Love at First Listen (Round Two) with Devin Cooper

When you think about the moments in life that make you who you are, a wide range of memories may come to mind — special family trips, endless summer nights with your best friends, your dream job or car, your first love, and every spontaneous plan that turned into an incredible story. For singer Devin Cooper, many of his fondest memories come from his carefree youth spent growing up in small town Alberta. Now, they are also reflected in “Memories That Made Us,” his feel-good, summer-ready single with a nostalgic feel. Expect to hear him perform it live at the iconic Calgary Stampede and several other summer festival sets soon to be announced.

Below, join us in making new memories with Devin as we talk all things “Memories That Made Us,” revisiting old phones, and giving back to the people and communities that have supported him along the way.

Our Love at First Listen community was first introduced to you when we chatted about your debut double album, ‘Good Things: Deluxe Edition.’ Catch us up on what you’ve been doing leading up to this new music!

I was down in Nashville quite a bit over the winter writing a bunch of new tunes, getting ready for this next project, seeing what kind of direction we’re going to go, and chasing a bunch of new ideas. I was also out in Ontario earlier this year and did a run of solo acoustic shows to get geared up for the summer. It’s going to be a fun year.

 

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What inspired “Memories That Made Us” and made it a strong candidate for your summer release?

I went back home to my folks’ place and we were looking through all the old family footage that we had on one of those VHS camcorder[s]. I [also] found a few of my old phones from high school and charged them up and was flipping through the old pictures. … It’s like those memories of all that stuff that we did—good, bad, and everything in between—were literally the memories that made me who I am today. And I think being a summertime song, it’s just fun to have that nostalgic feel [and] that throwback to thinking about all the good times.

What are some of the memories that make you and how are they captured in the song?

Man, there [are] so many memories in the song that are just directly out of my life. I talk about driving my first old truck when I was 16. I had an old [Chevrolet] Blazer that had a Corvette engine in it and [was] driving around burning the tires off it. How to fix your first vehicle… I ended up blowing up a couple of the engines and … had to replace them and fix them. [I also thought about] drinking for the first time and getting caught and all that kind of stuff, and having your heart broke and [learning] how to recover from it. I mean, everything in the song is literally just from a picture or a video that I look back on as a part of my life growing up. And I feel like, especially in small towns, that’s kind of what your life is growing up. Everyone goes through those experiences.

Devin Cooper on the “Memories That Made Us” video: “We got all the old footage digitized and we hope that when people hear the song, they’re going to share their old memories with it as well. I’d love to see everybody else’s favourite moments while they were growing up or looking back on the past.”

How is “Memories That Made Us” reflective of where your sound is heading, and what will sound familiar for day one fans?

I think it’s an evolution and a growth. On ‘Good Things: Deluxe Edition,’ there [are] a lot of different sounds, from [a] little more mainstream country to more hard rock stuff. I feel like this is a more refined version, pulling in some of my influences growing up [with] Tom Petty and Bryan Adams and … those anthemic sounding artists. We really wanted to try and capture that feel of, you know, windows down, stereo cranked up, just ripping down the highway in the summer, and I think that it’s a good evolution of where I’ve come from into where I’m heading. And I think that sonically and lyrically, it continues the story of where we’ve been.

Along with that, can you tease any upcoming releases?

We’ve actually recorded a few other things already, so it’ll be more new music coming this year, obviously leading to an EP or an album eventually, but the date for that is to be determined.

We’ll be on the lookout! Can you share some of the artists that you’ve loved at first listen who you think capture a timeless vibe and have a song for every life memory and moment?

I’m a really big Marcus King fan. He’s a phenomenal guitar player and singer. “Honky Tonk Hell,” his new single, has been on repeat for me as I’ve been driving around lately, as well as the new Kip Moore record. And if you’re talking about a song for every mood, another Alberta artist, Mariya Stokes, just released her debut record called ‘Mood Ring’ and if you pull up that record, you’ll have a song for every mood of the day.

Our goal is to have Love at First Listen be like a lil’ family, and we just spoke to Mariya about ‘Mood Ring.’ You co-wrote three tracks on her album — “Taken,” “Money Can’t Buy,” and “You Want Me.” What was it like collaborating on music for such a monumental project, and have you collabed on any music for your own projects?

Actually, all three of those songs were written for me originally! “You Want Me,” I wrote back in 2017 with Robyn Dell’Unto down in Nashville, and when Mariya heard the demo, she was like, “If you don’t record that song, I have to record it.” [S]he listened to it when she was picking songs for this album [and] was like, “This song is really great, but not all of the lyrics resonate with me… but I love the style of the song, I love the melodies, I love everything about it. Would you be cool if I tweaked a couple of the lyrics just to resonate with me personally?” … Robin was cool with it, so Mariya went through and twisted a few things to make them work for her so that she could tell her story with the song. That one was really cool to see come to life with her because it was not something I was ever going to record, but I loved writing it.

“Money Can’t Buy,” we wrote with Alee [Adamoski], another Alberta artist. A few of the lyrics [are] “’85 in the drive, shined up and ready to go,” and my first vehicle was an ‘85 Blazer. So, that’s a little nugget … that ended up being in the song.

[W]ith “Taken,” [Mariya] and I wrote that one night really late on Zoom during the whole lockdown era. We … were both playing it out for a while, both kind of testing it to see who loved it more, and she fell in love a little bit more than I did.

 

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Those are some fun Easter eggs! “Memories That Made Us” will be keeping fans fed for at least the summer season. What else do you have in the pipeline, and how will that play into people’s future memories with you as an artist?

I have my annual charity event that I do for the Alzheimer Society of Calgary, so the sixth annual event is going to be happening in September in Calgary. People can follow along at @devincoopermusic on social media and devincoopermusic.com, and we’ll have everything up to date on there. Follow along to see all the shows and everything we’re getting ready to announce. There’s lots more music, lots more shows, and I’m excited to see everyone out on the road this summer. It’s all happening, but that’s all I can tease at the moment.

On that note, how important and fulfilling is it for you to combine a cause that you care about with your artistic platform?

It’s really rewarding to be able to put on the Ride to Remember event. I feel like, as artists and musicians, we ask and ask and ask from our communities. So, to be able to give back to the people who have supported us throughout the whole journey, and to see the impact that the event has on the Alzheimer Society of Calgary, as well as those who are living with Alzheimer’s, is really cool.

Thank you, Devin! “Memories That Made Us” is out now. Follow Devin on Instagram to get a front row seat to what’s next.

See you back here soon with another artist and music release for you to love at first listen! Have a suggestion or pitch? You know where to find us!

Happy listening xx