The coronapocalypse has impacted the world and like any major societal event (benign or harmful), our culture reacts whether it’s in mediums such as literature, visual arts, or music. One of the most interesting is a new song by a new artist named Accept Cookies. His song “Pandemic Sunset” is a catchy song that challenges the listener to think about the coronavirus and what it means in the grand scheme of our lives, reminding us not fall prey to fear and to remember what’s really important to us. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Accept Cookies via email, discussing the song, the accompanying music video, and what’s next.

1. Tell me about yourself:

AC: Hi, my name is Accept Cookies, or I guess Accept Cookies is an artistic expression of facets of my art and musical self(s).

Like many artists, Accept Cookies has a eclectic background in music.

2. What’s your background in music?

AC: My musical background is pretty eclectic. My earliest memories are of singing in the car with mom to Fleetwood Mac or Charlie Pride. Then singing along to Woody Guthrie with my dad. Then listening to Thelonious Monk and Ornette Coleman on the radio (I had this old Sony boom box). Any formal music education I had came from singing in church and school till I was about eleven. After that I just sang in the shower I guess.

3. Have you written songs before “Pandemic Sunset”?

AC: Yeah I’ve written a few and been working on some demo recordings for some time, there’s a few “finished” songs that I’m gonna release soon.

4. What made you decide to make this your debut song and video?

AC: This became my debut song mostly because of timing. To me the lyrics are about life in general but with the Coronapocalypse as a focus.  I, like many people, know people in the at-risk category for Covid and I saw everybody reacting in different ways on TikTok/Instagram/Facebook/WhatsApp and the news running at a mile a minute.  I realized that I got caught up in the digital side of everything and that spun my inspiration into music.  I thought if this song is like a dose of hope for me then I want to try to share that with as many people as possible. The video to me is part of the whole story so I had to put it with the song.

5. How long did it take you to record the song?5

AC: Two sessions, one at 4am after I finished some work on my video game and called it a day, I just had this inspiration for the track and I sung the vocals into my iPad and laid down all the synths.  Then I went at it the next day, the guitar parts, the drums and rap – sketched out on a few post-its.  So a few hours total, that’s not normal for me.

6. Did you do the music yourself or did someone (or a group) perform the music?

AC: Everything, lyrics, singing and instruments is me (bass, guitar, synths, keys, drums etc…) if you hear any horns being tortured on coming tracks that’s me too.

A one-man band

7. Did you have any input into the video’s tone and mood?

AC: Yup, that was all me too, I also paint and animate so my original idea was having clones as my own band and kind of riffed on that with a throwback/atom bomb feel.

8. Wow. It sounds like you’re running the entire show yourself, which must be a huge challenge. I would imagine there are benefits to this in that you can stay focused on your vision. However, do you think there are any disadvantages to working alone without any feedback during the creative process?

AC: Yeah, it has been a challenge to get this far by myself but I guess if you take a run at your dreams there’s probably always some hill to get over just to get stared so I’m just thankful about being able to take my first step. There are definitely disadvantages, from repetitive strain injury (I’m OK now though) down to basic stress of responsibility for the whole operation and just in a day how many hours there

9. What kind of feedback have you had?

AC: All great so far.  Everyone I played it to has either loved is straight up or warmed to it real fast.  Everybody’s saying things like it’s “fun”, “catchy but it still means something” or “it’s raw and it vibes”.  I guess it’s one of those lucky things.

10. Have you experienced any negative feedback?

AC: Nope, none, which was a shock to me because I basically expected no one to hear it to even consider feedback as a thing. The fact that I’ve had nothing negative is crazy to me… I’m really grateful.

11. What’s next for Accept Cookies?

AC: Next, I’m getting ready to drop 23 more songs over the next “couple” (that’s a liberal couple) of weeks. Every song I release is going to have a video that advances the Accept Cookies style.

12. Naturally, people will ask where to get a copy of the song. I understand you’re donating the proceeds to charity too. Tell me more about this.

AC: Of course! You can get the song here:

  1. https://open.spotify.com/album/2RanToQ0YhRVtIlYiN2M62
  2. https://music.apple.com/us/album/pandemic-sunset-single/1504527006?uo
  3. https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Accept_Cookies_Pandemic_Sunset?id=Bigvghimxrfivaj5zjb6xe3nfii
  4. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086DFGZMV/?tag=distrokid06-20
  5. https://www.deezer.com/en/album/138186872
  6. Anghami, KKBox, MediaNet, Instagram/Facebook, Shazam, ClaroMusica, Saavn, Tidal, Napster (who knew that was even a thing still right?), Pandora, TikTok/Resso.

All the money is going to NHS charities together [https://www.nhscharitiestogether.co.uk] they’re directly supporting hospitals, doctors, nurses NHS staff and volunteers. A lot of people are doing really great things at the moment from helping by talking to being on the front lines and that’s really inspiring to me!

Stay tuned to Accept Cookies!

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