Job For A Cowboy

Here's an interview with Job For A Cowboy I did for the July 2007 for Mean Street Magazine.

WILD WEST WARRIORS

For a young band — its members are barely out of high school — extreme metal outfit Job For a Cowboy is pretty ambitious about its hyper-speed riffing and apocalyptic imagery.

“We want to be an artistic band, like a Tool vibe,” says guitarist Ravi Bhadriraju. “Our videos won’t show us. It will show a few shots. It’s abstract and it’s weird, and that’s exactly what we wanted.”

What this Arizona band is getting, however, is a lot of attention in metal circles. Last month, Job For a Cowboy was named “Best Underground Band” by Metal Hammer, the U.K.’s second-largest rock and metal monthly. The band’s indie debut, Genesis, debuted at No. 54 on the Billboard 200, selling almost 13,000 copies its first week.

As metal’s “next big thing,” Job For a Cowboy scored a slew of slots on the festival circuit. The band recently returned from its first tour of Europe, with a stop at the rock/metal/punk Download Festival in England, which featured headliners My Chemical Romance, Iron Maiden and Linkin Park, plus Lamb of God, Slayer and Machine Head.

“Download Festival was awesome,” says Bhadriraju. “Getting to see all of these bands and hanging out there for three days — it was one of the most fun times ever. Going to a different country you’ve never been to before and having kids knowing your songs is an amazing feeling. We played a huge arena a few days ago. There were 8,000 people there. They’re all into it.”

“It was so surreal,” he adds. “I just stood there [and thought], ‘Wow, this is so unbelievable.’”

The band started out in 2003 in Glendale, Ariz., when vocalist Jonny Davy and Bhadriraju, while still in high school, began playing as a hobby. Eventually, after a few added members and subsequent lineup changes, Job For a Cowboy’s blastbeats and speed-freak guitars ended up on a demo and the band’s Doom EP. The band began booking local shows as well as gigs across the Southwest. A number of song clips on its MySpace page began generating interest. Metal Blade — which released Metallica’s first recordings and served as a home for Slayer back in the day — came knocking and a deal was inked. Genesis was released in May with Kerrang! , Guitar World and other rock publications feverishly singing the praises of the debut’s ferocious sound and technical intricacy.

But despite the goat skull and infernal imagery of Genesis’ cover art, the band isn’t sacrificing chickens to Old Scratch in its downtime.

“The cover is the Antichrist showing the end of the world,” explains Bhadriraju. “The whole thing is about the chip planted into the skin and it downloads your Social Security number. The Christian television here, you can hear them talking about it. [Vocalist] Jonny [Davy] was intrigued by this topic.”

Job For a Cowboy is slated for the Sounds of the Underground lineup that hits SoCal in August. It will be the band’s second outing on this tour, after playing three dates last year.

“We’re stoked to be a part of this tour,” the guitarist says. “We have a CD out now, so hopefully people know our newer songs.”

Considering band members graduated high school a year ago, Bhadriraju says he takes his family’s feelings into consideration. And he’s got a Plan B.

“My parents are completely supportive,” he says. “I love my parents to death. They’re the most supportive people in my whole life. They wear our shirts and they’re all about it. But I told them I would go back to school soon [if the band doesn’t work out] and make my parents proud again.”

On the web: facmetal.com