Dirty Business is the new EP from We Kill Cowboys, a South African, Cape Town based, fourpiece psychedelic rock band, the brainchild of tattoo artist and singer-songwriter, Alex Muller. The band is completed by drummer Andrew Middlekoop, guitarist Jono Tait and bassist Matthew Gill.
The initial project was born out of the 3-month lockdown of 2020 when Alex had the time to rediscover her musical roots and put together a collection of songs for her first solo EP, entitled Let it Burn. The EP was recorded by long-time friend and fellow musician (and legend in the Cape Town underground scene) Jon Shaban at STFD studios. A record deal with STFD and Just Music swiftly followed and, with lockdown restrictions easing, thoughts soon turned to turning the EP into a live prospect.
While the EP had reflected the more melancholic isolation of the lockdown experience – sparse arrangements, built around acoustic guitar and Alex’s plaintive voice, a gut feeling was compelling her to seek a bigger, more electric sound.
Approaches were made to good friends from years gone by in the scene and soon enough, the group gathered in the live room at the label office to spin some shapes. Things exploded from there with the band drawing on their varied influences, spanning Metal, Punk, Rock n Roll, Country, Western Classical, Indian Raga, Folk, Blues and a host of other genres.
Lyrically, Alex delivers a raw, uncompromising, and anti-establishment polemic, drawing directly from her lived experiences in the music scene and the world at large.
Alex Muller from We Kill Cowboys comments on the Dirty Business EP
“These songs span over a lot of topics. They are honest and raw. What we love about them, is each song can be adapted to any personal or world wide situation. The songs are written from personal experience, as well as from ideas about people, about the way the world works and about the real disdain we have for the worldly system.”
“Songs about feminism, good drugs and bad drugs. Songs about the fucked up world system, songs about loves deceit and it’s freedom. It’s all in there and it’s all honest.”
We Kill Cowboys is raw energy. We Kill Cowboys is having a good time. We Kill Cowboys is about flipping the bird to conformity while sipping on some ice-cold Lemonade…
Andrew Middelkoop from We Kill Cowboys comments on the EP
“This is a culmination of many things. Some good, some bad, but all hinging on a simple fact we can all agree on…making noise is great fun.”
You can buy / stream Dirty Business HERE.
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