The name’s gotta go, yes, but it’s probably too late for that, because Arizona’s JOB FOR A COWBOY have already made quite the, uh, name for themselves. Considering that they have only just released their second album, Ruination, it’s pretty impressive how much buzz there is on these guys. Much of it negative, yes, but Ruination, a shredding death metal disc that gets tech when it needs to but mainly rages straight, fast and hard, may be the thing that turns the tide for this gaggle of young pups.

“We definitely put a lot into it,” says guitarist Bobby Thompson, loading in to a one-off gig in Ventura, California, before the Rockstar Mayhem Fest tour begins. “It definitely was a lot of work; we put in a lot of time trying to figure out, we were in between members, Ravi (Bhadriraju, guitarist) had left the band previous to writing so it was a really weird time for us, trying to figure out everything and write the album.”

But figure it out they did, as the ten tracks on Ruination slam past in a 40-minute blur that sound like a band way past these dudes’ years. (By the by: ten tracks, 40 minutes: awesome math that bands of years past understood and more bands of today should.) And the intensity of the album was matched by the speed with which it was put together, once writing wrapped.

“We didn’t have to wait that long to release it, which is cool; I don’t like having to sit on an album for a while,” says Thompson. “That’s always a bummer. It’s been a really quick process—we recorded it in 20 days, got mixed, mastered and fuckin’ released super fast. It was pretty cool.”

And methinks that Job For A Cowboy fans are going to think this album is “pretty cool,” too. The band’s debut full-length, Genesis (2007) was good but a little lacking in that certain-special-something department; the new disc takes that department, ransacks it, loots it and sets it on fire. Mission accomplished.

“I think it’s definitely way, way better than the first record,” says Thompson. “I think the band has come a long way; we’ve really grown up a lot. We’ve matured musically and as dudes, as people, I think that shows through in the music. I’m really proud of it. I hope everybody digs it, or at least gives it a chance, because it is a little different than what we’ve been doing in the past.”

The main difference between the two discs, to this listener, is that this new one has an energy that more straight-ahead all-brutal-all-the-time death metal too often lacks. Not sure if it’s a bit of hardcore or a bit of deathcore in there, but it’s got a little extra push to it.

“Yeah, thanks man,” says Thompson. “We definitely try to do something a little different. We’re just trying. Hopefully the world catches on and gets into it. We didn’t think of anything consciously, we just wrote music and if we liked it we liked it. There wasn’t a whole lot of, ‘Oh, I don’t know, is that part a little too hardcore sounding?’ It was just, ‘Alright, is that cool? That’s cool, let’s do it.’ We weren’t thinking of genres, really.”

Thompson says the addition of new members Al Glassman (who used to play in Canuck technical deathcore crew Despised Icon) on guitar and drummer Jon Rice added a lot to the record. “Yeah, definitely; two new people’s outlooks and ideas and techniques and things that they’re good at coming through in the band and incorporating in the writing process, it’s pretty cool.”

Is the addition of Glassman and Rice the reason why the new disc sounds different? “Yeah, it’s definitely a factor,” he says. “It’s two new members writing with all of us, so it definitely has a different influence. And the drumming is huge. He’s far more capable and insanely talented and can do pretty much anything we ever would need him to do. That also adds a lot to it and we pretty much don’t have restrictions on writing to our physical abilities. That’s pretty cool.”

The band streamed the entire album on MySpace before its release date, a move which Thompson was nothing but stoked on. He says he didn’t lose a second of sleep over the possibility of lost record sales because of the streaming.

“No, I think the album streaming thing’s cool, I just want people to hear it. I’m not really too concerned with album sales. I wasn’t worried about it hurting record sales. I’d rather people hear it. I think the streaming thing is a cool opportunity for everybody to hear the record without having to download it.”

And it’s a good way for those Job For A Cowboy haters to hear the album without having to buy it, which it stands to reason they won’t. But with Ruination, perhaps some of those haters won’t be hating quite as bad. Personally, I think the JFAC hate is a bit too strong…

“Yeah, there are a lot of people who don’t like our band,” says Thompson. “I can understand why they don’t like our band—we’re young dudes and the first release was pretty immature, and they saw the band getting a lot of attention and probably were like, ‘Fuck these guys, they’re newbies.’ We’ve had that kind of hate, people disliking the band and stuff like that, but it’s also been really good for the band for a lot of people who don’t like us to talk shit openly about us online, kind of putting our name out there even more.”

And it seems that there’s no such thing as bad press as far as these guys are concerned. And they’ve seen their share of negative press, mainly in the form of message-board trash-talkers, but also from the critics; they’ve received even more glowing press.

“I think it’s helped us a lot,” Thompson says about people talking shit about the band. “People ask a lot, ‘What do you think about all the shit people say about your band on the internet?’ I think it’s great. Talk about my band no matter what, it’s awesome. I don’t care what they’re saying; as long as they’re talking about it, that’s awesome.”
“Attention for the band is awesome,” he continues, awesomely. “People are hearing the music. It’s getting out there. That’s the cool part. How it’s received, that’s an added bonus. If people are into it, that’s awesome, and if they hate it, you know… it’s cool. Any feedback is good feedback.”

But perhaps Ruination is the album that will silence the haters once and for all, or at least change people’s perceptions of the band. “I think maybe a little bit,” says Thompson. “We went down a different road slightly, took a more aggressive approach. Hopefully it helps us get more attention. That’d be awesome.”