If you happen to be walking past the Royal Theatre on January 15 and you hear what you assume is your favourite rock classics wafting through the air—sounds reminiscent of Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Allman Brothers Band, and Thin Lizzy—you’re in for a rude awakening. It’s not classic ’70s rock, it’s the closest thing happening in modern rock, and it’s from here in Canada. It’s The Sheepdogs.
The Saskatoon band’s music isn’t just a love letter to their rock and roll idols, though. They create a new sound through decades of passion for classic rock.
“Everything started in kind of a poetic way, in a sense,” says bassist Ryan Gullen. “We were 19-year-olds living in Saskatoon, kind of at that part of life where you’re out of high school and trying to figure out what you want to do. I got fired from my job and Ewan [Currie, guitarist/vocalist] and his long-term girlfriend at the time—you know how those things go when you’re 19—broke up and we decided we wanted to do something different, so Ewan, myself and Sam [Corbett, drums] all got together and just for something to do started playing music together.”
Gullen says they started playing cover songs, which evolved into writing their own songs.
“We just kind of make records and tour and spread the good word of rock and roll,” he says.
The band’s music takes a step back from the serious tone of modern rock with their self-proclaimed “good-time rock and roll.”
“On our last record we tried to use different techniques, like we plugged guitars directly into the board rather than using an amp, that has a very sort of fuzzy sound that’s an old thing that people used to do. I think we are just very aware of things like older amps and things that make guitars sound a certain way,” says Gullen. “For example, a lot of new records have a lot of microphones on drums, or even in some cases they do a thing where they sample the sound of the drums and they like to program the drums using a computer rather than actually having to have somebody recorded playing it. Whereas we like to use less microphones on drums and more room sound so it sort of has a little bit of a different sound, and that would be a conscious thing that we do that certainly is different than a lot of modern rock records.”
These elements shine in The Sheepdogs’ live shows through jam-like riffs and a lively energy that takes their recorded sound and enhances it. Their exploration isn’t as noticeably progressive as, say, Jimmy Page using a violin bow on his guitar, but it does add a captivating element to the band’s shows.
“I think what we’re really trying to do is, even for ourselves, is get lost in the moment,” says Gullen. “If you go to a concert it’s sort of a break in time. It can really be whatever you want it to be. You can really lose yourself in it. I think that’s something that’s really important to us is that we want people to be comfortable and be able to be themselves in the moment, enjoy themselves, and be whoever they want.”
The Sheepdogs
8 pm Sunday, January 15
$41 and up, Royal Theatre
rmts.bc.ca