Even Cowgirls get the blues

>> The Lazy Cowgirls stick to their six shooters

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

The crop of tattooed, flame-jobbed, chain-walleted guitar slingers currently rulin' the r 'n' r roost could learn something from the Lazy Cowgirls. Most of the aforementioned bands' influential rivers run as deep as the last Nashville Pussy record and they ultimately end up with the life span of a fruit fly. Los Angeles' finest rock 'n' roll band have been around for the past 18 years and have never once bought into aping the latest Scandinavian rock exports or the modern rock charts. They just let the music do the talking, letting their Hank-Williams-style lazy acoustic croon lean comfortably on the shoulders of Johnny-Thunders-inspired rock.



Mirror: You seem to be pigeonholed as just another underground rock band, but your influences dig a little deeper.

Pat Todd: We definitely have roots that go a little deeper. For myself, Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, the Ramones, Hank Williams, Chuck Berry, Robert Johnson... I like to go all the way back. I always find that timeless is better than timely. I think a lot of people live in this silly attitude, y'know, like a consumer attitude where only now matters.

M: Do you think most bands don't have a good sense of musical history?

PT: I don't think most people take music very seriously and don't care about what happened five years ago, let alone before then. Music, for me, is like life and blood, where most people look at it as entertainment. And that's fine.

M: You made a live record this time around. How did that come about?

PT: We had some new songs, some covers and some songs I just wanted to re-write, so we decided we would just get an outlet for some of this stuff. We just set up a rehearsal space and invited about 50 people down and recorded it. It's not that different from how we do our records, it's just that this time we invited people down.

M: Have you lost many fans now that you're showing a more acoustic side of the band?

PT: Whenever you branch out and show another side of yourself you gain some and you lose some. It's like life, when friends come and go. We just do what we want to do. I think as a person you should just live your life and hope for the best and that's what we do as a band as well.

M: What's the secret of your longevity?

PT: I think you have got to be really willful, as well as have good motivation. But really what it comes down to is you've just got to love what you do. I'm not trying to be commercial or uncommercial, I just do the songs that I feel and that come out of me. If there was some sort of magical way to become successful, every band would be doing it. It would be great to make a million dollars but if we don't, that's not exactly the end of the world. :

With the Scat Rag Boosters at Le Swimming on Thursday, Nov. 22, 9pm, $5