Cowpuncher tore the Slice apart, Oct. 12.
 While the Fast Romantics couldn’t make the show for the dual CD release party due to van issues, it left the stage free for Calgary quintet Cowpuncher to tear things up.
 

They played an addictive blend of country, rock and Arizona rock music along the lines of the Refreshments mixed with Cross Canadian Ragweed an a touch of Alejandro Escovedo and Al Perry.


There was a lot of catchy hooks, guitar solos and good humour which a had a good sized, though not sold out, crowd moving. They played upbeat rock, straying more to the country side in the first set.
 Charismatic frontman Matt Olah sporting an air force truckers hat at the beginning of the show, jumped all over the stage.


“Does anybody want to be held like a small baby, like me,”  Olah grinned.


He told a story about a friend who got into a serious accident, then asked an audience member to stop talking while he was, then brought her up to the stage to tell everybody what she was talking about. When she said her friend took him home one time, he laughed and said ‘That’s true. That happened.” 
They then played his song about his friend who got injured.


Their second set started of more country, than took off on a more straight ahead rock direction, which is where stand -up bassist Harley Hoeft, dug in and turned things up a notch.


One of the highlights of that set was the upbeat ‘Hooscgow,’ which came from an EP they released earlier in the year.
 

They also played a lot of highlights from their new CD“Ghost Notes” including the stand out track “Raised on Rock N’  Roll,’
  ‘Back of Vans’ stood out and the guitar riff of ‘Acetaminophen’ was a real brain worm.
 They wound things down with  a solid cover of the Rolling Stones’ ‘Gimmie Shelter.’


— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor