Instore gigs, signings and appearances aren’t a new phenomenon that have sprung up recently; there is of course a rich history of record shops and bands putting on performances together and treating fans to an intimate, smaller gig.
Live album/EP shows are though definitely a growing industry trend both in terms of the record shops that are hosting them, as well as the artists who are getting involved in doing them and there are several key reasons behind this.
We’ll cover the slightly cynical reason first: Sales. Sales, especially of physical products that count for more in the charts each week, are a great way to bump up additional sales, particularly around release week when you are likely to have your greatest sales, especially for newer, or less established bands, so it’s understandable from the artists and record labels why they are keen to do them.
From a shop perspective it also generally makes sense; it funnels a large percentage of sales into your shop locally for a new release and helps you sell other items too, so again understandable, but the question is what’s in it for the fan?
I personally remember going to see several in the 1990’s, at places like HMV, Tower Records (In London) and Virgin Megastores, particularly when we were lucky enough to have Radio 1’s annual Sound City multi-venue event come to Leeds in 1996, where Scarfo played a fairly frenetic short set. I also at that time nervously queued for records and CDs signing by Cast, Shed Seven and the Cardigans when they did signing sessions and may, or may not, have played live, too (it was 30 years ago dear reader and my memory is getting hazy).
While some of those memories are good ones, as a fan I’ve also seen some of these events be treated almost with contempt by artists feeling forced to do them by a label, or playing as few songs as they think they can get away with to call it a show and hoping that the fact you are meeting them or seeing them in a small setting compensates you.
The best ones, though, the ones that really remind you of why you love this concept so much, are the ones like tonight’s at Jumbo Records.
We are blessed with three great record shops in Leeds, catering for instores and outstores with Crash and Vinyl Whistle regularly hosting events, too and Westside Cowboy would easily have sold out all three of them combined I’m sure, but this growing success of theirs and the bigger fanbase that goes with it, still finds them clearly appreciating their crowd and respecting the effort of people turning up to see them and buying their newly released debut album It Goes On, released last Friday (21st August).
From the moment they take to the cramped stage to a packed audience inside the shop, it’s clear this isn’t going to be a case of a stripped back set with a handful of quick songs blasted out at most. Westside Cowboy say a few hello’s and then announce that “We are going to play the album for you”, before they burst into the album opener and recent single ‘Kick Stones (The Boys’.
What follows is the album in full, but it’s more than that; it’s every track on the album played in order and sounding incredibly strong live (as they always do to be fair to them) but also slightly different owing to the set-up. It’s human, warm and funny in places, too, particularly when before ‘Big Wheels’ the singer jokingly says “This is the part on the record where you flip it over onto the side that the critics say is boring, so bear with us for another fifteen minutes, will you?”
That is what we as fans take as payback from these events; those connections, the jokes or stories in between songs. It’s those that make it a real gig (a debate I’ve had with a colleague before about instores – you’re still wrong – they do count), not the length of it, or if they are full electric, or acoustic, but listening to music and loving it, but remembering far more than that, thanks to those other interactions that happen.
It’s through one of these between song moments that I learn that the album was actually recorded in Leeds at Greenmount Studios with Loren Humphrey producing it and Rob Slater – who is here with his young son to watch the band today – the recording engineer, It’s also not the only connection to the City either, as the photograph for the artwork on the front of the record is actually in Armley.
For a band formed in Manchester, it’s always been clear at their live shows that the people of Leeds will forgive them for their unavoidable geographical back-story if they keep releasing quality music and deliver a great performance with energy, an end of the bargain they have always kept so far.
If cementing that bond with the local album recording and artwork wasn’t enough, they also decide when album closer ‘You Could Have Died There On The Dancefloor’ finishes, that “We’ve travelled this far; we might as well play you a couple of older songs, too”, a two song extension that closes with long-time favourite ‘I’ve Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You)’ and a rousing round of applause and cheers from the crowd.
Yorkshire folk are, rightly or wrongly, renowned for liking value for money. Westside Cowboy deliver that in spades. No going through the motions, no dialling it in on the music or the vocals, passion, talent and performance all wrapped up in personality and a reminder, if anyone needed it, that this is why we make the effort as fans for an instore gig and why they can be so rewarding for all parties involved.
If you weren’t lucky enough to be at Jumbo Records to see them, Westside Cowboy play The Ballroom at Leeds Festival this Friday 28th August at 1.45pm, as well as headlining their own show at Leeds Irish Centre on Friday 27th November.
Photography by Millie Dooley.
