Ep. 79: Ian Cooke and Ian O’Dougherty – Cello Prog Pop Musicians

This interview is part of our coverage of the 38th Denver Film Festival. We are proud to bring you five different interviews in five days. Check out the Denver Film Festival category on the Jon of All Trades homepage for all the interviews.

Ian Cooke and Ian O’Dougherty have been making music together for more than 15 years. Their latest effort, Antiquasauria, is an exploration through time from the perspective of Mesozoic creatures. The final cut on the album, “Epilogue,” has a music video premiering during the Music Video Mixtape at this week’s Denver Film Festival.

Ian and Ian describe their music as “cello prog pop” or “popsical” (pop and classical), which are two genres you may not be terribly familiar with, which is why I asked them during this week’s show who might provide a decent entry point to understanding their music. They cited concept albums from the 70s, including efforts by Queen and ABBA, and Ian Cooke’s website features many reviewers comparing him favorably to Sufjan Stevens.

But why Mesozoic creatures, most notably dinosaurs? Ian Cooke has had a lifelong fascination with them (you can listen to him talk all things dinosaurs on Episode 125 of These Things Matter), and as Ian O’Dougherty explains, our lives are powered by the remains of dinosaurs given the prevalence of oil and plastic in our lives. More importantly, why not? We’ve all probably been fascinated by dinosaurs at one point in our lives, but rarely do we consider them in our adult lives. This album will change that.

We also chat about how to stay healthy on tour, how the music business has changed in the last 20 years, punk bands we both knew from the 90s, and a lot more. It’s a fascinating episode with a couple of extremely talented musicians, and terrifically original artists. Need more evidence? Check out some photos from the accompanying Antiquasauria coloring book they were nice enough to give me, pictured below.

Check out Ian Cooke’s website here. View the video for “Epilogue” here. And visit the Denver Film Festival’s homepage here.

And then listen to Jon of All Trades on iTunes or Stitcher.

Antiquasauria coloring book - cover

Antiquasauria coloring book – cover.

Quetzalcoatlus

Quetzalcoatlus.

Polycotylus

Polycotylus.

2 comments on “Ep. 79: Ian Cooke and Ian O’Dougherty – Cello Prog Pop Musicians

  1. Devendra says:

    Lesley Downie – Hi Cath and Richard,I have just read your post. I am truly humbled by your cnoemmts. Thankyou so much. We all have people in our photographic industry that we respect, admire and are inspired by. If all of us can inspire others, then we ourselves are enriched.Love you both.Lesley

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