corook pulled up to Medium Sized Backyard with a full crew of friends - bass, violin, keys, drums - and the energy in the room said everything about where they're at right now. Sitting down with Medicine Box's Willow, corook opened up about the making of their new EP How Do I Relate to You, the burnout that almost kept them from coming back to music, and the moment a single line changed everything: "I'd rather make you mad than bore myself."
On Arriving With the Whole Crew
Medicine Box: You pulled up today with quite a crew.
corook: They're my buds. I love my buds. I think that the best part about this new EP is that I get to play it with my buds.
Medicine Box: That's probably the best part about being an artist, right? Being able to play with your friends.
corook: Yeah. But also, I've made a lot of pop music and a lot of it is played with a computer - which, like, that happens. But this one I was like, I want to play with my buds. So it's just bud nation over here.
Medicine Box: Can you walk me through all the players?
corook: Yeah. I have Yusuke on bass in this video, but he plays a lot of things. And then there's Tim on violin, Micah on the keys, and Hans on the drums.
On Releasing How Do I Relate to You
Medicine Box: Congratulations on the release. How does it feel working on something for so long and it being such an intimate process - keeping this thing close and then putting it out to the world? Is that a scary feeling? Does it excite you?
corook: Kind of both. You just never know how it's going to be taken. I've definitely lived in both worlds where the response is really great or it's really negative. And the best part is that I've been there for both. It's just like, whatever it will be, it will be. I've just been so proud of the project as a whole that the release is kind of the final hurrah.
Medicine Box: I kind of want to talk about the title for a second. How Do I Relate to You is a very personal question - but also a universal one. When did you land on that being the anchor for this project?
corook: Honestly, probably when we wrote the song "Relate to You." The question itself just encompasses so much of what I'm trying to talk about. It makes me think about all the different people online who are interacting with my stuff, whether in a positive or negative way, and how different they all are - but somehow I came across their page. So it feels like a really fun invitation. Like, how do I relate to you? Why am I in front of you? I don't know, you know?
On the Hardest and Easiest Songs to Write
Medicine Box: Was there a record on the project that came really naturally to you? And on the opposite end, was there one that took more trial and error before it found its final form?
corook: Yes to both. "Relate to You" was definitely the hardest. It's like the most sensitive topic - something we're all kind of afraid to talk about. These people we disagree with but are ultimately tied to in some way, by blood. It's really hard to just write them off. I rewrote it about four times. I wasn't just considering myself - I was considering all the people I relate to. And I ultimately want to tell the truth. That's really what anchored the whole thing. I landed somewhere that I can sleep at night and look at myself in the mirror.
corook: The easiest one was "Kleptomaniac." It was the first song we wrote for the project, the first song I wrote with the two guys I wrote the whole project with, and it just slid right out. It came after a time of not writing for a while - I was so burned by what had happened with the last album and all the online stuff. I really wasn't sure how to come back to music, or how to come back honestly. Like, why do something that hurts you? Klepto felt like the first time I was like, you do it just because it's who you are. And there was this line that came out of me that I didn't know I felt - once I said it I was like, yeah, I think I do feel that way. "I'd rather make you mad than bore myself." I thought I wanted to please everybody. I have done that so much in my life. And finally being like, I think I'm done with that - that was a really big moment for me.
On Growing Up on Pittsburgh Radio
Medicine Box: I read that growing up you listened to Drake, Gwen Stefani, Mac Miller - which is an interesting mix. How do those artists influence the music you make today?
corook: It was just the radio - specifically the radio in Pittsburgh. Mac Miller wasn't on the radio everywhere, but in Pittsburgh he was. With those references specifically, I think there's this innate desire in me to sing something catchy, because of those artists.
Medicine Box: Which isn't a bad problem to have.
corook: Not at all. I just like a catchy melody. But there's more to it too - my mom would turn on the radio and it was Gwen Stefani and Fergie and all that, but my dad had CDs. Patty Griffin, Ani DiFranco - people who were technically, musically a little bit better than everybody else. So there's that playfulness and technicality in there too. But ultimately a good melody wins every time.
On Taking the Project on the Road
Medicine Box: How does the idea of taking this project on the road feel?
corook: Maybe the most exciting. I mean, I'm sure you could tell - we're just having such a blast. I've played many shows that I love, but like I said, there's something about playing with a computer versus playing with your friends. So why not do it every single night for the rest of my life? It's the best feeling. And it sounds better, in my opinion.
