Check David talking about the most werid fan’s gifts — the unforgettable pink panties! —, his favorites new tracks, his reaction meeting Rob Cavallo for the first time and so many other things on this interview, with fans questions.

“I found that my best motivation has been a chip on the shoulder.”

They told him he couldn’t, and he proved them wrong. David Cook won the hearts of millions on ‘American Idol’ by straying from standard bubblegum pop, and staying true to his rock roots. Now, the Missouri-bred former bartender-turned-reality-show-winner finally gets his rockstar status, as he releases his debut self-titled album.

AOL Music caught up with Cook after his electrifying Sessions performance to talk about his new music, the other David, crazy tabloid rumors and his sex symbol status.

You’ve said that people are going to be surprised by this record. How so?

Everybody associated with the record really allowed me the creative freedom to try different things. So the end result is a very eclectic rock record that’s still cohesive as an album. It’s exciting, because from the time I started playing in bands, the sounds that I’ve played have evolved, and I feel like this record is a nice definition not only of the last year of my life, but the last 25.

(Full Story)

Check the video interview here!

It’s been six months since David Cook was crowned the latest “American Idol” but after a summer “Idols” group national tour, he had only six weeks to put together his debut album.

Cook, 25, who was working as a bartender while trying to break into the music business, talked to Reuters about his self-titled album, which was released this week, and his hopes for the future.

How different is this first album from the David Cook we saw on “American Idol”.

“In the show, we had a different set of boundaries — Mariah Carey songs one week, songs from your birth year another. With this record I was able to make my own rules … Lyrically the songs have a mature angle but there is a youthful energy to the record because we had to do everything quickly. I think the time worked out in our favor. We wanted the record to come out of the gates with all guns blazing, and it does.”

You wrote or co-wrote 10 of the 12 songs on the album and some of them are very personal.

“Family is very important to me and ‘Heroes’ is a pretty accurate vibe to that. ‘A Daily AntheM’ … all fell into place very organically and I finished the song before I realized it was about my brother Adam. ‘Permanent’ (also about Adam) is bare bones, piano, strings and vocal. I figured out through the process of making this record that sometimes the most powerful songs don’t have all the bells and whistles on them.”

“American Idol” viewers heard about Adam’s battle with brain cancer on the show. How is he doing?

“Adam’s good. He is plugging along. We remain cautiously optimistic.”

Was the summer “Idols” tour in those huge stadiums good preparation for life as a solo artist, or are you more of a smaller, club venue performer?

“I hope I get to do that a million times over! I feel I have an aptitude for both (venues) and I think this record can play to both. Hopefully in the next year I will be playing as many venues as will have me.”

Does the perceived rivalry with David Archuleta grate on you?

“It does a little and I am sure Archie would share my opinion. We both recognize we are completely different artists and so it is comparing apples and oranges. Even in the ‘Idol’ finals, we didn’t feel like we were competing against each other. Archie is a good person. I consider him a really good friend and wish him all the success he deserves.”

How did you feel about your “American Idol” make-over, and is it true you are dating former “Idol” contestant Kimberly Caldwell?

“Yes. She has been a steady, well-needed break. She is great. Very supportive. The make-over didn’t hurt! It was weird the way it panned out. I had been talking for some time about chopping off my hair and one week we decided to do it and that same week I literally lost my razor and so I just didn’t shave. I remember the reaction (from fans) after that performance. It was just dumb luck.”

What’s next for you? Are there any plans to tour internationally?

“In early January we are going to Iraq to play for the troops. I am very excited about it. It is a huge honor even to be asked. Then hopefully we’ll start the U.S. tour in early February and keep going until the wheels fall off. I realize that this whole thing is a kind of a one shot. So if someone wants to hear me play in the farthest reaches of this planet, I will do it.”

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The last few months have been a whirlwind for hometown singer David Cook. And, Tuesday, November 18 is the tornado.

David Cook sat in a studio in New York doing interview after interview with television stations around the country to promote his new self-titled album. By the time he got to FOX 4 in Kansas City, he only had nine more left.

We asked him if the album felt rushed. Cook said “the whole album felt rushed, but I don’t think it suffered.” He said by not trying to make it “right,” it left the songs with a youthful energy. He said the record is rough around the edges which he appreciates.

Despite Saturday Night Live, Leno and Good Morning America appearances, Cook said he knows who he is. He said his family and friends keep him in check and don’t let his head get too big.

He said he appreciates all 100,000 friends he has on Myspace. And, he hopes to add even more to that list.

Next on Cook’s agenda, he’ll head to Iraq to play for the troops and he’s planning an early 2009 tour.

Before hitting the road for his new album, Cook will return to Kansas City to light up the Plaza. “It’s a huge honor to even be asked. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Cook said.

Watch the interview video here.

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Since David Cook won the title in May, his fans have been hungrily anticipating the arrival of the American Idol’s self-titled album, out today. Cook can empathize.

“I feel like I’ve been waiting for Nov. 18 for 25 years,” he says.

The seventh-season champ describes David Cook as the reintroduction of David Cook, not the Idol grunt at boot camp but the liberated rocker at ground zero.

“I wanted this record to be a definition of me as a person,” says Cook, parked in 19 Entertainment’s conference room overlooking the Sunset Strip. “The goal was to make an eclectic rock record. Bar-Ba-Sol is guitar-driven and heavy but still melodic. On the flip side is Permanent, with a string section and piano. The power behind that song is the angst and the vocal. I love both songs for the aspects in my character that they define. It sounds egotistical, but I see myself as a complex person.”

Cook, 25, does embody contradictions. He is by turns reserved and goofy, articulate and tongue-tied, humble and ambitious.

He talks about ducking attention and fostering harmony among Idol finalists but also confesses: “I’ve had a competitive spirit all my life. Love me or hate me, just don’t ignore me.”

Comfortable in front of reporters and cameras, he strikes Zoolander poses to amuse onlookers during a photo shoot.

Newfound fame “is the most awkward thing,” he says. “When people look at me as a rock star, it seems humorous to me. I look at myself as a goober.”

In the next breath, when envisioning his ideal future, he says emphatically: “I just want to be an important artist. I don’t want to be a flash in the pan. I don’t want to be a one-hit wonder. When people talk about this period in music, I want my name to be brought up.”

This album’s pivotal role in that goal may explain his anxiety before a Nov. 1 appearance on Saturday Night Live, also spotlighting John McCain. The show drew 12 million viewers, a fraction of the 31.7 million who tuned in for the May 21 Idol finale, yet Cook says the SNL gig was a bigger freak-out.

(Full Story)

Barely six months after being crowned the winner of “American Idol,” David Cook has released his self-titled debut album.

David Cook recently released his debut album, which includes songs about his family.

The Missouri native (no relation to the author of this article) described the recording process as “squeezing a year’s worth of work on a record into 2½ months.” But he’s very happy with the result.

“It’s a very accurate definition of where I’m at, where I was and where I want to be,” he said.

Cook sticks to his rock roots on the release, eliciting help from ex-Soundgarden member Chris Cornell to write the lead single, “Light On.”

He also keeps loved ones close: The track “Heroes” is a tribute to his family. “Permanent” (which Cook describes as having a “delicate and lullaby feel”) and “A Daily AntheM” (“sing-alongy and grandiose”) acknowledge his older brother, who is battling brain cancer. The latter song was written three years before Cook’s “Idol” run, when he was cutting his teeth as a grass-roots rocker.

Cook, 25, dropped by CNN’s New York offices (with his mother, Beth Foraker, in tow) to talk about keeping creative control, losing his privacy and his responsibility as Idol No. 7. The following is an edited version of that interview.

(Full Story)

Check out David Cook on this morning’s Live with Regis and Kelly
David talks to Regis and Kelly about his new album, now #1 on iTunes, singing for Senator Clinton and more. Later on in the show he performs his single, “Light On”.

Check out this interview with David Cook from ABC News Radio. The same reporter, who interviewed Archie also asks Cook some interesting questions.

Listen to the interview: ABC News Radio

Not included in the recorded portion of the interview is some info Cook told Andrea about the upcoming tour:

“I just think there’s something inherently fun about throwing in some surprises during the set, and we only have one record out, so there’s not gonna be that many surprises if we don’t throw in some covers. So we’ve talked about throwing in some covers and throwing in some stuff from pre-Idol, maybe some Kings stuff, maybe some Analog Heart stuff, so we’ll have plenty to play.”

David says he couldn’t be happier with how the record turned out, and that he made an eclectic album to show that he can do different things. He wrote the songs keeping in mind that he’ll be playing them live later. He plans to go out on tour with a “big bombastic live show.”

He called the songwriting experience humbling. Writing with experienced songwriters like Raine Maida taught him to write songs in a more honest and direct way.

David tells the story behind the little “smile” on Leno while he was singing “Light On”–a song, that immediately grabbed David when he first heard it a few weeks after the finale.

David wants to name the next record, Another Idol Record - Two and a Half Stars Heh. He says his fans are “amazing.”

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