“That is Johnny Roadhouse Music, the place Westside Cowboy technically began,” is Jimmy Bradbury’s welcome deal with at his former office, ushering us upstairs together with his bandmate Reuben Haycocks. The 2 reside across the nook from the music store, which is positioned on Manchester’s Oxford Street: the nucleus of pupil life within the metropolis. 300m away is the Royal Northern School Of Music, the place Haycocks met bassist Aoife Anson O’Connell – who we run into shortly after this dialog – and drummer Paddy Murphy again in 2021.

Bradbury recollects his ‘interview’ to turn out to be the store’s guitar tech: “‘Can you employ a soldering iron? Carried out. I’ll see you tomorrow at 11 o’clock.’” Based in 1955 by the late saxophonist John Roadhouse, the family-owned enterprise specialises in second-hand devices, which means you get “loopy guys knocking on the again door, like, ‘I’ve acquired 30 guitars behind this van. Do you need to purchase them?’” Roadhouse’s son now runs it together with his spouse, who each sing Westside Cowboy’s praises earlier than Bradbury and Haycocks enter like returning heroes.

“You see so many various kinds of enjoying in right here,” displays Bradbury. “All the pieces from shredders to essentially previous nation guys and Flamenco gamers. Wandering across the store, I really feel just like the guitar is a really open, welcoming instrument. There’s a lot you are able to do by simply studying a few small issues on it.” When Murphy began bringing Haycocks and Anson O’Connell right here to satisfy his pal Bradbury, the 4 started congregating right here a number of occasions per week.

“I had by no means actually come throughout gear earlier than, [growing up in] Shropshire,” says Haycocks, who is definitely distracted by the newly-arrived 1976 Martin D-28 on the wall. “I hadn’t been round individuals who have been bothered about cool previous guitars. I’d watch James choose up a guitar and play random shit. You may’t play the songs that you just’ve discovered in a guitar store – since you appear to be a knob – so if I wished to play this actually cool ’70s Gibson SG, I needed to choose it up and play some classical issues, quite than going by means of my rolodex of songs that I knew. After which perhaps one AC/DC tune…”

The College Of Life

Having selected a whim at Johnny Roadhouse to kind Westside Cowboy, the quartet have reworked into certainly one of Britain’s most enjoyable guitar acts. Though the title of 2024 debut single I’ve By no means Met Anybody I Thought I May Actually Love (Till I Met You) sounds prefer it belongs on an early Arctic Monkeys or Fall Out Boy album, their alt-country twang straddles folks, indie and Americana soundscapes. Their reside present alone gained them a slot at Glastonbury 2025, they usually’re now signed to a serious label and Fontaines D.C.’s administration.

Initially slicing their tooth in native bands DieKaiDai and Katz at venues like Gasoline, Manchester’s musical panorama proved pivotal to Westside Cowboy’s eventual path. “Being in a scene is essentially the most rewarding half about being in music, seeing all your pals do very well,” says Haycocks. In a metropolis the place Stay Nation and Mission Mars proceed to swoop in on impartial venues, community-driven areas – be it a café or Johnny Roadhouse – are important to satisfy like-minded folks, reckons Bradbury. “So many musicians are available in and communicate to somebody who they [wouldn’t] on the street, as a result of you could have frequent floor.”

Though a main college Bradbury and an early teenage Haycocks fell out of affection with guitar, a pal who performed Weapons N’ Roses riffs and diminished give attention to musical grades respectively re-ignited each guitarists’ amorous affairs with their instrument. Although Haycocks describes a “musical rebirth” upon coming to Manchester, each convey up the inhibitive nature of their college research. “Folks telling you, ‘You need to play these chords and scales,’ it could actually beat you right into a nook,” says Bradbury. “[Working] at Johnny Roadhouse, it helped me discover my love for guitar once more, seeing so many various kinds of devices and enjoying.”

Haycocks whips out his 1979 Gibson SG, which “looks like the size size of a Fender with the sound of a Les Paul on an SG physique”, whereas Bradbury grabs some water. “It has a extremely thick neck, and it’s important to actually struggle it,” Haycocks continues. “After I’m on stage, if one thing feels too good, it creeps me out. I must be barely uncomfortable.” Bradbury has named his 1987 Jackson Charvel (when the 2 firms have been co-owned) ‘Peggy’, having changed its “horrible” high-output metallic pickup with an easier ’50-style Esquire. “It’s simply acquired one quantity knob,” he shrugs. “I don’t like too many buttons – it will get in the way in which!”

It’s Not Rocket Science

Simplicity is a tenet for Westside Cowboy, who’ve made the earlier mistake of “songs which have means too many chords in”, Bradbury recollects. Earlier earworms Can’t See and Don’t Throw Rocks faucet into punchy riff-work and cosy modifications in velocity; each are visibly moulded into form by their impulsive reside present. Three-chord hit Kick Stones (The Boys), the lead single of their debut album It Goes On, is arguably their most exact work up to now, recorded to make sure Haycocks’ gritty strumming is audible prefer it’s a whole instrument itself.

“There are particular bits of ear sweet like that which make you’re feeling extra related to the tune and make it really feel extra actual than a DI would,” explains Haycocks. “We’re all the time in search of it to sound such as you’re standing in the course of the room [with us], and I feel that provides to the ‘authenticity’ of the sound,” he smiles, reluctant to toot his personal horn. “When it comes to a rock band versus a rock ‘n’ roll band, Westside Cowboy has extra of the ‘roll’ in it,” provides Bradbury, who prefers to not overcook songs with distortion or pedals. “While you hear Reuben strum, you’ll be able to really feel the roundness of the person strings that brush by means of it.”

The band’s method attracts parallels with current feedback from Moist Leg’s Rhian Teasdale, who described her “epiphany” upon realising “you don’t must be a virtuoso guitarist to take pleasure in enjoying music with your pals”. She’s “very proper”, Bradbury responds. “Certainly not is that this a brand new thought,” elaborates Haycocks, “but it surely’s a private factor if you really realise. Everyone seems to be conscious that numerous chords don’t make a fantastic tune… but it surely’s taking that step your self and really believing what you’re saying. Westside Cowboy was that, for us: the epiphany second.”

It’s why, as their self-named ‘Britainicana’ tag follows their sound onto no matter heights they’ll obtain, these core values will serve them effectively. All 4 write music, individually, of their spare time, however there’s a shared understanding of what defines a Westside Cowboy tune. Accordingly, it’s no shock that It Goes On retains a transparent consistency from high to backside, solidifying the excitement that their first two EPs and talked-about gigs helped generate.

“Your uncle all the time tells you {that a} good tune will nonetheless be an excellent tune on an acoustic guitar, and initially of the band, we simply ran with that,” admits Haycocks. “With out guitars, ‘Britainicana’ wouldn’t have existed.” Bradbury provides the ultimate layer. “The concept of ‘Britainicana’ comes right down to the values round that tune. In case you can’t play it with both a guitar or piano and your voice, the place it nonetheless resembles that piece of music, then perhaps it’s not very Westside Cowboy.”

It Goes On is out now through Island