Paul Cook | |
|---|---|
_(53008351882)_(cropped).jpg) Cook performing with Generation Sex in 2023 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Paul Thomas Cook |
| Born | (1956-07-20)20 July 1956 (age 68)[1] Shepherd's Bush, London, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Drummer |
| Years active | 1975–present |
| Member of |
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| Formerly of | |
| Website | |
Paul Thomas Cook (born 20 July 1956)[1] is an English musician, best known as the drummer and a founding member of thepunk rock band theSex Pistols. He is nicknamed "Cookie" by friends in the punk music scene.[2]
Cook was raised in Hammersmith and attended the Christopher Wren School, nowPhoenix High School, London inWhite City Estate,Shepherd's Bush, where he metSteve Jones. The pair became friends, and while skipping school, in 1972–1973, Cook and Jones, along with their school friendWally Nightingale, formed a band, the Strand.[3] Within the next three years the Strand evolved into the Sex Pistols.
Cook's early influences includedMotown,ska andglam rock acts likeDavid Bowie,[4]T. Rex,Roxy Music andSlade, in addition to drummersKenney Jones ofthe Faces,Paul Thompson of Roxy Music,Al Jackson Jr. andMitch Mitchell ofthe Jimi Hendrix Experience.[5]
Cook is portrayed by Jacob Slater in the 2022Craig Pearce –Danny Boyle FX biographical drama miniseriesPistol.
After the Sex Pistols suddenly broke up after their final concert inSan Francisco on 14 January 1978, Cook and Jones initially worked on the soundtrack toJulien Temple's film,The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle. The two also recorded a few songs using the Sex Pistols name, Cook singing lead on the album version of the song "Silly Thing". The pair then started a new band,the Professionals, with Andy Allan. Allan caused some legal problems; he played bass on "Silly Thing" and the first few Professionals recordings, but had norecording contract and had been neither credited nor paid. Consequently, theVirgin Recordscompilation albumCash Cows, which featured the Professionals' track "Kick Down the Doors", was withdrawn. Cook and Jones played together onJohnny Thunders' solo album,So Alone.[6]
They released four singles, recorded aself-titled LP that was shelved until 1990, and releasedI Didn't See It Coming in November 1981.[7] The band's American tour to promote the album was cut short when band members Cook, Paul Myers, and Ray McVeigh were injured in a car crash.[8][9] While the Professionals did return to America in the Spring of 1982 after recovery, Jones and Myers' drug problems further hampered the band's prospects.[10] They declined an opening spot offer on tour forthe Clash, and broke up.
In the early 1980s, Cook, along with Jones, discovered the Englishnew wave girl-groupBananarama. Cook helped the trio record their debut single, "Aie a Mwana", and acted as a producer on their 1982 debut albumDeep Sea Skiving.[11]
In the late 1980s, Cook surfaced with the groupChiefs of Relief with formerBow Wow Wow guitaristMatthew Ashman, and, after a period out of the music industry, played withPhil Collen in the 1990s. He also played on theEdwyn Collins songA Girl Like You, beginning a longstanding association with Collins as a session musician.[12] Cook reunited with the surviving Sex Pistols in 1996 for theFilthy Lucre world tour.
The Sex Pistols, including Paul Cook, played a gig for the 30th anniversary ofNever Mind The Bollocks at theBrixton Academy on 8 November 2007. To meet demand, six further gigs were added, including two on 9 and 10 November.
In 2008, the Sex Pistols appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival as the headlining act on the Saturday night, the Peace and Love Festival in Sweden, the Live at Loch Lomond Festival in Scotland, and the Summercase Festival in Madrid.
Cook drummed withMan-Raze,[13] which also featured Phil Collen fromDef Leppard and their friendSimon Laffy who used to play in Collen's pre-Leppard band, Girl. They released a debut albumSurreal in 2008, and toured throughout the UK in late 2009.
In 2011, Cook joinedVic Godard andSubway Sect,[14] and renewed his collaborations with Paul Myers from the Professionals. Cook has worked with Godard, on and off, for the past two decades. They toured throughout 2012 and, in March 2012, recorded1978 Now with Collins.
In celebration of the release of a three disc set (The Complete Professionals) byUniversal Music Group for 16 October 2015, Cook, withTom Spencer filling in for Steve Jones, reunited with the Professionals for a concert at the100 Club.[15][16] In January 2016, the band announced a three show tour for 17 to 19 March.[17] A joint headline show featuringRich Kids was announced at London'sO2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for 16 May,[18] then rescheduled for 23 June at the Academy Islington, due to the ongoing structural work at the venue.[19]
On 30 October 2018, Cook and Steve Jones joinedBilly Idol andTony James, formerly ofGeneration X, for a free entry performance atThe Roxy in Hollywood,Los Angeles, under the name Generation Sex, playing a combined set of the two former bands' material.[20][21] The band reunited in 2023 for a European tour that included several festival appearances.[22]
Cook lives inHammersmith with his wife, Jeni Cook, formerly ofCulture Club, and their daughter,Hollie Cook, a solo musician. Cook also playedfootball forHollywood United.[23]
I remember I was in the back seat and I thought our American driver.... for the last week prior to that there were a few near misses, and I remember it was about 2am in the morning and suddenly I saw these head-on lights coming towards us, and I shouted at the driver "you're on the wrong side of the road!" and then the impact. He wasn't on the wrong side of the road, the car crashed into us and the guy killed himself. But I was conscious all the way through it. My leg was really badly fractured. I remember a Police motorcyclist turning up saying "Don't worry about that guy, he just needs a hearse." What really angered me was there seemed to be a massive delay in cutting the car in half
