The Beautiful Failures, a super-classy group of kindred spirits very much in harmony with each other and ploughing a seriously rich furrow. The band have just released their new album ‘Cowboys In Tangier’.
Sometimes, The Universe delivers surprises that suggest there’s an energy flow happening with you right at the middle of it. We don’t quite fully understand how that happens, but we sure do appreciate it when everything lines up sweetly.
Songwriter Warren Gaskell, cites a broad sweep that covers many influences from John Denver as a schoolboy favourite, introduced to him by his dad, to Ryan Adams’ career launchers, the legendary Whiskeytown. No surprise, then to learn that the big and richly melodic material they perform has been likened to everyone from The Eagles to Fleetwood Mac and even fellow-Mancunians, Oasis! The band early on, found themselves inevitably saddled with the alt-country tag, even though, while conceding a backbone of American-inspired style as beefy as a Longhorn’s, they had from the get-go pledged to deliver the material without the fake US accents that might normally be expected from the genre. The songwriting habit he says, has grown like “an itch that constantly has to be scratched.”
The band he has around him is impressive both in terms of the mellifluous sound they create and the polish that comes from widespread experience of playing professionally prior to gravitating together. Guitarist Rick Lucas, for instance, was once singled out by Mark Knopfler as one to keep our eyes on, while Lee Turner (keyboards) previously enjoyed a pro career in South Africa that saw him play for Nelson Mandela.
People ask about the unlikely choice of name and Gaskell explains with far too much honesty: “You can be successful creatively but still a relative failure in commercial terms.” Hopefully that’s all about to change!
When you listen to these songs, you’ll begin to appreciate that this, no matter how anyone pigeonholes it, is simply great music that needs to be heard!
The album was recorded in the band’s home town of Manchester at Pinhole Studios working with Engineer/Producer Adam P. Gorman from The Travelling Band. The tracks on the album were written and recorded during the Summer of 2024. For the band, the album is very much about delivery of that country vibe, but in a very peculiarly British way. Songs are punctuated by instruments like Banjo and Pedal Steel and driven by guitars, drums, bass and keyboards in the eight piece line-up.
Our material is influenced very much by the twists and turns that make up real life. Yes, emotions like love and loss are naturally in there, but subjects like disappointment, the need to discover the world, violence and hard graft are also featured. It’s a roller coaster ride of moods and emotions featuring plenty of light and shade with both loud and quiet sonics. Following on from the Cowboys In Tangier album there will be a number of singles released throughout the Summer, some of which will be collaborations, with another substantial release scheduled towards the end of the year.