DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE: The Sheepdogs

With the social media tools we possess in this day and age, the Hype Machine is more powerful than ever. We are told what to like on a regular basis. Whether it’s your local active rock radio station or Pitchfork, there’s some dumbass radio DJ or some pedantic hipster telling you what you should be in to. This is a regular feature (I hope!) on DAW that attempts to eliminate all the white noise and give you the straight truth. So don’t listen to other people. Listen to me.

THE SHEEPDOGS

I’m sure you’ve all heard the story by now. The hard-working, beard-bearing Prairie quartet pulls a Jed Clampett and strikes oil in a contest to get their mugs on the cover of a magazine whose relevancy has all but vaporized with the stale pot smoke of their post-hippie readers, save for the opinions of a film reviewer and a social commentator. By winning the cover contest, the Sheepdogs gained enough media attention to be heralded as heroes for all the bands out there that are workin’, travellin’ and honing their craft. Without having so much as a single on the radio, the Sheepdogs were already garnering more attention than they ever could have imagined. Even before wining the contest they were doing a plethora of radio and TV interviews. After winning, every DJ, VJ and blowhard in Canada (and to a certain extent, the US) was mentioning their name and had an excuse to sing that fucking stupid Dr. Hook song. The Hype Machine gears were turning.

There is something about their back story that gives people the idea that the Sheepdogs are a “genuine” band. They have long hair and beards. They're from humble beginnings in Canada’s most boring province – Saskatchewan. And they play Allman/Youngesque 70s inspired classic and southern rock. Who doesn't like Neil Young? It is the antithesis of Lady Gaga, and Canadian rock radio is desperate to get behind it.

They dropped their first single, “I Don’t Know”, shortly after winning the contest. The song was lifted from their album Learn and Burn, which was actually released in 2010 (with all the hype, why not reissue?). They've been making their appearances on the late night talk show circuit, and have been casually shoved down our throats by anyone with a microphone. They've been touring the US and Canada (joining fellow Hype Machine grads Kings of Leon for a stretch) and are heralded as the next great Canadian rock band. The crest of the Rolling Stone wave does not seem to be crashing anytime soon.

ARE YOU PEOPLE FUCKING DEAF?

Has anyone actually listened to this band? Has anyone heard the song “I Don’t Know” while sober? C'mon, REALLY? From what I hear, this band really isn’t good at all. Other than their back story, there is nothing endearing about this band or its sound that makes my ears perk. They are nothing more than a prototypical bar band playing low-grade Neil Young covers.

First off, listen to the song “I Don’t Know”. It’s actually painful. I’m not sure what part of the song annoys me the most. It could be the lame-ass chorus or the flaccid guitar work. It could be that that chord progression has been beaten into the ground so many fucking times over the years by better musicians that I can’t stomach hearing it anymore. It could be the attempt at 70s rock revival that’s about 15-20 years too late. But really, it’s just not a good song. The same goes for their other songs. Banal? Trite? Tired? All of the above. Now that I think of it, this band was perfect for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine!

And that's really my whole point here. You can be as hardworking, proficient and lucky as possible, but that doesn’t mean shit when it comes to writing a great song. You can have all the hype in the world and still be a bad songwriter. Hype has brought the Sheepdogs to the cusp of superstardom. Will they continue on their journey? I DON’T KNOW! (see how I did that?) But I do know that hype can only take you so far. So the next time some jerk tells you to like the Sheepdogs, LISTEN to one of their songs first. Don’t run to pick up tickets to see them because your buddies or a DJ told you to. Make your own conclusions. Shit, you might like them anyway. But please, PLEASE don’t believe the hype!!