Cow

Cow is a German alternative country group from Hamburg, active since 1999. The current line-up consists of Peta Devlin, Ecki Heins, Thomas Butteweg and Thomas Wenzel.

Style and background

The band develops a sound that draws on alternative rock and indie influences, with references in its music to Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr and Bill Ryder-Jones. Its live shows are associated with comparisons to Grandaddy, Pavement and Crazy Horse. Cow also draws on a wide range of soul, pop and rock influences, including Tamla Motown, Northern Soul, Stax, Atlantic, Philadelphia, Janis Joplin, Carole King, Lennon, Marvin Gaye, Paul Weller, Small Faces, the Kinks, The Who, Creation, Dexys, Ocean Colour Scene, Minnie Riperton, Dan Penn, Smokey Robinson, Aretha Franklin, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Jam, The Action, Funkadelic, Traffic and Amen Corner, alongside pop art and target imagery.

Live work and releases

Cow becomes known for its festival appearances, including Focus Wales and Smithdown Road Festival, and for support slots with The Spook School, State Champion and The Shipbuilders. The band also supports Paul Weller on several occasions, including dates at the Royal Albert Hall, on arena shows at venues such as Brighton Centre, Birmingham NIA, Cardiff Arena, Bournemouth NIC and Wembley Arena, and at the Camden Roundhouse. A first album leads to a BBC Radio 2 live session with Janis Long, and a second album, Dedicated To...The Mighty Drum, is completed in 2012. A track from that record, Black Harvest, appears on the cover-mounted CD for the April issue of Mojo. The band also plans further recording work after that release.

Other act with the same name

There is also an experimental project called Cow by Christie Howes and Andrew Howes. That project features guitar, drums, percussion, bass, keyboards and ambience, and releases the album Animal Salad through suRRism-Phonoethics. The album is written and produced by the duo and recorded at the Dewsbury Underground in the UK during 2012/13.