David Cook unsure if he’d win American Idol with J-Lo, Steven Tyler

by Bill Palmer

David Cook doesn’t know whether he would have won American Idol like he did back in 2008 if his judging panel back then had consisted of current judges Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez instead of Simon Cowell and the gang. “I’ll be the first to admit this judging panel is different,” Cook tells Beatweek of the differences between the 2008 and 2011 iterations of the television show which launched his career. Having revisited Idol during the latest season to perform new single The Last Goodbye from his album This Loud Morning, Cook got a look at the current judges in action and concluded that “they were probably across the board more nurturing than Simon, Paula, and Randy were. Not to say that they didn’t offer constructive criticism, but there was certainly more of it.”

So would David Cook have been able to defeat fellow contestants like David Archuleta if J-Lo and Aerosmith’s frontman had been critiquing him on a daily basis? “I’d say maybe not, only because the negative critiques I got from Simon and Randy,” adding that the criticism “lit a fire under me all the time.” He explains that “if the judges had been any nicer I may not have felt as challenged and I may not have pushed myself as hard as I did.”

He added, however, that “I can’t remember if Paula was ever anything but nice to me.” Here’s Beatweek’s full 2011 cover story interview with David Cook.

David Cook: the Beatweek interview – inside This Loud Morning and more

by Bill Palmer

David Cook managed to score himself a couple of hit songs his first time around. But for record number two he wanted a more cohesive album and he wanted to get deeper into the writing process, and if it took him nearly three years to get the goods into the hands of his audience, then so be it. The resulting album This Loud Morning offers overarching themes, grandiose soundscapes, songs that flow into each other, and of all things, a plot woven around circadian rhythms. Released today, fans are already declaring the album worth the wait. 

In our Beatweek interview we spoke with David Cook at length about This Loud Morning, what was going on behind the scenes all that time, and a little trip down memory lane to the days back when he was winning American Idol.

This record has a more grandiose structure in comparison to the first one. At what point did you realize you wanted that to be a goal for this record?

Pretty early on. The last record, everything was such a gut call, which I’ll be the first to admit is actually my preferred working environment. Just get it done and move on to the next thing. But with this record I wanted to give the whole album a little bit more of a cinematic feel, and that’s when Matt Serletic’s name came into the conversation because I’ve heard some of his other work and always thought that it had that cinematic feel to it. Consciously, it was pretty early on. Where that took us was all kind of done as we went through the process. But I think where I had it in my head and where this record ended up, I’d have to say this record probably actually exceeded what I had in my head. I wanted big choruses. I like those things. I feel like in the current music marketplace maybe there’s an avenue for it.

How do the circadian rhythms of the first song tie into the whole “loud morning” theme?

Circadian was inspired actually by Rapid Eye Movement, the last song on the record. Rapid Eye Movement was a song that I wrote pretty early in this process, and this record doesn’t exist without that song because I think that song really opened up my thought process for the rest of this record. As I was going through this record and going through the writing process, I was also dealing with some things that had happened during the last tour that I’d really shelled, both good and bad. As I really sat down to start writing this record, the world around me was just crazy. I had a million different things going on in my head. Rather than shy away from those things, I just decided to write about them. I think once I got Rapid Eye Movement in the can and realized I liked that romantic idea of living an entire life for yourself while you’re asleep, then Circadian kind of popped up and the idea of circadian rhythms. There’s an homage, I guess, to sleep terminology. But it’s that idea of using sleep and dreams as a reprieve.

Have you traditionally been an insomniac?

No, I’ve historically been really good at sleeping. But especially for the goals that I set for myself on this record and all, it got pretty hard there for awhile to turn my brain off when it came time to.

The phrase “This Loud Morning” is used near the end of the album, but did you have that album title in mind before you wrote it into the lyrics?

The credit for finding that title probably has to go to my manager. I had written the song lyric months before the title ever popped up, but I was out in Sweden writing, I think, either Sweden or London. I was having dinner with my manager and we’d been talking about the title, and she was like, “What about This Loud Morning” from that lyric in Rapid Eye Movement?

It just made sense. I spent probably the next six months trying to top it, and couldn’t. It just felt like the right title for this record.

You’ve got two songs on here, We Believe and Hard To Believe, quite different songs but their titles are centered around the same word. That concept must have been on your mind quite a bit when you were crafting this.

Belief is conviction. It’s faith. It’s one of those large themes that revolves essentially around conflict. You’ve got to have commitment to have faith, and I think that can parlay itself into love, which is another major underlying theme of this record. And so it became one I guess one of the many trigger words for this record.

You co-wrote every song on the record.

Yeah.

At this point, is that an absolute must for you? Do you feel like you have to be involved in the creation of a song in order to want to turn around and put it on your record?

You know, it was really important to me just because with the last record we put out two singles and they were the only two songs on the last record that I didn’t have writing credit on. My experience with that was that going out on stage, I had a different connection to those songs than I had to every other song on the record. I felt a little bit more of a kinship to the other songs on the record. No discredit to Light On or Come Back To Me. And so with this record I just felt like, okay, this is my second record. Everybody is kind of calling this a make or break record. I’d rather fall on my own sword than fight with somebody else’s.

Having gone through that process on the last record, with collaborators coming left and right, having gotten that experience before, did that help this time around?

Absolutely. The record everything was so new, and I was far more green than I am now. And so I went into those sessions less assertive and probably leaning a little bit more on other writers than I would have. Not that I didn’t write and work hard and wasn’t involved. But this record, just walking into the room and having more of a concrete vision, and using the people that I got to write with as maybe more facilitators than co-conspirators.

At any point in this process, did you ever say to yourself, “Hmm, my records are going to be two and a half, three years apart. Am I taking too long?”

Constantly. Timing is everything. But I think for me, any time I thought that, I would always take a step back and realize what my original thought when we started this project was. I’d rather take the time and get this record right, and have nobody remember me or anything, than rush a record that disappointed not only myself but my fans. I just put a lot of pride on making good records. That’s all I want to do. I want to make great records and play great shows. And if I can do those two things consistently, then the songs will be there, the success will be there, and everything will work itself out. As we got into these songs and into this record, it became really apparent that it was going to take some time. Thank God, so far the reception seems to be good. My fans have been extraordinarily patient, I think.

What is the songwriting process like when you’re writing with your own bandmates as opposed to outsiders?

I live with my lead guitar player Neal, and my other guitar player Andy is here most of the time anyway. So it’s certainly less structured, I think. We wrote, I want to say five, maybe six songs for this record. A lot of them were works in progress over the course of a few months. Goodbye To The Girl was probably the one exception. That song came together I think in a couple of days. But yeah, just less structured. If I go into a writing session with somebody like Ryan Tedder, we put it together a few weeks in advance and then I go an we write, and if we don’t get more finished then we book more time and finish up. With Neal and Andy, it was just “Hey guys, I’ve got the day off. You guys want to come over and we’ll try to knock this song out?” I’ve had a rapport with them, I’ve known them for ten years and so there’s a familiarity. I think maybe we pull less punches.

A lot of people want to know where the theremin is on this album. I have to admit, I can’t find it.

[Laughs] It’s buried in there. It’s used less as a centerpiece. It’s on a couple of the songs but it’s used purely as a boost, as an ancillary kind of background noise thing. I’ve actually listened to the record and I know where it’s at, and even when I listen, it’s in there but it’s ducked for sure.

If the current American Idol judging panel were place back when you were on the show in 2008, do you think you still could have won?

Oh wow, I don’t know. I’ll be the first to admit this judging panel is different. Not necessarily in a bad way. I think they were probably across the board more nurturing than Simon, Paula, and Randy were. Not to say that they didn’t offer constructive criticism, but there was certainly more of it. I don’t know. I’d say maybe not, only because the negative critiques I got from Simon and Randy, and I can’t remember if Paula was ever anything but nice to me, but those kind of lit a fire under me all the time. I kind of took them as challenges, so if the judges had been any nicer I may not have felt as challenged and I may not have pushed myself as hard as I did.

Did your trip to Ethiopia influence the record?

Absolutely. In fact the song you brought up earlier, We Believe, was inspired by two separate but complementary events. One was going to Ethiopia, and then the other was all the way back on my season on Idol when we did Idol Gives Back. We all snuck up to a balcony during one point of the show and watched Annie Lennox perform. It was just her and a piano, and she had all these kind of heavy images of the trip she took to Africa behind her on this giant screen. Just a very raw, poignant moment, I think. And those two things were kind of stewing in my brain.

Is the beard here to stay?

It’s here for the foreseeable future, I think. I enjoy the beard.

Do you have a sense of what the next single might be?

I am the worst barometer of singles. I don’t think I ever have a future as an A&R guy, I can tell you that. I don’t know.

With this album having the structure and the theme, is that going to play into how you do the setlists in concert?

Yeah. We really prided ourselves on the last record and the last tour trying to play a different setlist every night. In 154 shows, I think we did 150 different setlists. That was because we had the versatility and the ability to do so. Our show was very loosely structured, so it worked out that way. I think with this one, obviously with more of an arc to the record, that’ll certainly change the way that we attack things. I think right now my goal is to try to have anywhere from two to four revolving setlists and change it up every night.

Do you know what month you’re going to hit the road in?

The talk right now is late summer, early fall. I’m just trying to find the right package to come out with. For me, we did the headlining thing on the last record and I really enjoyed that. With this record I want to try the support act thing and get in front of some bigger audiences and do some more international, and really tour the wheels off on this record. I really enjoyed touring on the last record, and I want to do more of it.

Learn more at DavidCookOfficial.com • iTunes • Twitter • Facebook

David Cook tells Beatweek about “Circadian” from This Loud Morning

David Cook’s new album This Loud Morning is more than a mere collection of songs, as the various tracks weave in and out of connected themes and sonically flow into each other. But one need not get any further than the unusual opening track with the unusual name, Circadian, in order to see that this record is something different altogether – and that first song was spawned out of the album’s final track, he tells Beatweek.

“Circadian was inspired, actually, by Rapid Eye Movement,” Cook reveals in the cover story interview for the June 28th issue of Beatweek Magazine (available in full on Beatweek.com that same day). “Rapid Eye Movement was a song that I wrote pretty early in this process. This record doesn’t exist without that song, because I think that song really opened up my thought process to the rest of this record.”

“Once I got Rapid Eye Movement in the can and realized I like that romantic idea of living an entire life for yourself while you’re asleep, then Circadian popped up, the idea of circadian rhythms and all that. There’s an homage, I guess, to sleep terminology. But it’s that idea of using sleep and dreams as a reprieve.”

Asked if he himself has traditionally been an insomniac, Cook says “No, I’ve historically been really good at sleeping. But especially for the goals that I set for myself on this record and all, it got pretty hard there for awhile to turn my brain off when it came time to.”

In the full Beatweek cover story interview, David Cook discusses This Loud Morning in full, including its narrative themes, his more authoritative role in the writing process, and more – and he also reveals whether he believes he could have still won American Idol like he did back in 2008 if he’d been facing a judging panel of Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez instead of Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul.

Beatweek readers and fans can choose which photo of David Cook will appear on the June 28th issue of Beatweek Magazine. You can still vote once per day, in four different ways. Vote now.

David Cook fans: vote for the July 28th Beatweek Magazine cover photo!

David Cook will appear on the cover of Beatweek Magazine’s June 28th issue to discuss his new album This Loud Morning and much more. From the interwoven themes of the album to breathtaking songs like opening track Circadian to the importance of being involved in the writing process on every song, David reveals it all in the Beatweek cover story interview. Now we’re letting you, the fans and readers, choose the photo of David Cook which will grace the cover of our next issue.

Four ways to vote:

1) Reply to @Beatweek on Twitter with “#1″ or “#2″

2) Post on Facebook.com/Beatweek with “#1″ or “#2″

3) Send an email to mag@beatweek.com with your vote.

4) Post your vote in the comments section below on this page.

You can vote once per day, per method – that’s up to four votes per day if you really want your preferred photo to win! Deadline is 3pm eastern time on Monday, June 27th. Votes will be tallied, and whichever David Cook photo receives the most votes will be the cover of the next issue of Beatweek Magazine!

Can’t wait? Go here to pre-order David Cook’s This Loud Morning now: iTunes • Amazon

photo credits: Lauren Dukoff

David Cook unveils The Last Goodbye ahead of new album, American Idol spot

David Cook has posted the official lead single for his sophomore album to his website. The Last Goodbye is currently streaming from davidcookofficial.com ahead of his scheduled appearance on American Idol this week to perform the song live. Cook’s new album This Loud Morning is set for June 28th release. The up tempo rocker offers an upbeat-sounding take on the end of a relationship with “If you hear this on the radio, then we’ve already said our last goodbye.” The Last Goodbye gets the official Beatweek thumbs up. Expect to hear it blasting out of radios all summer.

The rocker is preparing for a homecoming to Idol on April 21st after winning the show’s seventh season and then releasing his self titled major label debut album in 2008. According to his site, the album will be available on the site for preorder starting tomorrow. However, the single has not yet arrived in iTunes; new music typically arrives on Tuesdays, so keep a hopeful eye out for it tomorrow. The Last Goodbye was co-written by David Cook and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder. Of the forthcoming album, Cook has offered “This album is the culmination of one of the loftiest endeavors I’ve ever undertaken. The end result is an album that I cannot wait to share with everyone.”

David Cook beat out fellow David, David Archuleta, to take the American Idol crown three years ago. This week he’ll he facing an almost entirely new judging panel upon his return to Idol, as only Randy Jackson remains after the departures of Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul.

Lakers championship: celebs weigh in on Finals victory over Celtics

Tonight’s NBA Championship victory by the Los Angeles Lakers saw responses from several celebrities who had a rooting interest one way or the other. Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan revealed that he was at the game, which he said was great for drama, but that he “didn’t like the end of the movie.” Pop star Colbie Caillat simply tweeted “Ahhhhh yeaaaaa Lakers!” while American Idol winner David Cook, known to be a Celtics fan, cleverly exclaimed “well… (expletive laden rant)” [his redaction not ours] and went on to say that Lakers-Celtics 2010 “was exciting to watch. congrats to both teams on a great series and season. get ‘em next year, Green!”

David Cook, David Archuleta meet at SLC airport

American Idol finalists David Archuleta and David Cook managed to cross paths by apparent coincidence at the Salt Lake City airport this week as Cook was arriving in town for a gig and Archuleta was headed out of his hometown for a stint with the Children’s Miracle Network. On Idol’s seventh season the two had competed with each other as the top finalists for the season’s title, which ultimately went to Cook. Both stars tweeted of the encounter, which Cook referring to it as “awesome sauce” and Archuleta publicly plugging Cook’s Salt Lake City concert.

Armando Galarraga perfect game called for by Billy Corgan, David Cook

Baseball fans on all sides have asked MLB to correct the umpire mistake which cost Armando Galarraga his perfect game last night, and some of those requests have come from baseball’s more high profile fans. Former American Idol winner David Cook tweeted that he hopes “MLB fixes this and corrects the blown call” but also went on to praise umpire Jim Joyce, who blew the call, for promptly apologizing to Galarraga publicly and privately after learning of his error via video replay. Meanwhile, Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, known to be a Cubs fan, opined that the Major League Baseball should “award that kid his perfect game+give him the extra out he got,the only game ever where 28 batters were faced+all retired.”

Where was David Cook last night? Kansas City.

David Cook stuck out like a sore thumb last night in his absence from American Idol, as a head count of the show’s previous winners in their joint performance revealed there to be only seven of the eight past champions on stage. But it turns out his absence from the stage was for the most valid of reasons: he had previously committed to a charity event in Kansas City. Cook took to Twitter to announce that he was “sorry” he couldn’t be in Hollywood to join his fellow Idols. Mystery solved.

David Cook, absent from American Idol final, congratulates Lee DeWyze

David Cook was the only American Idol winner not to take the stage and perform at tonight’s finale, and it turns out it was because he had a previous commitment to a charity concert event elsewhere, but he did take the time to congratulate winner Lee DeWyze via his official Twitter account. As he put it, “Congrats to Lee Dewyze! So sorry I could be there to see all my fellow idols. I’m there in spirit!” He then went on to explain that he actually meant “couldn’t” instead of “could” and blamed his iPhone’s predictive spelling for the typo. In any case, David Cook was missing from a performing group of seven with included former winners Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks, and last year’s winner Kris Allen. Allen and Underwood also each performed their current singles.

So where exactly was David Cook tonight? Here’s the scoop.

David Cook skips Idol finale for charity event

Every American Idol winner returned to the Idol stage tonight together to give outgoing judge Simon Cowell a sendoff – except season seven winner David Cook. It turns he had a good reason for skipping the event, however, as he was committed to a charity event in Kansas City and simply couldn’t be in two places at once. Still, it would have been an sight to see if Cook could have joined his seven counterparts in what would have been an octet performance.

David Cook did perform on Idol earlier this season, during Rolling Stones week. Cook also delivered a public message for the winner.

Spoiler: if you want to know who won American Idol tonight, click here.