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It Goes On<\/em>, the scrappily invigorating full-length debut by the U.K. band Westside Cowboy, opens with one of the year\u2019s most exciting rock songs. A rousing mess of relentlessly chugging guitars and shout-along vocals, \u201cKick Stones (The Boys)\u201d has the spirited energy of a pub band that imagines it\u2019s playing Wembley Stadium. As the song builds from jittery, tense strums and an insistent rhythmic pulse to a crescendo of noise and hoisted lager sprays, the idea that this band might actually play in a real stadium one day suddenly seems, shockingly, plausible. <\/p>\n According to singer\/guitarist Jimmy Bradbury and drummer Paddy Murphy \u2014 who comprise half of this Manchester quartet that also has two well-regarded EPs to their credit \u2014 that \u201cpub band imagines playing a stadium\u201d vibe wasn\u2019t far off from their artistic aims in the studio. As they explained during a recent transatlantic Zoom call, they wanted to make a simple \u2014 they both refer to it as \u201cdumb\u201d \u2014 and refreshingly straight-forward sound. A departure from standard-bearers of modern English indie like Black Midi and Black Country, New Road that have attracted a young, rabid following with much proggier and more theatrical forms of rock. Though for a while \u201cKick Stones\u201d resembled \u201cthe wrong side of stadium rock,\u201d Bradbury says. <\/p>\n \u201cWe knew we didn\u2019t want it to sound like Only By the Night<\/em> era Kings of Leon or Foo Fighters,\u201d Murphy adds. \u201cWe knew the song wasn\u2019t that, and we were scared that if we weren\u2019t careful, it could fall.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, they modeled the song after \u201cWhat Goes On\u201d by the Velvet Underground \u2014 specifically a raucous live version recorded in the late sixties at a club in San Francisco. (Lou Reed acolytes will recognize the clanging rhythm guitar part nicked for \u201cKick Stones.\u201d) <\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what rock and roll feels like to us,\u201d Murphy says. \u201cIt\u2019s about having these raggedy things pushed as far as they can go and feeling like the light fixtures in the windows are rattling because of it. We just wanted to go in that direction. I\u2019m not saying that we really got there, but it became a new place to shoot for.\u201d<\/p>\n Bradbury and Murphy\u2019s love for American indie rock and folk music dovetails with a parallel fascination with the musical history of their own country, going back to seemingly arcane heroes of yesteryear like fifties skiffle hero Lonnie Donegan. They call this intersection of American and British roots music \u201cBritainicana,\u201d a jokey genre tag that\u2019s actually evocative of the band\u2019s musical M.O. Though for now, they have far more firsthand experience with the British side of the equation. While they\u2019ve played overseas with Geese, which has helped to bolster their reputation at home to \u201cindie phenom status,\u201d they\u2019ve only spent a handful of days in New York City and Los Angeles. Though they seem keen to see more. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re hardly the first English band to be influenced by American shit,\u201d Murphy says. \u201cWe love and sort of feel indoctrinated to a lot of the media that has come out of the place, but I think it\u2019s harder these days to separate it from its politics, like with a lot of the world. Having said that, everywhere you go \u2014this sounds maybe a little smushy \u2014 but there are beautiful people everywhere, and beautiful communities everywhere of people who are empathetic and really care about the things they care about.\u201d<\/p>\n