The Life of a Covasette

Words: Darci Jackson

Photos: Izzi Glover

The Covasettes feel like the first sip of a pint on a summer’s day, getting into bed when you’ve got fresh sheets, and the smell of the pavement after it’s rained. In other words, everything that’s right with the world.

Now, it’s hard to remember a time without The Covasettes. They’ve been a slow but steady force on the circuit since 2017, patiently waiting for their time to break through into the spotlight. It seems that time is finally here and no one deserves it more. Their summery indie pop goodness transcends Manchester’s cloudy grey skies, becoming one of the city’s most exciting bands. 

The Covasettes are Chris Buxton (vocals, guitar), Matt Hewlett (lead guitar), Jamie McIntyre (bass), and Matt Buckley (drums). And it’s been a strong start to the year for the “cow band”, releasing new single Rebound, touring with The Lottery Winners and making the longlist for Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent Competition.

But before Dizzy Magazine got to grips with any of that, there’s just one question on our lips. Why cows?

“It was in our artwork. A guy called Carl Thompson does our artwork and he put cows in it just for a few, and then at one point he stopped putting cows in it and we were like, ‘where have the cows gone?’ So now we put them in, and we've had cow-fish, haven't we? We've had alien cows, and the cows are sort of now a staple,” frontman Buxton told us. 

“On the last tour, we spent most of the budget on a giant cow. We had to hire a bigger van to get to the venues because it was that big.”

“Now it lives at my house. It’s in the upstairs room - it’s got its own room at this point. I can't do anything with that room anymore because there’s just a massive cow in it,” Buckley chimed in. 

And that giant cow has a name; Mooshkin. 

“I think the other option was like Emily or something. So Mooshkin, I think, won by a landslide,” added Hewlett.

Now, we never got to the bottom of what a Covasette actually is. But Buxton did tell us what a day in the life of one looks like. 

“The thing is about the life of a Covasette, actually, it's not about where you start. It's where you end up, and that's always Wetherspoons. You might have a gig, you might have a photoshoot, but what we do know is we'll be in Spoons.”

We’ve never heard four people speak so passionately about a chain of pubs before. They cite their favourite one in Manchester as being The Moon Under Water in Deansgate, with Buckley getting giddy at just the mere mention of it:

“When they start separating the tables, you know it's going to be carnage. And you can watch up from the viewing platform, I like to call it, and just watch the carnage unfold. And that's like, a Tuesday!”

The Covasettes rounded out last year by playing their biggest headline to date, at New Century Hall, which felt like a real milestone for the four-piece. They seamlessly bundled their innocent indie pop with hazy summery tones and sing-along choruses, to an audience who had the floor bouncing with sheer energy. Banger after banger ensued, to create a show for the books, for sure.

“I still have this thing when we do a big gig, where I think people might not come, even though we know we'd sold over 1000 tickets or whatever,” mentioned Buxton.

“We’ve obviously had gigs that have been full before, for like a few hundred people, but over 1000? That was something else. Felt like the next step up,” followed Hewlett. 

And they treated fans to an unreleased song, which has since been their first release of the year. 

“Rebound, yeah I like it,” observed Buxton. I mean, we’d hope so!

“It's weird when you put songs out because we liked it a year ago too, when we'd recorded it, and then you sort of wait for ages and then it comes out - you're like, yes, like, we've moved on but the song is good and it's like a step in the new direction, ahead of lots of new music this year.

“It's kind of different - we tried to not be too predictable. I think you can slip into that a little bit, can't you? Where you have a certain sound that you do too much. So we changed it. Mixed it up. I'm trying to be a bit more sexy and cool. Didn't work. And that’s about it really.”

It seems the other Covasettes are in agreement that Buxton’s attempts to be sexy and cool didn’t work.

“I like that you're trying to be sexy and cool, which involves you getting into the crowd and then, rather than doing some sort of swoon or something cool, you just like, high five everyone. You got little seven-year-olds, like, can't quite reach you for a high five. You've got somebody's Auntie there, you know,” jokes Hewlett.

Quickly followed by Buckley: “Occasionally tickling people's heads and stuff as well. I was like, yes, it's not an Alex Turner sort of look.”

Maybe one day, Buxton. 

McIntyre, who produced the single, added: “There's loads of stuff in that song that we've never done before. It's pretty complicated [and] it is hard to play. While he’s dancing around, high fiving people, we're just sweating, trying to make sure we don't make any mistakes!”

They’re fresh off tour from supporting The Lottery Winners on their UK run of shows, which Buxton described as “unreal.”

“Congrats to them, second number one album by the way.”

“They worked really hard for it. The tour was unbelievable. Nicest people in the world. The gigs were class [and] audiences were unreal,” followed Hewlett.

“Bottle of gin every night on the rider,” added Buxton. 

Hewlett continued with: “They actually sorted us right out with the rider. Goes a long way, that. When you're a support band, it can be a bit nerve wracking. You know, you're meeting people that you've been listening to for years but then when they put that little bottle of gin in your dressing room, that's a good start.” 

And despite having immense nights playing iconic venues, such as St Luke’s and O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, every band needs something to pass the time in the day when travelling from venue to venue. 

For The Covasettes, that comes in the form of trying to get completely bonkers brand deals.

“I was trying to get a different supermarket every night to have some banter with us, but it stopped at M&S,” said Buxton, with a slight bit of remorse in his voice. 

“You should see the DM’s. It’s pretty tragic when Tesco refused to get back to us,” added Hewlett.

“I think we annoyed Tesco on a previous tour, though, because we complained about their meal deals. So, it makes sense that they won't get in touch,” confirmed Buckley. 

Buxton mentioned his dream collab would be with Burberry: “Imagine if they sorted us all out with Burberry jackets.”

But the rest of the band seemed dubious, with Buckley commenting: “Whatever happens on the collab, we never get in on it. The M&S stuff, there was a big box of stuff. We got a third of a Colin. Matt [Hewlett] didn't get anything.”

“I got us a Jubel one, and we all drank those!” retorted Buxton.

To which Hewlett added: “That was a particular highlight. I think, in reality, Burberry would be nice but what's going to be far more effective for us is alcohol.”

But Buckley wasn’t about to let that down so easily: “Even clothing wise - they always say, like, oh, just send us through sizes. So, Chris, you know, conveniently sends through his sizes, which are quite different to ours. And then, next minute, all these clothes turn up that we never see.”

Despite probably not including a Tesco collab any time soon, The Covasettes future appears to be twinkling and bright. 

With talks of new music and touring with The Zutons, the band have only two aims: to play Glastonbury and ‘keep surviving.’ 

“Our trajectory has been a very slight incline. It's never really spiked but it's worked. Over the eight years we've been going we're now at a nice height. If that stays, that'd be nice,” mentions Buxton. 

“If I can be still doing this in 20 years’ time and I'm not just some, like, washed up dad band and my kids are going, ‘dad grow up now’,” considered Buckley.

“As long as we're enjoying it is the thing we've always sort of said to each other, isn't it? We love every second of it, really,” finished Hewlett. 

The Covasettes make their way around several UK festivals this summer, bringing their warm, melodic energy with them. And we’re sure lots of Wetherspoons trips lie in their future too.