Westside Cowboy

Westside Cowboy sign to Island Records imprint Adventure Recordings & announce second EP So Much Country 'Till We Get There, they are sharing the single and video 'Don't Throw Rocks'.

Westside Cowboy sign to Island Records imprint Adventure Recordings and announce their second EP So Much Country ‘Till We Get There for release on January 16th.

Live favourite ‘Don’t Throw Rocks’ is out now as the first taste of this sophomore effort following its premiere on BBC 6 Music by Huw Stephens.

It was recorded with Loren Humphrey in New York, who brought the same studio magic to the quartet’s self-styled ‘Britainicana’ sound as he has for Cameron Winter’s acclaimed Heavy Metal LP (alongside credits for Arctic Monkeys, Lana Del Rey, Wunderhorse and more). 

Draped in golden hour nostalgia, ‘Don’t Throw Rocks’ embeds itself under your skin right from the initial guitar twinkles, before Jimmy Murphy and Aofie Anson O’Connell’s harmonies coalesce into a lead vocal which subtly grips hold of the listener.

On the origins and themes of the track, the band say:

“This started life as a fuzzy drum machine demo that Jimmy made in his bedroom and eventually made its way into the practice room ahead of our first headline at Castle Hotel.

We tried it really fast and loud, with a new order disco beat across the entire thing basically. We finished it and were like ‘ This is good, right?’... none of us were really convinced.

We were about to call it when we thought we’d have one last go. We kept the tempo but took the emphasis off of the snare and hats and instead onto the floor tom and its rims. This changed the feeling of the song a lot. All of a sudden, instead the song just being this 2 minute fog horn blare, it was now rumbling along and building. 

Jimmy’s lyrics on this deal a lot in time and change, and how it, more often than not, moves out of our control and without niceties. We wanted the music to reflect this too. With each section, we wanted to add a new gear, to increase the intensity until it couldn’t be held onto anymore.

I guess that’s where the outro comes in. This felt like the natural first single for So Much Country…, we all kinda knew once we’d heard it back.” 

Much of the group’s reputation as leaders of a vital new wave of UK bands has come from a scintillating live set - which is already establishing an immersive mythos, replete with ‘I was there’ credentials, and if-you-know-you-know moments. Packed out stages at Glastonbury, Green Man, End of The Road and more is evidence of an outfit striking at the core of the scene. 

The show is being taken on the road in support of Black Country, New Road through mainland Europe in October, before a string of headline dates through the UK and Ireland in November and January - featuring their biggest headline show so far at London’s Scala. 

Around the release of debut EP This Better Be Something Great in August the band earned no shortage of admirers - personal invites to support English Teacher, Ezra Furman, mary in the junkyard, and Blondshell matched with early press praise from the likes of The Guardian, Rough Trade and other international media outlets.

The four-piece have also landed primary support from Huw Stephens, Steve Lamacq, Nick Grimshaw, Lauren Laverne, Craig Charles, Deb Grant, Nathan Shepherd, Emily Pilbeam (BBC 6 Music) and Sian Eleri and Alyx Holcombe (BBC Radio 1), Jo Whiley (BBC Radio 2), Matt Wilkinson (Apple Music), KEXP and John Kennedy (Radio X).

Live Dates

9 Oct - Paris, Casino de Paris (w/ Black Country, New Road) (FR)

10 Oct - Nantes, Stereolux (w/ Black Country, New Road) (FR)

12 Oct - Amsterdam, Paradiso (w/ Black Country, New Road) (NL)

13 Oct - Amsterdam, Paradiso (w/ Black Country, New Road) (NL)

14 Oct - Cologne, Gloria (w/ Black Country, New Road) (DE)

15 Oct - Berlin, Astra Kulturhaus (w/ Black Country, New Road) (DE)

17 Oct - Copenhagen, VEGA (w/ Black Country, New Road) (DK)

18 Oct - Johanneshov, Fållan (w/ Black Country, New Road) (SE)

19 Oct - Oslo, Sentrum Scene (w/ Black Country, New Road) (NO)

21 Oct - Hamburg, Mojo Club (w/ Black Country, New Road) (DE)

22 Oct - Prague, Roxy (w/ Black Country, New Road) (CZ)

23 Oct - Lausanne, Les Docks (w/ Black Country, New Road) (CH)

25 Oct - Milan, Magazzini Generali (w/ Black Country, New Road) (IT)

26 Oct - Lyon, Epicerie Moderne (w/ Black Country, New Road) (FR)

28 Oct - Brussels, Ancienne Belgique (w/ Black Country, New Road) (BE)

1 Nov - Cardigan, Other Voices (UK)

7 Nov - Paris, Pitchfork Paris (FR)

8 Nov - Manchester, Albert Hall w/ SPRINTS (UK)

18 Nov - Norwich, Norwich Arts Centre (UK)

19 Nov - Birmingham, The Sunflower Lounge (Sold Out) (UK)

21 Nov - Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach (UK)

22 Nov - Portsmouth, KOLA (UK)

25 Nov - Birkenhead, Future Yard (UK)

26 Nov - Hebden Bridge, The Trades Club (Sold Out) (UK)

27 Nov - York, The Crescent (UK)

28 Nov - Edinburgh, Cabaret Voltaire (UK)

28 Jan - London, Scala (UK)

29 Jan - Manchester, Gorilla (Sold Out) (UK)

31 Jan - Dublin, Grand Social (IE)

2 Feb - Glasgow, King Tuts (UK)

3 Feb - Leeds, Brudenell Social Club (UK)

4 Feb - Nottingham, Bodega (UK)

6 Feb - Bristol, The Exchange (UK)

7 Feb - Brighton, The Hope and Ruin (Sold Out) (UK)

8 Feb - Oxford, The Bullingdon (UK)

Westside Cowboy’s second EP So Much Country ‘Till We Get There 

is out via Adventure Recordings on January 16th.