cowboyy, a south-coast quartet bursting at the seams with math riffs have taken London, and the UK by storm. They’ve already caught the attention of NME, Clash, SoYoung, and if you are a Windmill-band enthusiast you will most likely have heard of them. Self-described as The Guy in cowboyy, Charlotte Foulkes-Hannam had the pleasure to speak to Stan Powell about his project, and their debut EP light-heartedly named Epic the Movie. Available on streaming now!
Without further ado, here are some of the things we spoke about:
First of all, if you'd like to kind of introduce your role in the band and kind of, what cowboyy is?
S: I'm Stan, as you said. I'm sort of like The Guy in cowboyy. Have you seen Spy Kids 3? You know Elijah Wood at the end? That's me, you know what I'm saying?
Yeah, you're The Guy.
S: I play guitar and I write the songs, I do the vocals, and for this EP, I'm involved in the production, and I co-produced it with Dave Evans.
And you play with a band for live shows, how did you all meet?
S: You've got Reubin on bass, who also does vocals - we have known each other for the longest time - when I was like 15/16.
And then you've got Kai on guitar, who would jam with Ruben and I during lockdown - I think I just put on my story, like, does anyone play guitar?
Rhys - our drummer - joined at the start of January after the EP was recorded. A Portsmouth blog Mix It Up had reposted that we needed a drummer, Rhys saw the advert and messaged us, and he was in a band called Spinwar that I used to really like. Now Rhys is my best friend ever so thanks to Mix It Up.
For people who don't know cowboyy, what kind of sound would you describe yourself as? I know that's a really difficult question for some people, but if you could kind of sum it up, what would it be?
S: I'd say it's just like an alternative guitar thing, really. We're a new band and we have a couple different mixes of genres, at the moment we're not defined, early 2000s guitar, like math rock and stuff like that.
"I'd never done anything for myself and wanted to do something for myself. The one goal was to make it personal."
So for the EP, did you create the concept yourself, how did it come about? What were the influences, and inspirations for these songs?
S: I played in a bunch of previous bands but I'd always done lead guitar or drums and bass. I’d play on songs, produce, and help with songwriting but I'd never done anything to the level of this is a real band, not just a SoundCloud thing. I'd never done anything for myself and wanted to do something for myself. The one goal was to make it personal, but I was writing the songs at 19, I’m 22 now.
So it's been a while, do you still feel like they reflect you?
S: Even now talking about it, I feel silly saying it's a reflection of me. The lyrics and vocals reflected me at that time. I hate lyrics, I just want to put it on the song so it's not missing it. I’m confident with production and guitar but vocals are quite new for me. I feel on edge about them, and whether they're good. At heart, I’m a producer, I wanted to explore certain production styles and release songs rather than try and do something thematic. it wasn't intentionally an EP, just a bunch of songs.
Why the name Epic the Movie?
S: It's just like a silly joke, to be honest, I didn't really want to massively put it as an EP. I find the whole conceptual project idea really pretentious. I think a lot of the time the artists are just making up shit.
The latest single released was Plastic, what was the reaction to that? Is it about pollution? I read that somewhere.
S: It seems all right so far. As you said, a lot of people think it's about pollution. I think it's more just like any of the other songs, an expression of a thought process that I might have had at one point. If it was about pollution, maybe I'd be dropping facts or something, do you know what I mean?
Yeah, it doesn’t have to be political.
S: The songs are more observations of different things. I make one or two key lyrics and build the rest of the song around it. Same with Gmaps. There are themes in each song, but they are not direct “this is what I think of the world.” Firstly, that’s hard to do, and secondly, I don’t think anyone cares. I do think it's cool to hear other people's interpretations of it and stuff.
Have you had any interesting feedback; do you bother reading reviews?
S: I read a review just before this, I was laughing at this review, and they said my vocals sound like David Brent from The Office. I’ve never even seen The Office, I had to google it, so I'm probably like an idiot or something.
That's so funny. I mean, I’d never draw that parallel, people do come up with a lot of different things to say.
You developed the tracks before going into the - especially London- gig scene. You’ve been doing a lot of gigs recently, so how was jumping into that, taking the project to the stage?
S: I think our first gig of the year was at The Social and then it was Shacklewell. Since then, it’s been flying. I think the next step for us is to create more of a free-flowing live experience. We want the live show and the recording to be different, with more improv in the songs etc. But in general, the live stuff is where the band sits at the moment. It’s what we're working on, and we want people to come and see us live! Don't watch a video on YouTube, the shows are where we're putting the work really.
When you switch things up at a gig, do you prefer certain versions to the recorded one and think, oh, wish that was in there? Are you a perfectionist?
S: Yeah yeah, I think that's quite a hard thing for me. My manager will say we're going to get this song mastered and we've had the mix for like three months, and then I'll turn around and say I actually want to go back in the studio and add some more stuff. I kind of try to do it to a point where I don't have those thoughts. But for the first EP, I'm happy with how it was recorded because I did that all with my own money and produced it all.
What’s the process like now?
S: Now we're talking to other producers and going to nice studios, playing cool London gigs. That wasn't happening when we were recording stuff. There's no way I could have foreseen that, just being in Emsworth, a random town on the South Coast.
But now it's quite hard because we're doing our first album at the moment. We recorded a couple of tracks at the start of the year and already we've added more parts to them and our performance of them is better. Rhys and I went back and redid some drums and guitars. So, it does happen. Even if it's the slightest bit of doubt, I think it's enough to say, let's redo it. If we don't like how a song's going, we're just like, let's leave this for a bit and go work on something else that is working.
The EP is going to be pressed onto vinyl. Well, it has been. Have you had your hands on it yet?
S: No, but it's been shipped off, so I will in a few days, but Alex from Nice Swan sent me a photo of his vinyl and yeah I think it's pretty cool, to be honest. It is a milestone.
Do you collect records?
S: I don't know if I'm some kind of fake music lover, I don't have any types of vinyl. My EP will be my first record, which feels like some crazy ego thing. I think it would be really cool to have it physically. And to see it in a shop or something, the blue square amongst all the other vinyl, that would be really cool.
Will you be on the summer festival circuit this year?
S: Yeah, Truck and YNot festival. We're doing the So Young stage of Truck, there are a couple of bands that we've played with before on it as well, which is nice.
"I feel like I'm just really like some kind of contradiction right now, but I don't go to festivals or enjoy festivals either. I went to Reading when I was 13 with my dad to see BABYMETAL, and we missed it, then we went to see Tyler the Creator and it got cancelled."
And you get a free ticket too!
S: I feel like I'm just really like some kind of contradiction right now, but I don't go to festivals or enjoy festivals either. I went to Reading when I was 13 with my dad to see BABYMETAL, and we missed it, then we went to see Tyler the Creator and it got cancelled.
Maybe it will start your love for festivals, you never know.
S: Maybe I’ll take up camping and rolling in the mud.
Any goals for 2023?
S: Our one goal is definitely to finish the album this year, but to try and get it out and released as well.
Will the album be more collaborative than the EP?
S: Everyone else is definitely more involved now, cowboyy is still a solo project in a way but we are all going to work on it together and have different parts. Rhys has more of an input than anyone because he's queued up with theory, and we are trying to be more experimental.
Finally, can you name any artists/bands off the bat that we should be looking out for this year, that fans of yours should check out too?
S: Definitely Scab, they’re local to me, a two-piece grindcore band. Really, really awesome live. Most of their songs are like 30-seconds to a minute long. They do like a 50-song set, and they just blast through it all really quick.
I'm a really big fan of Pushpin, who we play the windmill and stuff with quite a lot, and lastly Middleman. They’re a really great band who we’re playing with at Rough Trade. So, Scab, Pushpin, Middleman. Those are my three.
Thank you to Stan from cowboyy for these insights, check their EP out now, and catch them live to get the full cowboyy experience!
Charlotte Foulkes-Hannam
Edited by Roxann Yus
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