Westside Cowboy Release New Single “Pin Up Boys”
Debut Album “It Goes On” Out August 21st via Island Records
& Announce Tour Dates
Manchester quartet Westside Cowboy release new single ‘Pin Up Boys’ following its premiere this evening as Radio 1’s Hottest Track In The World. It arrives with a video directed by SNL UK star Jack Shep. Debut album It Goes On (pre-order here) is set to land August 21st via Island Records – and the four-piece announce a run of record store shows in support of this, full details further down.
Hot off the heels of an already iconic Later… With Jools Hollandperformance, ‘Pin Up Boys’lands as the second single from their highly anticipated debut album It Goes On.
Beginning with Reuben Haycocks’ affecting vocals against a sparse arrangement, the fan favourite track is a rousing single from the quiet-loud school of classic indie. It showcases the quartet’s deference to, and re-imagining of, the guitar music cannon.
As with all the tracks on It Goes On, the recording is a snapshot of the song at a moment in time – organic evolution being a hallmark of their songwriting process. ‘Pin Up Boys’, explains Reuben, became “heavier and more aggro” every time they played it live; a mirror to its preoccupations with the struggles of self control.
Speaking further on the track’s origins, the band say:
“Pin Up Boys was written a year and a half ago using an acoustic guitar, a drum machine sample pad and some screwdrivers as drumsticks. It is by far the longest serving song on the album and the one that we have played the most live, which was a blessing and a curse when we came to record. After realising this song was set in its ways, we thought the recording should be a somewhat faithful version of the live performance. We hope you get something out of it.”
The music video captures this energy, as director Jack Shep details:
“Westside Cowboy’s performance style is so energetic and distinct. They clearly have a mountainous future ahead of them, and it was awesome to work with young people at the precipice of starting something really special together.
In the video we wanted to capture the band’s dynamism, through a spotlight. We follow this fixed, malevolent spotlight chasing our hero (played by the band’s mate, Will) as he tries to escape its gaze. As he runs, he manages to escape, splitting into a new spotlight with a new version of the band. The whole thing begins to buckle and shatter.”
The new single captures this gripping energy, an energy that fiercly pivots throughout the ensemble and gravitates this mammoth essence from start to the triumphant finale. Westside Cowboy have produced this immense exploration that has emotion, heart and raucuous tonalities, the explosive percussion and the dual harmonies collide to create this infectious masterpiece. Here is a band in their element, growing bigger, exploring more in their creations and reaching out to their dedicated fanbase.
The album was produced by Loren Humphrey (Geese, Cameron Winter, Wunderhorse) at Greenmount Studios in Leeds. Big feelings are at the heart of the matter: these are songs that aim to distill the confusion, desperation and blind hope of youth into eleven stirring tracks.
Westside Cowboy have always tried to focus on what unites people. Early on in the group’s life, they co-created No Band Is An Island: a Manchester-based collective putting on fundraising nights to spotlight both local artists and important issues via speakers from charities and direct action groups, and the video for the album’s lead single‘Kick Stones (The Boys)’was shot in collaboration with activist football club FC United of Manchester.
The quartet will be supporting the album release with their biggest headline tour to date this autumn/winter including shows at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town and Manchester’s Albert Hall (full dates below). Westside Cowboy will also appear at festivals including Green Man, Latitude, and Reading and Leeds this summer, and have today announced limited record store shows around the LP’s release.
Record Store Shows Announced
19.08 – Resident Brighton
20.08 – Rough Trade East
25.08 – Jumbo Leeds
27.08 – Rough Trade Liverpool
03.09 – Rough Trade Nottingham
04.09 – Assai Glasgow
It Goes On Tracklisting
1. Kick Stones (The Boys)
2. Paper Chains
3. Dobro
4. Well Done Kid, You Did It
5. Worried Age
6. Big Wheels
7. Pin Up Boys
8. Coyote
9. Patchwork
10. Take My Leaving As I Love You
11. You Could Have Died There On The Dancefloor
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