Sacred Cowboys are an Australian post-punk rock band based in Melbourne and active in 1982-85, 1987–97 and since 2006.
The band's lead singer and lyricist is Garry Gray. The current line-up includes: Spencer P. Jones (guitar); Penny Ikinger (guitar); Nick Rischbieth (bass) and; Stephan Fiddock (drums). A special guest for shows in August 2006 was Ash Wednesday (keyboards). Past members include: Johnny Crash (drums) and Mark Ferrie (bass) who were both previously members of Melbourne pop band Models; Terry Doolan (guitar); Andrew Picouleau (bass); and Ian Forrest (keyboards). Rischbieth joined the group in 1983 and Fiddock in 1987.
Gray was previously a member of The Reals (1975–76) and The Negatives (1977–79) and is the only constant in the band's history.
The Sacred Cowboys began playing inner city Melbourne in early 1982. Gray and Mark Ferrie thought of the name after watching "The Groovy Guru", an episode of the classic TV comedy series Get Smart. In it, the Groovy Guru and his rock band, the Sacred Cows, use psychedelic music to control the minds of young people. (The same episode was the inspiration for a Hoodoo Gurus song, "In The Echo Chamber" and Painters and Dockers covered Groovy Guru's "Kill Kill Kill".)
Within six months, the Cowboys signed with Mushroom Records/White Label and recorded the "Nothing Grows In Texas" single. After their performance of the song on television pop show Countdown, Molly Meldrum said: "this is the worst group I've seen in five years", a title the band wore with perverse pride.
The Cowboys Mark I also released a second single, a cover of Alex Chilton's "Bangkok", a self-titled EP on the White Label, a self-titled album on French Label New Rose Records, and a live/demo compilation named after a Rolling Stones cover, We Love You on ManMade Records.
After reforming in 1987, the Cowboys signed to Germany's Normal records and released the classic Trouble From Providence album. Hell Sucks was the hit from this album and became the Cowboys signature tune. The Cowboys began recording again in the 1990s. They released a "best of" CD EP called Black City. The Australian edition of Rolling Stone magazine listed this as one of its Top 100 albums of the 20th century. The Things To Come album was released in 1996. Spencer Jones and Penny Ikinger joined Terry Doolan as the band's guitarists, both live and in the studio.
In 2005, the song "Hell Sucks" from Providence was selected for Clinton Walker's compilation of classic Australian punk and post-punk music, Inner City Sounds.
When the Cowboys reformed in August 2006, they played a series of shows in Melbourne, and put the finishing touches to the Cold Harvest album, which was released on Bang Records.