AWmusic

G: I’m sitting here with…

E: Ewan

G: and…

R: Ryan

G: Nice to meet you guys. You have a show at the Dakota Tavern tonight and you’ve been touring throughout 2009, it looks like you’ve have had a pretty hectic schedule. How’s your touring going?

R: It’s been going good. We’ve been playing lots of shows for the last little while. Been out to the east coast, just coming back from the east coast and heading home so it’s been pretty good.

G: How do you feel about the load? Are you doing a show every night? How is that going?

E: It’s pretty hectic. You don’t have any time to sightsee or do anything like that. When you go to a new city it’s pretty much play-drive-play.

G: Been on tour a lot this year?

R: Yeah, we took the summer off to record our new album but toured a fair amount before and this being a pretty big part of touring right now.

G: With your upcoming album, is there anything you’re willing to say about that?

R: Sure what do you want to know?

G: Do you have a title for it?

E: No, we don’t yet. It’s still in the works.

G: What’s your direction with it? What kind of theme are you going with?

E: I guess the big difference from our other albums is that we recorded it ourselves. Being able to record it on my computer at our leisure, anything we wanted to embellish, anything we wanted to try, or go off on musical tangents – just the freedom to do that without the looming specter paying a professional studio by the hour; a lot of freedom.

G: Giving you guys a lot more of an ability to experiment?

E: Sure.

G: Speaking about this new freedom with your upcoming album, how does it feel to your two other albums?

E: It’s definitely not any wild left turning or anything like that. It seems to be a logical progression. Its similar territory I think but everything has just been ratcheted up a little bit so it’ll be another step up hopefully. From an oral standpoint you can just hear it and hopefully everything just blends a little better.

G: I hear your music and there’s a love for it there. How did you guys get into music?

R: We always just made music that we like to listen to and that was all the music we liked to listen to so we just followed as such. I don’t think that it was necessarily forced. It was just the kind of music we all enjoyed and that’s just what kind of comes out.

G: Did you have artistic backgrounds or families that helped influence?

E: Oh yeah, my old man is a classical composer and a jazz pianist. Sam our drummer, his dad is a saxophone player, he’s a working musician.

G: Have you done any shows in the United States?

R: We went down to Austin in March and then most recently we went down to New York City. Within the next year you’ll definitely see us heading more stateside. We just got our visas so we’ll be doing a lot more touring in the south. We really want to go far into the deep south so that’s in the near future.

G: What’s your favourite venue/city to play in?

E: I like Winnipeg and I really like ‘Times Change’. I think it might have a lot to do specifically with us having a lot of friends in Winnipeg but I think they have a great music community there with a ton of great places to play at. The Times Change has this old saloon member’s club vibe to it and I really it.

R: It would be somewhat similar to the Dakota in some ways with that Winnipeg feel.

E: Yep, definitely.

G: Speaking about the industry itself. The music industry seems to be changing more than anything. How do you see yourself in that place?

R: Well I think that in some ways the industry is getting away from the more commercial side. It seems like bands that have been getting popular, the indie bands. Nobody sells records anymore so other bands have a bigger chance with new avenues, whether it be online or however people are distributing music since people don’t buy cds anymore. You see independent bands doing it. We see them doing a lot better. I think for us building up as opposed to having a single and having a fanbase based upon a single song that’s going to sell compared to that fanbase around our music is in some ways the only way you can have stability and longevity in the music industry. It’s all about building it up one fan at a time, one person at a time, as opposed to blasting the radio with a song every fifteen minutes. Bands are still obviously going to do that but I think the way the music industry is now people aren’t going to be selling albums.

I talked to a guy who used to go to the U.K. and the music industry is shaped by insider information. Nobody sells cds anymore, they basically give away music for contact information and that contact information is then used to figure out where you should be going. If you distribute a song online and someone gives you an email and you use that as a mailing list and a start off point. I think I could definitely see it going that way and that’s what we’ve been doing for the last couple of years. We’ve always released our albums independently and worked at building that fan base organically.

G: Where do you see the industry in about five years?

R: I think radio and old media is on the way out. Satellite radio and internet radio still seems to be popular but I think you’re going to start seeing a larger amount of people who are actually music fans – not just radio but fans controlling the music issue more than in the commercial market.

G: How has the internet helped you reach your fans?

R: The problem with the internet is there’s so many bands and so many people because the music is so easy to make and now distribute online it actually makes it difficult for bands to get out there, whereas ten/twenty years ago it was a lot easier because the band could get studio time and get an album made. Now any band can (like ourselves) record and put it out there so I think it’s difficult. In some ways it’s really good because we’ve been able to communicate with fans and it makes the booking process a lot easier since we do that stuff all by ourselves but also getting your music out there into a new market helps by having people know who you are. That makes a big difference. More and more we see people tracking online sites and blogs compared to five years ago it was not nearly as popular. It feels like a good way for people to keep their ears to the ground.

G: As far as your music right now. Where do you see The Sheepdogs in a couple of years?

E: Well, it’s hard to say. We enjoy playing music. We enjoy making music. There’s no doubt about it, it can be hard to do because for the most part you have to have a job and you have to balance the two because it doesn’t really pay the bills for a lot of bands. It’s just like any artistic endeavor, you’ve got to really love it and hope that eventually your commitment to it will also result in some kind of financial compensation. I don’t want to be rich or famous; I would just like to quit my job and just be a musician.

R: The ability to be able to focus solely on your music is very difficult. It doesn’t matter where you’re from to make the money especially coming out positive having less money with the performing part. You have to keep plugging away at it and slowly move away from your actual job and focus more on your music.

E: It’s definitely not a sure thing. It doesn’t mean you’re going to be rich or even wealthy.

G: What do you want to say to your fans or even new listeners? What do you want to tell them?

E: Well, that were four guys who really like making music and we try only to make the kind of music that we like. We’re not trying to be cool or catch onto any trends. We’re just trying to play what we think is cool and what we really like so I think it comes off as honest and hopefully authentic because we’re playing exactly what we want to hear and that we promise the sort of feel good, upbeat, proven, rock and roll that you can sink your teeth into.

G: You guys have made two records now and they’ve been getting good attention. They’ve been charting well and getting good buzz about them. How do you not let that go to your head?

E: Because you still have a job.

G: Hahaha

R: Hahaha

E: Because you still have to work at home.

R: It’s funny because a lot of times you can’t necessarily gauge those kinds of things. As much as there is buzz you never know who’s listening to your album or who really loves that album until you go out and meet those people. A lot of the times I think it’s kind of tough in some ways letting it go to your head or even get to your head because a lot of times you have no idea really. When you’re sitting at home in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan aside from your friends who really like your music it’s hard to stay in touch. We’ve always just been very honest with what we’ve done and how we’ve portrayed it, I don’t think there’s any risk of it going to our head any time soon.

G: It’s like a test in humility.

E: Yeah. It’s just weird you never really know and you have no idea what’s going on.

E: I think just to be frank, we haven’t had so much success that we could really get big headed about it but if we did it would be pretty embarrassing because we’re still modest in the level of success we’ve had so it’s easy to be honest.

G: Where can people reach you? If people want to hear and know more about your music where can they go?

R: Our myspace is always a good place because it’s got all the music and info on it. Right now we don’t necessarily have a website we’re using. Also just contact contact@thesheepdogs.com

E: Yep, myspace.com/thesheepdogs.com

G: I saved two of the final most epic questions. The entire bowl lies on these two questions.

E: Okay.

R: Okay.

G: First one. Pirate vs. ninja; who would win?

R: I think I saw that on spike hahaha.

E: Oh yeah. There’s a game we used to play on xbox that was like pirate versus ninja dodge ball. I’m trying to remember who always won that.

R: I’d have to say ninja because I would imagine pirates are kind of drunk. I just think pirates are a little more brash and a ninja is more calculated.

E: To be honest, I’m going to have to take pirates because of the strength in numbers. Ninjas are solitary. I mean sure they could beat them one on one but pirates could overwhelm them.

G: And the last one. Betty or Veronica?

E: Definitely Betty.

G: Why?

E: Because for the most obvious reasons, Veronica is stuck up. I think Betty would like to watch a football game with you. She’s kind of a tomboy but has good looks.

R: Veronica is just too high maintenance. I’m gonna agree with you on that one.

E: Yeah. I don’t need money I want a true girl.

G: Awesome guys, thanks so much for your time. Have a great set.

E: Thanks.

R: Appreciate it.