way . To stop seemed weird. I get re al bored if I'm not doing something. Yeah we got 30 songs banked. We're talking to some producers and hopefully get into studio here.. Next few weeks, month, so mething like that and just try to get this record as soon as possible. I don't w ant fans to forget about me. And so you know the songs the way they're coming to gether, it's abnormal how quickly everything's kind of just solidifying and basi s (?) for the record and kind of where it's headed... And it's all happening org anically which is cool..not something that feels forced, you know you can't beat that. Fred: I don't know if you can tell yet cause you're in early stages, but if you look at any artist, at their albums, taking from Beetles, Abbey Road.. Even seco nd album, there is growth. Is it too early to tell how this album is coming alon g... David: Um I feel like the songs on the second record parlay a little better into a live show I really.. with this record, I wanted to concentrate on a little mo re piano, less wall of sound, guitar a little more riff based stuff. You know, p ast that really play more with dynamics, you know make those quiets a little qui eter, make those louds a little more loud. Uhh and really kind of stretch the bo undaries where we can take an audience with this record. You know with the first one the songs were great live, we were able to change them up and do things wit h them that made that show interesting. Uhm with the second record, with buildin g up more material and playing with two records worth of stuff, I'm really excit ed about ... kind of that journey from point A to point B for the audience. Caus e its... I don't know, I've always felt as an audience member, it's always more fun to walk away feeling exhausted and feeling like you've just seen everything you could possibly see as opposed to- I remember those songs and I like those so ngs but I could have listened to that on the record. Its all part of the process . I do feel like this second record is going to be, for lack of a better word, j ust I think bigger in its spectrum. Fred: Your first album, you did all kinds of things, you rocked, at the same tim e you had a #1 song on the adult contemporary chart for 15 weeks. so do you feel like this album will also have a variety of ... You know, appeal to the genres. David: Absolutely. I was thinking in the sense that I'm OCD, or not OCD, (snap s nap) ADD, some collection of letters, that's what I am. I like a lot of differen t kinds of music, and I don't think I could focus enough to really just ... (put s palms together, gestures forward) I'm going to do mid tempo ballads and that's it. Um so I like putting together records where every song has its own personal ity, its own place, but as a collection, as a record, everything interacts and f lows together. I think anything less will be probably not just cheating fans but cheating myself cause I know what kind of record I can make and that's the only kind of record I'm interested in making. So. Fred: Now the first album did so well and the singles did really well. David: Absolutely. Fred: Do you like follow the charts, like to find out where you are? David: I do a little bit. In hindsight it may have not been the best idea just b ecause as we really get our feet wet on the second record, I'm like oh man I got ta do that again and then some. You know, to come from before idol, to go throug h that process, and then have this record go platinum and have singles go platin um, and stuff, it's mind boggling. To think that I'm in this position where I co uld do more. That's freaking me out a little bit you know, but its exciting to h ave that par set, it's a par that I wasn't really sure I'd get to. So to be ther e now, it's.. I'm nervous, I'm scared, and I'm anxious but I'm also excited and feel just really fortunate. You know, I get to play shows and make music for a l iving and even if it's just for a minute, that's more than most people get to do . So I'm in a good place. Fred: That's great. What do you do? You do a lot of different things, you go on television, you tour, you go into recording studio. Of all that, is there one th ing that you like better than the other. David: I'd say the one thing I like more than anything is probably being on stag e. I love the creative process, I love being in the studio and Like hey that's a good guitar part maybe it will work on.. I really enjoy all the aspects, but if I had to pick one particular aspect of being a musician and being a performer i ts probably just being on stage. I love being in the studio, creating, but at th e end of the day there's just something real that I haven't been able to find at any other avenue. You go on stage, you play this piece of art that you spent X amount of hours putting together and you just get an immediate reaction. It's li ke if I was a painter and sat next to a painting and listened to everybody talk about it. Its invaluable to me as a performer. I want to make music that not onl y makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up but also does that for the... a s many other people as possible. The only way to do that is to really kind of ha ve that relationship with listeners and fans and I think that's what makes me lo ve the live performance more than anything. It's an immediate litmus test. I don 't have to wait till the next day to see if I got voted off. So.. Fred: You're doing a show tonight, we're backstage. Now do you do any of the new songs yet live? Or is it from first... David: We're going to try a new song tonight for the first time, actually. Which I'm excited. So yeah, a song that I wrote with David Hodges called You And I. H opefully When we get done, it's not dead silence, That would be a bad move, but yeah I don't know, it's the highlight of the show for me. Like I love playing al l these songs but having been off the road for a minute, it's nice to get back i nto it for a second, but that's the one that I'm really like on edge about, so i f it's bad just omit this part of interview. Fred: We'll clap. So if you only hear one person, it was me. David: Perfect. Yeah yeah, I'll know you liked it. Fred: I don't think you'll have to worry David: (cuteness overload) yeah Fred: I know there's a surprise but by the time people see this interview, it wi ll be over. David: Sure. Fred: So tell me about your special guest, how that came about.. David: Yeah yeah.. Well, I put this out in press a lot and it really is true. T he relationships and friendships that I've made on Idol are amazing. So I still talk to everybody and so my good friend Carly Smithson is here tonight and she's been kind enough to come on stage... We're going to do a cover of Barracuda, wh ich is actually a song that we wanted to do on the Idol tour and it just didn't work out and so this is that song's big unveiling for us. She's an amazing singe r, she's in a band called We Are The Fallen, they're doing a tour, everyone shou ld go check them out. But in the meantime she's kind enough to take a little bit of time for herself, to come out here, come hang out with us. We're really stok ed to have her, she's just going to come up here, sing a song and make me look b ad Fred: I don't think so... But this will be probably one of her last solo appeara nces before she goes out... David: Absolutely. I'm specially flattered that she chose this platform. so.. Bu t it will be great. Carly's an amazing individual, you know I see nothing but gr eat things in front of her. I'm just glad she calls me a friend. Fred: Well I was going to ask you about your relationships with people from your season in particular. Tell mw why do you think... I know you all had a shared e xperience but not everyone who has a shared experience becomes friends. Why do y ou think, specially your season in particular, the bonds are really strong. David: You know, I don't know. Some of what made our season work I think has to be attributed to the people that cast us. The people that saw something in us an d brought us all in. I just think everybody came in without pretense, and knew w hat they were good at and what they weren't good at and didn't try to impose tha t will on anybody else, so we all are just comfortable in our own skin, which is rare. And so I think that, kind of mixed with that unique experience of being o n idol... is probably what paved the way for all of us to be so close. You know, One of my favorite moments from our tour last year was... we did a show at the Fonda in LA and almost everybody from the top ten of my season showed up and it was so cool to see them in the audience... So for people who look at that and wo nder if its feigned or whatever, I mean in our case, those relationships are rea l, you know we played in Florida and Ramielle and I went out, grabbed lunch and caught up, and I talk to Carly and Mike as often as I possibly can and Archie te xts me whenever he hears my songs which is cool. We just... I don't know, it jus t was a good season and I don't know, I can't speak for other seasons, I just kn ow that ours, it was a real familial thing, you know. Fred: I've seen them all. I think yours is one of the the tightest groups. David: I would have to agree out of ignorance, ha ha, I haven't seen the others, but thank you, yeah. Fred: Speaking of other seasons, when I interviewed Adam, he said that he, you w ere his role model in terms of putting out a setlist for the season, and that he basically copied what you did. David: That's massive. Fred: And I'm just curious, do you want to talk about how you did it, your your. . Whatever you want to call it...Strategy? David: My strategy ha ha. it is a competition, so yeah probably it was a strateg y. I just uh. I've never liked pigeonholed. I've never liked categorized or put in this particular box and so I just kind of looked at the season as an opportun ity to show a lot of different aspects of what I'm about musically and so with t hat mindset, I'm always looking like three steps ahead. so like I'm writing the second record and thinking about the fourth and you know I gotta get there... Bu t I kind of just looked at the season, you know, if I'm going to stick this out, I gotta plan ahead a little bit and really wanted each week to be a different d ynamic. You know it's not like playing a concert in one night where you have 12, 13 songs to really take someone on a journey, so without that being a hindrance , I was like ok I will have to take the whole season as a map for a concert. I d on't know what exactly triggered it, but it just kinda was the approach that I h ad and to see that it worked for someone else... Yeah Adam's been able to do som e great things. So that's a pretty big compliment. I'm not sure exactly what to say other than thanks, you know. Fred: when you first try out for a show like this. I don't know, you tell me, do you think about if I do this, my entire life will never be the same again or David: Nooo Fred: but then it turned out for you, your life will never be like it was. so te ll me both... apparently you didn't .. And then tell me how your life changed an d how that is for you David: I just remember going to that audition ... I've told the story a million times (rolls hands) didn't expect to audition and all that, but to hear how many people audition, you know 103,000 I think my season. To think that one person i s going to be me, you gotta have ..like an ego the size of a.. like a medium siz e country to really think that and so.. I just kind of gave up to the process, l ike I'm just going to have fun with it, and if I take first, awesome! and if I t ake 103,000th, awesome! You know and either way I've got a little story to tell, you know, offsprings... so.. Ha ha ha, and then to see where I am 2.5 years lat er, whatever its been, I don't know, its immense. To be able to not only provide for myself which I could barely do before this but to be able to provide for my family, to have my brother move out with me to LA, and to give him this platfor m to try and do what he wants to do with his life, that's massive, that's the ki nd of stuff that really kind of hits home with me and so, you know I don't know. Whatever you believe, I have to say I'm blessed just in the sense that I was gi ven this talent and for whatever reason it just hit me early, like don't squande r it. I chased it, when a lot of people were telling me I shouldn't chase it, I continued to chase it and then finally after hearing "no" for so many years, som eone finally said "yes". I don't know, that's a tough question to ask. I have to say everything's changed. I don't know that I've changed, I'm still, I don't fe el like I'm any different, you know, maybe a couple of years wiser but still app reciative. Fred: That's great. Well, You have a show to do, I don't want to keep you, but I appreciate the time. Thanks for doing this. David: Thank you. Absolutely.