An interview with Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog

Hi guys, how are you?
Not bad at all, thank you.

Would you mind introducing us to your band members?
The core of the band are myself and myself, Aled Hughes, and my two brothers Iwan and Dafydd. For this record weve recruited three additional members Llyr Pari on guitar, who has been playing live with us for about a year and a half now, Branwen Williams on keyboards and vocals, who also sang on our first album, and Euron Jones on pedal steel guitar, who we worked with on the 2008 single Paid a Deud.

How long has the current band line up been together?
The three of us started the band sometime in 2005, but as mentioned, we have worked with the rest of the members on and off from 2007 onwards. We didnt play together as a 6-piece until December 2010 though, after recording the album.

How did you meet each other?
The three of us knew Llyr from brilliant Welsh band Jen Jeniro, and we were looking for an additional live guitarist and thought that he would fit the bill perfectly. Weve been friends with Branwen for years, and shes a tremendous musician, so it was quite natural to ask for her input. Euron was playing pedal steel for Gwyneth Glyn when we recorded a single with her in 2008, so thats how we came to know him.

How did you come up with the band name?
Rhos Botwnnog is a tiny piece of common land just north of the village of Botwnnog on the Llyn Peninsula, north Wales. It bears a passing resemblance to a little American prairie, and our primary school headmaster used to call me and my brothers Cowbois Rhos Botwnnog, which quite simply means The Rhos Botwnnog Cowboys.

How would you describe your music to someone who hasnt yet heard you?
Were all big country music fans, and I think the new record reflects this more than the first album. I think that weve also taken a strong influence from the old traditional Welsh songs as well. Artists such as Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt and Gram Parsons have been a big influence, as well as more contemporary bands such as the Felice Brothers, Phosphorescent, Calexico and such.

What music did you listen to while growing up?
Our parents are great music fans, and dad would always be playing Ry Cooder, Van Morrison and Neil Young records at home, as well as the old bluesmen such as Big Bill Broonzy and Leadbelly. Christy Moore is another who has a voice that takes me back two decades everytime I hear him!
We grew up with a lot of Welsh music as well, but the one band that sticks in my mind are Plethyn, an incredible three-piece folk group with the finest vocal arrangements youre ever likely to hear!

Which artist or track inspired you to want to make music yourself?
When was the I want to do that! moment?
I think it was a culmination of being immersed in so much music from a young age, and embracing it rather than rejecting it.
Me and Dafydd were in rock bands before, then when Iwan picked up a guitar and started writing songs, we joined him!
I think that Iwans discovery of Gram Parsons was the catalyst for this band, though.

What was the last music you put on your ipod or mp3 player?
Last night I put Steve Eaves Moelyci on there. Its a beautiful, beautiful record sung entirely in Welsh. It was released in 2007, and in my mind its one of the finest records to ever have come out of Wales. Before that it was the Low Anthems Oh My God Charlie Darwin, Molina and Johnsons album and a Ry Cooder live album. Ive only just got an iPod for the first time, so its all quite exciting!

What have you been up to recently?
Most of our time away form work and education has been taken up by promoting this album and trying to organise gigs for the summer!

What can your fans look forward to in the next 12 months?
We have the material for a new album written, but we have no idea when well be able to have time to go to the studio. Wer hoping to gig as much as we can from June onwards, and then perhaps find time to record new material.

What is your current equipment?
I use a Fender Jazz (strung with flatwounds) bass into a Marshall head and an Ampeg cab, and on the few tracks where I play guitar its a Les Paul copy that a local luthier built for me, with P90 pickups and a Bigbsy, for a bit of a Neil Young vibe!
Iwan has this beautiful DiPinto Belveredere Deluxe guitar, so its between that, a Telecaster and my Les Paul into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe amp for him, or a LAG acoustic. We do have a pile of effects pedals, but they never get gigged as we havent come round to sorting it out yet!
Llyr uses a Fender Telecaster with a Bigsby vibrato into a Maxwatt amp. I think its quite a cheap amp, but he gets the most amazing sound from it. We all love his main band, Jen Jeniro, and they have a very distinctive sound a lot of it is that amp, I think! He also has a handful of pedals tremolo, reverb and overdrive I think. He uses an E-Bow on the record as well.
Branwen uses a Roland stage piano, usually DIs into the PA for her organ sounds, and Euron has a Bennett pedal steel and a Peavey amp of some sorts!
Dafydds kit is a Premier Artist with a big fat wooden snare, and Im pretty sure he uses Sabian cymbals for the most part.

Do you have a favourite piece of musical kit that you couldnt live without?
Not really, I think most of our gear is functional, solid, and pretty easily replaceable. Personally I never want to get rid of the Les Paul as its a one-off, and I cant speak for the rest of the band, but there is nothing we use that couldnt be replaced at any guitar shop!
Euron has a Gibson 335 though, but weve never been lucky enough to see it!

If you had an unlimited equipment budget what would be on your shopping list?
Id love a good semi-hollow bass, a Rickenbacker 4001, a good double bass and Ampeg Portaflex bass amp.
Im guessing here, but Id bet good money that Iwan would want the biggest, fattest Gretsch guitar he could find and a Fender Twin amp, and Dafydd would go for either an old Ludwig or Gretsch drumkit.

Do you use the same equipment live as you do when in a studio?
Pretty much, yes, unless theres something specific at the studio that would do a better job. At Brynderwen studio, where we recorded the album, they had a Fender Rhodes piano there, so we used that when we needed a Rhodes sound. Theres a Fender Princeton amp there as well, so I used that for my parts as Ive always wanted one.

Do you try to capture your live sound on recordings or do you think that the live sound and recorded sound should be different experiences for your fans?
For this record, most of the songs were done live in the studio, with backing vocals, pedal steel, some additional guitars and keyboards overdubbed. We enjoy recording live, and I fell that we perform better that way.
There is no right or wrong way however, and I dont think it should be anything. Some great albums were only made possible by studio technology and were all but impossible to recreate live, and others great albums were made because a band were a great live band.




How much involvement do you have with the arranging and production of the songs when recording?
We had worked out all the arrangement, be they structural or vocal harmonies or whatever, before entering the studio, so there were minimal alterations there. In terms of overall production, David Wrench was with us in the studio and he was utterly fantastic to work with very sympathetic to what we were trying to do, and had a great understanding of our goal.
The sound, though, is pretty much all of us

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