The Sheepdogs are coming back to Victoria with new tunes and a new lineup.
Three years since the release of their self-titled album, Future Nostalgia features 18 new Sheepdogs songs that the group recorded at a cottage in Stony Lake, Ontario. It’s the Saskatoon rock band’s fifth album, and it comes with a lineup change: guitarist Leot Hanson parted ways with the band to open a music venue in Saskatoon, and longtime friend Rusty Matyas played guitar on the album but is not on tour with the band.
“Future Nostalgia is somewhere between the homemade vibes of [third album] Learn & Burn and the more polished studio sound of our self-titled album,” says vocalist/guitarist Ewan Currie. “We wanted to take the best things we learned in both experiences and make them happen on this album.”
Part of the new album’s sound is Currie’s younger brother Shamus, who plays several instruments for the band and is now an official member; his trombone can be heard on some of their earlier tracks but holds a more prominent role on their new album. The Sheepdogs have taken their new lineup overseas to promote the album, and Currie says it went great.
“It went really well, so we wanted to get back there and keep building it in the UK,” he says.
The band toured Europe in January with Brit rockers The Temperance Movement, who are also touring Canada right now. The two bands aren’t playing together here, but Currie still encourages Victorians to go see his old tourmates as they roll through town.
“They’re really cool, and I hope people will go out and see them,” he says.
As for what the Victoria audience can expect at the Sheepdogs gig, Currie says it will be a mixture of songs old and new.
“We’re doing a lot of stuff from Future Nostalgia but throwing in a bunch of the old favourites as well.”
The Sheepdogs
7 pm Saturday, February 20
$30, Sugar
sugarnightclub.ca