What the heavy rock world needs, apparently, is a country band that plays rock. Or a rock band that plays country… The BossHoss, a seven-piece from Berlin, do just that, knocking out yee-haw-stylee riffage like Billy Ray Cyrus on meth and covering a ton of songs in a comedy C&W style.
Surely this level of novelty won’t last more than 10 minutes, though? Wrong. The BossHoss have been going for 10 years: they’ve recorded seven albums, they’ve had Top 10 chart positions in Germany and they’ve got a massive fanbase who all dress in cowboy gear and drink bourbon./o:p
Just ask singer and founder member Sascha Vollmer, who chuckles: “Look, we don’t take the cowboy image too seriously. It’s a lot of fun playing this kind of music. We couldn’t do this if it wasn’t fun to play the washboard and double bass and the harmonica – and we don’t say no to a nice bottle of Jack Daniel’s…”
Alongside his six comrades, Sascha is keen to build a new audience in the UK. A recent stint supporting Motörhead got the ball rolling, and now there’s a compilation album.
“God Loves Cowboys is a collection of the songs from our last three records that we thought would be best for the UK market. Let’s hope you guys like it!”
Sascha doesn’t need to worry: the album is obscenely entertaining, stuffed full of cotton-pickin’ country grooves and heavy riffs.
The man himself sums up the music’s crazy appeal for us, saying: “When we started this band, we wanted to play country music with rock influences, so we went on stage wearing cowboy hats. After that, a whole lifestyle evolved for the fans. They started to dress like us, they ride Harleys, they even have barbecues and campfires when we play. All this is a very important part of the band’s success – and even though the image is fun, we do take the music seriously.”
GOD LOVES COWBOYS IS OUT NOW VIA INTERNASHVILLE RECORDS/o:p
