Artist of the Day | SCOTT COOK
ARTIST OF THE DAY
20.09.2020
SCOTT COOK
LOCATION
Edmonton, AB
GENRE
Folk & Roots
CURRENT MEMBERS
Various vagabonds in various places.
With the current pandemic, the state of the music and touring industry has dramatically changed. Where were you when everything was brought to a halt?
I was in Austin, Texas, just two weeks into a big US tour. I high-tailed it straight home from there, and have been around here ever since. After thirteen years living on the road, in a series of minivans, I had just moved into a house in Riverdale at the start of February. As it turned out, it was just in time.
How has that affected your plans for the coming months? Did you have a tour planned, upcoming album release?
I used to tour pretty much constantly, so yeah, I cancelled two months of solo dates in the States, a month in BC with my trio, all my summer festivals, a month in the UK and Denmark (where I'd be now), fall in Ontario, and early 2021 in Australia. Hopefully I'll do the Australian tour in 2022. But this enforced slowdown has amplified a lot of thoughts I was already having, about slowing down and doing things differently. I don't know what the future's going to look like.
On the album front, I just released my seventh album, Tangle of Souls, with a big 240-page hardcover book. This sudden wealth of free time gave me a chance to really dig into the editing, design, and publicity in a way I otherwise wouldn't have been able to.
What have you been doing to fill/make the most of your new-found free time at home?
Signing books and stuffing envelopes! And taking breaks to make local deliveries by bicycle. People have been ordering online a lot more during the pandemic, compared to the face-to-face sales when I was touring. My housemates (Elliot Thomas and Pamela Mae) and I formed a band called Indoorables, and we've been doing some online concerts, as well as real-world shows in back alleys, front yards, and so on while the weather's warm. We've also been growing a garden, and checking out online lessons and music camps. I'm playing guitar more than ever, and once I'm finished getting this album out into the world, I expect I'll write some new songs. I also want to do more prose writing, and maybe even try my hand at podcasting, who knows! With my constant touring, plenty of creative ideas had to stay on the back burner for lack of time. A lot of different things feel possible now.
What was the first thing you did/place you went to now the country is starting to slowly re-open?
The first show I went to was my friend Jason Kodie singing songs in a front yard, set up by my friend John Armstrong, who's presented 50 or 60 shows already during the pandemic. I was kinda surprised at how much it moved me, to gather outside and hear songs again.
Favourite Starlite Room Moment?
My first kiss was there! But it wasn't called the Starlite Room yet.
Do you have a message for everyone at home reading this?
If you're having trouble holding out hope for the human race, I feel you. If you fancy a read, I wrote a book about it called Tangle of Souls. But closer to home, I just hope you can find enough beauty in the world outside, and kindness in the people around you, to get past the gloom in the headlines.
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