We’ve had the latest Two Cow Garage album III on heavy rotation since we first heard it back in May. With three shows on the Wisconsin horizon in August, I wanted to catch up with bassist/vocalist Shane Sweeney as part of our ongoing 5 Questions w/MoB feature.

Your catalog consists of a lot of songs that sound best with Jack Daniels or a PBR. As a band that spends a good amount of time on the road, I imagine you’ve got a pretty good finger on the pulse of what cities are known to throw a good party and keep you up to see the sunrise. What are some of those places and how often do expectations like those factor into a performance or how to get new crowd on the same page?

Cities and towns and expectations? Absolutely, the more people you meet in any town and get a chance to strike up friendships, or some kind of twisted bond, the more they come to see you. Now if those people, and here’s the rub, are equipped with even a modicum of social skills and awareness, there’s a decent chance they have friends. At some point, those friends will be conned, bribed, or abducted….or maybe even of their own accord, end up at a show….if we can get somebody to a show, we feel we got’em. Despite the band name. Now on the flip side of that coin, are the ones not blessed with social skills or awareness. Of which there are several species….the creepy ones, stalkers, chicken-heads, or just severe chemical dependents, to name a few. Throw them into the mix, and it often creates a fun evening. The ultimate hope is that as that pyramid moves down, and more and more get to a show, eventually the CEO of Starbucks, or Rick Rubin, or Winona Ryder, will show up. New York, St.Louis, Los Angeles, Chicago, Buffalo, Reno, Portland, Seattle x 2, Austin, Providence, Boston, Jacksonville, come to mind quickly.

The ones that are forgetable? Jackson, Mississippi for sure….Des Moines, but really anywhere in Iowa. Nothing against those places, well maybe something against them…..we’ve struck out so far. Happens.

Expectations….not so much, other than it’s nice knowing that we’ll be playing for a decent number of people to watch and listen.

Could you describe the songwriting process for III? Were the songs ones that you wrote in the studio, or had you written them while touring?

The writing process for this record was completely different from Wall Against Our Back. Whereas Wall was writtten on tour, III was going into the studio with ideas, but really putting them together in the studio. Which seemed a lot more fun than working them out 15 minutes at a time during soundchecks around the country.

The internet has dramatically altered the way bands can reach an audience. With things like blogs/myspace/etc, what are your thoughts on the power of the internet in terms of helping (or hurting) your music?

Love the internet….without it we’d be 2-3 years behind where we are now, and that sounds awful.

What was the last show you went to see, as a fan?

The Hold Steady. Centro-Matic. The Drams. Cursive. The Evil Queens.

If Two Cow Garage had to have a band play their entire set for an evening, who would you like to hear cover a night’s worth of your material? On the flip side, if you were to play an entire set of someone else’s songs, whose would you choose and/or enjoy the most?

Play our songs…..Bruce Springsteen. Play their songs? Just because it’d be fun, for fun’s sake….why the hell not, Nirvana.

Myspace: Two Cow Garage
MP3: Two Car Garage - Should’ve California