"I find it a confirmation that we're heading in the right direction and doing some of the right things," Cook says. "We worked really hard on the record and I'm really, really proud of the way that it turned out -- especially given the time frame that we had to put it together. I think this is the record I would have made with or without 'Idol.' "
Asked why he thinks his songs are such a hit on the AC chart, the 26-year-old Cook says he's "always considered myself a bit of an old soul, and try to write about things that move me. And so I guess （t和1）maybe lyrically, maybe musically ... I don't think we necessarily cater to the one age bracket, but we see a lot of 20s and 30s in the audience, which is cool."
Asked whether it could be that his （t和1）music reflects influences of the grunge and post-grunge to which that age group listened in their younger years, Cook replies: "Absolutely. As long as somebody's listening to me, I'm happy."
While Cook doesn't have any new songs to insert into his live set, he has changed things up a bit by pulling some songs from his pre-"Idol" days, when he fronted midwestern bands and released a solo disc, "AH（06年的专辑，名字总被屏蔽）," that actually charted while he was on "Idol" before being pulled from sale due to the show's restrictions.
"A couple of us in the band have known each other for about seven years [guitarist Neal Tiemann and rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Andy Skib were in he group Midwest Kings with Cook] and they were around when I was doing the solo thing," Cook says. "And so we try to pull stuff from before 'Idol,' stuff from when I made 'AH（06年的专辑，名字总被屏蔽）' and another record we were working on that never got released, and we try to encompass（t和1） more of my solo career as opposed to just since 'Idol.' "
One tune you won't hear at a Cook concert is his "Idol" coronation song. "Time of My Life," even though it's his highest-charting tune (No. 1 on the AC chart) and only one to hit gold (it went platinum in December).
Asked about it, Cook laughs. "Yeah, yeah," he says. "Well, you know, I've never been big a big proponent of looking back too much. And 'Time of My Life,' it's a great song, and obviously it meant amazing things for me. It was a nice time between the end of 'Idol' and when the record came out. But it's just not me, and I want to come and represent myself and this band accurately to an audience in hopes that I stick around for a while."
Asked why he thinks his songs are such a hit on the AC chart, the 26-year-old Cook says he's "always considered myself a bit of an old soul, and try to write about things that move me. And so I guess （t和1）maybe lyrically, maybe musically ... I don't think we necessarily cater to the one age bracket, but we see a lot of 20s and 30s in the audience, which is cool."
Asked whether it could be that his （t和1）music reflects influences of the grunge and post-grunge to which that age group listened in their younger years, Cook replies: "Absolutely. As long as somebody's listening to me, I'm happy."
While Cook doesn't have any new songs to insert into his live set, he has changed things up a bit by pulling some songs from his pre-"Idol" days, when he fronted midwestern bands and released a solo disc, "AH（06年的专辑，名字总被屏蔽）," that actually charted while he was on "Idol" before being pulled from sale due to the show's restrictions.
"A couple of us in the band have known each other for about seven years [guitarist Neal Tiemann and rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Andy Skib were in he group Midwest Kings with Cook] and they were around when I was doing the solo thing," Cook says. "And so we try to pull stuff from before 'Idol,' stuff from when I made 'AH（06年的专辑，名字总被屏蔽）' and another record we were working on that never got released, and we try to encompass（t和1） more of my solo career as opposed to just since 'Idol.' "
One tune you won't hear at a Cook concert is his "Idol" coronation song. "Time of My Life," even though it's his highest-charting tune (No. 1 on the AC chart) and only one to hit gold (it went platinum in December).
Asked about it, Cook laughs. "Yeah, yeah," he says. "Well, you know, I've never been big a big proponent of looking back too much. And 'Time of My Life,' it's a great song, and obviously it meant amazing things for me. It was a nice time between the end of 'Idol' and when the record came out. But it's just not me, and I want to come and represent myself and this band accurately to an audience in hopes that I stick around for a while."
