The Main Honcho Of Things
JARRET COOPER is a singer-songwriter based in San Francisco. His debut album, "Sorry for the wait", was released in 2008. Currently Jarret is providing backing vocals, acoustic guitar and keyboards for the live version of Achievements In Sound, and making plans for the next album...
Obligatory fake interview (apologies to TC...):
JC: So, what's this "wait" you're so "sorry" for?
JC: Well, it took years for me to get to the point where I could MAKE an album, and more years to get it done. I'm lazy. Sorry.
JC: So why did the initial wait happen? Who starts their musical "career" in their late 30's?
JC: Someone who didn't have serious musicians as friends until his late 20's...and had to wait about five more years for the computer software to rise to the occasion, and another couple of years to get enough good songs together to put out there.
JC: So how old ARE these songs?
JC: They run the gamut from 1989 to 2006 or so. I'm honestly happy with all of them, and it took a long time to get to that point.
JC: Okay, what's this CD about?
JC: About half an hour long. All those years, man, and I get 30 minutes out of it...
JC: Is that the best answer you can come up with?
JC: Actually, if you click on the "MUSIC" link to the left, you'll not only be able to stream the whole CD (and download free bonus tracks) but clicking on each track name will let you read my special website-only comments on all 11 tracks.
JC: I totally just went and did all that!
JC: That's awesome.
JC: So you wrote songs with John Reinert...
JC: ...and he played drums and other percussion instruments on the whole CD.
JC: What's your songwriting process?
JC: I really don't have one. Unlike most songwriters, I have to "hear" songs in my head; I can't sit down at a piano or pick up a guitar and write that way. The upside of this is that I don't cheat by making the song easy to play -- part of the reason that it took me so long to record all these songs!
JC: Why? You can't play?
JC: Not terribly well. If I'd been using tape, I would have burned through miles of it with all the takes I needed to get a decent performance. Luckily I had John and some other hugely talented musician friends who were kind enough to help me out.
JC: Such as...?
JC: GIno Nave provided guitar solos, a lot of bass, and some percussion here and there. Brian Triplett added bass to a couple of tracks. Everything else (acoustic/electric guitars, piano, electric piano, and synths) is me.
JC: Including vocals?
JC: Including ALL vocals. And there's NO Auto-Tune or pitch correction anywhere, thank you. I can't do much, but given enough takes I can sing on-key.
JC: Where was the CD recorded?
JC: In John's garage -- actually, a garage which was sound-proofed and converted to a project studio. Thanks John.
JC: Anyone else involved?
JC: Nickie Swapp Nejat did the CD package design. John Reinert took the cover photos. Gary Hobish (at A. Hammer Mastering) did final mixing and mastering. (For a complete list of thanks, buy my CD and read the booklet!)
JC: So you finished a CD. What now?
JC: I'm playing with Gino's band, Achievements In Sound, in the SF Bay area, and beginning to plan the next CD.
JC: When can we expect it?
JC: Knowing me, probably a year or more from now. But after scraping the barrel of twenty years of songs to get eleven good ones, I'm anxious to see what I can do when I have to start from scratch.
JC: Any final comments?
JC: I hope you like it, I hope you buy it, and I hope you play it in the car. And tell your friends.
JC: No further questions.
JC: Thank you, and good night.