Blessings and Curses:
Drive-By Truckers fight off writer’s block to create an emotional return to form
written by sean l. malonay
"I have to stay on my own ass.”
A hearty chortle flows down the phone as Mike Cooley, singer/guitarist and founding member of Drive-By Truckers, reflects on what exactly it took to get him back in the flow of writing for the Truckers’ 12th album, English Oceans. This is Cooley’s return to full-on songwriting—splitting the tracklist right down the middle after letting bandmate Patterson Hood steer the ship for the two albums prior—and it is a return to form for the band as a whole. While DBT have never been a group to slack on the road or in the studio, English Oceans has the vigor and exuberance that made them one of America’s best rock bands. But that vigor didn’t come without effort.
“I kinda have to make myself do it,” says Cooley. “I get to that point of just going, ‘Come up with something. Don’t worry about if it sucks—get something out there. Now do it again, do it again, do it again.’ When I finally get a good line that I’m sitting on for weeks, it eventually comes to the point where I’m like, ‘Now write the next one. Do it today, do it right now, don’t get up.’”
And yet, despite all the forced motivation, English Oceans doesn’t sound like work—this is a record that feels as effortless and relaxed as afternoon at the beach. After 12 albums and almost two decades in existence, the Truckers manage to sound like fresh-faced kids, even while their songwriting becomes more mature, literate, evocative. Cooley’s return to full-time songwriting has invigorated the band in substantial ways, restoring a balance that had been lacking on The Big To Do and Go-Go Boots.
“It was a bummer for me,” he says. “I enjoyed the process and I like both of those albums a lot, but not coming in with new stuff when you’re used to doing that just hurts. Luckily, I’ve got enough songs that I can keep playing my greatest hits—whatever the hell that is—to this audience as long as they want to hear it. But is that it? You forget sometimes that there’s work involved. You get so caught up in the inspirational aspect of it, you think that that’s just going to be there, and it’s supposed to be there; and if it’s not there, it’s not going to be any good. That’s half true … maybe not even half true. You’ve got to do the work, and sometimes you’ve got to relearn how to do it—whatever the process was last time you had a creative moment, but [it may] have been just for that moment and you might not get another one.”
A hearty chortle flows down the phone as Mike Cooley, singer/guitarist and founding member of Drive-By Truckers, reflects on what exactly it took to get him back in the flow of writing for the Truckers’ 12th album, English Oceans. This is Cooley’s return to full-on songwriting—splitting the tracklist right down the middle after letting bandmate Patterson Hood steer the ship for the two albums prior—and it is a return to form for the band as a whole. While DBT have never been a group to slack on the road or in the studio, English Oceans has the vigor and exuberance that made them one of America’s best rock bands. But that vigor didn’t come without effort.
“I kinda have to make myself do it,” says Cooley. “I get to that point of just going, ‘Come up with something. Don’t worry about if it sucks—get something out there. Now do it again, do it again, do it again.’ When I finally get a good line that I’m sitting on for weeks, it eventually comes to the point where I’m like, ‘Now write the next one. Do it today, do it right now, don’t get up.’”
And yet, despite all the forced motivation, English Oceans doesn’t sound like work—this is a record that feels as effortless and relaxed as afternoon at the beach. After 12 albums and almost two decades in existence, the Truckers manage to sound like fresh-faced kids, even while their songwriting becomes more mature, literate, evocative. Cooley’s return to full-time songwriting has invigorated the band in substantial ways, restoring a balance that had been lacking on The Big To Do and Go-Go Boots.
“It was a bummer for me,” he says. “I enjoyed the process and I like both of those albums a lot, but not coming in with new stuff when you’re used to doing that just hurts. Luckily, I’ve got enough songs that I can keep playing my greatest hits—whatever the hell that is—to this audience as long as they want to hear it. But is that it? You forget sometimes that there’s work involved. You get so caught up in the inspirational aspect of it, you think that that’s just going to be there, and it’s supposed to be there; and if it’s not there, it’s not going to be any good. That’s half true … maybe not even half true. You’ve got to do the work, and sometimes you’ve got to relearn how to do it—whatever the process was last time you had a creative moment, but [it may] have been just for that moment and you might not get another one.”