Cowbell

There are a lot of ingredients on this album that point to a bright future for Cowbell. This duo is composed of Jack Sandham on guitars and Wednesday Lyle on drums. For those of you who don’t know, by the way Wednesday is a woman. This male/ female duo have had considerable national radio airplay already as well as having some prestigious touring under their belts and this before the release of their debut album. Not a bad start.
If you ask me, the buzz is well deserved. Given the expanses of a full album the band really explore their musical loves and this encompasses a lot – from honky tonk blues to fuzzy sixties pop to soul, and managing to do all this without sounding like a thousand different bands, it all has a distinctive Cowbell sound and stamp all over.
Opener tune and Damaged Goods single debut Tallulah is a dirty blues monster complete with a fabulous slide guitar, great stuff. Jack is the lead vocalist on most of the tracks and he has a really powerful soulful voice. Wednesday takes over the lead on a couple of track – “Love Got Me Down” is a two and a half minute blast of killer sixties garage that the Sonics would love to have written. Later on in proceedings “Castle Walls” sees Wednesday back on lead vocals, taking you on a haunting alt country journey. Cowbell and Damaged Goods records is the perfect pairing as basically any of these tracks would work as the perfect 7” vinyl single and that’s a format that DG seem dedicated to keeping alive. There really isn’t a weak song on here. This is a bit of a must for fans of Americana, from alt country to rockabilly to Mississippi delta blues, and for a debut album this is a really impressive piece of work. Tom Chapman - Mass Movement Magazine

There are a lot of ingredients on this album that point to a bright future for Cowbell. This duo is composed of Jack Sandham on guitars and Wednesday Lyle on drums. For those of you who don’t know, by the way Wednesday is a woman. This male/ female duo have had considerable national radio airplay already as well as having some prestigious touring under their belts and this before the release of their debut album. Not a bad start.
If you ask me, the buzz is well deserved. Given the expanses of a full album the band really explore their musical loves and this encompasses a lot – from honky tonk blues to fuzzy sixties pop to soul, and managing to do all this without sounding like a thousand different bands, it all has a distinctive Cowbell sound and stamp all over.
Opener tune and Damaged Goods single debut Tallulah is a dirty blues monster complete with a fabulous slide guitar, great stuff. Jack is the lead vocalist on most of the tracks and he has a really powerful soulful voice. Wednesday takes over the lead on a couple of track – “Love Got Me Down” is a two and a half minute blast of killer sixties garage that the Sonics would love to have written. Later on in proceedings “Castle Walls” sees Wednesday back on lead vocals, taking you on a haunting alt country journey. Cowbell and Damaged Goods records is the perfect pairing as basically any of these tracks would work as the perfect 7” vinyl single and that’s a format that DG seem dedicated to keeping alive. There really isn’t a weak song on here. This is a bit of a must for fans of Americana, from alt country to rockabilly to Mississippi delta blues, and for a debut album this is a really impressive piece of work. Tom Chapman - Mass Movement Magazine

Isn’t it great when you hear a new song that reminds you what rock n roll is all about?
It happened to me the other day when I heard the two minutes and forty six seconds of garage rock bliss that is Tallulah by the improbably named band Cowbell.
Regular readers will know it is not every day that I write about a new band. I think this will be the second new band in nine months. Rather lax of me really, but there you go. So when I point your way to someone new and tell you how great they are you know I am genuinely excited about them.

Cowbell are a two piece band featuring Jack Sandham on guitar and Wednesday Lyle on drums. The duo first played together in 2009 and released their first single in July 2010. Since then they have released a couple more singles and have now just finished recording their first album which will be called Beat Stampede. Tallulah – the first single off the album – has just been released and in my humble opinion it is a belter. There’s some wicked slide guitar with a fuzzy guitar tone that Billy Gibbons would be proud of and it just rocks, rocks…and rocks some more. There’s none of your fancy Alt-J stuff here, and in the nicest possible way it is all the better for it. No intricate arpeggios or complicated arrangements. Sometimes you just want a band to play a great catchy tune and rock out. Cowbell is that band.

Or, if you want a more muso-type description: Think delta-blues tinged garage rock with a sixties vibe.

Debut album Beat Stampede will be released on the 8th October and to celebrate the launch, Cowbell are playing the Lexington, London on the 10th October. Tickets are just £6 and are available here. See you at the front. If nothing else, this is going to be the best band ever to ask for an encore: More Cowbell! More Cowbell!

In the meantime, I wanted to find out a bit more about Jack and Wednesday. They got in touch and were very charming as you can tell from the resulting conversation. (Spoiler: if you’re a Mumford & Sons fan you might want to look away now….)

Q. What was the first song you played together?

Jack: Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Q. One for Wednesday – What prompted you to start playing the drums?

Wednesday: I started playing one night with Jack and some friends, just messing around really but I loved it, so I decided to teach myself by hiring out a studio and playing along to my ipod. I think I played a lot of Creedence.

Q. One for Jack – When did you first pick up a guitar?

Jack: When I was a teen but I sold it at a car boot sale.

Q. Was there a moment when you realised you had something as a duo?

Wednesday: Playing together felt great right from the start. We had lots of musical references in common and had been friends a long time so could communicate really well. When we got a positive response from our live gigs and recordings we got more confident that something good was happening.

Q. How easy has it really been to get to this point (where you have an album released)?

Jack: Musically it has been very natural, we came to a point where we had a collection of songs that would work as an LP. Finding the right label was not so easy. We were really glad when Damaged Goods came into the picture. It seems like a good match-up.

Q. What do you think of the album & how would you describe it?

Jack; I’m really pleased with it. We recorded with Ed Deegan in Gizzard Studios. He specialises in analogue recording and puts an emphasis on playing live. A lot of the songs were 1st or 2nd takes so the energy is there. We recorded on tape in short sessions over a long period and got more experimental as we went on. There’s plenty of soulful garage blues but there’s lots of other stuff happening too. We made the album to be listened to on vinyl so we made the order work for a side a and b.

Q. What touring plans do you have?

Wednesday: We are playing some European dates in November. We’re hoping to play lots abroad and judging on how the album is received here, perhaps do a tour in the UK, it would certainly be nice to do some festivals in the summer of 2013.

Q. What is your plan? World domination?

Jack: The plan is to keep writing and playing, hope that enough people enjoy it to be able to see new places and do more recording (and eventually dominion over both this planet and the rest of the solar system).

Q, Another one for Wednesday – who is your favourite drummer?

Wednesday: Probably just some of my friends that are drummers – Sam of Monkey Island and Dom of The Loveburns. But I guess Levon Helm and also Papa Jo Jones coz he has the best drumming face.

Q. And Jack: Favourite guitarist?

Jack: Mick Ronson at the moment.

Q. Which artists inspire you?

Jack: 60s girl groups, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Nick Cave, Ray Davies, Steve Marriott…

Wednesday: Patsy Cline, Fred McDowell, Etta James, Memphis Minnie…

Q. What were the first records - Every Record Tells A Story

Isn’t it great when you hear a new song that reminds you what rock n roll is all about?
It happened to me the other day when I heard the two minutes and forty six seconds of garage rock bliss that is Tallulah by the improbably named band Cowbell.
Regular readers will know it is not every day that I write about a new band. I think this will be the second new band in nine months. Rather lax of me really, but there you go. So when I point your way to someone new and tell you how great they are you know I am genuinely excited about them.

Cowbell are a two piece band featuring Jack Sandham on guitar and Wednesday Lyle on drums. The duo first played together in 2009 and released their first single in July 2010. Since then they have released a couple more singles and have now just finished recording their first album which will be called Beat Stampede. Tallulah – the first single off the album – has just been released and in my humble opinion it is a belter. There’s some wicked slide guitar with a fuzzy guitar tone that Billy Gibbons would be proud of and it just rocks, rocks…and rocks some more. There’s none of your fancy Alt-J stuff here, and in the nicest possible way it is all the better for it. No intricate arpeggios or complicated arrangements. Sometimes you just want a band to play a great catchy tune and rock out. Cowbell is that band.

Or, if you want a more muso-type description: Think delta-blues tinged garage rock with a sixties vibe.

Debut album Beat Stampede will be released on the 8th October and to celebrate the launch, Cowbell are playing the Lexington, London on the 10th October. Tickets are just £6 and are available here. See you at the front. If nothing else, this is going to be the best band ever to ask for an encore: More Cowbell! More Cowbell!

In the meantime, I wanted to find out a bit more about Jack and Wednesday. They got in touch and were very charming as you can tell from the resulting conversation. (Spoiler: if you’re a Mumford & Sons fan you might want to look away now….)

Q. What was the first song you played together?

Jack: Come on Baby Let’s Go Downtown by Neil Young and Crazy Horse

Q. One for Wednesday – What prompted you to start playing the drums?

Wednesday: I started playing one night with Jack and some friends, just messing around really but I loved it, so I decided to teach myself by hiring out a studio and playing along to my ipod. I think I played a lot of Creedence.

Q. One for Jack – When did you first pick up a guitar?

Jack: When I was a teen but I sold it at a car boot sale.

Q. Was there a moment when you realised you had something as a duo?

Wednesday: Playing together felt great right from the start. We had lots of musical references in common and had been friends a long time so could communicate really well. When we got a positive response from our live gigs and recordings we got more confident that something good was happening.

Q. How easy has it really been to get to this point (where you have an album released)?

Jack: Musically it has been very natural, we came to a point where we had a collection of songs that would work as an LP. Finding the right label was not so easy. We were really glad when Damaged Goods came into the picture. It seems like a good match-up.

Q. What do you think of the album & how would you describe it?

Jack; I’m really pleased with it. We recorded with Ed Deegan in Gizzard Studios. He specialises in analogue recording and puts an emphasis on playing live. A lot of the songs were 1st or 2nd takes so the energy is there. We recorded on tape in short sessions over a long period and got more experimental as we went on. There’s plenty of soulful garage blues but there’s lots of other stuff happening too. We made the album to be listened to on vinyl so we made the order work for a side a and b.

Q. What touring plans do you have?

Wednesday: We are playing some European dates in November. We’re hoping to play lots abroad and judging on how the album is received here, perhaps do a tour in the UK, it would certainly be nice to do some festivals in the summer of 2013.

Q. What is your plan? World domination?

Jack: The plan is to keep writing and playing, hope that enough people enjoy it to be able to see new places and do more recording (and eventually dominion over both this planet and the rest of the solar system).

Q, Another one for Wednesday – who is your favourite drummer?

Wednesday: Probably just some of my friends that are drummers – Sam of Monkey Island and Dom of The Loveburns. But I guess Levon Helm and also Papa Jo Jones coz he has the best drumming face.

Q. And Jack: Favourite guitarist?

Jack: Mick Ronson at the moment.

Q. Which artists inspire you?

Jack: 60s girl groups, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Nick Cave, Ray Davies, Steve Marriott…

Wednesday: Patsy Cline, Fred McDowell, Etta James, Memphis Minnie…

Q. What were the first records - Every Record Tells A Story

Reviewed By: Dave Goodwin
Label: Damaged Goods
Format: CD
I have to admit I was hooked on 'Beat Stampede' as soon as I heard the bluesy guitar intro to the first track 'Tallulah'. With its slide and twinkling Hammond hidden in the middle, this is a serious blues-ridden piece of head jiggery pokery. This is the first album from long time friends Jack Sandham on guitar and Wednesday Lyle on drums who draw their ideas from United States labels such as Stax, Motown and Sun and British 60's R&B bands. Right up my street I hear you shout. And you'd be right! This offering on Damaged Goods is infectiously good. It's like trying to put a fruit pastel in your mouth without chewing it.

The second track on the album, the third single released from the album in Spring 2011, 'Hanging By a Thread' is in my opinion best of all and is a wicked up-beat slab of shuffledom. We've all been in this situation: "I know your mother thinks I'm up to no good/I haven't done all the the things I should for love."

Following that is the harder hitting 'Never Satisfied' which in November 2010 was Single of the Week on Radio 2, and saw the duo supporting Cast on a thirteen date tour in the process. Then we move on to the introduction of Wednesday as the lead on the honky tonk

'Love Got Me Sown'has a real R&B feel with that blues driven guitar and also has a big piano sound in places. Midway into the album is for me rock and roll at its fuzzy best with 'Mississippi', which is so so good and recalls Jack Whit.

The retro 60's mix of whichever band comes to mind on 'Scratch My Back' comes next, and if you like your R&B complete with a handclapping piano sax 'Bills' is for you. Again, this is another swipe at everyday strife: "She said it gonna pay the bills/One more red letter and I'm on my way."

Wednesday shines through once again on the magnificently sublime 'Castle Walls' insisting that "You aint/No, you aint gonna take my heart" which is followed by their first ever single 'Oh Girl', released in July 2010 and consequently generating interest from Lauren Laverne and Chris Hawkins on BBC 6Music.

It is all finished off in good style with 'All in Good Time', a head-shaking finger-snapper of an offering that caught me pumping an imaginary drum pedal. The message seems to be stop chasing whatever it is that you are wasting your time chasing. If you are good at what you do people will sit up and take notice. Let's hope the theme in 'All in Good Time' stays true to form. Cowbell are good what they do. People should sit up and listen if they aren't already. This gem of a first outing should catapult them to greater heights.

'Beat Stampede' is fuelled by two very talented and capable musicians. It's an album that, in all honesty, if a lot of the present day critics dug a little deeper might just become an album of the year. They have a stripped back sound that is full to the brim of blues backed R&B and good old rock and roll tunes that will infect your ears for months if not years to come.
- Penny Black Music

Reviewed By: Dave Goodwin
Label: Damaged Goods
Format: CD
I have to admit I was hooked on 'Beat Stampede' as soon as I heard the bluesy guitar intro to the first track 'Tallulah'. With its slide and twinkling Hammond hidden in the middle, this is a serious blues-ridden piece of head jiggery pokery. This is the first album from long time friends Jack Sandham on guitar and Wednesday Lyle on drums who draw their ideas from United States labels such as Stax, Motown and Sun and British 60's R&B bands. Right up my street I hear you shout. And you'd be right! This offering on Damaged Goods is infectiously good. It's like trying to put a fruit pastel in your mouth without chewing it.

The second track on the album, the third single released from the album in Spring 2011, 'Hanging By a Thread' is in my opinion best of all and is a wicked up-beat slab of shuffledom. We've all been in this situation: "I know your mother thinks I'm up to no good/I haven't done all the the things I should for love."

Following that is the harder hitting 'Never Satisfied' which in November 2010 was Single of the Week on Radio 2, and saw the duo supporting Cast on a thirteen date tour in the process. Then we move on to the introduction of Wednesday as the lead on the honky tonk

'Love Got Me Sown'has a real R&B feel with that blues driven guitar and also has a big piano sound in places. Midway into the album is for me rock and roll at its fuzzy best with 'Mississippi', which is so so good and recalls Jack Whit.

The retro 60's mix of whichever band comes to mind on 'Scratch My Back' comes next, and if you like your R&B complete with a handclapping piano sax 'Bills' is for you. Again, this is another swipe at everyday strife: "She said it gonna pay the bills/One more red letter and I'm on my way."

Wednesday shines through once again on the magnificently sublime 'Castle Walls' insisting that "You aint/No, you aint gonna take my heart" which is followed by their first ever single 'Oh Girl', released in July 2010 and consequently generating interest from Lauren Laverne and Chris Hawkins on BBC 6Music.

It is all finished off in good style with 'All in Good Time', a head-shaking finger-snapper of an offering that caught me pumping an imaginary drum pedal. The message seems to be stop chasing whatever it is that you are wasting your time chasing. If you are good at what you do people will sit up and take notice. Let's hope the theme in 'All in Good Time' stays true to form. Cowbell are good what they do. People should sit up and listen if they aren't already. This gem of a first outing should catapult them to greater heights.

'Beat Stampede' is fuelled by two very talented and capable musicians. It's an album that, in all honesty, if a lot of the present day critics dug a little deeper might just become an album of the year. They have a stripped back sound that is full to the brim of blues backed R&B and good old rock and roll tunes that will infect your ears for months if not years to come.
- Penny Black Music