The Wooden Sky Set Sights on New Video EP, Ernie Graham Covers Project and Nirvana Tribute

BY Travis PersaudPublished Feb 28, 2012

"It's an exciting time to be in the Wooden Sky."

It's hard not to agree with lead singer and songwriter Gavin Gardiner as he begins to go through the long list of what's to come for the band this year. They're releasing their third full-length album Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Son today (February 28), but the fun doesn't stop there. The band recently shot a five-song video EP for the new record, which will be released online. And that's not all the Wooden Sky have in store, by any means.

"It's sort of a documentary, mixed with fiction," Gardiner explains of the video EP. "And it was a crazy experience. We were in this old church and had to wait for people to leave at 7 p.m. Then we started going and set off the smoke alarm causing the firefighters to come. We played them a song; I'm not sure if they like it or not, but they didn't charge us. We ended up being there until 7 a.m."

Gardiner says they're also planning to record a covers EP, re-imagining the works of Ernie Graham. "He only has one album, but every time we listen to it we think, 'How the heck isn't this record a hit?'"

The original idea for the covers EP was birthed out of a bout of uncertainty. The band weren't rehearsing a lot of new material and began wondering if Gardiner had enough songs to record.

"They came up with the idea for the EP," Gardiner says. "I told them I loved it, but then said I also have all of these new songs for us to go through."

The Wooden Sky have a two-week break in March and have tentatively earmarked that time to record the EP. But the scheduled studio time doesn't stop there. They're set to record a version of Nirvana's "All Apologies" that they've been playing live, and will possibly begin working on new original material at the end of the year.

"I have about nine songs on the go right now," he says. "Everything is very much in my head, so hopefully it will all get done!"

Before any of that, though, there's a big cross-Canada tour, which kicked off late last week, followed by summer festivals and then a European stint in September.

"There's something energizing about being on the road," he says. "Travelling around the world with your best friends; it feels like a gang, which is awesome."

Except for maybe that one time...

"One show at the Townehouse in Sudbury, I was actually scared for my safety," Gardiner remembers. "I made this stupid mistake and wrote down our set list on a piece of two-by-four that was backstage. People were just going nuts. Someone grabbed it off the stage and started smashing all the bottles. Then another person was lying across my monitor, looked up and yelled, 'Leave a legacy!' I was just thinking, 'I don't know what that means, but I'm not going to kick you...'"

It may never reach that level of raucousness again, but expect a boisterous time on the Wooden Sky's tour, whose dates you can see here.

Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Son is due out today via Black Box Recordings, and you can stream the album here on Exclaim.ca.

Also, if you're up for Wooden Sky playing a house show at your place, make sure to enter Exclaim!'s contest here. However, there are no guarantees that they will "leave a legacy."

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