WESTSIDE COWBOY + HOLLY HEAD – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 7.2.26
Ever since the 1950s, Britain and America have been locked into a cultural exchange. The ‘60s British Invasion gave America The Beatles and The Rolling Stones – artists repackaging American Blues and Rock in a distinctly British fashion. In the years following, there’s been a constant back and forth. For every Kings Of Leon we champion first, America gets Cymande decades before. Our cultures are so indelibly linked; there’s an unspoken rule of borrowing: we take each other’s music, and put our own twist on it to give back.
The tit-for-tat continues tonight as Westside Cowboy seem next up for this exchange – flying the flag for self-proclaimed ‘Britainicana’ alongside contemporaries Divorce. Fittingly, the band’s name is taken from a 19th-century term for cowboys who rode alongside trains to prevent accidents. It’s apt imagery for a group that always sounds within inches of falling off their tracks. They meld The Replacements’ urgent college-radio punk, Johnny Cash country traditionalism, with an ear for an ‘00s indie hook.
Westside Cowboy arrive at The Hope & Ruin a month after the release of EP ‘So Much Country Til’ We Get There’ after spending 2025 in small venues and support slots. In fact, tonight marks their seventh Brighton appearance in a year; headlining Rossi Bar in March for the venue’s sixth birthday, supporting Blondshell at Chalk back in September, and no less than 4 dates as part of The Great Escape back in May.
Supporting tonight are fellow Mancunian band Holly Head comprised of Joe Moss (guitar/vocals), Oscar Wheatley (drums), Liam Kelly (bass) and Josh Seddon (guitar). Their sound falls somewhere between The Fall’s twitchiness and Fela Kuti’s restless groove – creating a ticking time bomb of erratic funk, shoutiness and post-punk. Holly Head are primed to explode into political indignation at any moment – perfect for Radio 6 airtime.
Arriving on stage to an already jam-packed room, Holly Head impress – their constant fidgeting and flailing matches the collagic approach of their sound. Openers ‘Truman’ and ‘5/4’ utilise stop-start rhythm to aberrate Bombay Bicycle Club’s blue-eyed world music into unpredictability with Jungle drum patterns and infuriated, shouted lyrics to punctuate.
Throughout, Holly Head create something spontaneous and restless – never settling in one sound long enough to be pigeon holed into it. Whilst debatably due to the ‘work in progress’ status of a number of tracks, there is an immense amount of promise. The band never stops moving, twitching and thrashing through every Midwestern-emo-flirting time signature. Despite treating tonight as a workshop for new material, 2024 single ‘No Gain’ is still unleashed – enthralling and representative of their sound, it blends Maruja’s unpredictability with the slam of Fugazi’s hardcore. Concluding line “nothing in my life/ has made me trust in the people who/run the country I live in” feels scarily accurate to our current political instability despite a 2024 release.
Seemingly sonically disparate, Holly Head share more than just a city of origin with headliners Westside Cowboy. They share a form of curiosity that can only come with unadulterated access to the internet, and their parents’ record collection – melding together disparate genres into something cobbled but eminently fresh. It earns cheers from a rapidly growing audience, enjoying a surprising “I was there” moment before Westside Cowboy’s train arrives.
Holly Head:
Joe Moss – guitar, vocals
Josh Seddon – guitar
Liam Kelly – bass
Oscar Wheatley – drums
Holly Head setlist:
‘Truman’ (unreleased)
‘5/4’ (unreleased – working title)
“New One” (unreleased – working title)
‘No Gain’ (2024 single)
‘Trip Hop’ (working title)
‘No Country Is An Island’ (a 2026 single)
As Jackie Wilson’s ‘Your Love Keeps Lifting Me Higher’ blares from the speakers and gets the room swaying, Westside Cowboy’s Aoife Anson O’Connell (bass/vocals), Reuben Haycocks (guitar/vocals), Jimmy Bradbury (guitar/vocals) and Paddy Murphy (drums) part The Hope & Ruin tide like the Red Sea on their way through. With instruments in hand, a commencing country shimmer of ‘Midnight Cowboy’ floats through the room – a self-aware nod to their name, and sound before an announcement.
Opener ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’ announces their arrival – literally, as Paddy Murphy screams the band’s name – with a familial burst. It is a love letter to industry attention, wrapped in a countrified 4 chord punch to the face. The energy is maintained by ‘Alright Alright Alright’ pairing Murphy’s frenetic drumming with energetic guitar lines, to create blisteringly fast punk-skiffle that gets every head in the room nodding.
The runaway train momentum is cultivated with latest EP ‘So Much Country Til’ We Get There’ offering ‘Can’t See.’ Anchored by a staccato riff, like a country bar band’s approach to Franz Ferdinand, it rolls fast & loud with Haycock and Anson-O’Connell’s vocals juxtaposing. Followers ‘Drunk Surfer’ and ‘Shells’ form a tightly bonded duo of tracks, consecutive on debut EP ‘This Better Be Something Great’ and on setlists. Both weaponise Pixies loud-quiet dynamics – “you and every bone in my body/looks for the quickest way out” on ‘Drunk Surfer’ warns of the smash-and-grab raw country tenacity to come. Both structurally similar tracks are only split apart from the obligatory stage humility of Haycocks’ “thank you so much to everyone singing along.”
Inevitably with a band rising as fast as this, new songs are debuted – track ‘Pin Up Boys’ opens with pensive but warm MJ Lenderman tones before breaking into the expected ‘Britainicana’ rollicking. Its outro breaks down into acapella yodelling from Aoife, showcasing her piercing, folk-indebted voice. With barely a moment to breathe, another unreleased track is given to Brighton – ‘The Boys.’ It follows the template they’ve established for themselves, swelling up to a shuddering crash whilst its foundations remain intact via Murphy’s sense of immediacy in his drumming.
Whilst offering a welcome reprieve from the non-stop bluegrass alt rock offerings, ‘Slowly I’m Sure’ and its despondency is marred by the band playing downstairs. Love-torn lyrics of “Will she still love me tomorrow” are drowned out by the noisy neighbours playing almost comically loud – strangely emphasising the strength of Brighton’s DIY scene.
Mercifully, ‘Don’t Throw Rocks’ ramps up pace like a direct challenge to those downstairs. It thrums with urgency, while never quite breaking into what you expect. Instead, Haycocks’ and Bradbury’s squealing guitars ramp up freneticism to unbearable levels – a crescendo teetering off the track, seemingly in revenge to the downstairs band’s constant interruption.
Amidst the pandemonium and rapid pacing of tonight’s set, Haycocks’ jokingly panics about his amp – recounting a story of a technological mishap at a Rossi Basement show, and the “cursed strip” these venues live on. “Two new ones and you’re gonna like them” introduces either new EP or album material. ‘Paper Chains’ is a hearty dose of the same ‘Britainicana’ we’ve come to expect. These songs are only split by a growing band’s immense gratitude to the people that put them there – asking for applause for their touring manager and sound engineer before ‘Dobro’ kicks off. This adds Pavement’s slacker rock to their list of influences, while affirming band vocal harmonies as a crux of their sound.
Returning back to the released, ‘The Wahs’ lands like a frothier Palma Violets with Ronettes’ style “La la la” harmonies to boot. Follower ‘Strange Taxidermy’ hints at Irish traditionalism in Aoife’s vocals and a Lankum influence in its slow-start but steady rise to a roaring summit – again, presumably played louder than desired to drown out the intruding presence below. Despite best efforts, every quiet moment is impeded on by The Hope & Ruin’s downstairs, forcing subdued moments to be slammed and subsequently robbing the crowd of valuable displays of emotion from a ceaselessly exhilarating band wishing to show their vulnerability.
Tonight’s set and recent EP closer ‘In The Morning’ goes some way to rectifying this. All four members gather round, treating a singular microphone like a campfire and making something new feel as storied as ‘Khumbaya.’ It earns claps, and echoed vocals from the crowd – transmitting the infectious joy of a band that clearly loves playing together to an adoring audience that has remained transfixed despite interruptions.
As a crowd previously jammed into The Hope & Ruin’s upstairs gradually filters past a merch table now adorned with Holly Head’s offering, a sense of togetherness is present. It feels like Westside Cowboy’s sheer joy has been passed to the crowd. Their tightly rehearsed act still holds an air of spontaneity, that while feeling like an intrusion on a rehearsal, has the spark you want from a new band. Their unpredictability is echoed in treating their band like an understaffed pub, with everyone doing a bit of everything. Each song ends like an emergency brake yet never disjoints the set or feels unimaginative – despite some fairly boilerplate song structures. Their chemistry and effortless ability to win over audiences carries them and flies an impressive flag for ‘Britainicana’ – laying the stakes for a new cultural exchange. Your move America.
Westside Cowboy:
Aoife Anson O’Connell – bass, vocals
Reuben Haycocks – guitar, vocals
Jimmy Bradbury – guitar, vocals
Paddy Murphy – drums
Westside Cowboy setlist:
‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’ (from 2025 ‘This Better Be Something Great’ EP)
‘Alright Alright Alright’ (from 2025 ‘This Better Be Something Great’ EP)
‘Can’t See’ (from 2026 ‘So Much Country ‘Till We Get There’ EP)
‘Drunk Surfer’ (from 2025 ‘This Better Be Something Great’ EP)
‘Shells’ (from 2025 ‘This Better Be Something Great’ EP)
‘Pin Up Boys’ (unreleased)
‘The Boys’ (unreleased)
‘Slowly I’m Sure’ (from 2025 ‘This Better Be Something Great’ EP)
‘Don’t Throw Rocks’ (from 2026 ‘So Much Country ‘Till We Get There’ EP)
‘Paper Chains’ (unreleased)
‘Dobro’ (unreleased)
‘The Wahs’ (from 2026 ‘So Much Country ‘Till We Get There’ EP)
‘Strange Taxidermy’ (from 2026 ‘So Much Country ‘Till We Get There’ EP)
‘In The Morning’ (from 2026 ‘So Much Country ‘Till We Get There’ EP)
