IN CONCERT
The Sheepdogs (with Yukon Blonde)
Where: Sugar Nightclub
When: Friday, 9 p.m.
Tickets: Sold out
Success hasn’t turned the Sheepdogs’ heads. Or so it seems. Their latest self-titled LP debuted at No. 1 on the Top 200 Soundscan chart. They were the first unsigned act to make the cover of Rolling Stone. And a new Sheepdogs documentary just premièred at the Whistler Film Festival.
Despite burgeoning fame, Ewan Currie of the Sheepdogs didn’t act cool and/or mysterious on the phone. Case in point — quizzed on his favourite bands as a teenager, the singer-guitarist immediately cited Chicago.
“You know,” he said from Kelowna this week, “the band from the ’70s with all the horns?”
Chicago isn’t exactly the hippest act in the world. Remember all those gooey Peter Cetera ballads? But hey, back then, Currie was just a kid who loved playing the clarinet. Besides, the Chicago albums he dug were the first three. The good ones.
“I would give all of those [early] albums 10 out of 10. They had all these crazy medleys. That was really up my alley,” he said.
North American fans have embraced the band’s no-nonsense boogie, which recalls rock’s late-’60s/ early-’70s heyday: the Allman Brothers, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Band and the Stones. The Sheepdogs’ look fits their sound. True to their name, the long-haired, bearded band from Saskatoon is shaggy as all get out.
Typically, the Sheepdogs’ Victoria show was a fast sell-out (this being the last concert of a cross-Canada tour, Currie promises a “blow-out”).
“[The tour] has been pretty crazy,” he said. “A lot of shows, not much time off. But it’s a lot of fun. Getting to see so many people at our shows is a real treat. It makes you feel good inside that people want to see you perform.”
The documentary The Sheepdogs Have At It, produced by Winnipeg’s Farpoint Films, chronicles the band’s dizzying trajectory since being featured in Rolling Stone in August 2011. The group scored the coverage by winning the magazine’s competition, Do You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star? The Sheepdogs also won a recording deal with Atlantic Records and a spot on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, exposing the band to millions of viewers.
Currie says he’s pleased with the documentary, directed by John Barnard. He believes it captures the Sheepdogs as they truly are.
Currie downplayed hoopla surrounding the Rolling Stone cover and the buzz that followed. The band’s aim isn’t to win competitions, he says — it’s to have a long career recording and touring. The Sheepdogs are in it for the marathon, not the sprint.
As a career role model, Currie looks to the Tragically Hip, who started out in 1983 and remain a strong concert draw.
“They’re a legacy act,” he said. “I don’t mean that in any kind of condescending way. I mean that in a respectful way. The fans of the band, they know it’s quality. … I think it’s awesome those guys can just keep doing that.”
Ask some bands about influences and they’ll insist their sound is entirely unique — like nothing ever heard before. Not Currie.
He says what distinguishes the Sheepdogs includes an emphasis on vocal harmonies (Currie says having all members sing harkens back to the Band and Sly and the Family Stone). And there’s the unison guitar breaks offered in harmony à la the Allman Brothers.
The Sheepdogs strive to avoid musical self-indulgence, Currie says. No 20-minute guitar solos. He keeps Tom Petty’s credo: “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus.”
It may not be a fashionable stance in alt-rock circles, but Currie says he identifies himself more as an “entertainer” than an artiste. When the Sheepdogs toured with John Fogerty, Currie — a big Creedence Clearwater Revival fan — noticed the 67-year-old rocker sweated hard over his 21Ú2-hour sets. He, too, wants to give concertgoers a great show.
“I think about people throwing down their hand-earned money and coming out to a show. It’s like, ‘;If I bust my butt to make this money, I want some release. I want to be entertained.’ And I want to entertain them.”
Currie and the Sheepdogs may be keen to entertain — but they’re not interested in pandering.
The Rolling Stone article ruffled a few citizens because descriptions of Saskatoon were less than flattering.
Currie noted the city is “isolated” while another band member said: “There’s an old saying, ‘;Saskatoon’s got nothing but hookers and hockey players.’ ” The magazine writer described one city bar as a “sex farm for blithering drunks.”
Currie acknowledges Saskatoon’s portrayal was less than glamorous, but he believes the Sheepdogsdidn’t “say anything negative” about their hometown.
“A reporter came to hang out with us. We had beers at various bars and did the usual s--t talking that guys in bands do.
“I don’t have any apologies. Every night I go on stage and say, ‘;We’re the Sheepdogs from Saskatoon.’ ”
