Interview DIY Class of 2026: Westside Cowboy

Tonight, the harmonies are spotless. Reuben’s wailing guitar solo in recent single ‘Don’t Throw Rocks’ pierces into the memory. Softly-spoken with his words, Paddy bears a closer resemblance to Dave Grohl behind the kit, as he puts obscene amounts of welly into his performance.

“It was never a thing of [saying], ‘oh, we need to really work on our live show so that we’ll get bigger’,” says Reuben. “The fact that people enjoy it is amazing, and adds petrol to the fire. I don’t think any of us have ever felt much pressure for the live stuff. If we didn’t find it fun, I’m sure that pressure would inevitably build up.”

“There’s no crazy tunings or time signatures…” counters a humble Paddy. “There are some fucking shocking videos from End Of The Road,” deadpans Aoife. “I hope people aren’t jumping on a bandwagon or making things up! We don’t watch a lot of videos, but sometimes I’ll see them [and think], ‘you guys think this is good?!’”

“We had such an insane summer, even without Glastonbury,” says Aoife. “The fact that we got to play was almost better for the idea that my grandma knew what Glastonbury was!” adds Reuben. “For a lot of people looking, it was a sort of milestone… the same gravitas wouldn’t really apply to other festivals.”

“But we’re all very much in our own world,” continues Paddy, downplaying the word-of-mouth fanfare that’s trailed the band. “Our tour manager has been in the game a little while and he’s like, ‘it’s not your job to look at what anyone else is saying about you. You gotta write, record, and then you play’.”

It’s a healthy formula to follow while continuing to traverse unfamiliar surroundings as the stages grow in size. “We always try to stay as close as we can to each other in the middle of the stage,” says James. “None of these wireless systems!” Making the 300-capacity Belgrave feel intimate, the band crowd around one central mic - Beatles style - for ‘In The Morning’, a stripped-down cut that’s closed the majority of the 90-plus sets they’ve played in 2025.

The song is also emblematic of the fact that Westside Cowboy have no sole frontperson. Though Aoife’s mic takes centre stage tonight, lead vocal duties are shared with Reuben and James. “It gives you a load more choices, if something isn’t working or something’s boring,” she explains.

“Why would you be in a band if you wanted that?” asks Paddy. “Obviously, there’s so many examples [of bandleaders] that contradict that, but the whole point of a band is that you are four pieces. You’re all cogs in this machine that’s way more interesting than just you, playing drums, in your bedroom. It’s nice to vary things, though. It’s natural.”

“I like to think that we’re five or six songs into our second album now,” smiles Reuben, who recently abandoned an approach of churning out songs on a daily basis. “I like the idea that we’re always one step ahead. When we inevitably get writer’s block, if that exists, we can rest easy on all of this work that we’ve put in beforehand.”

Coming to terms with the “dream world” they now live in, the band are aware of making sure the pace remains on their terms, as they acclimatise to their now major label era. “It’s like any new job,” points out Reuben. “When you’re starting, you don’t have the confidence to say, ‘I’m not going to do that.’ But you get to know the people around you, and realise that everybody’s human - even in the music industry.”

Paddy doubles down. “People have said that we’re a ‘hype band’ - we want to do this band for as long as we can, in the most sustainable fashion. While [our manager] may move - in the admin world - at a mile per minute, we have our own pace. We’d rather do things right than be some fucking rocket that’s out of control and capitulates in six months.”

Given their road-testing approach, James explains how EP cut ‘Strange Taxidermy’ has lived many lives, coming back around from the energised live version to “what it originally was intended for” with the assistance of New York producer Loren Humphrey. “Recorded music and live music are two completely different things, especially in the world of bands,” proclaims Aoife. “You’re confined, live, because we like playing as the four of us, and there’s only a limit to how many hands and how many mouths you have. You have endless - for good and bad - when you’re recording.”

“You want to make music that feels timeless, but it should also capture where a band is in that precise moment,” adds Paddy. “There’s stupid shit on this EP that we would not have let ourselves do on the first EP, because we’re -” “Selling out!” pipes up Reuben.

As the laughter continues and Paddy starts to doodle on the window fog, Westside Cowboy’s mission statement going into 2026 appears to be a pure one: to have as much fun as possible. Chasing enjoyment, not perfection, will stand them in good stead, as they try to honour the principles of the project that they started in their bedrooms.

“The EP sounds like a band figuring themselves out, which we are so happy to run with,” beams Aoife. “It’s learning to be okay with [making] 10 hours of shit!” quips James. Paddy acknowledges that even Bob Dylan’s discography has some “crazy misses.”

Fundamentally, though, Westside Cowboy invite the world to partake in their joy. Atop the stage in Leeds, they egg on anyone who is able to jump up and down. Even Reuben, who was raised on English folk music, speaks fondly of The Wombats mosh-pit he dived into at Reading Festival 2019. “I’d like to put out a Westside Cowboy announcement,” concludes Aoife. “You can enjoy live music however you want, but if you want to dance - please dance. We really want to be a dancing band!”

‘So Much Country ‘Till We Get There’ is out on 16th January via Island Records. 

Tags: Features, Interviews, Neu, Class of 2026, Class of…, December 2025 / January 2026, From The Magazine, Westside Cowboy