Welcome to the Night Sky, the third album by Halifax-based Wintersleep, has been getting mad props all over the place, which makes sense, because it’s totally awesome. The band is currently in the midst of a long tour through the lower 48, and you should make it a point of catching them. Paul Murphy, the band’s vocalist and guitarist, recently took some time to answer a few of our questions.

Barrelhouse: Is it true that all of your equipment (instruments, etc.) was stolen the last time you played in Louisiana?

Paul Murphy: Yes, we was robbed. We were taking showers after the Louisiana show in our hotel, getting ready for the airport–probably took about 45 minutes all together. We came out and our stuff was gone. We think someone followed us from the venue. I didn’t get anything back but Wolf Parade [that band Wintersleep was touring with at the time] was generous enough to lend us all of their stuff. They’re very loveable peeps.

BH: Cripes. That sucks. But it raises a question about the dates you just finished playing with Wolf Parade. How did the tour come about?

PM: Loel [Campbell, Wintersleep’s drummer] and Mike [Bigelow, their bassist] have been buds with them for a while. They’ve toured with WP with another band they were in called Holy Fuck.

BH: This may be a ridiculous question, but after spending a month and a half in Montreal I’ve got to know: are there any major differences between American audiences and Canadian audiences? If so, could you delineate them, even if just a little?

PM: Ummh, I don’t really think so. Texas is kinda like Calgary during Stampede week. NY kinda like Montreal and Toronto. I think we’re more alike then we like to believe sometimes. I want to live in Burlington.

BH: Can you talk a bit about the band’s writing process? Do each of you write songs on your own and then bring them back to the band? Do you write together? Is it some combination?

PM: We take it anyway we can get it. We all write by ourselves and some songs are basically written before they enter the jam space, but I think the best ones come about in the jam space. But yeah, combo biggie sized.

BH: Welcome to the Night Sky is your third album, and it’s pretty amazing. How does the process of making an album change the more you do it? Does it get easier or harder?

PM: It gets harder but also more fun. You learn how to get better results with each recording. Thus far it has worked that way, at least I like to think. We had a really fun experience on Welcome to the Night Sky. I guess the first 2 records were a little more hanging by a thread or by the seat of our pants or whatever the expression is for that in a monetary sense and just as a band in general. This is the first record we really did in one chunk of time–3 weeks. The first two took a year each to finish just due to lack of funds and the fact that we all had other bands and jobs and it was just a lot harder to focus I think. Tony [Doogan, the album’s producer] really helped out a lot and really made us work for this record and we were in a better space as a band. A lot of touring between the 2nd and Welcome to the Night Sky was really necessary too.

BH: Do you think there are any noticeable influences on the latest album in terms of music or bands you were listening to while making it?

PM: We are huge into lots of bands. I guess I was really digging some stuff from Tony’s catalogue at the time, Belle and Sebastian and Mogwai. Coke Machine Glow by Gord Downie was another record I was listening to lots during that time. Magnolia Electric Co, Hank Williams. Kind of hard to tell where things come from when you’re writing. Would be a bit overwhelming to think about while writing. Things just come when they’re ready I suppose.

BH: And now the Barrelhouse standard (we ask it of all our interviews): Bearing in mind that we may use your answer to psychoanalyze you, what’s your favorite Patrick Swayze movie?

PM: Donnie Darko for sure.