DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The Sheepdogs proved their rock ‘n’ roll mettle at last year’s Black Swamp Arts Festival. They took the stage as the closing act Friday night in a downpour that would have scared off many other artists.
The Canadian quintet rocked out in the rain for a hard core crowd of several hundred that danced in the front of the stage, seeking refuge from the storm in the unrelenting backbeat and driving guitars.
That’s just part of the deal when you’re a traveling rock ‘n’ roll band, said Ewan Currie, the lead singer and songwriter. “There’s a lot of sweat equity, a lot of travel, a lot of sucking it up… playing 10 shows in 10 days in unpredictable weather. That’s the price you pay for following the dream and playing in a rock ’n’ roll band.”
The Sheepdogs will return to the festival this year as the Saturday night closing headliner. Currie hopes for better weather, but is ready to deliver “a good dose of rock ’n’ roll.”
“We’ll come out with guns blazing,” he said.
The festival runs Friday, Sept. 9. through Sunday, Sept. 11, in downtown Bowling Green.
The band hasn’t had any off time since it last passed through Bowling Green. The Sheepdogs have been logging the miles in a tour to promote its latest album “Future Nostalgia.” The BG stop was at the beginning of a tour that will extend into November. That’s running close to 300 shows.
“That’s missing a lot of weddings and other mundane life things,” Currie said. That’s being a rock ’n’ roll band.
“The touring rock ’n’ roll band in 2016, we’re like the blue collar, working class musicians in a way,” he said. The music gets hardly any air play or coverage. “We’re almost like a boutique commodity.”
But this is what Currie, his brother Shamus Currie, who plays keyboards and trombone, and bassist Ryan Gullen nd drummer Sam Corbett dreamed of growing up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. They ditched their school band instruments, and learned rock listening to Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Beatles, The Kinks and other 1970s groups popular in their parents’ youth.
Starting as teenagers they wrote their own songs, but also played a lot of covers to learn all the tricks and turns of the trade. Those attempts at imitation morphed into their own sound.
Support Local Media!Blending two bands, The Sheep and The Dogs, The Sheepdogs hit the road, first conquering their native Canada. They have a collection of Juno Awards – the Canadian Grammys – as testament to their success. Now The Sheepdogs are reaching out to the world. Currie was speaking by telephone while on a boat in the Netherlands before playing a show as part of a tour that also took the band to France and Switzerland.
Hard work has been part of their story since the beginning. “We really take being a rock band seriously, and we work really hard at getting better.”
Referencing the concept that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master a craft, Currie said they’ve put in 15,000 hours.
The festival audience will hear a band that’s even tighter than the quintet they heard last year in the rain. Part of that is the band has brought in a new lead guitarist, Jimmy Bowskill. “He’s the best guitar I’ve ever played with,” Currie said. “He’s phenomenal.” He brings a mastery on guitar and pedal steel of blues and country, the onions and garlic of rock ‘n’ roll.
Also, The Sheepdogs hone their skills based on the reaction from old fans and new. Given the show the band delivered last year, they’re sure to encounter both when they return to Bowling Green in September.
