Cowboy Curse

Sometimes the wait is so fucking worth it. Cowboy Curse has taken its sweet time putting together a debut album; a year and half has passed since the release of the Welcome to Cowboy Curse EP, a three-track teaser of smart, bashful, damn near flawless indie pop. But the trio has finally sewn up the as-yet-untitled full-length, which is slated for a February release. If anything, the threesome has gotten even catchier, expanding its power-pop platform with hints of thorny feedback and hummable dissonance. The band itself has gone through some changes, too: Founding drummer Josh Bergstrand, late of the Symptoms, left this summer and was replaced by Erin Tidwell, formerly of the now-defunct FlashBangs. Tidwell's voice melts perfectly into the confectionary harmonies of guitarist Ben Bergstrand and Tyler Campo, resulting in some of the most gorgeous hooks since Squeeze, Camper Van Beethoven and Built to Spill ruled the earth - Westword Jason Heller

Cowboy Curse ain't full of cowboys, nor does the band curse (very much). The three-piece is made up of two guys -- Ben Bergstrand and Tyler Campo, who sing like girls -- and Erin Tidwell, a girl who drums like, well, a beat-keeping madwoman. The Curse plays pop like socially conscious indie rockers serious about having fun. Since its three-song EP debut back in September 2004, the act has been busy solidifying its lineup and writing and recording Nod Up and Down (to the Simulcast Singing), its long-anticipated full-length on Public Service Records. So was it worth the wait? Yee-haw.

Westword: You guys generally have a very upbeat pop sound. Do you ever fantasize about one day breaking out a wicked metal riff or something?

Ben Bergstrand: Lately... [laughs]. Actually, lately I've sort of given thought to what would happen further down the road. I play clarinet. I've played clarinet since I was five years old. And that's still sitting in a closet someplace. Maybe that's the next thing.

Tyler Campo: Yeah, down the line. Three bass players and an accordion -- that'd be sweet.

BB: Israeli Cowboys. That'll be the name of the band.

Erin Tidwell: I dream about the drum solo.

Do you ever consider the effect of having a girl in the band?

TC: I don't really think about it. Me and Ben are pretty big wusses, so having a girl hasn't really changed much.

BB: It's definitely not a negative thing. When you go to a rock show here, it's a lot more dudes out there than girls, generally. So if anything, it's probably a good thing for us. Instead of three dudes up there, at least there's somebody else to look at that's prettier than me or Tyler.

TC: I think people are really impressed by her drumming. That stands on its own, anyway. But the fact that she's female adds something to it. There's not a ton of female drummers in the world, and very few that play at the caliber that she does.

What are your lives like outside the band?

BB: I'm a first-grade teacher, so that's a big part of my life. And I feel that it's a very important part of my life. I'm very passionate about that job. I'm married, and I have a kid that will be here in November. It's my opinion -- I mean, if your life is solely invested in a band, how well-balanced are you?

TC: Especially, and I would just say this as a generalization, if you don't have a life outside of just music, what the fuck are you going to talk about? Are you going to write about hanging out at bars? That's cool and all, but how many albums can you really milk out of that?

BB: I really think it's important to do other things in your life. Maybe being in a band is just an impetus for that. Maybe you're in a band, and that makes you more politically active or something like that, and songs come out of that. So, yeah, I don't have to write songs about sitting on a bar stool. - Tuyet Nugyen WESTWORD

A couple years ago they might have been another alt country band, but today, with a tour under their belt and glowing Westword write-ups, Denver’s Cowboy Curse has arrived as one of the best indie pop bands around. Their sound is tinged with a brew of pop past and present; we hear echoes of the Beatles, The Zombies, and the Left Banke, as well as Elf Power and The Dandy Warhols. Lead singer Ben Bergstrand offers the timbre of a Frank Black who has abandoned his vocal eccentricities for a more conventional, melody-oriented presentation. And there’s plenty of swelling three-part harmony to go around, making Cowboy Curse one of the most melodically intense groups in town.

The April release of Nod Your Heads Up and Down (Public Service Records 2006) marks the band’s three-year existence. They formed in early 2003 and started playing shows in the fall of that year, and have since gone on to release an EP and reign in August 2005 as the chart darlings of Radio 1190. The release of their new full-length record will be at the Hi-dive on April 28th, 2006. The Reverend Dead-eye will be there, as well as a host of other local musicians slated to help bring this long-anticipated full-length at last into the scene’s hands. You can expect to see raw, no-nonsense instrumentation, a crowd of clapping hands, and you will hear with pleasure that infectious three-part harmony that gets so much attention from people like me. Unfortunately I have not heard the full-length, but I’ve sampled a compilation of Cowboy Curse’s recordings and I’ve seen them twice over the years, and they have by all accounts moved on from an awkward country group playing out of Colorado Rehearsal Studios to a full-fledge pop-melody machine. Songs like “In Spite” move with the pepped-up guitar and bashful melodies of The Zombies, while “Late Night Rodeo” slows the listener down with its sleepy, prairie-night ease, capping the spectrum of Cowboy Curse’s eclectic pop styling.

The band is made up of Ben Bergstrand (vocals/guitar), Tyler Campo (bass/vocals), and Erin Tidwell (drums/vocals). It is always a feat to me to see a drummer manage his instrument and sing at the same time, and Tidwell’s ability to both play and harmonize at once if further testimony to the band’s musical mastering. It might seem like pop on the surface, but Cowboy Curse is perhaps the last great local fusion of pop simplicity and harmonic sophistication. Head out on the 28th and experience the melodies.

Stephen Brooks - Japan Implosion Stephen Brooks

There is a legend in these lands of a three-piece band that would form and renovate the West; with hooks of gold and a will of iron, these lads and lasses would set out to reconfigure the viewpoint of the great mountain territory. But with great power-pop comes great responsibility. Denver-based Cowboy Curse are ready for this great responsibility, and with the release of their first full-length, Nod up and Down (…to the simulcast singing), on Public Service Records, the band is clearly on the right track.

The band formed in the colder months of 2003. Lead singer and songwriter, Ben Bergstrand, created the band with his brother, Josh, and bassist Tyler Campo. The band went through a number of lineup changes before Josh decided to leave the band because of the number of man-hours he was putting in for both the Symptoms and Cowboy Curse, a departure that brought upon the introduction of Erin Tidwell as drummer.

The record was recorded over the span of a few months. "We recorded at Uneven Studios with Bryan Feuchtinger," says Ben. "He's got a great little operation and knows what we're looking for." The band approaches recording slightly differently from their approach to live shows. "The recording sounds really different, the songs sound essentially the same, but on the recordings we can have choral effects and the overdubs that add sonic layers to the songs." Those sonic layers are the key to Cowboy Curse's songs - the massive layering of instruments and vocal harmonies relay the image of sonic vibrations that Ben sees when he envisions the song at its start. Their first responsibility comes from the engagement of aural senses both live and on the recording, and the band manages to do well at both. The end result is a sort of mishmash of post-Brian Wilson pop with the edge of '70s and '80s punk. It's a stalwart clatter that resonates in the memory both for its pop-momentum and its lyrical forwardness, the result a head-bobbing tune that'll be stuck in your head on the way to the office for days to come.

"When I write songs I basically have them figured out, lyrical-wise, chord-wise, change-wise," says Ben, who is unflinching when it comes to this matter. He is a decided front man, a leader - the main speaker for the band. When the Cowboys meet you at noon for the shootout, it will be Ben's shadow that appears first on the horizon.Lyrically, the band may be more subversive than on first notice, with their pop hooks it might be difficult to imagine the larger pictures that Cowboy Curse is attempting to portray. "The song 'Last World's Fair' is about people not really thinking everything through, listening to what you've heard on the news, or just one key idea that a politician has and not the whole picture," says Ben. The band is making their best effort to make a difference, playing benefits, and as Ben says, "My lyrics do a lot of talking and I'd like to be able to walk the walk as well." Some songs are more confronting than others. The last lyric to "Shoot a Boy" is "I wonder what it's like to get shot by a cop." The quip comes at the end of the song's three-minute poppy section, before suddenly colliding to complete silence as the last lyric is uttered.

The connection of the artwork to the message is key. "The title of the album comes from one of the lyrics, 'nod your head up and down to the simulcast singing' which refers to doing what you're told to do, or what everyone around you seems to think you should do," says Ben, "It's essentially a dude in a suit with a computer head; it's as close as we could get the conceptual idea that you kind of do what people tell you to without really thinking about it." Over the years the band's main artist has been Ben's brother and former band member, Josh, but recently Erin has taken on the role of creating flyers as well. "I'm not sure if Josh was just getting too busy," says Ben, "or if since most venues do flyers as well, the creation of a flyer for every show was becoming less important."

The music scene is important, and the purpose of creating it is always in question from non-cowboys and grown-ups alike. Ben comments that, "Music with some sort of purpose, with actions behind it, is the kind of music that I want to hear." Like a Sam Peckinpah classic, these three politi-poppers stand high above the prairie, the underdogs in a race to save humanity - or at least make it a little better.

With a six-stringed shooter, drumsticks of death and the pummeling sound of a four-string machine, the trio of Cowboy Curse is as heartfelt and aware as anyone could ever ask for in their western heroes. Never mind the fact that this isn't country - these Midwestern mountaineers are well equipped to handle a shootout, and the responsibility of public art is far from lost on them. The release of this first full-length album marks a change in the best of directions: with the band gearing up for a Western tour after the release, the gospel of Cowboy Curse will soon be able to be heard across the U.S. With power and responsibility colliding, the best the rest of us can hope for is the success of one of Denver's most interesting bands.

Thorin Klosowski - UCD ADVOCATE