Hailing from Tunbridge Wells, Will Joseph Cook has captured a huge amount of attention in the last year though his unique brand of pop and quirky music videos. We quickly caught up with him before he heads out on his six date UK tour later this month.

 You hit Brudenell Social Club on Halloween, do you have anything special lined up?
CLOWN COSTUMES. Nah, I genuinely think no-one would not turn up if that were true.

So, your new song, ‘Sweet Dreamer’, is killer. What motivated the music video of wild TV shows?
The idea came to me through lyrics. As soon as I had the idea, I immediately starting associating each line with its own show. For me, the lyrics already had a lot of imagery loaded into them, so all the ideas came together very quickly.

You’re getting a huge amount of love at the moment- a remix by Wolf Alice’s Joel, Radio 1 track of the day and now you’re on their C playlist alongside the likes of Bon Iver- has that been a bit crazy for you?
Yes, definitely. The last month or so has brought a lot of amazing news. The main thing for me has been what all the exposure has brought, which is lots of new fans reaching out and talking about the music.

Your artwork, videos, clothes and even music all seem to fit just together perfectly. Is that something you work hard on?
It’s always something in striving for. I really admire other artists who infect every element of what their doing with their own distinct ideas. As a fan, that does a lot for me.

We managed to catch your set at Barn on the Farm. What was your highlight of the summer festival season?
Barn on the Farm was a great show, was my first of the summer. Reading and Leeds was probably the highlight of festival season but they were all great. It was the first fun of festivals where we had full crowds of fans come to see the set.

Your music has developed a lot from the old acoustic tunes like ‘Catalyst’; do you feel like you’ve now found your sound?
It can take a while to figure out what kind of artist you are, especially in your teens. I was a different person then to how I am now so the music was bound to change. The main thing for me has been learning to take full control and be fearless and belligerent in the kind of sounds I’m making.

What inspires you to write music?
I always find that watching other artists perform inspires me. I think it’s so important to be listening to everything, even the things you don’t like at first.

We’ve heard whispers of a new album; are we going to hear some of the new songs on the tour?
Yes, there will be a few unreleased numbers in the October/November set list. Excited to see how they go down!

You can catch Will Joseph Cook at Leeds Brudenell Social Club this Halloween!

Interview by Jenny Pudney

[image: annemariekekloosterhof.com]