The Dallas Cowboys are a band, not a sports team

By Lillian Jones

Local Music Director

 

Hearing the name “The Dallas Cowboys”, fellow Texans are expected to be met with the previously fantastic, recently mediocre football team. However, you might be met with two dudes from NYC in Batman masks jumping around and screaming their hearts out in front of a crowd of rambunctious music lovers. 

When on stage (or on solid ground of a creaky house), Aiden Gilbert and Evan Lytle transform into Kenny Cowboy and Danny Dallas! The duo create for a chaotic performance whether seeing them in person or simply listening to their music through online streaming. The Dallas Cowboys electronic sound pulls inspiration from 2000s pop-punk to screamo to self-trademarked “karaoke core”. 

During SXSW week this year, The Dallas Cowboys returned to Austin for the third time to play four unofficial shows. Starting on Thursday, March 13th at Scissor House, Friday at Lizard House and Pearl St. Co-op, and finally Saturday at Mothership Studios here in San Marcos. Even with a packed schedule, the cowboys were kind enough to squeeze in time for an interview. I met with them at Scissor House and to get in the interview mood, we turned on a 240 minute long compilation of the best “SpongeBob SquarePants” episodes. 

Where did the name “The Dallas Cowboys” come from? 

Evan: Honestly, it’s pretty stupid. Me and Aiden have been doing projects forever and I’m always trying to think of a band name. I went to the deli and saw a newspaper on the stand. It had the text, “The Dallas Cowboys”, and then a picture of something else not related. It kind of looked like a show flyer. I texted Aiden, “Band idea. Dallas Cowboys” and then Aiden was like “THE Dallas Cowboys”.

Aiden: Because “The” is just a classic band name thing. And we had a song, “Holy S**t, We’re Gonna Put Matt and Kim out of Business”,  that sounded different from our other songs and decided to use it for [The Dallas Cowboys]. 

Why do you wear Batman masks?

Aiden: When we started the band we were really inspired by Japanther and They Might Be Giants. They’re both two-pieces who lived in New York and did these really theatrical performances when they came on the scene. Also I saw this picture that was The Medic Droid’s profile picture on Spotify a few years ago where they’re just in a smoky room. They’re not wearing any masks or anything, but it for some reason looks like they’re superheroes or something. 

Evan: Also The Aquabats!

Aiden: Even like Daft Punk and MF Doom. We decided to adopt personas. He was gonna be Danny Dallas and I was gonna be Kenny Cowboy. We would wear the masks and sort of be able to play a character and be someone else while we’re doing it. 

What is your music making process? 

Aiden: For this project, we mostly have been starting with an instrumental. A riff or one of us will just come to the table with a fully written instrumental. Then we’ll just write lyrics on top of it. We’ll collaborate and add little different parts to the beat. 

Evan: And we’ll smoke w**d and watch TV.

Aiden: Back when we used to live together, we’d be watching a ton of TV and then we’d hear something cool and just record it for a sample. Then we’d basically write a song so we could use the sample. 

You’ve been best friends since 2012, if you guys never met, would you still be making music? 

Aiden: I think it’s important to note that Spencer was also our best friend in 2012. “Best” doesn’t mean this exclusive thing where I was Evan’s better friend than Spencer, Spencer was also Evan’s best friend and mine too. 

Evan: We were a trio.

Aiden: And he’s still in our hearts! He just lives in a different city. But yeah, we would probably definitely still be doing music. I think the fact that we’ve been able to do it together has really influenced the route we’ve taken in a way that is really fun and satisfying. 

Evan: It’s true. I moved to New York, 50% because my girlfriend at the time moved out there and then 50% because Aiden moved out there. I think a lot of the sh*t in my life has been directly influenced by Aiden. I think the music would be there regardless. Since both of us were kids, music has always been the sh*t! 

Aiden: Ever since music blew up…

You have a song called “Don’t Hug Me- I’m Scared You’ll Leave”, what Don’t Hug me I’m Scared characters would each of you be? 

Aiden: Honestly I would like to be the big red guy-

Evan: He’s the most iconic one!

Aiden: That’s Evan steez to me. To me Evan is the big red guy. I don’t think I’m the yellow sad guy, I think I’m more like that green bird guy. 

Evan: I forgot about all those guys, I was only remembering the clock. 

Aiden: We used to watch those a lot in middle school and be like “this one was actually scary!” They sell the shirts at Hot Topic now — it’s coming back. 

You’re both in multiple bands like Push Ups, Branching Out and Evan is in Cash Only Tony’s, how do you balance being in multiple bands? 

Aiden: It’s really horrible. Evan works six days a week and I work 4-5 days on a good week and then we have all the band practices. It’s a lot of midnight band practice or 9AM band practice. Whatever we can do to get a time where no one’s at work yet. Cash Only Tony’s and Branching out have five members now and it’s a lot of logistics that makes it hard. But it’s super worth it, super fun. The Cowboys is always a little easier because it’s just the two of us. We just have to take turns focusing on projects.

How long have you both been playing music and being in bands? 

Evan: Well pretty much since we were best friends, since 2012. 

Aiden: Even before that we played in a cover band together organized by our school in 2009. Like third or fourth grade. 

Evan: We were in an after school program. 

Aiden: We did “Crazy Train” and we didn’t really talk to each other much, but that was our start to playing music together. 

Evan: Aiden got kicked out. 

Aiden: I got kicked out… there was beef. I was the better drummer, but it’s complicated. Then I went to middle school and then Evan went to middle school a year later because he’s a year younger than me. I was in drumline and then he joined drumline. The first day of that year, he came up and was like, “You still play drums?” and I was like, “Yeah,”and he was like, “Let’s be in a band,” and I was like, “Okay I have a drumset at my house and amps,” and he was like, “After school. Today.”

Evan: Did I say it like that really? 

Aiden: Yeah, that’s how it was in my head at least. We’ve been playing stuff probably since… 3rd or 4th grade? We got instruments for Christmas. 

Evan: Yeah, I think 3rd grade I got my first bass. Just since we started hanging out we’ve been like… band. That’s what we bonded over.

Aiden: We both liked Red Hot Chili Peppers. 

Evan: Yeah and Green Day. I was just getting into Blink-182 and Aiden was a huge Blink fan. Best friends for sure. 

You both grew up in California and moved to New York, what was the culture shift like? 

Aiden: When we left California it was surf punk still and New York had a more enticing music scene I think. 

Evan: It was more electronic. We were discovering a lot of new music. I was getting into these  bands like I Set My Friends On Fire, The Academy Is…, Fall Out Boy. It was definitely a good shift. We had just grown apart from LA, which is sad because I have a lot of love for it. 

Aiden: LA has a great DIY scene. Probably better than New York, but New York has music that’s more to my taste. 

Who are your biggest musical influences? 

Evan: I don’t know! I think there’s stuff that is always going to be a part of the way we write. Like Nirvana. Nirvana was my favorite band from the time I was like nine to thirteen or something. That’s always gonna be in there I think, which is so insane. 

Aiden:

The Beatles, The Emotron, any band with “The”. Hot Leather was a big influence for when we started using autotune and electronic pop-punk instrumentals. MGMT, They Might Be Giants, and Japanther are big influences. Also P.H.F’s I Hate Myself album.

Evan: Metro Station, Hello Goodbye. The Postal Service was just something that was a part of my childhood. I don’t know, there’s a lot of cool electronic music! 

Having visited Austin during SXSW multiple times, do you have any fun previous SXSW stories? 

Aiden: They’ve all been incredibly fun and have all been some of our favorite shows ever. When we did a show at 21st St. co-op last time we were here, we were worried that people wouldn’t enjoy the show. For some reason we were really nervous to go on. Then right when we were about to go on this group of really lit frat type guys came out and as we were setting up they were like, “Are y’all gonna turn the f*ck up?!” and we were like, “Yes!” and they were like, “We’re gonna turn up, but you gotta turn up with us”. So we got pretty hyped and they made the whole crowd crazy and they were crunk. They were doing that thing where people go like “Yuh! Yuh! Yuh!”, during the song and they would just talk to us during the song.  

Evan: I remember I was saying something and they were like, “Stop talking, keep playing!”

Aiden: They were really rowdy, but they made the whole set really crazy. The kids in Austin are so good at shows. There’s so much DIY in Austin and the kids are just hyper and excited. They dance, they’re not stiff. 

What was your side of the process in making the collaboration song with Tommy Fleece?

Aiden: It was super fast. Tommy sent me the beat and then we happened to be meeting the next day and we tried some vocals and sent them to him. By the time I woke up the next morning [Tommy] sent me a mix of it with his verse in it and he was like ,“Hey let me know if this is chill, I’d love to get this out soon.” We approved it, he killed it and made it sound really cool. Then the next week it was out. We performed it together in Pittsburgh which was honestly one of my favorite show experiences. Performing up there together with someone is really special.

Evan: Yeah it felt really cool. I felt like a rapper. 

Do you have any new projects coming out soon? 

Aiden: F*ck yeah. 

Evan: We got a split coming out with Zachshots hopefully by the end of April. 

Aiden: We’re covering their song and they’re covering one of our songs. They just whipped out a really crazy cover of one of our songs at a show one day. We love their music. 

Evan: They’re also in Cash Only Tony’s. It’s the drummer and one of the vocalists. If you don’t know Zachshots, listen to Zachshots!

Aiden: We also have an EP of covers and B-Sides coming out called Louise on S*x Emo on April 20th. 

Evan: Branching Out, our other band, has a split coming out too around the same time as the other split. 

Aiden: It’s with Holidays In United States and Ideasforconversations. Two bands that we’re huge fans of and are friends with. 

Evan: It’s very cool. Very hyped on it. 

Any last comments you’d like to add? 

Aiden: We gotta remind everyone not to be ashamed about liking SpongeBob or anything like that. It’s normal. 

Evan: Be excellent to each other. 

Aiden: If your parents aren’t that bad…give ‘em a call. 

Evan: Also YOLO!

During this SXSW week, I got to spend time with Evan and Aiden at two of their shows — the ones at Scissor House and Mothership Studios. Both shows were filled with pure fun and rowdiness! If you get the chance to catch them any time soon, I highly suggest it! They truly are best friends having fun, making music and sharing that with the world. Also buy their merch and ask them about their rare upside down beer can.