” Westsiiiiiide Cowboy ”
Westside Cowboy’s music has snuck up on me, seemingly from nowhere, in the past couple of months. Either every other indie band fan has known something I didn’t, or word has travelled fast, as I’ve never seen The Hope & Ruin so packed. The band’s creation of their own genre, Britainicana, sets them apart from other upcoming bands and has already resulted in them being recognised by, as well as opening for, huge bands like Geese and Black Country, New Road. It seems to have been mutually decided that this band will be the next big thing and after the performance they put on in Brighton, I can’t imagine that anyone would disagree.
The band opened the night with their track ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’, an immediate crowd-pleaser which elicited a spirited response from the room. Their music flows seamlessly between genres and tones. From the quiet melancholy of songs like ‘Shells’ and ‘Strange Taxidermy’, to the rowdy and exhilarating ‘Alright, Alright, Alright’. The room was also treated to a couple of new tracks, all of which went down extremely well, being met with copious applause.
The crowd was extremely vocal, whooping and cheering throughout the show, sometimes in the middle of the songs’ instrumental segments. However, at no point did this feel disruptive; instead, it presented as a communal show of support for the band. Many people also knew the lyrics and were singing along. The band made sure to thank them for this and encouraged anyone else who knew the words to join in as well, announcing that, “If anyone wants to sing but isn’t, this is a safe space.”
What really stood out about the way this band writes and performs is the clear admiration for one another’s talents. No one person felt like the leader, with each of the members (apart from the drummer) taking lead vocals during different songs, as well as coming together at times to create beautiful group harmonies. They ended the set with their song ‘In The Morning’; for this soft, folky track, even the drummer left his kit to join the rest of the group at the front of the stage and they all sang together. ‘In The Morning’ feels so reminiscent of old-timey country western music, the kind of thing you’d expect to hear sung around a campfire or in a saloon. Their joint vocals filled the room with a sense of warmth which, I’m sure, remained with the crowd as they filed back out onto the streets of Brighton.
Get your tickets to see Westside Cowboy in an intimate venue while you still can; they will, without a doubt, be playing much bigger spaces soon.