Lelia Broussard and Ewan Currie of The Sheepdogs – HuffPost 6.27.11
Mike Ragogna: Now, I know that you both are fairly fresh acts, but do you have any advice for new artists?
Ewan Currie: I would say listen to as much music as possible.
Lelia Broussard: I agree completely. I would say, even though is seems like an obvious answer, to practice constantly–never put your instrument down. The way that I started was going to a lot of open mic nights because it’s really important to get comfortable in front of an audience, and I think that’s a great way to get started because it’s terrifying to be in front of an audience if you’ve never done that before.
EC: It’s like Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers that talks about the ten thousand hours you need to spend getting your reps in. You’ve got to get that practice, whether it’s playing live in front of an audience or sitting in your room writing crappy song after crappy song. You’ve got to get that stuff out of the way in order to get better.
LB: You also have to have the resolve not to give up very easily. You’ve got to practice and work really, really hard to be great at anything, especially music.
MR: Yeah, you have to be very driven.
EC: Yeah, absolutely. We wouldn’t be here today if we weren’t.
MR: What are both of your thoughts on the music scene in general these days?
LB: I think there’s so much incredible music out right now, but the difference between now and years past is the fact that you really just have to look for it, it’s not necessarily stuff that you’d find on the radio. But I’ve been working on my own and touring for a really long time, and I think it’s great because there are so many more opportunities for independent artists now because of the internet. So, I think it’s a really exciting time because there are so many incredible artists out there.
EC: Yeah. I hate the music on the radio now. (laughs) I think it’s lifeless and soulless. (laughs) But I look at bands like My Morning Jacket and The Black Keys and Dr. Dog, and to me, those bands represent the bands that are still able to produce the music that they wanted to. They were able to control their sound and people like and respect them because of it. Their records sound great, they’re not forced into any boxes or anything, and I think it’s great that bands like that are able to thrive.