Band: COOKED
From: Burlington, Vermont
Their formation story:
(Bobby Bones, vocals): "When I got sober, I was writing songs nonstop; just little acoustic guitar ballads about my life and things I was going through. Drew (bass) moved into the sober house that I was living at and we immediately bonded over tattoos, skating, and punk music. We ended up making a couple of demos in the basement, real early COOKED stuff, just catchy little bangers on Logic Pro.
"Fast forward a couple months, I saw a backyard show in Burlington and immediately hit up Drew and told him we should get a real band going; that’s how we met our drummer Rob! Drew had tattooed him before and even though he hadn’t played drums in 10 years he was down to practice with us.
"That winter, I went to get my stomach tattooed in Massachusetts where we stayed at our buddy Jim’s house. I saw a guitar leaning against his wall and knew right away that we had to get him in the band. Once he moved to Burlington I didn’t give him much of a choice; he started coming to practices, helped us really dial in our sound, got me to put down my guitar and just take the role of frontman. One month later we started playing shows"
Their sound in their own words:
"So much of our sound is us wearing our influences on our sleeves while still keeping our music personal to us. I’m a huge punk fan, any sub genre under the umbrella of punk I’m down with. But the biggest influences are Choking Victim, Poison Idea, No-Ca$h, and Aus-Rotten. Jim and Rob are big metal/hardcore guys, and with Rob being from Jersey he loves the Misfits and any NYHC. Jim put us on to the The Greenery, which we all immediately fell in love with, and I definitely try to emulate vocal chops from that band.
"All in all, I’d say we’re a well rounded hardcore-punk act, if you like any kind of punk or hardcore we probably got at least one song for you. Some people say we got a bit of west coast sound, but just check out the record and make up your own opinion yourself. At the end of the day all of us like fast, loud and melodic music that’s got bite to it, and that’s all we’re trying to do."
Latest release info:
“The Hanged Man is essentially a series of true stories that led up to me getting sober at 23. Just about the whole record speaks on addiction, homelessness, self destruction, and despair. Whether they’re catchy and manic songs like 'Fiired Up' and 'Overdose,' or grim confessionals like 'Wet Match' and 'Inertia,' I’m just being honest about things I went through and my feelings associated with those topics.
"I never want to write a song preaching or romanticizing anything, it's all just the human experience, the choices you make and the mindset that brings you there. Final summation, I'm a fan of music that I can relate to and that’s exactly what The Hanged Man is: straightforward and honest."
Future plans:
"Just about everything we do as a band we do ourselves or with homies, ie. recording, designing, merch, videos, photos. The plan is to keep it moving in that direction. Burlington is having a really sick moment for hardcore right now, a lot of sick bands and a lot of kids coming out to shows. We’re making a lot of friends around New England and planning to be traveling around to play in different states. If you see us on a bill in your town, show out and say what’s up!"
What other bands from their region should we check out?
"Right off the rip, I want to shout out The Path but I talk about that band too much, anyways they’re fucking sick go listen to 'em. A couple of rad bands to check out would be Gumskab from Maine with an absolute banger of a demo tape. Our buddy Eric Sauter’s band (recorded and mixed The Hanged Man) Crone Visions from New Hampshire, some proper goth rock.
"Our buddies in Void Bringer are BVT power violence, always put on a sick show. Our friends from Massachusetts in Nailed Shut and Clifford are both sick hardcore bands. The homies in Dead Street Dreamers down in Rutland, Vermont doing some good ol fashioned rock 'n 'roll. Lastly, two new bands starting up in BVT Split n Half and Torn. Go check 'em out and show support."
***
COOKED on social media: Instagram | Bandcamp
***
Tagged: cooked
