Meet Lorenzo Cook

Take me out to the ball game and call me a cracker jack! We’ve got a real slugger here.

A little birdie told me once that baseball is America’s favorite past time. Why are we all so obsessed with hitting balls with big sticks and running in circles? I failed to get an answer from the baseball-lovin’ Petite League, but did get them to draw a stellar self-portrait.

Below, team captain Lorenzo Cook reveals his dream collaborators, that he’s a pitcher at heart, and gives his opinion on the current NYC music scene.

Check it out. IT’S A HOME RUN, KIDS!

Self-portrait By, Lorenzo Cook

Would You Rather…

your bed breathe heavily, or narrate everything you are doing.

My bed breathing heavily sounds pretty nice, actually. I’ve slept with a fan year-round my whole life so my bed’s mouth breathing might be solid whitenoise.

Some Questions with Lorenzo Cook

What is the worst smelling thing you have ever smelled?

I live near this huge Chinese buffet spot and their dumpsters are an offense to God. I went in once and all I remember seeing were chicken fingers and shrimp so I’m not sure what’s up with K&K Super Buffet

Who would be your dream musician to collaborate with?

Maaaan that’s such a lob of a question but it’s so hard to answer without sounding like a real asshole. I’ve always thought Daniel Johnston would have been so much fun to write with because doing less has always been better for me and he was kind of the kind of the king of less-is-more. There are others that I won’t mention because we’re actually in the works of collaborating.

Do you drink Coffee or Tea? How do you take it?

My ex got me into coffee after many exes before her tried and failed. I only like it on occasion, need to have it at the right time of day or I’ll never fall asleep, and I pretty much get exactly what she’d order for herself which was an iced coffee with almond milk and vanilla swirl from Dunkin Donuts™. This girl’s primary food source was sugar so that’s probably why she successfully got me into coffee. I drink tea when I’m sick. Hot drinks aren’t my cup of tea, to be honest.

Have you ever hit a home run?

I don’t think I have, actually! I feel like that’s something I’d remember. I was a pitcher, not a hitter

Besides today's times, what is your favorite era of music?

I like a lot of OG power pop and punk rock records though so I’d say late 70s and early 80s but yeah today is the best.

Who are your favorite bands active in NYC right now?

The thing about the New York music scene is that too many people seem to have read Meet Me In The Bathroom and then went out to try their best to recreate an East Village 2001 in Bushwick. The only difference is that the ambition seems really set on being a ~cool~ band in New York instead of being THE band from New York. The standard for being a good band in New York is incredibly high, I’d just like to see it being set higher than being a Parquet Courts rip off or some trust-fund kids who daylight as models. It’s hard as fuck to balance music, work, and money in New York and maybe that’s why places like Chicago seem to have a much healthier and progressive music scene but it should also be breeding something exciting here.

And you know what, maybe I’m full of shit and as I was writing this I kept thinking of musicians in the New York music scene who kill. Maybe I’m jaded and less excited because I’m exposed to so much good stuff so often that I’m used to it. I have no idea, everything is fucking great and everything is gloomy and maybe that’s just what being a part of New York is. Maybe this is a precursor to the spark that sets this whole place on fire into a new age of music in New York. I don’t doubt that, no one has written that song yet though.

I made a playlist of bands from New York that definitely deserve more attention and are the most likely to bring the city to the next stage in a blaze of glory:

Where is your favorite place to find/discover new music?

Clicking around on Spotify, baby

What was the best toy you remember from your childhood?

My Razor scooter. I used that thing until the day I left home, so great.

Having put out music under Petite League for over four years did you notice any significant changes in the dynamic of the band?

Yeah, definitely. The project has matured a lot from the early days. A lot of those songs were happy accidents, there is a lot more planning and time spent on the songs these days.

Did you play any instruments growing up?

Just guitar! I was very timid when it came to music so I’d play really, really quiet when I was learning. I played in a band from when I was 13 until I was 18 and that changed a lot of that. I was still really shy about singing too, I mostly just wrote songs and had my friend Alex sing until pretty late into high school. Now singing is all I want to do.

What is your favorite lyric off your latest album "Rattler"?

Hmm maybe “Wild horse gonna die in the pasture where the green of the grass don't matter”

How do you balance making songs personal to you while still keeping them relatable to listeners?

I’ve found that the deeply personal stuff is the most relatable. We’re not that different from one another and even the most specific stories can feel familiar to anyone whether they’re personal or if there is just an empathetic feeling there. I don’t think you need to be personally tied to songs for them to resonate with you. That’s why Pinegrove got so big. Like why do people get so stoked when he says that line about Port Authority or when he mentions Montclair? Settings and people are interchangeable and can be personalized to fit the listeners’ own story. That’s good songwriting, I think.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

Yeah, man. Call your grandmother more, mix spinach into your smoothies, and be nice to your little brother or sister!

Petite League (Lorenzo Cook)