Cook
Origin: None
COOK is a bass-driven 22 year old from Denver, CO. His actions often cause trouble and create havoc, affecting those around him. His goal is to get the biggest possible reaction out of everybody, day in and day out. Cook’s sets are filled with wild unpredictable switches and double drops as he uses 3 decks to hit you with bass from every direction. He fits within the characterization of a Byronic hero. He is an impulsive 22 year old as is translated into his productions and DJ sets. He loves to have a good time and is constantly the life and soul of any party. With only a couple of years under his belt, who knows what is in store for the future…
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I go by Cook and I produce and DJ bass music. Born in Zagreb, Croatia, originally from Los Angeles but now living in Denver, I draw inspirations from both when it comes to my music and attitude in general. I first started messing with my mom’s record player trying to scratch (and ruining a handful of records in the process) and messing with the volume knobs and EQs on stereo systems when I was just six years old. I love to make and play bass music because it’s something everyone can relate too. I haven’t met a single person who doesn’t love bass and a loud heavy sound system. Although my main goal as a DJ is to cater to the crowd and do whatever it takes to help make their party awesome, one of the main underlying personal inspirations for that is that it puts me in charge for that hour or so and everyone has to listen to me express myself through my mixing on a really loud sound system. Sure most others express themselves through productions, I like to save myself for the DJ performance. People have seem to let the art of DJing and controlling a crowd fade away, and I would like to help bring that back. Anyway, there’s a bit about my personality and me. I hope you guys enjoy my stuff and I hope to see you at future shows…
Interview
Home Town: Los Angeles, CA
Currently Living: Denver, CO
Origin Of Name: The name was inspired by a character in the UK version of the show Skins, I liked his character and thought it somewhat resembled how I am at shows. And honestly there is no special meaning for it, I just wanted something that would be easy to say, easy to spell and easy to remember.
Weapon of Choice: I would probably say three CDJs and a mixer. I guess that would be weapons though, haha. Otherwise the VST Massive.
Source of Power: My biggest influences would have to be Andy C, Laidback Luke and Dieselboy all for their awesome and true DJ skills. On the production end I find power in everything, from random Internet videos to other DJs and producers to friends doing better than me.
What’s the biggest misconception about being a DJ?
How easy people think it is. Sure it’s easy to do the technical part of it, beat matching and all that stuff, but what people don’t realize about DJing is the whole point of it is to cater to the crowd and drive the party. The set is supposed to flow like a long song, have an intro, climax and ending. Nowadays 95% of producers just throw together a pre-arranged set full of the biggest tunes with no consideration as to how each song goes with the one before it and how it will go with the one after it, what kind of vibe and energy it will bring and so on. I think people would be most surprised as to how hard it would be to mix an hour long set on the fly with no sync button or computer, while still doing good timed transitions and not just mixing intro to outro.
Tell me about your most memorable night out.
Playing Escape from Wonderland for sure. If it wasn’t for Insomniac and their parties who knows if I would even be here doing this interview. I had gone to Nocturnal Wonderland back in 2008. It was my 3rd rave ever and Infected Mushroom were one of the headliners. To be back at the same venue almost exactly four years later watching Infected Mushroom, and to be actually playing the same event as them, was surreal and something I’ll never forget.
What is your ultimate career dream?
My ultimate dream would be to be able to do what Armin Van Buuren did and do an arena tour where I got to do a nine-hour set and the arena was full of people just wanting to go on an epic ride with me.
Are you impulsive with your work or do you have a sketch in mind before you start?
I am super impulsive with producing and DJing. When it comes to being in the studio, I can be working on one project, be going through my samples for it, and come across something I think would be great for a start of another tune and instantly start it—leaving the other project out to dry. This would probably help account for the huge amount of unfinished tunes I have and will probably never get back to. When it comes to DJing, I like to spin on three to four decks and don’t like letting songs play out too long unless I’m doing mixes with them, some people consider it ADD mixing, I just think it’s more entertaining, iPods are for listening to songs in their whole, not parties in my opinion.
How important is it for you to experiment and take on the risk of failure?
It is hugely important for me to experiment and take risks on whatever I’m working on because I’m not in the point of my career where I can fail necessarily. My whole goal is to try to create something a bit different than what everyone else is doing, and if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work—when it’s meant to work, it will.
What sound or noise do you love?
Raw pure sub bass on a powerful system. It just has this tone and feeling to it that is insane and I think is helping drive our generation in general.
What gets you excited when you think about the future of electronic music and club culture?
The endless amount of possibilities; the music is made on computers using an infinite number of possible sounds which leaves no boundaries on what is possible—it’s just up to the people to be receptive to it. The way it’s growing is amazing too, every year the festivals become bigger and there are more of them. Who knows what it will be like in five years considering how much it’s changed in the past three years alone.
What are your weaknesses?
Being lazy and over thinking stuff instead of just going with my gut. Always go with your gut.
How would you describe your sound to a deaf person?
I wouldn’t need to, they could just feel it and they would understand. My sound is 100% dancefloor orientated and full of bass.
What do you remember about your first DJ gig?
My first DJ gig story is a good one. I had just started out and a friend asked if I wanted to DJ his friend’s birthday party. I of course say yes and on we go. The day of the party arrives and I head over to it with all my equipment and set up. Half way through the party as we are hanging out in front, one of the younger friends of the host comes up and tells us not to stand there because a rival gang might be coming by to disrupt the party. Yes a gang. Turns out the birthday boy was a big time ex meth cook. I of course freaked out to myself, and went straight to my DJ stuff and turned the volume as loud as I could and 30-minutes later the cops showed up due to noise complaints. That was by far the craziest gig I’ve had and it happened to be my first.
What advice would you offer someone thinking about entering the Discovery Project competition?
Do it. It was the greatest experience I’ve had in my career so far. Insomniac does a great job with the whole thing and it was an honor to get to play for them, especially since it was at a venue that I would check out other Insomniac events just two-four years prior. It still gives me Goosebumps thinking about it.
Final words?
I would just like to emphasize the fact that if you’re a producer and you’re going to spend a lot fo time working on your productions, why not spend a third of that time learning how to DJ—well if you want to play out. It’s crazy seeing these extremely talented producers showing up to events with a MIDI controller, pre-arranged set, and half-ass their set live, which makes them the money. I’ve always had a hard time processing that.
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