Shells
The second single, a hushed song about acceptance that swells into a big guitar finish.
Westside Cowboy, from This Better Be Something Great (2025)
- Released
- 29 April 2025
- Length
- 3:51
- Album
- This Better Be Something Great
Released on 29 April 2025 through Heist or Hit and Nice Swan, two days after the Glastonbury win, it was premiered by Huw Stephens on BBC 6 Music and produced by Lewis Whiting of English Teacher. Haycocks and Anson O'Connell share the vocals. It starts quietly and builds through its second half. The band said it is broadly about acceptance, and loosely based on a film whose character masters it.
Clash picked it as the standout of This Better Be Something Great, mixing intimate country moments with soaring indie Americana. DIY heard a gentler song of softly strummed guitars that turns folk-tinged and ends in a grand guitar outro. It has an official video.
Live
setlist.fm logs 81 performances, from The Castle Hotel in Manchester in March 2024 to the homecoming at New Century Hall in September 2026. Hopalong Gretzky have played it three times in their own sets.
On stage
- 2024-03-29, The Castle Hotel, Manchester First logged performance.
- 2026-09-06, New Century Hall, Manchester Homecoming show after the album's release.
Covers and versions
- Hopalong Gretzky Played live three times
More songs by Westside Cowboy
I've Never Met Anyone I Thought I Could Really Love (Until I Met You), Kick Stones (The Boys), Pin Up Boys
Sources
- Shells, Hashbrand New (2025-04-29)
- Something Great This Way Comes, Clash (2025-08)
- This Better Be Something Great review, DIY (2025)
- Song statistics, setlist.fm