Multi-platinum selling, Juno Award-winning band The Sheepdogs hit Chatham’s historic Capitol Theatre for the opening night of their highly anticipated cross-Canada headline tour in support of their latest release, “Keep Out of the Storm”. Staying true to the classic blues-rock style that has made the band a favorite across Canada and beyond, the band from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, comes off a highly successful run of shows in 2024/25 with Canadian music icon Bryan Adams and looks to carry that momentum headlining venues from coast to coast across Canada, and then through Europe this fall. I had the pleasure of speaking with bassist and founding member Ryan Gullen about the new album, tour, and all things Sheepdogs.
Two years ago, The Sheepdogs made the big move of buying back their music catalogue and parting ways with their major label. They created their own independent label, “Right On Records”, and now have full creative control over their music and careers.
Gullen explains the reasoning, “You know, it’s certainly one of those things that when we think about longevity as a band, we felt it was really important to own and deal with our music ourselves. We’ve been a band for twenty-two years now, and it’s one of those things that over the years, we’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of success and have great people work with us. But at a certain point, we wanted to reinvest the income from those older titles into new music.”
“We just wanted to continue owning our own babies, and as we make money off albums rather than going towards the bottom line at a label with a million other artists, we could take that money and reinvest it in our careers.”
Back in 2011, the band had a demo tape submitted to Atlantic Records, which resulted in them being chosen to participate in a contest to choose an unsigned band to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone. They won the highly publicized contest and became the first unsigned band to appear on the cover of the iconic magazine.
Recollecting the impact of the Rolling Stone cover, Gullen mused, “What’s interesting about the US is that it was a huge blip for us, but didn’t convert into as big a profile as we have up here. For us, it was not about having a big splash. Even within Canada, it wasn’t overnight that we were selling a bazillion tickets. It’s still a long game for us. So, in America, it was a great launching point for us, something that anybody looking for an opportunity would like to put themselves out there and get into people’s view.”
“But, you know, it also involved a ton of work afterwards. So, yeah, it’s been fifteen years, and it definitely helped us in Canada, but certainly wasn’t an overnight success. We had been a band for seven years before that and then we’ve had to put in a lot of work to continue forward. So much of it was about proving that we’re not just a band that won a competition”.
Part of the band’s big appeal is the classic 70s rock vibe and it’s evident in all their visuals from their stage shows to album covers and especially their music videos. Much of the look is created by long-time collaborator Mat Dunlap.
About the band’s image, Gullen reflects,” It’s funny because it was always a really big thing back fifteen, whatever, years ago, but it’s become even more prevalent now with the way that social media has shifted and changed. We’ve tried to continue forward with that in how we do things and be creative with that.”
“It’s just an extension of the music where we want to keep challenging ourselves to do different things and put ourselves out there and make sure the aesthetic is how we want it, which is, again, part of the reason why we bought our catalog back and started our own record label. We want to have full control of those things and be able to continue pushing those things forward, as we want to do them.”
There have been occasional changes in the band over the years, and a significant one was the departure of guitarist Jimmy Bowskill in 2022 and the addition of Gatineau native Ricky Paquette. I asked Gullen what Paquette has brought to the band in the four years since.
Describing the positive vibe Paquette brings, Gullen explains,” He joined the band right before we went on a massive tour that was, like, over 100 dates. And so that was a pretty good test to see how he fit in with the stuff we’d already recorded. Every guitar player is going to be different, so even if he is playing songs that were played by different guitarists, he’s adding his own flavor to that.”
“I think that since he joined the band, the band has become a little bit more playful live on stage. I think it’s become a little bit jammier, a bit more interplay. But, you know, when it comes to making records. That’s a very different thing.”
“Things are going to breathe and change as you have new players. This will now be our third time recording with Ricky. We did the two EPs in 2024, and he brought a lot. He brings a lot to the studio. He definitely has a lot of great production ideas, and then just his versatility in his playing and his ability to be able to suggest trying something like this, or just like this.”
“On this new record, there are tons of things that he was heavily influential on or brought a cool flavor to that would not be something we’ve necessarily approached in the past. A really good example of that is the song “I Do”. It’s almost Queen-esque, and he built this incredible layered guitar harmony for the guitar solo section. That was all him putting his mark on that song, and it really took it in a direction that we hadn’t really thought of.”
A bigger change in the band was the recent departure of drummer and founding member Sam Corbett. I asked how he is doing and what the band is doing to fill his shoes.
Gullen smiles,” Sam’s great. He wanted to spend more time with his family, so it was definitely a tough situation. Sam is a founding member. He was there day one when me, him, and Ewen all got together, but we are twenty-plus years into this band, and as people’s lives change, he just didn’t want to be on the road. So, in his situation, he couldn’t really see himself continuing forward with that, and he wanted to be closer to his family. We talked about it almost two years prior to him leaving, so we had a lot of time to figure things out and still play with him.”
“It was interesting, though, because it created a different dynamic for us to make this record. We made this record while we were touring last summer on downtime between shows, and Sam was on the tour with us, but we were using different drummers in the studio.”
“It was pretty unique having never made a Sheepdogs record without Sam as our drummer. It was very interesting to learn to play with different drummers. The whole record was live off the floor. We’ve been doing this for the last couple releases, sort of sit in a circle in the studio and get the song sounding really good, how we like it, and hit record That becomes the basis of the song, drums, bass, guitar, and keys.”
“In my situation, every day was learning. It was like learning to dance with a new dance partner. I also think great music is often created in situations where you’re a little bit uncomfortable. I think when you get comfortable, you go back to old habits. So, it really kept us on our toes with this one, and I think it created a whole different vibe. It was a unique situation that we have never experienced to have five different drummers on the record.”
“We were like, “Let’s get some people to come in who we know and respect and are our friends to be part of this record”. The fortunate part of being a musician is that a lot of your friends happen to be some of the most talented people around. It was sort of like a soft audition. The drummer we ended up bringing on this tour has been playing with us since last fall. His name is Trevor Falls and he’s from Toronto. He played on several songs in the record, and he was really great to work with.”
Keep Out of The Storm is full of great tracks, some with that signature bop in your seat rock n’ roll the band is known for, and one track in particular that really stood out to me. The instrumental The Yellow Line literally had me checking the track to see if I was still listening to the same album.
Explaining why the song is so unique, Gullen says,” I would probably say that song is marginally a little bit Allman Brothers sounding. That song and the prior track, “The Owl” are written by Shamus, our keyboard player. It’s interesting when Shamus brings in songs.”
“He brings in lots of different songs, and some of them make the record, some of them don’t. But that one really stood out to us. We just thought that was a really cool piece. Both of the songs are really great, but Yellow Line was really unique to us, but also not a stretch.”
“We were working it out and looking up funny references, and one of the artists I referenced that I thought it sounded like in its demo form is David Axelrod. He made really cool thematic over-the-top jazz stuff in the late sixties and early seventies. It was one of those things where it’s fun to put an instrumental on a record and make something that’s a little bit different and throw a curveball on the second side of this record.”
“Shamus comes from a pretty technical musical background as well, and he’s always challenging us. Whereas Ewan and I learned to play our instruments together and have some musical training, Shamus went to Humber. Every once in a while, he’ll throw something fun like that at us that’s also very technically proficient as well, and it gives us a little bit more cred amongst the music heads out there.”
Chatham, Ontario, has become a favorite stop for the band over the years and it’s the first stop on the Canadian tour.
“We have started a tour in Chatham four times in our career. First, in 2012, I looked it up the other day because I was feeling like it’s been more than a couple. Then there was another tour after that, and then the last two tours in Canada also started in Chatham. The last two times were intentional.”
“The first two were happenstance, but that first tour in 2012, we went to the bar afterwards, and people were saying, ‘This is so cool that you guys are starting this tour in Chatham”. And I was like, yeah. That’s great!”
“The next time it happened, it was like, “Oh, we’re starting the tour in Chatham again”. The third time was the beginning of the Backroad Boogie Tour, where we went across Canada and only played smaller markets, the intention being that we’re from a smaller place, Saskatoon, where you constantly have to travel to other places to see music, and obviously, there are music fans everywhere.”
“So, we planned a tour where the biggest place we played was Thunder Bay. Part of the inspiration was those early shows in Chatham and seeing what it can be like to play a place where people are just so excited to have it in their backyard, they don’t have to travel to Windsor or London or Toronto to see that act. It only felt appropriate to start that tour in Chatham. When it came to playing this tour, we feel we have to start Canadian tours in Chatham now.
“But honestly, that theater is such a beautiful theater, a real gem. And on top of that, the reception we’ve had in Chatham has been so overwhelmingly positive that we kind of feel like it’s become a thing now where we’re gonna catch shit if we don’t start the tour in Chatham.”
What is your favorite venue to play or your favorite town to go to besides Chatham?
“One of the coolest venues in Canada is the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. It’s right downtown. It’s an old dance hall and it has the horsehair floors so when you’re on the dance floor, you can feel the springy floors. I think it’s about 1,100 capacity, so instead of moving into bigger venues, we always do several nights there because it has great sight lines and is such a fun place to play and to go see a show.”
“For the history and the part that it plays in Canada, Massey Hall has always been a really special one. We’re not doing Massey Hall this time; we’re doing History in Toronto, but that’s definitely a special one. There’s a special feeling standing on that stage knowing the history of it.”
“Massey Hall is one of the rare occasions where they do a renovation, and it makes the venue better. We were one of the last bands to play before the renovations, and we were back in shortly after it reopened. They’ve done such a good job in renovating it so that it feels like it’s always been that way, or at least improved it, not put weird modern touches on. It had stained glass windows that had been covered for years, and they’ve restored them.”
“We’ve played so many unique places, internationally too. There’s this venue we played in Munich called Circus Krone, which is literally an active circus that does concerts. The Beatles have played there, and all these different people, and we got to play there. It’s a very unique place. We woke up in the morning, got off the bus, and there was a zebra right outside our bus because it’s an active circus. It’s been an active venue since before WWII, which is cool that we get to experience these places.”
I asked Gullen what we can expect at the shows on this tour.
“I think it’s a good mix. We’re still sort of working that out. We got more rehearsals this week before we go, but a lot from the new album and lots of older ones. One of the things we’ve gotten into a bit is that we don’t want the songs to be exactly like they are on record. We’re not going to totally go full Dylan and make the songs unrecognizable, but adding in parts, whether it’s additional jamming parts or more solos stretching things out, we try to make the live show a little bit more dynamic in that way. I also think we’re dusting off a few we haven’t played in a few years.”
“Keep Out of the Storm is a bit of a reference to the fact that for us, music has always been a bit of an escape from the storm of life. Concerts are very much that too, where it’s that thing where you can leave everything that you have going on in your life at the door and be whoever you want.”
“We know that people have a million things that are taking their attention or time, so when someone decides to spend their evening with us, we don’t take that for granted. So, it’s really important to us that we create a show that allows somebody to sort of keep out of the storm or take a moment away from the craziness that is life.”
“We’ve always leaned into the side of that feel-good rock and roll. We really do feel like we want our music to make people feel good and be that type of escape. We’re not looking to express ourselves politically or put our own personal struggles on the page necessarily when it comes to our music. No slight to anyone that does, but that’s just how we do things. It’s just a general vibe of positivity around everything.”
The Sheepdogs open their cross-Canada headline tour at Chatham’s Capitol Theatre this Friday March 13 @ 8:00pm. Limited seats still available.