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Sheepdogs fly flag for guitar rock as they hit Victoria for two shows

IN CONCERT What: The Sheepdogs with Sam Coffey and The Iron Lungs When: Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 p.m. (Wednesday is sold out) Where: Capital Ballroom (formerly Sugar), 858 Yates St. Tickets : $32.50 at Lyle’s Place, 770 Yates St., and Ticketweb.
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Saskatoon-based band the Sheepdogs have been making music for 14 years.

IN CONCERT

What: The Sheepdogs with Sam Coffey and The Iron Lungs
When: Tuesday and Wednesday, 8 p.m. (Wednesday is sold out)
Where: Capital Ballroom (formerly Sugar), 858 Yates St.
Tickets: $32.50 at Lyle’s Place, 770 Yates St., and Ticketweb.ca

The world of studio recording is wide open, especially when it comes to layers of overdubs — one guitar can become two, and six guitars can become a dozen in very short order. Before long, you’re left with a symphony of six-strings.

A band’s decisions for a recording have consequences for how the material is performed live, of course. And that’s something Ewan Currie, singer-guitarist for the Sheepdogs, recently discovered during rehearsals for his band’s upcoming tour of Canada.

The tour to support Changing Colours, album No. 7 from the Saskatoon rockers, began in Campbell River on Monday night, and runs for 28 dates across the country. That includes two stops at Victoria’s Capital Ballroom (one of which is sold out) and a pair of shows at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom. The run wraps on March 17 with the second of two dates at Halifax’s Marquee Ballroom. The band now has its setlist in place, according to Currie, but the first few rehearsals left the group with a few questions.

“Some of the songs are pretty heavily overdubbed on the record, so we were getting into that Beatles-after-Rubber Soul kind of vibe, like: ‘How the hell do we play this live?’ ” he said with a laugh.

The group — which also includes bassist Ryan Gullen, drummer Sam Corbett, keyboardist Shamus Currie and guitarist Jimmy Bowskill — eventually mapped out its set after coming to a decision.

“We don’t really look at it like we have to present this perfect reconstruction of what it sounds like on the album,” Ewan Currie said. “Live is a whole different thing. It’s mostly about singing together and giving good energy. Songs might sound a little different, but they’ll still come across just as powerful.”

The Sheepdogs are a rarity in today’s music world. When the band got its start 14 years ago, rock music was alive and well. The landscape has been greatly altered, since, however: Now, the riff rock of the band’s latest single, the analog-sounding I’ve Got a Hole Where My Heart Should Be, is forced to compete with the bleeps and blips of today’s pop acts. The Sheepdogs are one of the few bands today proudly waving the guitar-rock flag.

Creedence Clearwater Revival, Led Zeppelin and the Beatles are touchstones where the Sheepdogs are concerned, Currie said.

“We came around at a time when there was lots of rock happening, but now we’re at a point where pop and rap dominate the charts. But the music we love has stood the test of time, and it seems like it’s going to be around for a long time. It remains to be seen if current pop music will still be played decades from now.”

The Sheepdogs have done their best to level the playing field with a shrewdly designed campaign that includes promotion rooted in the haze of the 1970s. Everything from the album’s day-glo artwork to its grainy music videos recalls a time when the drugs were free and the music was loud.

“In this increasing tricky musical time, especially for a rock band, you have to be more than just a performer and writer,” Currie said. “You have to be a self-promoter and manage a lot of different facets of your career. We really do try and take an active interest so that the visuals are on point.”

The artistic direction of the group falls under the stewardship of friend Matt Dunlop, their graphic designer. Currie and Dunlop, a Canadian living in San Francisco, often come up with ideas for the Sheepdogs during their frequent record-store visits. It should come as no surprise that Currie’s fondness for the music of the 1960s and ’70s comes shining through on Changing Colours. “It’s hard to separate the music from the images. It’s a total package.”

It seems fitting that the Sheepdogs have been named Canadian ambassadors for Record Store Day (April 21), the date on which music fans celebrate vinyl. As Record Store Day’s so-named “Champions of Canada,” the band will offer several new releases for sale, including the re-release of their first two albums on vinyl.

While many people believe the band started with Learn and Burn, the 2010 album that included breakout hit I Don’t Know, the Sheepdogs actually had two records before that, Currie said. “They are kind of charming in their primitiveness, but there’s some good songs in there.”

The band’s live show has been expanded to include not only songs from Changing Colours, but some newly minted cover songs chosen for this run.

Currie didn’t want to reveal too much, but said that given that he’s an avowed fan of the Allman Brothers — whose hit, Whipping Post, was included on the Sheepdogs’ 2016 tour — it wouldn’t be difficult to determine the band’s cover-song direction. “We’ve worked up a couple of covers that are pretty awesome. For people who like Whipping Post, this is one that is going to take it up a notch.”

Currie would love to venture into deeper, Hendrixian waters as a guitar player. Until then, he will continue to make music that sounds right to his ears and heart.

“When I was a kid and I heard Jimi Hendrix, it did something to me that I can’t describe. There’s a reason we were drawn to that music — because we love it. To make any other kind of music would be dishonest.”