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Paul Cook

Drums & Percussion

IQ&A - Paul Cook


First single bought:

My first single was bought for me by my Aunt and Uncle. It was "Gudbuy T'Jane" by Slade. However the first single that I purchased myself was the quite wonderful "Fireball" By Deep Purple. It has a very impressive drums intro, which is a very rare thing. A double pedal piece which I thought was played using a single pedal so I learned it that way....

First album bought:

I think this would be a Slade album, not sure which one though. Followed by some more Slade albums which were roughly the same. I liked the straight ahead style of their music with the incredibly powerful vocals from Noddy… that's the singer, not the very popular puppet... perhaps we should have favourite puppet listed.

Last album bought:

Well that would be “Giants Of All Sizes” by Elbow. The band I still haven't seen, even though I love them deeply. This is in part because I'm too lazy to get myself out of Scotland most of the time due to it being so bleedin' far north. But also, we have missed two concerts in Scotland, one due to the “Beast from the East” and another because of some nasty pandemic.

Favourite album:

Well this is a tricky one as you can imagine... lets go with “Very Tall” by Oscar Peterson. It's the most played album for me over the years.  Lovely vibe playing by Milt Jackson.

Favourite film:

I usually say “Being There”, a brilliant film starring Peter Sellers. However, the most impressive film for me would be “The Lord Of The Rings” trilogy, which has such a powerful story, and the acting is quite good also.

Favourite book:

If I’m being silly about this it would be, “The Meaning Of Liff” by Douglas Adams. This had me laughing from one side of the Atlantic to the other on a flight from the States many years ago. I blame Peter ‘cos he gave me the book to read just before the flight... happy days.

Favourite IQ album:

“Subterranea” is the best one for me. “Road of Bones” comes quite close, but “Subby” has something special, maybe it’s because it’s a proper double concept album which flows really nicely from beginning to end with, of course, the magnificent “The Narrow Margin” to finish.

Favourite IQ song to perform:

Crikey, this is a difficult choice. Let’s go with “Guiding Light” a right good knock for a prog drummer!

Favourite musician (your instrument):

This is really easy for me. The magnificent Buddy Rich all the way. Biggest influence for me as I was growing up listening to my father’s choice of music, mostly. The problem I had was I could never be as good as Buddy... but then who could?

First concert attended:

I’m really not sure I can remember so far back in time... but it’s probably the Buddy Rich Big Band at Fairfield Hall Croydon, early 70’s.

Last concert attended:

Shooglenifty at the Universal Hall, Findhorn, early 2020. A wonderful folk-rock band with some almost proggy edges to them.

Favourite city:

Not sure I have one of these. As a band over the years we have been to so many places and not really explored them, due to doing the concert thing.  But Quebec is quite groovy. I have experienced the place in the summer and winter, most recently in the winter a few years ago. All very interesting with its quirky shops and restaurants.

Favourite biscuit:

The custard cream: a magnificent biscuit with all the right ingredients. Can also be used for hand to hand fighting!

Do you miss being in the Sex Pistols:

Well, now listen up peeps. Contrary to popular belief, I am not Paul Cook from the bleeding Pistols. Even after all these years, fans bring their Pistols albums for me to sign! However, I am prepared to admit that I was in the aforementioned band, if I can have the royalties associated…

Do you have any nice crockery:

Does a non stick wok apply? I have the best wok, it also doubles as a handy hat for those important occasions...

Favourite Puppet:

Sooty. Now back in the dim distant past of IQ, if we were having a good gig Sooty would appear over the mixing desk, by kind permission of Nigel Dunbar.


Tech Corner

Tama Granstar
Very, very old now - probably getting on for 35 years

8" 10" 12" 13" 16" toms
5" maple snare
22" kick
Power Tower rack

Zildjian cymbals
14" New Beat hi-hats
18" Dark Crash
14" Thin Crash
8" Splash
17" Dark Crash
20" Earth Ride
16" Crash
16" China Boy High

Rack
Mostly full of cables for the monitor system
Tascam backing machine
Mixer
Various DI boxes
Transmitter
In-ears
And most importantly - stick wax

 

Neil
Durant

Keyboards

Tim
Esau

Bass Guitar

Michael
Holmes

Guitars

Peter
Nicholls

Lead Vocal