The Cowards

Bio:

Following the release of their second album, “Slippery Fox”, in the summer of 2011, The Cowards have gained more recognition within the Ottawa music scene. This culminated in the inclusion of their song “Collide” within Peter Simpson’s Ottawa Citizen blog on the ten best local songs of 2011. Simpson declared the song “solid rock and roll from start to end,” describing Cote’s vocals as “a healthy dose of Patti Smith via PJ Harvey; emotional and vulnerable, but never sappy or weak,”. The Cowards began to take shape in Ottawa in early 2009 when guitarists and friends Sean Mackinlay and Kyle Sheehan decided to put together a band to back the songs they had been writing together. The rhythm section came together with Andrew Barr on bass and Pat Kuhn on drums. The four spent spring and summer of 2009 developing new songs and re-working previously written material. Constantly honing their sound and live show led to most Cowards gigs being exceptionally tight, loud and energetic, with frenzied guitar solos and thunderous drums and bass. Without a dedicated lead singer, early shows featured Andrew, Kyle and Sean sharing vocal duties. This changed in early 2010 when a short, fortuitous search for a vocalist resulted in Vanessa Cote becoming the newest member of the band. Cote’s manic stage presence allowed the others to concentrate more on their playing, making Cowards gigs more forceful than ever. By June 2010, The Cowards had enough solid material for their first EP, Poor Excuses For Men, released that summer. Playing at venerable Ottawa venues including Zaphod’s, Maverick’s and the Rainbow became increasingly frequent as The Cowards played with numerous local and out-of-town acts on a weekly basis. The best of the new songs were chosen for The Cowards’ six-song second EP, Slippery Fox, engineered by Dave Dudley and produced by The Cowards. The EP was recorded through June and July, and was released at the Rainbow on August 6. Summer 2011 kept on rolling for The Cowards, as they supported The Stogies (Halifax) on their Eastern Tour, and later went to Toronto to play with Toronto rockabilly band The Roughnotes.

Member Since:

October 26, 2009

Members:

PAT ~ The beast behind the drums. This guy can make Vinnie Paul look like a joke. BARR ~ A strange little man who kicks the shit out of bass guitar. SEAN ~ Sean plays harmonica, guitar, mandolin, and piano. KUDOS SEAN! KYLE ~ The asshole behind the guitar. VANESSA ~ The pipes. The face. The frontwoman.