Sheepdogs soar

Dr. Hook spent their entire career trying to get their picture on the elusive cover of the Rolling Stone.

They got there, but it took years of trying.  

Some might say The Sheepdogs got there the easy way, winning an international contest that pitted the Saskatchewan foursome against 15 other bands, led to a showdown at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June and ultimately learning they’d won the music magazine’s Choose the Cover Contest on the Jimmy Fallon show on Aug. 2.

But that wouldn’t take into account the years the band spent slugging it out in bars, blasting through their brand of ‘60s and ‘70s-style rock and just trying to make a living doing something they love.

Bassist Ryan Gullen, whose trippy Hendrix-style head band recalls the Summer of Love, said the contest win  has given the band much needed exposure, after seven years on the road trying everything they could to hit the big time.

“It’s given us an opportunity to get in people’s sights, I guess. Being a band in Canada, it’s very hard, competing with other bands to get attention. So it’s helped us with that, most of it in North America. The hardest thing to do is to break into the U.S. market as a Canadian band, and it’s allowed us to do that in a much bigger way,” said Gullen on Wednesday night, as he hurried to hit the stage with his fellow Sheepdogs for a headlining slot at Thunder Bay’s Superior Youth Festival.

Lead vocalist and guitarist Ewan Currie says the win has certainly changed their lives, whether they’re willing to admit it or not.

“It means a lot of attention and a lot of publicity, a lot of free publicity,” the beefy, bearded front man said.

“We’re trying to just keep trying to do the same things we always do and keep playing good music.”

Just how much the contest win will change their lives remains to be seen.

The Sheepdogs are still traveling in a van and playing the bars, but future plans include opening for Thunder Bay Blues Festival favourite Robert Randolph and later the Sugarfoot-slinging Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears.

 Then they’ll hit the road with one of their favourites, Kings of Leon.

If you’d told them a year ago they’d be sharing a stage with the likes of Caleb Followill, Gullen would have said you were crazy – and meant it.

As it stands, fate intervened, he said.

“They heard our music at a party …  and they got in contact with us to open for their tour,” Gullen said. “That’s why that happened."

Ironically, it was the Kings of Leon who helped them hone their skills as a functioning musical outfit.

“When we started as a band, we didn’t play that much, we’d never played in bands, so we started covering their first album, so it’s pretty wild to be opening for them now. Back when Youth and Young Manhood (Kings of Leon’s 2003 debut), came out, we played 75 per cent of that album and now we’re opening for them.”

Things like that just seem to happen, Currie said. It’s funny what a little publicity will do.
Not that Currie is complaining. Far from it, he relishes what the contest has delivered to his doorstep and plans to ride it out as long as he can.

For now, he said, it’s looking pretty good.

“There are more opportunities these days, people are knocking on our door a little more. So that’s good. We’re seeing how the sales go up and just in general, people want more of the Dogs,” Currie said.

Ultimately, The Sheepdogs, who are touring in support of their latest release, EP Five Easy Pieces, still have to prove themselves, show the music world they have stamina and aren’t just some flash-in-the-pan band handed something they didn’t earn.

Where fame and fate will lead them, The Sheepdogs aren’t sure, though Gullen has a pretty good idea where he’d like to see the band gravitate to someday soon.

“I think for us, we want to be able to play music and feel comfortable and do it full-time, that’s kind of the point we’re getting to now,” he said.

“But I don’t think we necessarily want to get to a certain point and stop,” he said.