Black cowgirl

Black cowgirl is a band form Pennsylvania and they're about to release their first and self titled full lenght (in july). Their music has all the qualities of good stoner rock, so if you're into Stoner or heavy/fuzzy hard rock I recommend you lsiten to what they play. On their Bandcamp they write "The band originally created riffs as servants for themselves but freed them when they became too much to handle", and indeed they master the art of wild rocking riffing! but it's not just cool riffs but also cool songs, with good groove and melodies, and the vocals are great, meodic but still hard rocking.

The coming record will feature 6 songs from their EP, that you can listen on their Bandcamp.
and also 5 new songs (of the same quality), you can listen to the new song called "weight of oblivion" HERE. Enjoy!

Ben McGuire agreed to answers to my questions (and did it in a humourous way that seem to be a trademark of the band!) : 

-can you present the band, why did you form it, how it evolved, etc…? and why the name Black cowgirl?

In March 2008 Ben (me), then aged twenty something, formed a skiffle group with several friends from Chester County. We briefly called ourselves the Beatles, before changing our name to Black Cowgirl after discovering that a respected group from across some pond was already using the name. Twenty some-year-old Nate joined as a guitarist shortly after he and I met that July. In February 2008 we invited our friend Mark to watch the group. The fourteen-year-old auditioned for me, and we were impressed by his playing but initially thought him too young for the band. After a month of persistence, Mark joined as drummer. The three piece, billing ourselves at least three times as Benny and the Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever we could find a bassist. My brother in law friend Chris, who had recently sold one of his nude paintings and purchased a bass guitar, joined in January 2009, and it was I who suggested changing the band's name to Black Cowgirl as a tribute to my fantasy of a female version of Yul Brenner in the movie Westworld. We used the name through May, when we opened for English band Viking Skull.......

- How would you describe your music? Stoner rock with some classic rock roots?

I would describe us as rock. I feel like “stoner rock” is pretty much just people playing classic rock now..... which used to be called just “rock” when it was new. I guess that would make stoner rock from now viewed from the future “classic stoner rock” and first generation rock “oldies” and the futures name for “rock” will be another term that will cram in more words than nessary to describe it’s sound......something like “naked lady future drugs hoverboard rock”. I guess we will go with that.

-how did you get into this kind of music? And do you play or have played in other bands?

I was raised on a greasy diet of classic rock (if you are reading this from the future you will know this style to be oldies rock). Luckily my parents had pretty good taste in music and there were always records around for me to listen to. 

I was in bands since high school, ranging from punk to metal to doom, Aston Family Reunion (guitar/vocals), Fisticuffs (guitar), and Electric Horsemen (guitar/vocals) to name a few. Our drummer Mark played in Backwoods Payback and Nate also plays guitar in Unkle Matt and The Shitbirdz. Chris also played bass in Electric Horsemen. I am sure there are other bands they played in but I hate to dwell on the ex's. Just thinking of other dudes crawling all over them with their riffs and whatnot.......makes me sick.

-how was your new album written and recorded?

We had the chance to do the vinyl release that comes out this August and needed more songs than our 6 song Ep to fill it out. So we recorded 5 more songs for side B of the vinyl. The newer ones were written around the same time as the Ep but we did not have time to record them last year.

We self recorded songs 1-6 last year in a couple of evenings at Westtown Lake Studios so we could have something to bring along for a tour we did. The second half (7-11) were recorded a couple months ago at The Dome with Rich Gavalis. Rich had also mixed the ep so when we went in to do the new ones we were able to make them blend together pretty decent, especially considering they were recorded a year apart and in totally different rooms.

-what about the lyrics of the songs?

Very rarely do I have a idea for lyrics before the music is written. Once there a rough draft of a song I tend to just let whatever I feel come out without thinking about it at all and work from there. I think if you go with what words come out naturally they are usually more honest and reflective of the feel of the song. It seems to work for me, I always end up blurting out a line that surprises me and gets things rolling for the rest of the lyrics. Until the song is done I don’t really know what it is going to be about. Whenever I sit down and try to write lyrics they come out pretty cheesy, using my lightning rod method on the other hand works, and if they come out cheesy that way at least I did not try too hard!!

-you told me that you’ll be playing in the east coast with The company band in july, I guess you are exited to play your new songs?  What else is planned for the rest of 2012?

Yes! We are very eager to get out and play, we wish we could tour much more often!!! Hopefully we have the chance to hop on some other tours this year and we hope to be back in the studio toward the end of the year as well. We have about 60% of the next record written and are already looking toward the record after that one!

-with which band would you dream to play?

I would love to play with, Clutch, Neil Young, Down, Wovenhand, Graveyard (again), I could go on forever.....if I had a time machine my keyboard would catch fire from the list i would create.

-in your opinion, what is the best part in being a musician?

I will get back to you after I ask one!

-Which band from your area would you recommend?

Bill Haley and His Comets are good, Backwoods Payback, The Hooters.

-something to add?

pepper, smoked sea salt, fresh garlic.