Since nowadays any band with a computer has the ability to promote itself globally, it becomes increasingly difficult to really stand out from the pool of obscurity that is the fate of many a group.
Toronto's White Cowbell Oklahoma's (WCO) solution is over-the-top live performances paired with a balls-to-the-wall attitude. And if you have no idea what that means, the band's lead singer will fill you in.
The Charlatan (TC): What are the most important things you've learned on the road?
Clem C. Clemson (CC): The road is a merciless bitch wearing those $12.99 top drawer stockings, not the $4.99 bargain bin variety. She'll get ya. But if you have an appetite for such things, then there's no problem. Also, we've learned you should hydrate often and try to eat one green thing a day.
TC: Where do you like playing most?
CC: Although WCO enjoy playing high profile gigs worldwide, we can turn any two-bit shitshow into rock ’n’ roll paradise. We are rock ’n’ roll snake oil salesmen and religious pilgrims combined. Everyone gives in, is saved and joins the cult of WCO. We will be supreme in another 2,000 years.
TC: How do you make your live show stand out?
CC: We combine the unsurpassed theatrical excellence of rock gurus KISS and Alice Cooper with unsurpassed musical excellence. Nobody has seen what WCO does. Chainsaws, rock glory and often naked bodies. We are a guitar armada of riff magnificence. And everyone in the audience gets laid at a WCO show. Testosterone rays shoot from our eyes. You'll wake up next to a Sasquatch in Timmins, but you'll be saved.
TC: What's next for WCO after wrapping up the tour?
CC: We are going back in our cryogenic tanks to meditate upon following up our most recent, critically acclaimed masterpiece CD Bombarder. Then going to Europe to perform for Vikings.
TC: What does rock ’n’roll mean to you?
CC: $10 in my pocket, ears ringing and being unwashed and smelling vaguely of sordidness. Always.
TC: What do you want people to take away from your music, whether live or recorded?
CC: Salvation, sordidness, sexification, dirtification and laidification. It will happen to you at the WCO show. We're here for the people. We're here for you, Ottawa capital city.
White Cowbell Oklahoma plays Spring Fever Fest at Mavericks April 10.