“We felt like we really wanted to keep to the bedroom sound we had, we didn’t want to necessarily sound like a big stage band.” Just take single ‘Pin Up Boys’ which will already hit like a familiar friend to anyone who’s seen the band live, a rawness at play as it soars anthemically, Reuben angstily overspilling: “If nothing else, at least I looked alive / I was standing to attention by the time that you arrived.”


“We took certain cues from the live performance element of it but it was about getting the right energy, we wanted to keep feeling dinky, small and rough in a way,” he says. Jimmy sounds like a superfan of the band as he enthuses, “one of my favourite bits of that recording specifically is Reuben hitting the first E-chord so hard it just goes ‘bwhaam!!!’. The guitar goes completely out of tune then it all comes back. It’s just so cool and we only did that once.”


For all the wider noise and excitement around the band, their own sense of impulsivity and fun is the most important factor when it comes to their writing. A standout moment on the record comes with ‘Coyote’, which has an intimate, lo-fi campfire charm as Aoife softly sings atop a scratchy guitar: “And if you’re the man of the people / Well then we’re all fucking doomed / Oh Mister Coyote / I wish I had never met you.”


“We literally wrote it days before we went into the studio because we were leaving a space open for something that came along,” she explains. “It’s a classic thing we all say, ‘it’s probably not a Cowboy idea but it’s just an idea’, then that takes the pressure off it. We had a go at it and it passed all the checkpoints. It’s really nice to have a collection of songs that span a wide period of time in our lives.”



Given the band are very much a product of the community on their doorstep, the decision made sense. “We thought the first album should be made in England considering our journey,” he notes. “We got Loren to come over to the studio and it was a big learning curve for us all. We appreciate now how much a room can affect a record. The record sounds like Greenmount to me as much as it does all of our instruments.”


“When we did ‘So Much Country…’ in America, there were some things we really enjoyed from it but the main thing though was Loren,” adds Paddy. “It was cool being out in America but we felt like fish out of water a little bit. It was quite a lot, quite quickly so we wanted to go back to what we knew. We care a lot about being at home and we feel quite strongly about protecting that.”


“Now we’re in a much better position, there’s this constant pressure to just up and leave everything you’ve built and worked towards; whether that’s the city you live in, the scene of bands or the studios or the people you work with but why would you? You put all these hours into making these connections, I’d argue that’s way more important than any microphone or amp or live room that they’ve got out in LA.”


The decision to rein it in spoke to their own love of what makes a great debut album. “We speak a lot about how much we love first albums because it’s just people going for it and taking this chance that they never probably thought they’d have,” notes Aoife.


“They’re often really young sounding: if you want to make something that feels genuine, I think you have to feel like yourself making it. In my limited experience in the States, I felt completely absent from myself and therefore I don’t know who’s in the room performing, whereas in Leeds it’s like, these are the four people who have been doing this all along.”

“It’s always the dream to be part of a scene that lifts people up,” says Reuben. “It’s all about giving each other opportunities. They deserve to be playing in front of a lot of people so we’re really proud to help them get that opportunity.” Paddy adds: “They’ve come at it from a similar angle to us in terms of honing it live and working so hard. We were so lucky with that Black Country tour so early in our own journey so it’s cool to help out.”


With an in-store run to support the arrival of ‘It Goes On’, the band are also enjoying seeing their own community of fans take shape. “It’s so nice because we don’t know what a Westside Cowboy fan looks like,” Aoife offers. “We played a show the other day and you honestly couldn’t put anyone in a category. The thing that’s most rewarding is seeing anyone take something from our music that inspires them to be creative.”


For Paddy, the joy has been seeing each other grow. “Aoife had never played bass and hadn’t written any songs before this band so that journey is amazing to see. “We’d been messing around in terrible bands for years and then Aoife joined and it felt different. Everyone has their own unique view on things but having her has brought an outside perspective that’s allowed us to move in so many directions.”


Aoife bounces that praise right back. “I’m so proud of this album, I’m really appreciative to have two separate songwriters in the band with Jimmy and Reuben who bring lyrics and ideas. It’s almost like a cheat card we have because it’s two completely different perspectives and ways of going about things. We’re obviously the same band but we can get away with playing because all of those nuances are so different.”


The biggest triumph is that Westside Cowboy have emerged from the eye of the storm with a debut album that’s intrinsically their own. As they have so far, they’ll protect and nurture their core values of community and carefree fun moving into the future. “We’re very lucky to have such a great team around us,” confirms Paddy, as he cracks a smile. “We’re very inward and we’ve got a great bubble, but of course we still go to the pub.”


‘It Goes On’ is out 21st August via Island.

Tags: Features, Interviews, From The Magazine, July / August 2026, Westside Cowboy