Jagger Cook

May/June 2008
By Doug Gallant

Singer-songwriter Jagger Cook, based in St. Catharines, ON, has already experienced a level of success beyond the reach of many artists in this country. He has worked with some very serious talent and seen his debut album, All Our Hands Are Dirty, earn accolades both at home and abroad.

Earlier this year at the 2008 Niagara Music Awards, he took home two awards: Songwriter of the Year and Album of the Year. “Nostalgia,” a song from All Our Hands Are Dirty, earned an Honor Award at the Great American Song Contest.

Another song from that album, “The Light of Mississippi,” written as a dedication to Oprah Winfrey, was nominated for song of the year at the Los Angeles Music Awards in 2007 and was runner-up at this year’s We Are Listening World Singer/Songwriter Awards.

If Cook has another album in him as solid as All Our Hands Are Dirty, I suspect we’ve only just begun to see his star rise. No one who hears this record would be surprised by the reception it has received. Track for track, this is one of the strongest Canadian debut album’s I’ve heard in a while.

Cook writes powerful lyrics about the human experience, sets those lyrics to great melodies and drives the whole package home with emotionally charged vocals. Having people on board for the record like bass player Adam Kury (LA Guns, CandleBox) and guitarist Jason Orme (Alanis Morissette, Daniel Powter) doesn’t hurt you either.

He also had a stellar engineer serving as his producer, Frank Gryner, who’s worked with Train, Bon Jovi and Rob Zombie. All Our Hands Are Dirty is a textbook example of go big or stay home. Expect good things down the road from Cook.
- Canadian Musician Magazine

Mar 28, 2008
By Robert Lapensée

Jagger Cook accepts the award for album of the year at the Niagara Music Awards Tuesday at the Niagara Centre for the Performing Arts. Cook also won the award for songwriter of the year.

Jagger Cook, who has lived in St. Catharines for the last 10 years, won honours for songwriter of the year and album of the year for
All Our Hands are Dirty, which he's been promoting for the last year in Los Angeles. It's the third time he's been nominated for his
work on the album.

"We wanted it to be about the songs," Cook said after the awards. "We wanted to create a record that was conceptual, where each
song was tied to one another. We wanted to create a record that had meaning.

"To get songwriter and album kind of validates the process and that people are getting it, that people are appreciative of it." - Niagara This Week

March 28, 2008
By Lori Littleton

St. Catharines resident Jagger Cook was a double winner, taking home statues for songwriter and album of the year, for All Our Hands Are Dirty.

The Sault Ste. Marie native, who was also up for video of the year, went to Los Angeles in 2006 to work with renowned songwriters/producers Frank Gryner (Train, Bon Jovi, Goo Goo Dolls) and Karen Stever.

Cook said his awards are an acknowledgement of the trio's work, and the message they tried to get across through the album.

"We weren't trying to put together an album with one or two good songs. We wanted to put together a conceptual record you could listen to, from start to finish, and not get bored, or you'd hear a hit and the rest of the songs were filler," he said. "We wanted every song to stand on its own and to just touch people, to move people."
- The Standard

March 20th, 2008
By Lori Littleton

Another triple NMA nominee is St. Catharines' Jagger Cook, who's up for songwriter, album and music video of the year.

The Sault Ste. Marie native moved to St. Catharines in the late 1990s. After graduating from Fanshawe College's music production and engineering course, he began working in recording studios in southern Ontario and Los Angeles.

In 2006, he went to L.A. and began co-writing his album, All Our Hands Are Dirty, with former Fanshawe classmate and producer Frank Gryner (Train, Bon Jovi, Goo Goo Dolls) and producer Karen Stever.

"I wanted to create something that was authentic to who I am," he said. "It's commercial rock but there's an underlying theme of spirituality to it."

One of Cook's biggest influences has been Oprah Winfrey.

"Two (of her) shows shattered a lot of my childhood demons and opened me up to a different way of spirituality," he said.

The trio finished writing songs for Cook's 12-track album - available at www.jaggercook.ca, iTunes and CD Baby - in June 2006. It was released in April 2007 on Cook's Souls In Progress label, and features guitarist Waddy Wachtel
(Stevie Nicks, Melissa Etheridge, Rolling Stones).

One of the tracks, The Light of Mississippi, is an homage to Winfrey and was nominated last fall for an L.A. Music Award. He was also nominated by L.A.-based All Access Magazine for artist and record of the year, as well as song
of the year for Nostalgia.

Cook, who works with vocal coach Lis Lewis (Gwen Stefani, Linkin Park), said writing with two others took some of the pressure off, especially because he was trying to write numerous songs in a short time period.

"If you write on your own 20 to 30 songs, one or two might be good. Writing with other people keeps you in check,"
he said. Cook, who lives in St. Catharines with his wife, Angela, and their five-year-old son, Avery, is planning acoustic shows around Niagara and southern Ontario.

"I want to see how it goes around here," he said. "Depending on what opens up or doesn't will point me to how soon I go back to L.A." - The Standard

June 14, 2007
By Florinda Maria

At the Gig the curtain went up with the announcer welcoming Jagger Cook to the stage. Out comes this blond headed guy singing a song called “Come Back,” to start the set. I have never seen these guys live subsequently this was a fastidious opening with a first-class presence. Ladies he is a delightful and appealing visual as well as an audio stimulation for our ears, his shows are full of sensual experiences. The song “Afraid Like Me”, has an ominous sound to start if off, with a bit of chanting as if there were monks present, telling a story of a women on death row and finding out she is guilty as we all are of something. Hence the title of the album and a lyric out of this song “all our hands are dirty”. We all want to tell the truth but some are afraid of what they want the most. A colossal song in the sense that we all will relate to it somehow, also it has a catchy phrase by the time the song was half through I was singing along with Jagger. JAGGER COOK- The Band Members, Canadian singer/song writer Jagger Cook, guitarist Jason Orme-(who plays with Alanis Morissette), bass guitarist Adam Kury- (also plays with LA Guns), and the drummer/musical director Scotty Kormos. These seasoned players help form a sonic background for singer Jagger Cook. The Album “All Our Hands Are Dirty” can be found on their myspace. Their music has a rock pop consistency with an anthology of life’s thoughts, ideas and experiences that help tell the story of the human conditions. There are some demons in all our pasts and there are ways of expressing and clearing the air and I think music is a great venue to do this. It is a shame that what people fear the most in life is exactly what they cannot get away from, themselves. His words are heartfelt and thought provoking telling stories of things of a year gone by. “Butterflies” (one of my favorites and the one I heard on his myspace page that made me want to see the show) the lyrics of this song grabbed me in the hollow of my stomach for at sometime we have all experienced this sentiment, when there is someone we truly cared about. Just the sight of them sends you into a different space in time and a song like this one will bring your thoughts to that person. Their songs have essences of storytelling and life’s trials as found in some of these artists too; Bon Jovi, Goo Goo Dolls, and Blondi, The Cars, with a pop rock sense. He has this one song that he wrote for his son that is so sweet you can tell that his love for this angel of his it physically powerful. “Nostalgia” has been played over 30,000 times on their myspace page, www.jaggercook.com will take you right to their mypace page. Their song “Are You Happy” is probably the hardest it gets for a rock song. But the rest are well worth the purchase of the CD and if you care to have it signed just bring it to the next show and Jagger will be more than happy to sign it for you. Check them out, hope you like them as I did.
- All Access Magazine

"Strong musical elements… Very nice chord progression and arrangement, tight performance and production… Professional feel and sound… has potential for mass commercial appeal…”

~ BILLBOARD ~


“No one who hears this record would be surprised by the reception it has received. Track for track, this is one of the strongest Canadian debut album’s I’ve heard…If Cook has another album in him as solid as All Our Hands Are Dirty, I suspect we’ve only just begun to see his star rise...Cook writes powerful lyrics about the human experience, sets those lyrics to great melodies and drives the whole package home with emotionally charged vocals...All Our Hands Are Dirty is a textbook example of go big or stay home. Expect good things down the road from Cook.”

~ CANADIAN MUSICIAN MAGAZINE ~


“A first-class presence...His words are heartfelt and thought provoking...”

~ ALL ACCESS MAGAZINE, LOS ANGELES ~


“This is incredible sounding stuff. The music is deep, meaningful and also very commercial sounding, and those are two elements that don't often get mentioned in the same sentence together. Your music contains elements of commercial pop and modern rock. A few of the songs could possibly even appeal to fans of contemporary country artists like Keith Urban or Rascal Flatts. You have plenty of crossover appeal. This is extremely well-produced and performed with obvious skill and passion. Oh, and the songs are extremely memorable as well! The tracks feel real good with inventive melodic shapes and lyrics…the recordings already have that radio sheen…to top things off, your performance is heartfelt and comes through with intensity and authenticity. The music is artist driven and sincere in its design...the ultimate blend. Way to go! The appeal is the way the music evolves gracefully without forcing the point. The writing chops match the performance chops resulting in a tight package. You have a distinctive sounding voice and sound. You are the real deal and deserve all the success that you will receive and achieve.”

~ TAXI ~


"Canadian rocker Jagger Cook’s debut is a must have for any fan of alternative radio rock. All Our Hands Are Dirty is full of hooky, repeated choruses, crisp instrumentation, and over the top, raw emotion. Certainly, this foolproof formula will have him selling out arenas on both sides of the border."

~ POPJOURNALISM ~


"On his impressive debut, Canadian Jagger Cook offers up 12 anthems worthy of radio play next to artists like Nickelback or Evanescance. With a polished, well-produced collection of powerful tracks for this debut disc, Jagger Cook and his band offer sounds that could fill an arena or charm audiences in more intimate settings."

~ THE MUSE'S MUSE ~


“Whether performing solo or with other musicians Jagger Cook is a tour de force, melding his guitar and vocal talents with ease.”

~ PETERBOROUGH THIS WEEK ~


"One listen to Jagger Cook’s CD All Our Hands Are Dirty is all it took to convince me that this Canadian rocker has what it takes to make it in the business. Cook is an award winning Canadian singer/songwriter who seems to have a veteran flair about his music. ....His CD reflects a raw, honest and thought provoking collection of thoughts. His voice and band puts it all together.”

~ CAMROSE NEWS ~


“There’s an incredible depth to Cook’s music and no wonder – he’s been playing and writing since he was just eight…..It’s not hard to see why earlier this year Cook landed two awards – Songwriter of the Year and Album of the Year.”

~ RED DEER XPRESS ~


“…a remarkably polished debut…Cook is neatly poised to make the leap to alternative & pop airwaves…”

~ CLINTON NEWS-RECORD ~

- Billboard, Canadian Musician, All Access Magazine, TAXI, etc...