The band Cook Thugless formed in 2013 and after six years of long practices, emailing tracks back and forth, and playing basement shows in and around Rutgers in New Brunswick, the band is now gaining international recognition with their single “Lockjaw,” off of their album LUXE, which was released in on January 4, 2019. At the time of printing the tune has surpassed 700,000 listens on Spotify.
The VOICE sat down with three out of the seven members to learn more about their local origins and current success. The trio met at the lounge chairs of the MS building , fresh-faced, and still energetic coming off their previous night’s performance in New Brunswick at the Chocolate Shoppe. The trio consisted of Jahmar Beaubrun (dummer, vocals, and rap), Riley Byrne (bass), and Keith Lalley (producer, trombone, and vocals).
The following is a lightly edited version of our Q&A.
What is the origin of the name Cook Thugless?
Riley Byrne: It was really a joke. [The other] guys thought about it at the apartment [at Rutgers] but the funny thing about it it’s a pun on Rutgers campus Cook Douglass. We met in the dorms freshman year. The cool thing is that now that we’re graduated, people who go to Rutgers hear about us and want to come see us live.
What’s your songwriting process?
Jahmar Beaubrun: I think it’s a very organized chaos. You get seven people, you get seven different opinions. But it works out in the end. Everyone has the same goal to make the track the best.
Keith Lalley: Because we’re so spread apart now-a-days, it’s very much a collaborative thing and without the internet it wouldn’t be possible. Me or Jim will make a beat or a skeleton for an instrumental and shop it around and send it out. Certain tracks I’ll know that Jahmar is the guy for it. Or I know I need a bass line so I’ll send it to Riley. Then the rappers will take it for like a week or two and write to it. Then they’ll come up to Jim or my place to record it. We’ll do more editing on our side and maybe add other instrumental stuff like horns or add whatever whacky sounds we feel like. It’s like bouncing around all over the place and it’s going through everyone’s ears.
What venues do you enjoy most?
Riley Byrne: The crowd response is what makes the show special, not so much the capacity of the venue you’re playing. I’ve played bigger rooms that have felt empty. A smaller room where everyone’s really enjoying it and feels a part of it, I can’t say anything is better than that.
What has been your biggest challenge as a band?
Keith Lalley: I think a big issue is just living in 2019 and making a name for yourself in an age where money gets you a lot of promotion. When you’re trying to organically come up and build a brand for yourself like on Instagram or Spotify, those are the places now-a-days where a lot of artists you hear about break out, and that’s how they’re doing it. They’re getting like this backing or something and all of a sudden you’re hearing about them. Even if you’re the best, you’re competing with a lot of “the bests.” I hate to make it all about money but you’re looking at an industry that’s really driven by how much money you can put into it.
Riley Byrne: Having seven people in a band and trying to schedule anything. Sometimes we get good opportunities and it’s like “Uh two guys can’t make it. Can we still do this?”
What are your goals for the future?
Jahmar Beaubrun:: I’d love to play for bigger festivals. Maybe open for like KOTA the Friend or some cool coming up people. But so far so good. We’re just blessed to even be where we are at this point because it’s very difficult and we put a lot of work into what we do. We’re all do-it-yourself, unrepresented, but it works. We do a lot of shit by ourselves. We don’t even have to be famous. I would just like to be a notable band that people listen to and really vibe.
Riley Byrne:: I think that so far as a band we’ve been doing three things: writing, recording, and performing, and I want to add touring. That’s kinda my goal for the future for sure. Playing in different cities we have different connections like Miami, Los Angeles, Philadelphia. I think it’ll happen before the end of this year.
Keith Lalley: I wanna keep making cool music. It sounds really simple but I really like the process. My love for the process has kind of kept me going. I like sitting in my room alone and it’s like 3 in the morning and I’m like banging instrumentals together. I like looking in my email and seeing the reply of someone who recorded some shit to what I put together because that’s something that couldn’t have happened without all these stars aligning. And then to work on it for months, or sometimes years, and then hear where it is, and to send it out in the world and people vibe with it. This process is just really fucking special.
