Getting set to tour Australia for No Years, Peats Ridge and a couple of sideshows are Canada's Yukon Blonde. Tanya Ali caught up with the band's bass guitarist to talk about the tour, the new EP, How I Met Your Mother and a little bit more. Read on!

It's been a huge year for you guys - what have been some of your highlights of 2011?

This Summer we got to play some amazing festivals and they were definitely a highlight... we played summer fest in milwaukee with edward sharp and the magnetic zero's.. it was inspiring for us to watch a band be so good in a festival setting.. Dawson City music fest in the Yukon Territory Canada made us feel very at home as well.. Festivals are always a highlight.

You're often described as "one of Canada's best kept secrets, until now". What would you identify as your recent big break?

Coming to Australia seems like a big break for us.. it's been amazing to get to travel and play the music we like.. a big break for us would be having the ability to do that for a long time to come.

I imagine it was quite a surprise being mentioned (albeit briefly) on How I Met Your Mother - how did you actually find out? Are you fans of the show?

We found out through social media, just friends tweeting about it and facebook etc... we don't watch a lot of T.V on the road so it came as a total surprise... apparently the character who mentioned us on the show is actually from vancouver so we owe a big thanks to her for the shout out!!

How long have you been working on your forthcoming LP and how would you describe it?

Jeff had the songs around for a while but it wasn't until january 2011 that we started really working on them as a band.. we took off for a week to my parents house on Vancouver Island and locked ourselves away to work on them extensively.. we headed out on tour in february and started trying them out on the road / reworking some as we went.. essentially the record was written half at my folks place and half on the road. The songs are a bit faster and Jeff was listening to a lot of late 70's punk while the songs were formed.. that being said we've heard the songs so much I always think It's hard to describe your own music without sounding contrived...

How does it compare to what we've been listening to with Fire//Water - is the EP good taste of what to expect?

The E.P is a batch of songs that ended up sounding similar to our older material so we decided to separate them from the songs on the L.P

Your music is a perfect mix of folk and rock, and the harmonies are just breathtaking. Who would you say are your biggest influences as a band?

It's hard to narrow down our influences.. we all listen to different music so collectively there is a lot. everything is an influence, daily life, touring, traveling to australia...

You're playing both Peats Ridge and No Years, two iconic summer events, as well as sideshows in Melbourne and Sydney respectively. Do you prefer playing big festival shows or more intimate club gigs?

They are both great for different reasons.. Festivals are amazing because there is always so many other bands to watch and meet.. the smaller shows are great to meet people who come to see your band

And then there are the industry events... the SXSWs... the CMJs... you've done a lot of them of late - what have your experiences at them been?

Industry festivals are an interesting experience. Hundreds of bands all playing different venues at the same time. Every band is trying to stand out and make an impact on industry folks. You usually find yourself playing to 5-20 people whom of which are all important. It can be an awkward experience and difficult to get past the fact that the crowd is small. SXSW is kind of like a hectic heaven, we ended up played 4 shows in one day. Luckily the festival is laid out in such a way it allows you to catch a lot of great shows in between sets.

This your first time touring Australia... what have you heard about Australia and what do you expect from the tour?

We've heard nothing but great things about Australia, apparently the crowds are receptive and we're looking forward to finding out for ourselves. Spending Canada's coldest season in your summer sun doesn't sound to bad either. We hope to leave with new fans and the chance to come back again soon.

What can punters expect to witness at your live shows?

We always try to be a fun, energetic band that gets the crowd involved as much as possible, crowd surfing is always welcomed!

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AUSTRALIAN TOUR DATES 2011/12:
December 29 - Peats Ridge, Australia @ Peats Ridge Music Festival
December 31 - Brisbane, Australia @ No Years Festival

January 3 - Melbourne, Australia @ Northcote Social Club
With special guests Leader Cheetah (Duo) & I, A Man

January 5 - Sydney, Australia @ FBI Social Club
With special guests Leader Cheetah (Duo), Tin Sparrow & Brian Campeau

Tickets on sale now - and Yukon Blonde's Fire//Water EP available now!