Home > Interviews > Q&A: Ewan Currie (The Sheepdogs) – March 2016

Q&A: Ewan Currie (The Sheepdogs) – March 2016

Carrie Humphries

Triangle

Hello Ewan! The Sheepdogs are about to embark on a tour of the UK and Europe this month. Are you feeling excited?

Hell yeah we are. We always get a thrill playing overseas.

What can the audiences over here expect from your live shows?

Lots of guitar riffing, everybody singing harmonies together & rock n roll music that lifts you up and makes you feel good.

Can you fill us in as to the origins of The Sheepdogs and how the band began?

We began by busking in front of a liquor store in our home town of Saskatoon. From there we’ve played probably around 2000 shows all over the world.

What inspired you to choose ‘The Sheepdogs’ as your name? Do you have any pet sheep dogs?

Initially we were 2 separate bands – the Sheep and also the Dogs. We joined forces and amalgamated our name at the same time.

Your latest video to I’m Gonna Be Myself seems to be Sons of Anarchy inspired. Who came up with the idea and was it fun to work on?

The director chose the idea, although it seems to be a common theme paired with our music. Our style of rock ‘n’ roll sort of embodies the classic idea of freedom and outsider spirit that is often associated with the biker culture. It was especially fun to work on because we, in fact, did no work on it. Videos are kind of tiring and tedious to be in.

Which of your tracks is your favourite to perform live and why?

Bad Lieutenant is a swinging groove we love to play live & Take a Trip has a really fun harmonized guitar solo that always seems to get people juiced.

How do you like to relax between gigs when you’re touring?

Listening to the records that we find on the road has become the top mode of relaxation. Getting to travel so much is great for building up the record collection… unfortunately we’re not home enough to listen to much of them.

If you were organising a dream concert or festival and could choose any artists (alive or dead) to play, then who would you choose?

I would have The Band headlining with a 2 hour set, The Allman Brothers and James Brown would also be fairly high up with 90 minute sets. I’d also let The Kinks play for about 65 minutes. Neil Young & Joni Mitchell would have 30 minute acoustic sets & Lynyrd Skynyrd would also have a 30 minute set. After that, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Neil Young & Joni Mitchell would collaborate on an hour long set.

I heard that for the recording of your latest album Future Nostalgia, you relocated to a remote cottage in Ontario to record there. Did this create a different experience for you compared to working on previous releases (For example, when you worked on the self titled album a few years ago)?

Yeah, we wanted to be somewhere really chilled with not a lot of distraction. The only thing to do there was to make music, and that’s what we did, from morning ’til night, every day. There’s nothing quite like completely immersing yourself into making a record.

What has been the biggest learning curve for you guys musically?

Trying to grow as performers; not just individually, but together as a unit. In the last few months we’ve really been coming together and playing better than ever. It’s been incredibly rewarding, because it hasn’t always been that easy.

If you could take one thing on tour with you from home, what would it be and why?

My rice cooker. I like to eat cheap and healthy and it does both in a pinch. Eating out all the time is a drain.

What are your plans for the rest of the year?

More touring & summer festivals. Then we’re going to head back into the Sheepdogs cave and make a new record. There are a lot of ideas percolating around my brain that I can’t wait for people to hear.

The Sheepdogs are touring UK-wide from March 30th – April 7th – For more information and tickets check out their website.
www.thesheepdogs.com