Interview: Will Joseph Cook

[vc_row el_class=”interview”][vc_column][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/A6Pxne5Wouo”][vc_column_text el_class=”intro-text”]We recently caught up with Will Joseph Cook to speak about his new album, Sweet Dreamer. This is the debut album from the singer-songwriter and judging by the tracks we’ve heard, it’s going to be seriously impressive. The album will be available 14th April before the ‘Girls Like Me‘ singer embarks on his headline UK and Europe tour, which includes a stop at Secret Garden Party.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

• I’ve been reading about your year ahead and it all sounds very exciting. Obviously, you’ve got your album coming out and you’re heading off on your headline tour. You’ve already put four singles out from the album, is that right?
• Yeah, so I think the last one was the fourth but it was a re-release of a track. We’ve put out one track at the moment called ‘Biggest Fan‘ which is a bit like a B-side. We’ve got another one coming out tomorrow (31st March) and that’s it until it gets released.
• That’s happening fairly soon, right?
• Yeah, two weeks away. Pretty nuts.
• Listening to your music, especially the new singles, you can hear a bit of Bombay. Also, ‘Biggest Fan‘ has a lot of Darwin Deez vibes.
• Yeah, Darwin Deez is a good reference for the tone of the track. I think what Darwin Deez always does really well is quite unabashed, conceptual love songs. There are so many tracks on his first album with a quirky concept. ‘Bomb Song‘ is a love song set in an apocalypse and he just kind of runs with that. It’s such an uplifting, good time tune, but has an original quirk to it and a concept which keeps it interesting.
• Which other artists where you were inspired by while writing the album?
• Too many to name, to be honest. I could probably give different answers for every track on the album. I definitely feel like whatever I’m listening to at the time will leak in some way. Even if it sounds nothing like what I was listening to, something may have given me an idea or a feeling that will end up working its way into the song. I think as a general rule of thumb I never have one reference for a track. If I am referencing stuff, I want to be able to give you about 5 different things I can hear in the track. Like the drums are kind of like this, the pacing of the track is a bit like this and the lyrics are a bit like that. Otherwise, it will just sound like whatever you’re referencing.
• It keeps every track interesting. From what I’ve heard of the album so far, it’s all very cohesive but they all have their little quirks.
• I think your inspirations have to be a bit of a Frankenstein to come up with something new or to have your own sound. You can be a fan of five completely different bands and they can all sound completely different but they might be your five favourite bands. I think everyone’s five favourite bands kind of defines how they sound. Sort of a medley of everyone.
• How have you found the singles have been received so far?
• Every time we’ve put out a track, it seems like a progression in that [people] seem to interact in different ways. It’s definitely quite an artistic choice in which songs you release. I remember deciding which single should come out after ‘Take Me Dancing‘. We did ‘Girls Like Me‘, then ‘Take Me Dancing‘ and then it ended up being ‘Sweet Dreamers‘, as the third. It was a really interesting process to decide what was needed and what would connect with fans. They all seem to have done well and kept it interesting I think. That was my main priority – to keep giving something different each time.

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text el_class=”large-quote”]”It was a really interesting process to decide what was needed and what would connect with fans. They all seem to have done well and kept it interesting I think. That was my main priority – to keep giving something different each time.”[/vc_column_text][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/A6Pxne5Wouo”][vc_column_text]

• How much input have you had on the video side of things? Did you have a lot of creative input?
• I collaborate with a camera guy and director on all of the videos. I usually start out with a treatment, so I’d maybe write some character background on the kind of character I’d be playing. Maybe I’ll have some ideas of scenes and stuff. The collaborations come with how can we turn this into a real video and then we’ll build a shot by shot script together. I love making videos and staying involved in the whole process.
• Is that something you’ve dabbled with in the past or is it a recent thing that came with creating music?
• ‘Girls Like Me‘ was the first music video I’d ever made. I actually made one when I was 16 at home for a track called ‘July‘. It’s still on YouTube, but it’s pretty whack. It was always something I’d wanted to do. I guess when you’re doing your first videos, the budget is quite small so if you don’t come forward with ideas and try to make it the best it can be, they can end up being really mediocre. So, I wanted to make them interesting and make them a talking point. That was something I was really adamant about. Say you knew the song and you went into work the next day and you said to your friends: “I love this song” and maybe they already know it so they say: “yeah but have you seen the video?” So it’s kind of something you can watch without having to love or know the song. It’s something intriguing or it doesn’t just pass you by. I think it’s easy to just make a video that looks cool aesthetically or people like the clothes you’re wearing in it. Those can be fine but I just wanted them to be something you would write a blog or an article about.
• At the end of the day, you could hire anyone to do it but you are the one that knows everything behind the song.
• I think that’s kind of the same way that I view songs. I would hate to have someone else write my song or help write my song and then put it out and it not be very well received. The whole time I’d be thinking, “people don’t like this and they think it’s mine but it’s not“. In the same way, I’d hate to put out a video I had no input in and for people to think it’s crap and then you just have to live with it. I’d rather they hate me.
• I read that you’ve been playing music since you were 14.
• Yeah, that was when I first started playing little bars and pubs and stuff.
• Was it all cover songs or were you writing music at that point?
• When I started, I used to record acoustic songs and upload them to Soundcloud with some covers. I did a few YouTube videos of the same thing, so that’s kind of where I started. It was all pretty low-key; just me and my guitar but that was kind of my roots I guess.
• What first got you into music?
• There are a few people I could pinpoint in getting me into music. My dad and my brother always played good records when I was growing up. It was also through friends. I had one friend when I was 11 whose older brother was a big music fan. I remember him sending me Vampire Weekend‘s first record on MSN chat, which is a sign of the times. He sent me ‘Oxford Comma‘ and I opened it up on Windows Media Player and I thought it was sick. I had a friend who taught me how to play guitar at school. There were a few influential people.
• It sounds like it was a very natural thing.
• Yeah, definitely. I never had my parents push me into music lessons. It was more like I just became so fascinated and intrigued with music and bands. There was definitely a point when I was going to gigs every fortnight and I was really on it with seeing lots of bands. There was definitely a switch point when I was about 15, going to gigs, I started to think ‘wow I wish I was on the other side of this experience‘. I’d look at it in awe, just thinking I need to get where they are. That’s definitely the side of the gig I want to be on.
• Your upcoming tour and some of the dates you have booked look great. Secret Garden Party being one of them.
• Yeah, May’s going to be pretty mad for us because we start the month with the UK tour, which will be pretty big. Then we’re going to Europe for a few dates. It’s going to be sick. It’s such a strange feeling sometimes. I definitely remember setting myself a bunch of goals and now arriving at those goals feels really strange. It’s easy to forget how unachievable I probably thought that all was even two years ago. I think when you’re in it, you’re constantly thinking how you can make it better and always thinking about the next step instead of appreciating where you’ve managed to get to.

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Check out where you can catch Will Joseph Cook during his tour below.

May
2nd Glasgow, Stereo
3rd Newcastle, 02 Academy 2
4 th Manchester, Sound Control Basement
5th Birmingham, 02 Birmingham Institute 3
6th Liverpool, Studio2
8th Cardiff, The Globe
9th Bristol, Thekla
11th London, Heaven
12th Oxford, The Bullingdon
18th The Great Escape

July
11th Trinity College, Dublin (alt-j support)
21st Secret Garden Party
22nd Truck Festival

Sadly, this year comes as the final hurrah for Secret Garden Party but there’s still time to grab yourself some tickets. Head to their website for more info.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]