Westside Cowboy, the exciting newcomers to the Britainicana scene, are swiftly making their way up the ladder while ensuring to pull others along with them.
It's 9am on a Tuesday, and Aoife Anson O’Connell is enthusiastically performing an a capella version of Natasha Bedingfield’s ‘These Words’ for her bandmate Reuben Haycocks, insisting he definitely knows at least two of her songs. “That’s where we aim to be,” deadpans fellow bandmate Paddy Murphy, “all on stage with Britney mics. I might just go for it now, honestly—watch out Glastonbury.” Crowded into a webcam frame with mugs of tea during a video call with DIY from Aoife’s fairy-lit bedroom in Manchester, Westside Cowboy admits they’re accustomed to “messing around.” The group of four friends, including James Bradbury, initially lacked inspiration in their previous endeavors, and their summer 2023 practices mainly involved drinking cans and covering Hank Williams songs, as Paddy notes, “we had nothing better to do.”
While their sense of fun remains intact after two years, the quartet has started to take their work more seriously. Although the microphone joke may be lighthearted, their participation in Glastonbury is no laughing matter. After competing against thousands, they won the festival's 2025 Emerging Talent Competition and are set to perform on one of the main stages at Worthy Farm in just a few weeks—an experience they’re still trying to grasp. “Even at The Great Escape, I remember getting on stage one day and thinking, ‘oh my god, I’m in a band!’” Aoife reflects, her eyes widening as the others chuckle. James adds, “For me, the realization came after we played the Beach Stage. I went to talk to some friends, and our publicist tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘I’m sorry, but we need you for some photos’,” he says, shaking his head in disbelief. [In hindsight, we may have been the cause of that disruption—sorry, James - Ed].
“Our ethos is to create music for anyone and everyone.”
- Aoife Anson O’Connell
Despite their humility, it's evident why WSCB has quickly resonated with so many people. Their debut single ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’ and its follow-up, ‘Shells’, are both fully formed and strikingly accessible: driven by melody, rich in harmonies, and emotionally impactful. “They’re essentially just three-minute pop songs—or at least that’s the style we’re aiming for,” Paddy acknowledges, with the others mentioning influences like Elvis, The La’s, and Arcade Fire.
“There’s been a lot of impressive, more experimental music emerging from [the UK]—especially Brixton—in the last five to ten years, which can be a bit more intellectual. But being in this band has been somewhat nostalgic; it’s been enjoyable to recapture that feeling from when you first discover Pavement or Pixies as a teenager—the immediate excitement from what you hear—and perhaps try to recreate some of that.” Emotional connection and fostering community are just as crucial to their mission as their music: under the banner No Band Is An Island, they’ve organized local shows and launched a merch line, with proceeds benefiting Medical Aid For Palestinians. “The Westside Cowboy ethos is about making music for everyone,” Aoife clarifies, “and you can’t have an ethos like that without acknowledging the people being stripped of their homelands and losing their lives. Otherwise, you're only making music for those with the privilege to listen.” At some point—amidst a busy live schedule and thrilling upcoming releases—the band hopes to broaden this initiative to support other charities and youth music projects in their hometown. “It's essential to foster a healthy environment of uplifting one another,” Reuben expresses simply. “If someone living just a few doors down in Manchester can write a truly remarkable song, then we say, ‘oh, maybe we can do that someday.’” By our calculation, Westside Cowboy is already halfway there.
Westside Cowboy’s debut EP, ‘This Better Be Something Great,’ will be released on 8th August via Nice Swan Records/Heist Or Hit.
As featured in the June 2025 issue of DIY, out now.
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