Jamie Cook

Jamie Cook
Cook performing in 2006
Born Jamie Robert Cook[1]
(1985-07-08) 8 July 1985
High Green, Sheffield, England
Other names Cookie
Occupation
  • Musician
Spouse(s)
Katie Downes (m. 2014)
Children 1
Musical career
Genres
Occupation(s)
Instruments
Years active 2002–present
Labels Domino
Associated acts Arctic Monkeys

Jamie Robert Cook (born 8 July 1985) is an English guitarist and songwriter. He is best known as the lead guitarist and a founding member of the indie rock band Arctic Monkeys, with whom he has recorded six studio albums.

Arctic Monkeys

Originally a next door neighbour of fellow band member Alex Turner, Cook and the other band members picked up their respective instruments and formed the Arctic Monkeys in 2001. He is the son of an engineer.

He is the band's most outspoken member, going on record as saying he "fucking hates the [print] news" and defending the band's numerous successive records by stating, "I couldn’t see us being like Coldplay, it’d just be fucking boring. You tour your album for three years and play the same fucking gig night after night. It must really be depressing. Some people might enjoy doing that, but we couldn't."[5] Following the release of their debut album, Cook said: "Now, I'd like us to be able to grow like The Clash. When they started, it was a very basic, punky record. Then they started to take off and move in lots of directions. That's what we want."[6]

Despite leaving home, Cook has maintained residence in the Sheffield area along with fellow band member Matt Helders.[7] He has been described as "the bullishly confident blue-collar lad" of the group.[8]

At the start of the band's career, Cook would join Matt Helders and Andy Nicholson in backing vocals for songs such as "Fake Tales of San Francisco", but has gradually shied away from singing duties, leaving them to the other three members of the group.

Cook is considered to be the "indie music fanatic" of the group. Armed with the likes of musical tastes for bands such as The Smiths, The Strokes, Oasis, and Queens of the Stone Age, Cook supposedly turned the band into what it is today.[9]

Cook was also instrumental in the minimal exposure of the band's sixth album, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, prior to its release.[10] He was also the first band member to help Turner develop the somewhat autobiographical album from a potential solo record into a bona-fide Arctic Monkeys one,[11] further indicating his behind-the-scenes importance to the band.

Personal life

Jamie Cook attended Ecclesfield Secondary School in Chapeltown, Sheffield. He began dating glamour model Katie Downes in 2006.[12][13][14] They became engaged in 2012[15] and were married on 31 May 2014.[16] In September 2015, their first child, a son named Forrest, was born.

Equipment

Guitars

When touring to promote their 2006 debut, Cook's setup was fairly simple. His main guitar was a Fender Telecaster 62 reissue. His pedals were an MXR Distortion +, Electro-Harmonix Big Muff, Electro-Harmonix Pulsar and, at least for a while, he could be seen using a T-Rex Dr. Swamp twin distortion pedal. He also had a Boss TU-2 Chromatic Tuner. His amplifier was a Hiwatt Custom 50-Watt 2×12 Combo.[17]

From 2007's Favourite Worst Nightmare onwards, he has had quite an elaborate pedalboard. The pedals used have almost changed altogether—he stuck to his MXR Distortion +, and has added an Electro-Harmonix Little Big Muff, Electro-Harmonix HOG, Electro-Harmonix Pulsar Tremolo, Electro-Harmonix Deluxe Memory Man, a Boss LS-2 Line Selector, a Guyatone sustain and an expression pedal for the HOG all this was changed to an Ernie Ball volume/pan pedal, which can be seen used when playing the Arctic Monkeys song "Nettles" live. His main guitar is now a 1975 Gibson ES-335TD. He has been seen using several different Bad Cat amplifiers, including a Bad Cat Hot Cat 30 R, in addition to his Hiwatt amplifiers. For the Suck It and See tour, a Rosewell Bluesman 30 and an Audio Kitchen Big Chopper was used.

On the Australia and New Zealand tour of Humbug, Cook was seen using a Fender Starcaster. His Gibson 335TD has been changed from a Frequensator tailpiece to a Bigsby. His pedalboard has changed quite considerably since the Favourite Worst Nightmare tour. It now consists of an Electro-Harmonix Pulsar (without stereo), Electro-Harmonix Memory Man, Boss RE-20, Boss TU-2, Death By Audio Fuzz Gun, Z.Vex Super Duper, Fulltone OCD, Demeter Fuzzullator, Boss LS-2, Ernie Ball VP Junior and an Electro-Harmonix Hum Debugger. He was also seen using a Gibson SG standard on stage live at Glastonbury on June 2013.

References

  1. ↑ UK births, marriages, and deaths index 1985-2005
  2. ↑ "Arctic Monkeys go rap - News - QTheMusic.com". News.qthemusic.com. 28 February 2007. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-11-02.
  3. ↑ "BBC - Seven Ages of Rock "What the World Is Waiting For"". Seven Ages of Rock. 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  4. ↑ "Arctic Monkeys - Intelligent indie-rock from Sheffield". Clash. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  5. ↑ "Young Brains". San Diego CityBeat. 31 May 2006. Archived from the original on 18 October 2006.
  6. ↑ "Welcome to the jungle". latimes. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "Arctic Monkeys conquer UK; Is America next?". Reuters. 17 May 2007. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 2007-05-18.
  8. ↑ "The Lads Are Alright". Blender. May 2006. Archived from the original on 4 May 2006.
  9. ↑ Archived 2 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  10. ↑ http://metro.co.uk/2018/04/25/arctic-monkeys-really-not-keen-releasing-new-music-album-drops-7496614
  11. ↑ http://www.nme.com/news/music/arctic-monkeys-discuss-lyrics-departure-sound-autobiographical-new-album-2300317
  12. ↑ "Arctic Monkey's get their own Yoko Ono". Daily Mirror. 2008-08-01. Retrieved 2009-07-12.
  13. ↑ "Cheeky Monkey". Daily Mirror. 2007-04-07. Retrieved 2007-04-18.
  14. ↑ Maxim Magazine August 2007 Cover Girl with caption "Arctic Monkey's girl naked!"
  15. ↑ "Arctic Monkeys' Jamie Cook to marry long-term girlfriend Katie Downes". NME. 18 July 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  16. ↑ "Loved-up Arctic Monkey marries sex kitten Page 3 model". Daily Star. 1 June 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  17. ↑ "Artist Gear Feature: The Arctic Monkeys". Proaudioland.com. 2012-05-18. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.