Woodpigeon Taking Twins On The Road

A year ago, Woodpigeon frontman Mark Hamilton decided to release Treasury Library Canada, his band's second album, independently and online.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. He was already nearly finished its follow-up, Die Stadt Muzikanten.

"Record labels have schedules," he says. "I had that album done, and Muzikanten was almost done, and I didn't want to wait four years to put Muzikanten out. So, for a little bit, it seemed like a good idea was to kind of sacrifice Treasury Library and just put it out there. I thought I would have 800 copies in my closet for the rest of my life."

The band's fans had other plans. Treasury Library sold out in less than a month. Woodpigeon's labels were not pleased.

"The labels that we work with, they heard the record," Hamilton recalls, "and said I was crazy for doing it that way.

"I don't think of it as any less [of an album]. I just wanted to put more music out, quicker."

Treasury Library Canada went on to make the Polaris Music Prize long list and helped Woodpigeon win the 2009 NXNE Galaxie Rising Star Award.

Hamilton has learned his lesson and plans to stubbornly overcompensate with Die Stadt Muzikanten. The 15-song album — hitting store shelves on Tuesday (Jan. 12) via Boompa Records — will be accompanied by a bonus EP (which, at 12 tracks, is really another full-length) called BALLADEER/To All The Guys I've Loved Before.

"I work in twins," Hamilton says. "Treasury was kind of being pieced together at the same time I was finishing [debut album] Songbook. And the BALLADEER stuff, I was working on and finishing while Muzikanten was going on...

"I knew people were going to say [Muzikanten] was long, so why not give them a CD of 12 more songs?"

Woodpigeon fans can find even more Hamilton on a remake of Pink Floyd's The Wall, which came with the December issue of the U.K.'s MOJO magazine.

"I don't like Pink Floyd," Hamilton says. "Because I don't know much Pink Floyd, I asked some friends what song they thought I should do. People kept suggesting 'Mother.'

"It actually ended up being fun to do, because I got to rewrite this song that I can't stand. I gave it this big ridiculous ending that isn't on the original."

Woodpigeon will clearly have plenty of material to play when they hit the road in support of Die Stadt Muzikanten. Here's where you can catch them:

Jan. 16 Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore Cabaret
Jan. 22 Calgary, AB @ Broken City
Feb. 11 Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel
Feb. 12 Guelph, ON @ Jimmy Jazz
Feb. 13 London, ON @ Aeolian hall
Feb. 15 Hamilton, ON @ The Casbah
Feb. 16 Sudbury, ON @ The Townehouse Tavern
Feb. 17 Kingston, ON @ The Mansion
Feb. 18 Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
Feb. 19 Quebec City, QC @ Le Cercle
Feb. 21 Wakefield, QC @ The Blacksheep Inn