David Cook gives Doxology its 'Idol' due -- we got the band's response
Apr 2, 2008, 08:11 AM | by Shirley Halperin
Categories: American Idol, Music, Music Biz, Television, TV Biz
You didn't have to pay extra-close attention to David Cook's introduction on Tuesday night to hear him credit Doxology (pictured with Cook inset), the little-known Seattle band whose arrangement of "Eleanor Rigby" partly inspired his own performance — he made sure to say it loud and clear. But with this Idol shout-out, does Doxology feel vindicated? EW.com got singer Luke McPherson on the phone after the show, interrupting the band's rehearsal for an upcoming Guitar Center opening (sorry, guys), to find out.
EW.COM: When you first reached out to Idol about this whole situation, were they responsive?
LUKE MCPHERSON: Very. Basically, we got in touch with the 19 Entertainment people and began a discussion on how we could resolve it and what measures could be taken to make sure that proper acknowledgment was given for the arrangement. We've been working through that for the past couple weeks and tonight was the resolution. But they were very supportive the whole time.
In your initial statement, you seemed kind of pissed. Was it because you heard that David did mention the band in his pre-taped interview but it ended up on the cutting room floor?
We were never able to confirm that, and if we came across as angry, that wasn't our intention. None of us were ever really upset. We were concerned because, after the press release, they did start crediting Chris Cornell, Whitesnake, and other artists on a week-by-week basis and we felt like we were left in the dark. But eventually, they came around and ultimately took care of it.
Did you know ahead of time that you'd be getting a shout-out?
We had no idea. We found out after the East Coast feed aired. Our drummer's family lives in New York so he got a call from his mommy to tell him. She was excited. We watched the show, too, and were thrilled when [Ryan] Seacrest asked David about where he got his arrangements, but when he gave Doxology our long-awaited props, we were ecstatic.
Has David Cook tried to get in touch?
Not yet, no. But I have to say, he's a great performer. He's really going out there and finding the coolest arrangements and is definitely one of the more interesting contestants that I've seen.
Have you noticed an immediate impact on your sales?
There's been a lot of activity on myspace and people reaching out and showing their support. We haven't really looked at sales — it takes two months to get the numbers from iTunes — but it was never about the money. It's about a situation that needed to be made right.
So you feel vindicated?
For sure. I feel like we chose to raise a point and it's been acknowledged.
Do you think you've set some sort of Idol precedent, where they'll have to acknowledge future covers of covers?
I hope so. I can speak from experience, it takes a lot of thought and effort to go into someone else's creation and try to make it your own. To do an original cover, a lot of people don't understand how much work goes into that. It happened with Daughtry, but hopefully we made enough noise in saying that it's only right to give credit where credit is due.
Did you ever try out for Idol or Next Great American Band?
We definitely talked about it for a couple seconds, but no. The funny thing is, we've been playing "Eleanor Rigby" for about year and a half, but it's the only cover in our set. We're an original band so it's funny and surreal that this is what what people are picking up on.
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