Westside Cowboy have shared their rousing new single ‘Pin Up Boys’, and announced a run of record store live shows.
It is the latest taste of the Manchester quartet’s upcoming debut album ‘It Goes On’, which is set for release on August 21 via Island Records. Pre-order it here.
‘Pin Up Boys’ is the second single to be taken from the record, following the “mad, ’70s rock” lead single ‘Kick Stones (The Boys)’, which arrived last month.
Beginning with Reuben Haycocks’ vocals over a sparse arrangement, the track builds into a rousing quiet-loud indie anthem, showing off the band’s knack for channelling classic guitar sounds into something contemporary.
Check out the video, directed by Saturday Night Live UK’s Jack Shep, here:
Speaking about the track, the NME 100 alumni have said: “‘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.”
‘It Goes On’ has been produced by Loren Humphrey, whose previous credits include Geese, Cameron Winter and Wunderhorse, at Greenmount Studios in Leeds.
The band have also announced a run of record store shows around the album’s release, with tickets set to go on sale on Thursday (July 2) – find yours here. These dates join their already-announced UK and European tour, which you can see in full here.
AUGUST
19 – Brighton, Resident
20 – London, Rough Trade East
25 – Leeds, Jumbo
27 – Liverpool, Rough Trade
SEPTEMBER
3 – Nottingham, Rough Trade
4 – Glasgow, Assai
NME spoke to the band for The Cover this February, where they told us about the makings of their debut single ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’.
“For us, Westside was all about bringing the fun back into the music generally,” vocalist/guitarist Reuben Haycocks said. “In a songwriting sense, we were taking everything a little less seriously. As soon as we stopped putting loads of pressure on ourselves to make something great, the stuff that came out was much more authentically us.”