Mu
sic Heroes and Thieves or
F
argo’s country band Heroes and
Thieves, formerly October Road,
often makes stops in the Grand
Forks area and this question has
been brought up by many; why the name
change? For the first few months after the
band changed their name, they told anyone
who asked a made up story. That worked for
a while, but there were still too many won-
dering. Thankfully, they have finally “let the
cat out of the bag.”
Shawn Smalley, the bands lead vocalist
and guitarist, said it all started when a con-
tract went bad.
“We wanted the whole big dream deal and
we signed a contract with a company that
said they would make us stars. But it ended
up not working out. They didn’t understand
April 2010 After 5- Greater Grand Forks Entertainment Magazine
October Road, which is it?
how our band worked, how we thought and “We’re gonna have a good time.” The high
operated,” said Smalley. “The company quality video features multiple camera angles
started making money off us that they didn’t and shows off the bands ability to give every-
earn. So we started looking at the contract body a good time. The song itself doesn’t
and discovered a have the best
way to get out of lyrics, and Smalley
it.” agrees, but it does
To get out of have the get off
the contract, the your feet great
band had to country-rock vibes.
change their Despite the lack
name. Nothing of lyrical content in
too dramatic, but “We’re gonna have
ultimately a learn- a good time,” He-
ing experience for the band. roes and Thieves’ other songs are great both
Since then, Heroes and Thieves has still instrumentally, vocally and lyrically. The
been making great songs and putting on great band knows how to be serious and have a
concerts. Recently the band put some money good time with their songs. It doesn’t take a
down and created video to their new hit song, listener long to hear the maturity in the band’s
songs.
Since 2004, Heroes and Thieves has been
playing in North Dakota, Minnesota and
South Dakota. Despite the downfall of their
recent contract, the band still aspires to break
out into the national scene.
“It’s tough to branch out when nobody
knows you. But we’re starting to branch out
and we’ve had some luck. But, I think in the
fall we’re gonna have a lot more luck,” Smal-
ley said. “I kind of feel like if we can get ten
states under our belt and get enough people
supporting us in ten states, we can break out
into the national scene.”
One thing small, local bands have trouble
with is getting radio time. This is due to the
fact that most radio stations are bogged down
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by contracts from big record labels who want
them to only play the nationally known
songs. Heroes and Thieves, however, has had
some luck, getting air time on stations like
Froggy 99 in Fargo as well as stations in Ab-
erdeen and Rapid City.
Their success seems to be growing, but
Smalley understands that not going national
doesn’t mean their unsuccessful. He says the
band has decided to give themselves five
more years, and if they haven’t made it na-
tional, they will scale things down. By scal-
ing down, Smalley means that he would be
happy with playing just a couple shows a
month where they can sell out a big venue of
a few thousand people. Going on the road as
often as they do now, takes away their time
with their families and none of them enjoy
that.
“Our goal in the next three to five years is
not necessarily to get a record deal, because
they’re not what they used to be, but to build
our audience up to where if we want to be at
the Fargo Theater people are their to see our
music and not covers. We want to play bigger
shows, fewer times a year,” said Smalley.
For those of you who haven’t checked out
Heroes and Thieves yet, you can look them
up on Facebook or at www.heroesandthieves-
band.com where you can check out their new
video or you can purchase their songs on
iTunes. For those who are already fans, you’ll
be happy to hear that they plan on releasing
a new cd sometime at the end of the summer
and hope to release a five song EP this sum-
mer.
er
$ 5 cov
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