I'd like to thank and credit Peter for all of this happening. Years ago he was asking about a DVD-A version of The Fall I Fell and eventually he told me about Neil Wilkes, whom I contacted. We started talking, he was interested in the music, and now we have a surround disc. It took a lot of time and effort but that's the basic story. Thanks Peter!
Great question. It's a bit complicated. In general, Cooke comes up with ideas on the piano. Usually it's a left hand part, a right hand part, and a vocal melody sung with made-up or gibberish words. I'll record that demo, and then try to match it up with another recorded demo of similar tone, tempo, key, mood, etc. Most of the songs on Antiquasauria are made up of two or three of these demos that fit together with Cooke changing the gibberish to lyrics at the end of the process.
A good example is the song Quetzalcoatlus.
This little ep on bandcamp shows the process pretty well. Track 2 is Cooke on piano. Originally Track 2 was two separate ideas (one at the start and one at 1:20 in) and then track 3 adds Cooke on cello. Note that a couple years passed before lyrics were written (track 4). Track 5 is a recording of a band rehearsal. In this case, the left hand piano is played on bass (Whit) and the right hand piano is played on guitar (me).
Cooke has written songs that are complete in an hour or so, but this album contains none of those. All of these were sculpted from demos, then rehearsed, then recorded and analyzed, then lyrics added, then more scrutiny, etc.
Credit where credit is due: Sean Merrell (drummer) gave some very important bits of criticism in the late stages of the album - saying that Microraptor, Polycotylus, and others were too scientific and not universally appealing - and also to credit Cooke - he went back and edited and changed lyrics. For me, this was a milestone in band communication and also in Cooke's willingness to edit and improve. I am a very critical person and it was a refreshing change of pace for everyone to have Sean chime in and demand changes.
-Prologue - actually the end of a song for Triceratops. Tri was a song that just didn't make the cut. Tri and Steg were originally a 10 minute song. Near the end of the process I found that the album would be best presented chronologically. Triceratops lived 100 million years after Stegosaurus so our musical pairing made no sense. I took the end of Tri and called it Prologue to lead into Stegosaurus. Triceratops is the most progressive and weird - and it was not capable of starting the album.
-Steg - originally a song called Hands. Lyrics were changed to Stegosaurus (which is the state fossil of Colorado). I pushed for this to start the album, which then carries out chronologically from when the species lived. I'm quite happy with the last-minute ebow solo.
-Diplodocus - originally called "Seven" (7/8 time), this song was completely arranged by Cooke. We just transferred parts to guitar/bass to fit the lumbering nature of this enormous being.
-Microraptor - this one went through the most extreme changes. If memory serves, this one had four versions of vocals, all with different lyrics. This is the one that all of us would change in some way. I love the groove but I think the chorus comes too quick.
-Polycotylus - originally a song about being lost without a map, the lyrics about an unborn plesiosaur fetus came easily for Cooke. Plesiosaurs gave live birth, just like whales! This song is the success for me. The paleontologist who discovered the specimen has heard the song, so I'm happy.
-Parasaurolophus - one of the latest to emerge, this song went through some last minute changes as we realized some lyrical similarities to another song. Parasaurolophus only rhymes with a limited number of words, and I discovered that another songwriter has used "all of us" like Cooke, so I made Cooke change it at the last minute. Luckily, he is creative and came up with "dominus sonitus" which means Lord of Sound. We reached out to any and every friend who knows Latin and are confident in the translation!
The instrumental version on the dvd shows the difference in melody. The vocal intro (and choruses) is very fun and challenging to perform for the four of us. We still haven't done it live.
-Quetzalcoatlus - this song came from the chorus of the song "The Kingdom" from our previous album Fortitude. It describes a fantasy world in which Cooke is riding a flying Quetzalcoatlus, the largest flying being yet discovered. Cooke has long had an obsession with flight and this song was the result - and the beginning of the album process. The version on the album was recorded live in December of 2012. Cooke's harmony vocals, and nylon guitar in the bridge were the only overdubs.
-Tyrannosaurus - this one required the most work. This was the song we rehearsed for months and months and it went through many changes. The bridge originally was a different song, and came directly from Cooke's dream. The song is about a specific specimen: SUE of the Field Museum in Chicago.
-Extinction - an older song, written on Cooke's cello with a loop pedal. I thought it was a lovely song for death.
-Epilogue - This was initially a jam we called "Abba" based on the chorus of Microraptor. I recorded a rehearsal and then asked Cooke to write two verses of summary. The third verse was a fun experiment of taking lyrics and melodies from the previous songs and adapting. I love concept albums, and I felt this album needed a button. It turned out to be a nice catchy song. I adore cohesive albums and it seemed natural to cap of the album with a summary of evolution.
I'm not sure if that answered your excellent question. Generally Cooke writes song ideas on piano and the three of us take parts so that he can concentrate on singing. This album was the most collaborative of the three we have recorded, but Cooke certainly always comes up with the seed idea. On these songs we were thinking of dinosaur movement, but also of human movement - so I think the "groove" - as silly as that sounds - became paramount. We tried to make music that beings could move to.
I'm quite curious about thoughts on the album. First and foremost, I think it's an album that rewards multiple listens.
Thanks!