Westside Cowboy

A debut album is always a momentous milestone for any musician. It’s the culmination of everything they’ve poured their blood, sweat and tears into for their entire career, all exhibited in the form of one LP for all the world to listen to. However, some debut albums have a larger number of eyes on them than others, and in the case of Manchester-based Westside Cowboy, almost all eyes of people following the UK indie scene have been following the rollout with eager anticipation. There’s no surprise about this, as the four-piece have already sustained an incredibly high level with their two already-released EP’s, This Better Be Something Great in August last year, as well as So Much Country ‘Til We Get There in January. If anything, the biggest surprise is how quick they’ve been able to turn around a 35-minute, 11-track LP, and on the eve of its exciting release, the band’s exhibition of it at Rough Trade East in London proved just why there’s so much hype riding on their name.

As with most album release shows, the sole focus was on their new record titled It Goes On, which was played front to back. Opening the set was the lead single, ‘Kick Stones (The Boys)’, a quintessential Westside Cowboy song that embodied all the qualities that have seen their popularity grow tenfold, whether it’s the dynamic harmonies between vocalists Aoife Anson O’Connell and Reuben Haycocks during the chorus, or the dissonant guitars during the instrumental break. These ideas continue on to ‘Paper Chains’, where you get a feel of the group’s dynamic sound through the music’s peaks and troughs. While the ideas from their prior two EP’s aren’t exactly reinvented or thrown away, they have been developed in satisfying ways. For example, ‘Worried Age’ is very reminiscent of one of the band’s earlier songs, ‘Can’t See’, in its sonic landscape. Despite this, there is a bit of an extra kick in the instrumentals, especially towards the end of the song with rapid strumming on the guitars and 32nd hi-hat notes on the drums, courtesy of the supremely talented Paddy Murphy.

Beyond the music, it’s clear that the group are also just four friends who happen to share the same passion for delivering some of the freshest music in the UK indie scene right now. As the Side A section finished, Haycocks joked that some listeners might switch the album off and choose to listen to Khruangbin instead, before slightly retracting his statement to make it clear he meant no disrespect. Side B began with ‘Big Wheels’, — a softer tone and Jimmy Bradbury taking lead vocals. However, as the section began to build in its intensity leading to its ending, Murphy persisted with his brush sticks throughout the song, rather than switching to his traditional drum sticks halfway through. This meant the live performance of the track unfortunately lost some of its intended effectiveness, though it doesn’t change how well constructed the track is. Thankfully, Murphy made amends for this on later track ‘Patchwork’, where he does make the switch between sticks, creating a powerful ending. 

It wasn’t just the four on stage making an impact throughout the show, as the band’s guitar tech helped pull off a seamless switch of instrument for Haycocks during the middle of ‘Coyote’, which earned him a special shoutout following the song’s end. As the album approached its end, with the phenomenal ‘You Could Have Died There On The Dancefloor’ closing out the record in vintage Westside Cowboy style, the band took requests for the final two songs of the night. After much deliberation, they settled on ‘Alright Alright Alright’ and ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’, the latter being made famous by Murphy’s scream of “WESTSIDE COWBOY!!!” at the beginning. There is something so truly exciting about hearing this band create the music they so deeply care about, and the announcement earlier that day of the band selling out their UK winter tour is a testament to this. It’s not just the 300 people in the room who believe in the hype, but a growing number of thousands. And as long as their output continues to be this well fleshed out, that number is only going to continue to grow.