Buckets, guitar and vocals: The Cocksmen

Rafael and John playing


Interview with Rafael and John

Artists: Rafael Leyva (buckets), John Reagan (Guitar)
Medium: Buckets and guitar
Location: Union Square Station on the L platform

Street Performance: A Primer (It’s their first day)
A testament to the reality of street performance, Rafael and John lost their jobs three weeks ago and decided to play in subway because they “heard that you could make money that way.” So how do you start playing on the street?

1. Motivation: “We’re, uh…trying to get money from all these strangers ‘cause we lost our jobs two weeks ago and it’s really cold so it’s hard to get a job as a server.” “We’re trying to pay rent.”

2. Ability: John and Rafael have no formal training. “I used to play drums back home, but fuck it.”

3. Equipment: “We stole this bucket from my building, that’s his guitar and I found this [bucket] in a corner of Chinatown.”

4. Courage: “We started in the other corner kind of embarrassed but then we figured, like, we really don’t care what people think – as long as our moms don’t see us.”

Rafael Leyva is from Chicago and by trade he is a filmmaker. John Reagan is from Puerto Rico and by trade he is an artist/painter/actor. Together they are The Cocksmen, a two man sketch comedy troupe which, as of now, occasionally plays music in the subway.

Now that you know what it takes what are you waiting for? Go play in the street!

Like what you hear? Think they could be funny? Check out
They influences – The doors and punk music
Their sketch comedy routine The Cocksmen or www.myspace.com/therealcocksmen

Really like what you see? Contact
John Reagan – reganjs@gmail.com or
Rafael Leyva – rafaelin5106@hotmail.com