Hey Rosetta! Are Hawksley Workman's Dream

Newfoundland's Hey Rosetta! are taking their melodic alternative rock across Canada with a fall tour in support of the wide release of their Plan Your Escape EP, which was released by Sonic Records in August.

Plan Your Escape was previously released in Newfoundland and earned the band four Music Newfoundland And Labrador Awards, including album and group of the year.

"That was pretty big-time," says frontman and group founder Tim Baker. "It's been pretty sweet.

"I never really get a chance to think about it. It's been pretty hectic for a while now. I should really sit down and reflect."

The original full-length was trimmed down to the current EP for the wider release. It was a strategic decision, as less songs meant that it could sell for less, which made it accessible to more listeners.

"With less songs, you can sell it cheap and get it out there, let people listen to it for cheap," says Baker. "It was actually a pretty simple decision, 'cause every time we play a show there's certain songs we don't play and there's certain songs we always play. So it was actually pretty quick. I made it in about five minutes."

The success of the album is more profound considering that it almost wasn't made.

"We thought, 'Let's take our time to do a full-length, get everything sorted,'" says Baker. "But then there was a deadline for this new grant program they had, which was $6,000 to do a full-length, and the deadline was staring us in the face in December and we decided we weren't gonna go for it.

"Then I was talking to someone who knew more about this, and they said we should definitely go for it. We'd be foolish not to. And we got it and started recording and it all happened pretty quick."

The band have almost completed work on their second full-length, which is tentatively expected in February. Although most of the writing and arrangements are done, the band are waiting to get into the studio with Hawksley Workman, who will produce the album.

"It wasn't even my idea," says Baker. "We made a dream list of people we wanted to work with, and he totally wanted to do it.

"He wrote an email that said something about 'dream project,' and I was like, 'C'mon, you're shitting me!' We actually used to play a couple of his songs as covers. I thought that was pretty funny, told him the other day actually. I just can't wait to have his ear there. He makes great sounds. The sound of his records is always complete."

The band recently made a few videos, including one for Plan Your Escape's "Yes! Yes! Yes!" that should be up on their website soon. Another video was created as part of the Atlantic Film Festival's "10 By 10" program, which matches 10 filmmakers with 10 bands and gives them three days to shoot a video. Baker says it "has me in a robot suit, which is pretty sweet."

You can catch Hey Rosetta! here:

Oct. 4 Montreal, QC @ Barfly
Oct. 6 Toronto, ON @ Rivoli
Oct. 10 Winnipeg, MB @ Mondragon
Oct. 11 Regina, SK @ Lazy Owl (University Of Regina)
Oct. 12 Calgary, AB @ Liberty Lounge
Oct. 13 Canmore, AB @ Canmore Hotel
Oct. 16 Victoria, BC @ Logan's Pub
Oct. 18 Vancouver, BC @ The Gallery (University Of British Columbia)
Oct. 19 Kelowna, BC @ Doc Willoughby's
Oct. 20 Edmonton, AB @ The Pawn Shop
Oct. 26 Fredericton, NB @ The Capital
Oct. 27 Halifax, NS @ The Marquee