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.
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.
Because of all of this hullabaloo, I will NEVER buy any music from Doxology. They’re whole, “we’re just trying to right a wrong..” bit is insane. Real stars don’t need to get a shout-out on camera. Whitney Houston isn’t calling up and insisting on getting credit on each and every performance. Only little-known half-rate acts insist on “getting their due.”
To Allie: Well yeah, that band is relatively unknown, that is why they could use some publicity and it wasn’t nice from AI to not even mention them, when they did credit Chris Cornell who obviously doesn’t need it and couldn’t care less.
That might be because it would be impossible to cover a Whitney Houston song without everyone that matters knowing anyway. The reason they deserve the credit is because they’re not “real stars” or at least not yet. They’re completely justified in just wanting to be acknowledged since it’s essentially lyrical plagiarism otherwise. However, I don’t think they’ll be sad about you not buying their music, Allie.
Whitney Houston had nothing to do with the arrangement of those songs.
It wouldn’t be “lyrical” plagiarism, since those are credited to the original lyricist. “Musically,” however, it’s a different story. There’s a lot that goes into writing music. All you people coming down on artists who simply want to be acknowledged for their work, you just don’t get it. Would you want to go through all the work to write a magazine article only to have someone else’s name on it? And this whole “they’re unknown, so who cares?” argument is just stupid. Well-known musical artists GOT that way by having savvy managers, agents and lawyers to look out for and fight for their interests. You can’t fault someone for wanting something THEY wrote (an original arrangment of music) correctly attributed. I really don’t see why this is so difficult to understand…
Yes, you’re right. “Lyrical” was a poor choice of words, but you get what I meant. I know they didn’t write it. I agree with you 100%.
OK, Doxology, you got your pound of flesh and your time in the national spotlight, now leave David alone. He at least works out his arrangements with the band and doesn’t just rely on them to do it all for him. He has integrity as a artist. I can’t help but think that all this media storm created by Doxology and Cornell “fans” really hurt him and added to the stress. When you listen to/read the lyrics to his Indie album Analog Heart, you see that he really does wear his heart on his sleeve.
I have yet to post on these comment boards, despite reading them for months. I had to today just to say I will never purchase anything from this band. David Cook rocked that version of Eleanor Rigby, it was vastly superior to yours. And it was closer to the original version, anyways. Now go away.
I think Doxology had every right to ask for credit. Allie – you are way off base and clearly have never poured your heart and soul into playing music. And what is a “real star”? Whitney Houston? You seriously don’t think Whitney and other “real stars” get paid/credited everytime someone uses their songs?
How ironic that David gave out the credits to doxology who seemed so desperate to “right a wrong”. Makes me wonder if all this b.s. from rock wannabes didn’t add to the stress that sent him to the hospital last night. No one is talking about that.
I raised the issue of AI needing to identify the cover version, not because of the ethical reason of giving credit to the instrumental composers, but to also identify obscure cover remakes to the judges. The judges responses after Cook’s performance were as if none of them had a clue because of their “originality” and “brilliance” kudos. A multitude of viewers who voted were influenced by the belief that Cook originated the cover. Simon Cowell said in an interview that “he knew……”. Bunk. The show gave no evidence of that. I can’t imagine there was much of a measurable percentage of AI voters that had ever heard or knew of Cornell’s cover version.
I’m not a complainer that Cook performed Cornell’s cover…not my point. I believe the judges response to the admittedly great performance would not have been so sensationalistic as it was. (continued)
It’s weird…Doxology had nothing but good things to say about Cook and American Idol, and yet folks on this board still seem hell bent on smashing them. They are a band trying to make it, and have made it very clear that all they were looking for was credit where credit was due. They probably could have sought royalties, and didn’t. I think that, more than anything else, speaks volumes about their integrity as artists.
I believe this gave Cook a large edge in his move into the front seat on Idol.
A couple of weeks ago, one of the performers was basically belittled for “what was she thinking” when she performed Eight Days A Week during the Lennon-McCartney Songbook week. Not only the judges, but viewers alike, blasted her because they all thought she and/or the Idol band created the country arrangement. If the judges were even aware it was again an obscure cover version, I wonder what the judges comments and the impact on viewers would have been. Kristy Lee Cook performed the Lorrie Morgan cover version of Eight Days A Week.
The judges need to know more before they make their own ignorant assessment that may unfairly bias a contestant’s review. Maybe it wouldn’t have affected Kristy Lee…who knows.
Interesting……the cover knowledge issues are about two Cooks and not just one.
All these people who are whining and complaining and threatening to never buy anything from Doxology (as if they had planned to do so) about the band wanting acknowledgement for their arrangement is just another example of the kind of intellectual constipation that is prevalent among some “fans” these days. By the their tortured logic, they would have to a) stop watching Idol altogether and b) stop buying about 85% of all music since artists have been doing covers AND getting acknowledgement/paid for their originals since the phonoautograph was invented. Good for Doxology for getting proper credit for their arrangement. And the next time the whiners complain about someone getting credit for something, they down their next promotion or raise and give it the person at the fry station next to them.
I can’t believe that no none seems to hold the hot shot AI producers to any accountability in any of this. It is the American Way now to always point the finger of blame at the lowest on the totem pole. It’s AI producers that makes the big money. Ryan Seacrest’s interview with David Cook even made it appear as if David Cook was the responsible one in it all. It was a “cover” the AI a__ of the “cover” issue is what that was about.