White Cowbell Oklahoma

With ambition as big as their swelled ranks and a sense of musical audaciousness as ridiculous as their increasingly famed performances, Toronto via the dirty South boogie rock band White Cowbell Oklahoma finally drops their full-length debut. And surprise, surprise, this is not some Southern fried piece of roadkill being served up as pumpkin pie — this is an excellent album full of blistering dual guitar solos, but also some tender songs and enough torrents of riffage to leave you breathless. The ghosts of Skynyrd have fallen from the sky and crashed into White Cowbell’s army of costumed characters; imagine the Village People inspired by a sleazy Allman Brothers instead of disco. You’ll swear that "Black Mountain Top (Whiskey Woman),” "Put the South In Your Mouth” or "Southern Grace” are outtakes from some great lost Southern boogie rock band that never made it out of the bush. But don’t be fooled into thinking the music is enough — White Cowbell ain’t the same without the fire-breathing, chainsaw wielding, coleslaw wrestling performances; play along on their web site, where you’ll find their new video for "San Antone,” featuring Chris Murphy and Cowbell hero Rockin’ Ronnie Hawkins. Is this a joke? Singer/guitarist Clem (no last name): This is not a joke in any sense. We’re more into iron, like the iron that fashioned old style weaponry, but not irony. I think it’s only in Toronto that they think it’s a joke. Kiss weren’t joking! They were dressed up in crazy makeup but they were serious. Do you think people are surprised how good you are? We pride ourselves on having some excessively extravagant rock’n’roll stage production. We may be a bunch of buffoons on crystal meth, but we can play our rock’n’roll instruments like nobody’s business. Why aren’t there the same performers at each show? There are 77 official members, like a freemason association. With all these borders we gotta cross, it’s like attacking Normandy — you gotta throw the numbers at them. Somebody’s gonna go down. Somebody’s gonna wake up not remembering their name. Somebody’s gonna wake up in the joint. There is a core of about ten members who have super-human powers; we’re immune to the forces of the law. What can unsuspecting music fans expect on this month’s national tour? We have a rock’n’roll experience of unprecedented scale. There is fire, brimstone, copulation, nudity, rock’n’roll boogie of unprecedented scope and scale. There is an army there to rape your mind with rock’n’roll and provide salvation that you have never experienced in your lives.