It's been more than seven years since Will Ferrell and Christopher Walken turned “More Cowbell” into a national catchphrase with their legendary “Saturday Night Live” skit, but Blue Öyster Cult still sees cowbells at shows from coast to coast.

The band, which formed 40 years ago, plays at Sunken Garden Theatre on Saturday, Aug. 25. A portion of the proceeds will benefit San Antonio Animal Care Services as it continues its five-year program to transition into a no-kill facility.

“We embrace the cowbell,” Blue Öyster Cult singer Eric Bloom told The Bulletin (Ore.) in November. “I hug it close to me. It certainly has not hurt us. People bring cowbells to gigs. They hold up signs, ‘More cowbell.' Whatever it takes. We're glad to have the attention.”

They can thank Ferrell and Walken for that attention. In April 2000, the two headlined a sketch parodying the Blue Öyster Cult song “(Don't Fear) The Reaper,” set as a mock episode of VH1's “Behind the Music.” Walken played Bruce Dickinson, a record producer who utters the phrase “more cowbell” over and over as the fictional Gene Frenkle (Ferrell) enthusiastically played the cowbell.

Dickinson even goes so far as to claim a fever for which “the only prescription is more cowbell.”
“I saw it live,” Bloom told The Kalamazoo Gazette (Mich.) last month. “I was a little more surprised at the humor of it. It's very funny.”

CLINT HALE | 210SA