Brian Cook (Russian Circles, TAAS, Botch)

thombo · #1 11-23-2009, 04:29 PM

This is a Brian Cook geek out thread... discus.

I saw Russian Circles w/ Git Some and Young Widows in Denver on Saturday night... all bands were fantastic, but RC really brought the sickness!

Git Some are a very dynamic stoner metal band from Denver (though they are on tour w/ the other two) who put on a great show. There singer, in particular, was really good.

Young Widows' set was rad! i dug there songs and they were very tight. the bass's stage volume was too loud in the house (not a critique i would make too often). the guitarist and bassist had matching custom emperor cabs w/ lights built in (unlit pics of the cabs are in the emperor gallery). the cabs looked cool, but it was annoying to have the lights blaring in my eyes the entire set, and it made the band difficult to actually see (they were silhouettes).

RC rocked! as expected, the stuff off Geneva (the only almum Brian Cook recorded w/ RC) was spot on. i was wondering how RC would handle their older material that they recorded w/ their original bassist... they played songs from both Enter and Station and it was sick, Brian Cook really added to the overall sound. They really built to peaks really well, more so than on albums. between songs, they set very pleasant drones while they tuned.

Brian Cook's live sound was perfect. he rocked three cabs, a Sunn (4x12 i believe), and two Emperors (an 1x18 and a 4x10 or 4x12). I thought he would be too loud, but it wasn't the case at all... the mix was perfect (letting the soundguy do his job). the only head that i saw was a Ampeg SVT 4. for pedals, i remember seeing a Big Muff, Whammy, two headrushes, and a rat (i don't recall a tubescreamer, boss od, though they may have been there). I didn't see his Gibson Grabber... he played his First Act Delgada bass for the entire show. BC also had a synth on stage, but i couldn't tell what it was: I think that it was in a road case (which i why i couldn't see what it was). i know that he used a microkorg w/ TAAS... does anyone know what he is using w/ RC?

go see Russian Circles when they play by you!

Spoonman462 · #2 11-25-2009, 06:17 AM

he was also on Station.

btw, are they still playing 45 min. sets? that was a bit disappointing when i saw them last year. other than that, they were awesome. one of the best post-rock bands out there

thombo · #3 11-25-2009, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spoonman462

he was also on Station.

btw, are they still playing 45 min. sets? that was a bit disappointing when i saw them last year. other than that, they were awesome. one of the best post-rock bands out there

my mistake on regarding albums Cook played on.

each band played about an hour set, maybe a little longer. i agree about the short sets being lame. as cool as Git Some and Young Widows were, i would have preferred them playing 45 minute opener sets (or one of them playing for an hour) and watching RC for one long set or, dare i say, two sets of music. this is a gripe of mine about many of the "indie" shows i've seen.

Spoonman462 · #4 01-12-2010, 11:41 AM

damn...

Quote:

It's with a heavy heart we tell you that These Arms Are Snakes is no more. It's been a great run and we'd like to send out a very hearty "Thank You" to everyone that we've worked with or anyone that we've toured with; anyone that lent us a floor, towed our van and/or trailer, lent a van, given us a listen, downloaded our records prior to their coming out, bought our ****, or asked us where our band name came from; everyone who cooked us food, made habanero-infused tequila, had a safety meeting with us, let Steve gyrate all over you, had to live with any of us, made us pay ********* of money to get off your punk label, got us into LOST, found Steve drunkenly wandering the streets of Tokyo alone, played Madlibs in the van (plural nouns), lost money promoting one of our shows, took Chris to the hospital, put up with our drunken sorry asses, got into a fight with us, etc. etc.

This band could not have been possible without all of you. We sincerely thank you.

Much love,

TAAS 2002 - 2009

julioREDS · #5 01-12-2010, 11:15 PM

i just read about that today. very unfortunate

ourworldisgrey · #6 01-13-2010, 12:38 AM

Sad day. TAAS very good.

Brian Cook is most of the reason I got into using pedals. Thanks to him I will forever GAS for 2 headrushes and a whammy, even if they take up mega-pedal board space and I'll probably never use them in a band.

jumbo_steelie · #7 01-13-2010, 12:40 PM

Damn, I never got a chance to see tehm neither....

thombo · #8 01-13-2010, 06:48 PM

an interesting development... as i understood it, BC was the primary writer of TAAS stuff, and played more of a supporting role in RC (not that it sounds that way). I wonder if he'll be stepping up more in RC, starting up something new, or something entirely different.

anyone know what keyboard BC uses?

skulletwhip · #9 01-13-2010, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thombo

anyone know what keyboard BC uses?

Micro Korg. Ran through his pedalboard.

It sucks about TAAS, one of the coolest things I have ever done was opening for them with my band. Brian even complimented my playing. Nice guy and a tremendous player.

I read your OP, that Sunn cab on Brian's side of the stage is Mike's, the guitarist. He does a lot of stereo and panning stuff.

prophet178 · #10 01-13-2010, 09:48 PM

Quote:

he was also on Station.

He only did session work though. He composed on Geneva.

skulletwhip · #11 01-14-2010, 10:39 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7XM3...eature=related Great Russian Circles vid.

nodisco · #12 01-14-2010, 02:15 PM

Maybe it isn't right place, but anyways...
Need some advice.
Can anybody tell me what Brian uses in "Geneva" starting about 2:20 to get that crushing sound.
Is it pure bass?
Thanks!

skulletwhip · #13 01-15-2010, 10:57 AM

Live he uses the whammy in oct down harmony mode, a fulltone ocd, a rat, and a little big muff. If I recall correctly.

Superdave · #14 05-30-2010, 06:41 PM

I know this is a bit of a necro post, but can someone point out where he uses his whammy on a couple songs?

Din Of Win · #15 06-01-2010, 09:27 AM

Stuff copy/pasted from the Effects forum:

Brian's Board (as of last december(the same board used on the RC/YW show))

@SuperDave: Here are some Whammy examples (Brian Cook included) Whammy pedal in a bass line?

As an aside... i caught that RC and YW tour in Richmond... the band Phantom Family opened and were amazing. Bassist used a T20 as well !!

thombo · #16 06-02-2010, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Din Of Win

Stuff copy/pasted from the Effects forum:

Brian's Board (as of last december(the same board used on the RC/YW show))

@SuperDave: Here are some Whammy examples (Brian Cook included) Whammy pedal in a bass line?

As an aside... i caught that RC and YW tour in Richmond... the band Phantom Family opened and were amazing. Bassist used a T20 as well !!

because i am a nerd... eh little big muff, proco rat, eh LPB-1, fulltone OCD, digitech whammy, boss tuner, eb volume pedal, morley A/B/Y, akai E2 headrush, and a Git Some sticker (one of Denver's finest)