Young Guv is Ben Cook. A Canadian in New York.

Last years ‘Guv I and II‘ was released … ‘staggeringly poignant and infectious pop music‘.

 

 

You can pick 3 co-writers to write new songs with. Who? … and Why?

James Matthew VII, Tommy the Major from Tommie and the Commies, Tony Price.

They are all my close homies and those are the only people I write with. They also happen to be some of the best writers in the world right now, and their own projects are incredible.

What’s the gig you will always remember? And why?

Friday the 13th of March 2020. Dallas Texas. My last show before covid19 canceled my tour in the middle of everything going quite groovy.

 

When was the last time you thought ‘I just wrote a hit!’?

Last night.

 

 

Is recording a record easier than getting it heard nowadays?

Well anyone can record a “record” and anyone can put it online – so I dunno. It’s easy as hell for anyone to do it. Which is why there’s so much crap to sift through.

Recording music. What’s all the fun about?

It’s an indescribable experience of joy and a coping mechanism for living in a world that can sometimes really get you down.

Playing music in front of a crowd. What’s all the fun about?

It’s an indescribable experience of joy and a coping mechanism for living in a world that can sometimes really get you down.

 

Always proud to answer ‘I am a musician’ to the question ‘what are you doing?’?

Mostly yes. Being a musician as well as a constant creative flow of energy is also about being a survivor, and a hustler in a time where musicians are extremely underpaid and inhumanely treated. I’m proud to stand with my fellow musical homies and do what I do.

 

 

Vinyl is back, Spotify is ruling, tickets for concerts are becoming more and more expensive, everybody can record songs, social media is the marketing tool, Coldplay stops touring … how will the music industry look like in 5 years?
Hopefully more of an underground network of cool amongst an even more gentrified and unlistenable musical experience forced by big rich and corporate overlords who care very little about actual music and actual musicians and only focus on numbers and dollar signs.

It should be illegal for Spotify to pay out what they payout for our hard-earned creations and I pray a union is formed to challenge what they have implemented over the last decade. We never got a chance to even question it. It happened so fast. Fuck them all. Fuck every employee of these companies. And a big shout to anyone really supporting artists and still genuinely supporting music. Much luv.

 

And check out the new single as well …