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Westside Cowboy eye up collaboration with Johnny Marr
25 August 2026, 01:38 | Updated: 25 August 2026, 01:40
Westside Cowboy - Pin Up Boys & I'm Waiting For The Man
The Pin Up Boys four-piece chose the former Smiths guitarist as one of of the Manchester legends they'd want to work with.
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Westside Cowboy would like to work with with Johnny Marr.
The four-piece released their debut studio album, It Goes On, last Friday (21st August) and spoke to Dan O'Connell about everything from winning Glastonbury's Emerging Talent Competition in 2025 to supporting Geese on tour.
The band formed after they met vocalist and guitarist Jimmy Bradbury in the famous Manchester music shop Johnny Roadhouse Music where he worked. Asked which legends they might want to collaborate with from the city, Jimmy replied: "Maybe we could do a Modest Mouse and get Johnny Marr in?"
"I'm sure he bought guitars from your old shop," added drummer Paddy Murphy, to which the frontman added: "So I've heard. He bought a Jaguar or something from Johnny Roadhouse back in the day.
"There's a photo of him leaning over the counter with a guitar pressed against the camera."
Watch the band perform their Pin Up Boys single and a cover of The Velvet Underground's I'm Waiting For The Man above.
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Jimmy went on to talk about the famous store, which has been serving musicians since 1955 and boasts famous customers from Oasis to Joy Division and recalled how they may have saved legendary Beatle Paul McCartney's most recently Manchester shows.
"Johnny Roadhouse has had so many people come in over the years," he noted of the famous store. "I think back in the day, Oasis used to buy all their stuff there because they used to practice at [Manchester nightclub and music venue] the Boardwalk down the street.
"There's all those stories of onstage things breaking and then slating Johnny Roadhouse live in front of 10,000 people."
He recalled: "As I was going to see Paul McCartney with my dad when he came to Manchester last, my dad met me at work and we were just leaving and this guy burst through the front door at 6 o'clock.
"We shut at 6 and he's like, 'I need sleigh bells now!' [I said] 'What do you need them for?' And he had like a little Paul McCartney lanyard.
"So we ran downstairs, got these sleigh bells and we went to the gig, and there they were on the massive jumbotron screen, shaking away for Wonderful Christmastime."
Westside Cowboy's debut album It Goes On here is out now:
The band supported lauded Brooklyn outfit Geese on the European leg of their Getting Killed Tour and opened up about the hype surrounding their dates as well as rawness of some of their fans.
"There were some very crazy moments," they recalled. "A lot of people outside these venues hours before anyone was playing a note.
"But we had a great time, and I think everyone who came to see the shows was, was great. We walked in expecting maybe we're not the band they want to see, they want to see the big boys, they want to see Geese, you know. But people were very, very kind, and, um, not a lot of phones actually either, which is really nice."
Westside Cowboy are set to play Reading & Leeds Festival this weekend, which will also see a performance from Geese and headline sets from Fontaines D.C., Florence + The Machine, Charli xcx, Chase and Status and Dave.
