"One show we played, at a former SS barracks, had a weird vibe; we just played what we wanted to play that night and threw away the set list after three songs. Friends who caught several of our shows in Germany said it was the best show they heard. We do a different set every night, and if we start to flow, we will go off the set list," he added. When asked if the band had saved any souls in Germany, he laughed: "I don't know; I don't speak any German, but there were souls there that needed saving, so we let the songs do the talking."
At least as far as Buffalo audiences are concerned, favorite Cowslingers songs include "West Virginia Dog Track Boogie," "The Burro Song," "Cha Cha Heels," "Dirty Sanchez" and a flame-throwing cover of Aerosmith’s "Sweet Emotion:" "They tend to like the same songs everywhere we play; in Germany, we worked up a cover of AC/DC’s ‘Whole Lotta Rosie,’ and they loved it. You love all of your children, but some a little more."
Certainly, the music in the touring van gives the band a lot to work from: "We listen to Uncle Tupelo, Black Flag, Living End, the Watzloves, Black Crowes, Jason and the Scorchers and Ween. I listen to jazz, bluegrass, blues; someone saw my desk and told me they never saw a more eclectic pile of CDs on one person's desk. I listen to as much punk as rockabilly and arena rock; if we cover Aerosmith, it's not because we hate them.
"The real freeze-dried rockabilly guys don't really like us; my brother (Ken) doesn't play a stand up bass and we're not as traditional. I never wanted to do switchblades, picking up girls at the sock hop and cars," Miller continued. "And the alt-country people don't seem to like us; we have fun with our shows, we don't wear John Deere caps and we don't have beards. We try to write good songs and make albums that we want to hear. The biggest mistake you can make is, ‘hey, this song sounds like that.’ Just write and play your song and don't try to sound like something else."
After some discussion of Ryan Adams, Miller was asked about his preacher persona on stage: "If you want to try and learn onstage personality, televangelists are the greatest live performers ever. We're very close to Ernest Angley Studios, including ‘Ernest’s Erection’ (a structure near the studios)." The Cowslingers did not grow up too far from some members of another stomping band, Jason and the Scorchers, but "they are much more Southern, but I have always loved rock and roll and rockabilly."
Are there performers Miller longs to play on a bill with?
"Our ultimate dream was to play shows with Link Wray, Brian Setzer and Johnny Cash; we've played with Link Wray many times and have become good friends with him, and we've played with Brian Setzer a few times. Johnny Cash is the only guy we haven't played with; if someone asked us to play a show in Anchorage with him tomorrow, we would," he replied.
"We almost did a show opening for Quiet Riot; we were going to learn all of their hits and do them up in our style to end the set and immediately run for the van before some old metal guys beat us up, but that date got changed and we couldn't play it," Miller added with a laugh.
The Cowslingers have played Mohawk Place in Buffalo many times: "We are huge fans of the Mohawk Place. It is towns like Buffalo that are our favorites; people are not pretentious and they'll come out and drink 200 beers. They let you know if you're playing good and they let you know when you're not."
The Cowslingers will also be playing: Friday, May 31, at the 31st Street Pub in Pittsburgh, and Friday, June 1, at the Grog Shop in Cleveland. The Cowslingers can be contacted at the band's Web site, http://www.cowslingers.com.