The sun was setting, the rain held off (mostly) and cotton candy and red bull were plentiful at the second Welcome Week concert on Saturday Sept. 8. The Sheepdogs, who had come all the way from Saskatoon, were headlining.

Their music exploded with such good vibes that there was even the hint of a crowd surf. It took two attempts and only lasted about half a second, but it was there.

Near the end of the set, the singer thanked everyone for coming out. Despite the fact that there was no drinking allowed at the event, the guitar player ran to his red plastic beer cup and handed it to someone in the crowd, to which the singer responded, “Well, that’s going to be taken away immediately.” And even if it was, at least the person got a good story out of it.

The Dirty Nil, from nearby Dundas, were the first of two openers. They were reckless, loud and catchy. The Toronto-based Great Bloomers were next up. Their folk-indie pop was pleasant.

Before the show, I got to ask the Sheepdogs about their story.

The band has been around for eight years, releasing three albums before their infamous Rolling Stone cover. Their latest album, the first on a major label, is self-titled and came out on Sept. 4.

Before all the magazine covers and major labels, the Sheepdogs were high school band geeks. “Ryan and I first met because we were in schools bands, like concert band,” said singer Ewan Currie. “We both played clarinet,” laughed Ryan Gullen, the bass player. “The macho-ist of the woodwinds,” replied Currie. “Well, after flute and piccolo. We never had a punk phase or anything like that.”

Going from a playing clarinet to the Sheepdogs took a bit of time, and the members were about 20 when it all started. From there, the Sheepdogs did what all young bands do: they toured as much as they could and prayed that they’d be able to afford gas.

“We had doubts. How can you not?” said Currie. “I think it’s natural to have doubts in everyday life, no matter what you’re doing. Certainly there are times where you’re like, ‘Why the fuck am I out here doing this right now?’”

Hearing that Currie doubted himself was understandable, but I wondered how he knew that his doubts didn’t mean that he should give it up. “It’s like an intangible thing, you just have to know,” he said. “It’s just a gut thing. You’ll find out, man.”

Despite the doubts, the Sheepdogs made it to the point where Patrick Carney from the Black Keys produced their most recent album. “He has one of those megaphone things, a cone, like an old-time director, and he sits in a director’s chair, and he goes ‘Cut, cut, cut! All wrong!’” said Currie.

“He wore a beret. He treated it like he was Robert Altman on the set of McCabe and Miller.”

“That was the strangest reference,” added Gullen.

McCabe and Mrs. Miller is an old western that, like much of the music that has influenced the Sheepdogs, is from the 1970s.

“It’s not like I wish I was in Woodstock and I wish I was in 1971,” said Currie. “I just like the stuff they were doing. The music more closely resembled roots music, like old country and blues and folk. It had chord progressions and melodies and harmonies, and bands were generally more adept at playing in a range of styles. It seems like a lot of bands now start by playing their original material instead of learning a bunch of other stuff. And as such, I think their sound gets really limited.”

I expected the Sheepdogs to be gruff and intimidating – maybe that’s because of their huge beards and shoulder-length hair. But they were friendly, down-to-earth and funny. Like their concert, it was a nice surprise.

The Sheepdogs played at Faculty Hollow on Sept. 8 to close out Welcome Week.

The Dirty Nil, from nearby Dundas, were the first band up. They made me wish I was drunk, and I mean that in the best way. They sounded like ‘90s college rock and punk, and like a soundtrack to a drunken party with your best bros. In other words, they were a great band for a crowd of first-year students trying to get to know each other.

Dirty Nil’s reckless energy was infectious, and every chorus seemed to involve a top-of-the-lungs yell.

They played a solid Replacements cover, but their version of “Immigrant’s Song” got a bigger cheer. I watched a guy form his hands into a passionate and completely un-ironic pair of devil horns.

When singer Luke Bentham announced that the last song was called “Fuckin’ Up Young,” the crowd let out a big cheer. Maybe they just liked hearing someone say ‘fuck,’ or maybe they were fans of the song, but to me it sounded like a rallying cry that the students would not fuck up being young.

The Dirty Nil made being in a band with your friends seem like the most fun thing in the world. My only complaint is that the guitar could’ve been louder.

The second band was the Toronto-based Great Bloomers. Where the Dirty Nil jumped, these guys bopped. Their sound was folk-indie pop.

I didn’t notice they had a keyboard player until I tried to locate the source of a loud, distorted farting sound on the third song. But then the guitar player brought out a surprise trumpet and all the sound-problem sins were forgiven.

Later, the singer hilariously misheard the “you’re hot” cheer from the crowd as “you’re high,” and I can only imagine how weird it would’ve been to have a couple thousand first-year students calling you out for smoking marijuana. But the Great Bloomers loosened up by the end of the set, and current single “I Wanna Die Young” was a nice highlight.

Then came the Sheepdogs, all the way from Saskatoon. I was totally prepared not to like the Sheepdogs, but I’ll be damned if all the three-part vocal harmonies and harmonized guitar solos didn’t sound great.

I think years of listening to formulaic classic rock from my parents has made me dislike anything that sounds like it’s from Q107, but the ‘70s rock and blues of the Sheepdogs was too catchy for me to hate. They sounded and looked like a bunch of guys who have a nerdy love for the music and fashion of forty years ago and wanted to lovingly recreate it as accurately as they could.

The Sheepdogs’ music exploded with such good vibes that I even saw the hint of a crowd surf. It took two attempts and only lasted about half a second, but it was there.

Near the end of the set, the singer thanked everyone for coming out. Even though there was no drinking, the guitar player then ran to his red plastic beer cup and handed it to someone in the crowd, to which the singer responded, “Well, that’s going to be taken away.”

Even if the beer was taken away, I’m sure the person got a good story out of it. But even more unexpected than having a Sheepdog hand out beer was that this Welcome Week concert kind of made me miss being in first year. Make sure you’re not “Fuckin’ Up Young,” kids.

Josh Parsons

Music Editor

When you step back at take a gander at the Canadian musical landscape, it’s easy to spot a healthy stream of rootsy rock ‘n’ roll flowing like the St. Lawrence down the banks of time. Our vast, open land has served as the perfect inspiration for many road-worn storytellers with affection for simple, chordy guitar.

That being said, Canada’s tradition of straightforward rock ‘n’ roll is still very much alive. Our latest treat to the world is Saskatoon’s Sheepdogs, who, over the past year, have leapt from the cramped backseat of a tiny tour van to the front cover of the most fabled publication in music, Rolling Stone.

Recently, ANDY caught up with Ryan Gullen, bass player for the Sheepdogs, to chat about standing at the helm of a rich tradition and the expectations, opportunities and experiences that arise from such attention.

“We’re into older music, you know? The Band, Neil Young and the Guess Who, that’s the stuff that really inspires us. It’s definitely a sort of Canadian tradition,” laughed Gullen. The Sheepdogs are heavily indebted to this lineage, as pointed out by the countless critics who liken the band to the roots of rock ‘n’ roll past.

“I don’t necessarily feel a constraint,” he said confidently when asked about the expectations placed on them by the media. “People do make the connection to the classic rock ‘n’ roll bands, but that’s the type of music we like to listen to and, as a result, that’s what comes out.”

He continued, “There are lots of bands nowadays that take cues from the ‘80s. They’re considered modern pop music, yet their music is also derivative of another time. We play what we like and hope that other people will like it too.”

The skyrocketing popularity of the Sheepdogs owes greatly to their winning of the first ever “Choose Your Own Cover Contest” hosted by Rolling Stone. Unbeknownst to the band, the contest also offered a spot on the popular fashion-focused reality television program Project Runway.

“We were told shortly before that if we did in fact win, we’d have to appear on the show,” Gullen admitted. “Of course, none of us had ever watched the show. Initially they wanted us on the runway, and we wanted to play. Eventually, they came back and told us that they’d love to have us be the first band to play on the show.

“It was definitely a weird experience,” Gullen laughed. He went on to praise the show for allowing them to bring a sense of humour to it. Gullen proudly revealed the sense of irony they felt when they approached the show with garnered acclaim from one of the most notable rock critics, Chuck Klosterman.

As a result of their newfound superstardom, the Sheepdogs have been forced, on the Canadian leg of the tour, to move gigs into larger venues. “Our [Studio at Hamilton Place] show sold out in the pre-sale, but there were a lot of people in Hamilton and the surrounding area talking to us through social media and telling us that they wanted to come.” The show was subsequently moved to Copps Coliseum.

Gullen went on to celebrate the music-mad audiences that our city fosters. “Hamilton has historically been an great place for us to play,” he said. With tickets still on sale, make sure you catch what the buzz is all about.

The Sheepdogs perform Saturday, Nov. 26 at Copps Coliseum