Breakout indie band Westside Cowboy on rejecting tech and loving imperfection: ‘We’re not hermits!’

Despite their fast rise, the Manchester indie-pop band are happily going at their own pace.

But what – if anything – did they learn from the advice of Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon? When Westside Cowboy played Later … With Jools Holland earlier this year, fellow guests Duran Duran offered some advice.

“Nerves are just your mind telling you that you’re about to do something extraordinary,” Simon Le Bon told the band, who were “cacking their pants”.

Le Bon’s words didn’t really help.

“I was hoping for some real advice,” says vocalist and guitarist Reuben Haycocks, laughing.

“Like, where do I look?” The Manchester band have had to learn the ropes quickly.

By 2025, only two years after forming, they had won Glastonbury’s emerging talent competition, supported Geese on the year’s buzziest indie tour and signed to a major label.

“We’d be lying if we said there wasn’t a little bit of pressure,” says vocalist and guitarist Jimmy Bradbury.

Continue reading...