Two Cow Garage is labeled alt.country…they are described as country-punk and Two Cow is regularly compared to Uncle Tupelo. Two Cow would prefer you call them a rock and roll band. At the risk of sounding trite these guys are an american rock band in the classic sense…young, brash and loud traveling the country in a van and sleeping in it as circumstances require….as happy playing to 10 people as they are playing to 1000….okay, I probably got a little carried away there….nobody is as happy playing to 10 as they are playing to 1000…BUT…yes, but…they will play with the same energy and vigor no matter the size. DIY to the core, they are coming to us by way of Ohio with no tour support and no smug attitude to match. They are playing New World Brewery on Monday (10/30) and it is a show you should not miss. To quote Glorious Noise:

“You don’t get many second chances in life. Maybe you didn’t get to see the Who in 1965, or the Jam in 1977, or the Replacements in 1985, or Nirvana in 1990. No, you missed all the greats on their way up and now what can you do? Don’t let it happen again.”

So, Monday Night, New World Brewery….playing with local favs The Human Condition and Tennessee rockers Glossary, Two cow Garage will bring the rock show…with or without you…please let it be with you.

Support touring musicians Tampa. And we’ll see you Monday night. It’s a $6.00 cover….

Recently Shane from Two Cow was kind enough to agree to an interview with ninebullets.net….I apologize in advance for my poor interviewing skills but I hope this will help y’all get to know the band a little bit:

Two Cow Garage Interview

9b.net: First things first for the uninitiated: Who is Two Cow Garage and how long have you guys been a band?

TCG: We are Micah Schnabel, Dustin Harigle, and Shane Sweeney. But just Shane right now. We actually just passed the five year mark back in sept.

9b.net: A lot of places describe Two Cow as alt.country. Would you rather folks look at you as a straight forward rock and roll band or do you not mind wearing the alt.country label. any fear of it pigeon holing you guys?

TCG: We are a straight forward rock band. The alt country thing seems kinda silly to me. Its like, well, are you and emo band or a screamo band or whatever. And then people feel the need to stand by that, like hardcore bands hating pop punk bands when all it really is is marketing to people. Genres are created and then sub-genres, and the sub genres of sub genres and its all meant to compartmentalize music into something pre packaged and easy to sell. You wouldn’t call Springsteen Alt country but look at The ghost of Tom Joad or Nebraska or Devils and Dust. They’re pretty country sounding records.

9b.net: This is where the professional interviewer asks you who your influences are but I am just gonna say thank you for not fearing the guitar solo! It was an endangered species for a while there. so, who are your influences?

TCG: I can honestly say we’ve never intentionally written a part of a song specifically for a guitar solo. Most of the time we’re a three piece so guitar solos fill the void where some bands would have other instrumentation, but its really about whats appropriate for the song more than wanting to shred or something. There is no good way of talking about influences without sounding overly pretentious. I don’t think you can really say “hey they are influenced by this band…” without making people think that we’re trying to be that band. Though people will do that. Plus every record or song for that matter is influenced by different things. What you’re listening to at that moment, what book you just read, how the last six months have been going. That’s a really round about way of not answering your question. Sorry.

9b.net: What got y’all down to Tampa? The show just sorta sticks out there with nothing around it per your calendar. I mean, I am digging it but it is hard to get people down this far.

TCG: We’re really kind of laying low until our next record comes out but we were offered a slot at The Fest in Gainesville and it seemed like a good opportunity so we were going to be in the area. Actually its hard to get us down that far, we haven’t played in Florida in like two years and we’re typically always on the road.

9b.net: How is the new cd progressing? Does it contain any drastic departures in sound from your first 2 cds?

TCG: The new record is done and will be coming out in February. Its different but, I think it’s a natural progression. There are still flat out rock songs, but there’s some other stuff too.

9b.net: Where did the idea for your documentary “The Long Way Around” come from?

TCG: We had met the director John Boston several times at our shows in Chicago and we all became close friends. When he pitched it to us we were all really down with the idea.

9b.net: Has it helped get your name out there very much?

TCG: Its always nice to have something else to hang your hat on. That being said John had free reign to make the film he wanted to make, we had nothing in it except being the subjects, so it could possibly have hurt us. We don’t have a lot of drama but, he could have cut things out of context and made us look extremely bad. I need to thank him for not doing that now that I think about it.

9b.net: In between tours how do y’all make ends meet?

TCG: We don’t really that’s why we’re always on the road. Its hard to get someone to hire you when you can only be there for a week at a time and then you’re gone for a month and a half. But we don’t have any permanent residence either so bottom line is lower.

9b.net: The song “Burn in Hell” seems like quite the fuck you track. Was it written to someone in particular? While we are on that topic…was there an actual drunken saturday night behind “Saturday Night”?

TCG: We played a show in Lansing Michigan at this bar called Macs and Micahs amp caught on fire. It just went up and it was pretty scary. So I guess that song is more about living doing this or dying trying. And that amp. Micah could answer this more succinctly. I didn’t write the words. Saturday Night is about many, many drunken Saturdays. And repeating mistakes. Every word of it was true and unfortunately still is.

9b.net: What are y’all listening to heavily these days?

TCG: There are things that are constants that we listen to. Mostly friends like I Can Lick Any Son Of A Bitch In The House, Centro-matic, and Grand Champeen. Micahs been pretty heavy into a Cursive record lately though I don’t know the name of it. I’ve been listening to Born to Run a lot. I’m not sure about Dustin, though Ophelia by the band is his ringtone so maybe that counts.

I hope that helps you get ti know the band a little….I also hope to see you at New World on Monday evening. Look for me, I’ll be the drunk guy.

Here are some Two Cow tunes for you folks:

Two Cow Garage - Burn in Hell
Two Cow Garage - Alphabet City
Two Cow Garage - Saturday Night

Also, here is a 10 minute trailer for the Two Cow Garage Documentary mentioned in the interview: