Cheering for the Bad Guy

“The second album from this Winnipeg-based alt-country act is an ode to the fast money and bad living of the oilpatch boom-towns near where singer/songwriter Sheldon Birnie grew up. There’s dumb, stupid fun here – especially on Dang Double Dang It (every rounder anywhere has had a night or two like this) and Friday Nights – but it’s mostly overshadowed by the bleak emptiness of life without choices ( Christ was a Cowboy, 100W of Fun). Instrumental cut Teardrops Don’t Lie reveals some real chops in this mostly acoustic quintet, but I also found myself thinking that some of these songs might take on Drive-By Truckers proportions in CFTBG was a rock band.”

- John Kendle, Uptown Magazine - Uptown (Winnipeg, MB)

“The second album from this Winnipeg-based alt-country act is an ode to the fast money and bad living of the oilpatch boom-towns near where singer/songwriter Sheldon Birnie grew up. There’s dumb, stupid fun here – especially on Dang Double Dang It (every rounder anywhere has had a night or two like this) and Friday Nights – but it’s mostly overshadowed by the bleak emptiness of life without choices ( Christ was a Cowboy, 100W of Fun). Instrumental cut Teardrops Don’t Lie reveals some real chops in this mostly acoustic quintet, but I also found myself thinking that some of these songs might take on Drive-By Truckers proportions in CFTBG was a rock band.”

- John Kendle, Uptown Magazine - Uptown (Winnipeg, MB)

Listening to To the Last Drop, the latest from bluegrass/country Winnipeg band Cheering for the Bad Guy, is like hearing country-music renditions of a Cormac McCarthy novel. And that gritty feeling was intended from the album’s inception.

“I’m a big McCarthy fan, and I was reading the Crossing a couple of years ago when I was just starting to formulate this album,” says Cheering’s singer/guitarist Sheldon Birnie.

The album’s other predominant influence is the dark side of the oil industry and its effects on the people in small resource towns.

“It was something I’ve been wanting to do for years, and every time I’d try it just wouldn’t feel right or I wouldn’t be able to get it started in a way I’d be satisfied with,” says Birnie. “In my head it’s taking place in a bar someplace in northern Alberta. It’s essential to the feel of the album.”

Some of the harsher feelings described in the album are so McCarthy-like that it makes for an intense listen. Take “100W of Fun,” which tells a story of small-town kids addicted to crystal meth who have nothing better to do than get high.

“When I was that age it was smoking hash,” says Birnie. “There wasn’t that extreme of meth or crack use, but there definitely is now.”

He calls it a song about “the hopelessness of a lot of kids in a resource town with a really bleak outlook.”

But not all of To the Last Drop is a sombre experience. Other songs on the album, such as “Dang, Double Dang It!” and “Friday Nights,” are fun in the way that being locked up in a room with all of your best friends and a keg of beer is fun, which is appropriate because that’s pretty close to how the album came together.

With the nearest vendor being just over a minute away, and Manitoba’s liquor laws allowing for alcohol sales as late as 2:30 am, there were no beer shortages.

“We recorded the album on our own,” says Birnie. “We didn’t spend money on studio time and we diverted those funds into beer.”

Cheering for the Bad Guy is on their first tour of the west coast this month. This journey—sure to be a beer-fuelled one—is something that Birnie and the band have been working up to for a while.

“It was just time to bring it out of the confines of Winnipeg and Brandon and places we’ve played a bunch of times before,” says Birnie.

Fans can expect a rowdy, fun show. “If we don’t have fun, what’s the point of doing it?” says Birnie. “We encourage people to drink hard, have a blast, and have a bunch of laughs with us.” - The Nexus (Victoria, BC)

Listening to To the Last Drop, the latest from bluegrass/country Winnipeg band Cheering for the Bad Guy, is like hearing country-music renditions of a Cormac McCarthy novel. And that gritty feeling was intended from the album’s inception.

“I’m a big McCarthy fan, and I was reading the Crossing a couple of years ago when I was just starting to formulate this album,” says Cheering’s singer/guitarist Sheldon Birnie.

The album’s other predominant influence is the dark side of the oil industry and its effects on the people in small resource towns.

“It was something I’ve been wanting to do for years, and every time I’d try it just wouldn’t feel right or I wouldn’t be able to get it started in a way I’d be satisfied with,” says Birnie. “In my head it’s taking place in a bar someplace in northern Alberta. It’s essential to the feel of the album.”

Some of the harsher feelings described in the album are so McCarthy-like that it makes for an intense listen. Take “100W of Fun,” which tells a story of small-town kids addicted to crystal meth who have nothing better to do than get high.

“When I was that age it was smoking hash,” says Birnie. “There wasn’t that extreme of meth or crack use, but there definitely is now.”

He calls it a song about “the hopelessness of a lot of kids in a resource town with a really bleak outlook.”

But not all of To the Last Drop is a sombre experience. Other songs on the album, such as “Dang, Double Dang It!” and “Friday Nights,” are fun in the way that being locked up in a room with all of your best friends and a keg of beer is fun, which is appropriate because that’s pretty close to how the album came together.

With the nearest vendor being just over a minute away, and Manitoba’s liquor laws allowing for alcohol sales as late as 2:30 am, there were no beer shortages.

“We recorded the album on our own,” says Birnie. “We didn’t spend money on studio time and we diverted those funds into beer.”

Cheering for the Bad Guy is on their first tour of the west coast this month. This journey—sure to be a beer-fuelled one—is something that Birnie and the band have been working up to for a while.

“It was just time to bring it out of the confines of Winnipeg and Brandon and places we’ve played a bunch of times before,” says Birnie.

Fans can expect a rowdy, fun show. “If we don’t have fun, what’s the point of doing it?” says Birnie. “We encourage people to drink hard, have a blast, and have a bunch of laughs with us.” - The Nexus (Victoria, BC)

CHEERING FOR THE BAD GUY
Cheering for the Bad Guy
Independent - LOCAL
As far as country bands go, Cheering for the Bad Guy is unique. Their sound can be best described as a more a rustic and gritty version of honky tonk (think Elliott Brood meets Bruce Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions). What probably makes them most unique though are the stories lead singer and key songwriter Sheldon Dean tells. Dean wrote a majority of the album while traveling across Western Canada between 2004 and 2007. This has allowed Cheering for the Bad Guy to capture that weary sound of driving and being on the road, particularly on the tracks “Admitting Defeat” and “Jesus Is My Drinkin’ Buddy.” For a first album, this band is off to a great start, and has given a new reason for people to start listening to country again. See them live on Wednesday, Nov. 26 at The Academy.
—Ian Bawa, 4.5/5
printed in The Uniter (Winnipeg) Nov. 13, 2008
- The Uniter

CHEERING FOR THE BAD GUY
Cheering for the Bad Guy
Independent - LOCAL
As far as country bands go, Cheering for the Bad Guy is unique. Their sound can be best described as a more a rustic and gritty version of honky tonk (think Elliott Brood meets Bruce Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions). What probably makes them most unique though are the stories lead singer and key songwriter Sheldon Dean tells. Dean wrote a majority of the album while traveling across Western Canada between 2004 and 2007. This has allowed Cheering for the Bad Guy to capture that weary sound of driving and being on the road, particularly on the tracks “Admitting Defeat” and “Jesus Is My Drinkin’ Buddy.” For a first album, this band is off to a great start, and has given a new reason for people to start listening to country again. See them live on Wednesday, Nov. 26 at The Academy.
—Ian Bawa, 4.5/5
printed in The Uniter (Winnipeg) Nov. 13, 2008
- The Uniter