I’ll say it right now. It’s not easy interviewing a band with nine people in it at once. But the difficulty fades away as one question leads to shouts of answers from every direction. My first question, “How would you describe your sound?” gets various replies: “Loud!” “Sheep falling into water!” “Definitely some folk elements.” By now many of you have heard of the Sheep Bridge Jumpers, a many-member (usually between six and nine) ensemble playing music you can dance to that’s been influenced by the folk stylings of local bands Old Death Whisper and Finn Riggins. They have played at venues such as Treefort Music Fest in Boise, Ranch Fest in Fairfield, Whiskey Jacques, Soldier Mountain Fest, and in early July, at Ketch’em Alive. When introducing them at Ketch’em Alive, Will Caldwell, the organizer of the event, described this band as the “next generation of music in this town.” He’s probably right.
With musical backgrounds ranging from classical training to growing up at Grateful Dead shows to playing with Finn Riggins, this band is a true conglomeration of talents, backgrounds, and voices. Making up the band (at least right now) are Mark Oliver (guitar, harmonica, vocals), Lacey Heward-Thompson (guitar, vocals), Connor Wade (violin, vocals), Cody Barnhill (bass, vocals), Zach Herbert (banjo, trumpet, bells, vocals), Cam Bouiss (drums), Casey Sedlack (banjo, guitar, vocals), Alexandra Land (violin), and Kevin Fitzpatrick (electric guitar). What started as a trio (and was almost named the Timmerman Hill Wolfpack) of two guys and a gal has exploded into this collaborative band where no ideas go unnoticed. Says band member Connor Wade, “Everybody comes from a different musical perspective, which is awesome. Just listening to what everyone is doing makes it easy to collaborate.” Adds Zach Herbert, “Also, I think no one’s that obsessed with having a particular sound in the band.” Adding to the topic of collaboration, Mark Oliver (aka Beav) says, “I’ve wanted, in the space of practice, to hopefully have no ego. Where, if people like what you do, then we run with it and make it into something that betters the group.”
Each of these unique musicians also has come to this group in a different way. Kevin just had “the urge to play music as much as possible,” Zach shouts, “They pay me!”, Alex cites the great connection you get from playing with people, Connor says Mark found him, Mark says Cam found him (although there were some rumblings about how exactly that happened), Cody was told by Mark that he “had a bass, did he want to play it?”, and both Lacey and Casey found themselves in opportune moments where the band needed a singer and they had, by chance, found themselves wanting to sing.
The camaraderie of this group is truly something special. Throughout the interview, there were constant jokes, interjections, sarcastic comments, adamant praise of other band members, and general merriment. When I ask if there’s a funny or interesting moment the band’s ever had, it’s hard to pick out actual, usable phrases or words as opposed to inside jokes and pure laughter at the memory. I somehow extract that something funny once happened at Los Betos in Boise…but what exactly it was…well, maybe they’ll write a song.
Facebook: Sheep Bridge Jumpers
Instagram: sheepbridgejumpers
Website: www.reverbnation.com/sheepbridgejumpers
