Cowboy Junkies' Michael Timmins Downplays China Censorship of Their Name

Some bands might be bothered by jumping through censorship hoops in order to get the go ahead to perform at a festival, but Cowboy Junkies guitarist Michael Timmins isn't one of them. The Canadian musician was relatively unconcerned to see his band listed as "Cowboy Fan" on paperwork associated with their recent performance at KAMA Love Music Festival in Beijing.

"You're overplaying the name change," Timmins tells Spinner.

"A person in China who knew us would refer to us as Cowboy Junkies, but the censors, or whatever you want to call them, need to know what the name means. That's a hard name to interpret, so they interpret it as 'Cowboy Fan.' They know what 'cowboy' is because they have a translation for that. But for 'junkies,' well, what does that mean? So the thing they came up with is 'junkies' -- that's somebody who is obsessed with something. So they said, 'Okay, we'll call it 'Cowboy Fan.'"

"It's not like we were billed as 'Cowboy Fan,'" he declares.

Timmins also said having the songs 'I Cannot Sit Sadly by Your Side' and 'Third Crusade' removed from their set wasn't a huge deal either given the hurdles facing Chinese promoters in getting the festival off the ground.

"Because there's so many issues involved, they'll look at your set and if they feel there's anything that's going to cause any kind of ripple with the censors, then they'll come back and ask [you to change it]. And that's what they did with us. One song has the word 'gun' in it and therefore they felt there was a violent side to it."

"We're dealing with promoters who are trying to do something very special and very different in a country putting up a lot of roadblocks in doing something like that," he adds. "We were like, 'Man, if you're willing to stick your neck out so far to put on music and want to include us we'll certainly do whatever it takes.' It's not like a festival in North America where you put your ride in and everybody kowtows to you."

Timmins says they won't write a song about the incident but are hoping to return to the country to do some more touring. Meanwhile, Cowboy Junkies are mixing 'Sing In My Meadow,' the third album in their four-part 'Nomad Series,' with a tentative late summer release date. The alt-country heroes report their fourth album is already underway as well.

Watch Cowboy Junkies Video for 'Miles From Our Home'
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