Hey Rosetta!, a six-piece Canadian chamber pop act, is touring the Northeast  for the first time this month with Sarah Harmer, a Canadian singer-songwriter. Tim Baker, the lead singer and founder of the group, chatted with The Daily Sun about the development of their sound, their constant touring and the future of the Newfoundland-based band and record labels before they leave to begin their tour tonight in Montreal. 

Daily Sun: What are you up to right now? 

Tim Baker: [The band is] putting the final touches on our new album. It’s been recorded for quite awhile, but we’re just mastering and remastering it now. We’re still touring our second album, though. 

Sun: You recently finished an American tour with alternative rock act, Hot Hot Heat. How will this upcoming tour with Sarah Harmer differ? 

T.B.: These shows with Sarah will consist of different arrangements of songs because she’s a singer/songwriter. We’re not doing our usual big rock sound  — instead we’re doing them acoustically. I like these versions quite a lot. 

Sun: You were originally a solo singer/songwriter before Hey Rosetta! How did you develop into a six-piece act, complete with a string section?

T.B.: I’ve been writing songs forever — I had played them in bars and the response was positive. I wanted more sound, acoustics and dynamics. I never really had a lot of friends into music, so I went searching and met [Phil Maloney] at a party who played drums; the guitar player was a friend of my sister. It was nice that we weren’t friends because we initially could populate shows with our friends. 

Sun: Was it difficult making the leap from a solo singer/songwriter in terms of writing songs and lyrics with the rest of the band? 

T.B.: I still write the majority of the songs; mostly, the same as it ever was. I’ll write a song on the guitar or piano, work it over and over until I feel unashamed to show it to the guys [in the band.]

Sun: How do your songs develop into full-bodied rock songs? 

T.B.: Well, then I bring it to them and we work on it together. Then, other bandmates write string, orchestral parts. We always have strings live, it makes [the songs] more substantial. 

Sun: How did your location, St. John’s, Newfoundland, impact your ability to tour?

T.B.: Newfoundland is pretty sparsely populated — there’s one city, another eight hours away. There’s not a lot of touring to be done unless you want Halifax [Nova Scotia]. We just formed the band to make music. We started playing, lots of people came out. Once we sold out St. John’s bars, we cold-called venues across Canada, made the trip to Quebec and haven’t really stopped touring since then. 

Sun: How did these local shows lead to touring across overseas? 

T.B.: The same story. Once we played shows in St. John’s and made a pile of money, we toured across Canada and did really well, which led to touring in Canada, Europe and Australia. We actually played at the Shanghai World’s Fair this year. There’s great funding through Canada — the federal and provincial government have funds for bands and private radio has funding. It’s lovely socialist stuff that we cherish. 

Sun: But, you didn’t come to the U.S. until this summer? 

T.B.: Yeah, we just did our first tour across the U.S. a couple of months ago. We had two months playing all these cities that you’ve heard of, but never been. For some reason, the U.S. is far; you can’t just drop down and tour — but, it’s not as scary and mean as it looks on TV. 

Sun: How did your first tour across Canada compare with your first tour across the U.S.?

T.B.: Actually, [it was] very similar. One of the things about Newfoundland is that it’s a very close-knit community, but there aren’t very many jobs. A lot of people leave and move across Canada. So, at first, natives from Newfoundland would come to see us. The few people who came to [our U.S. shows] to see us heard about us through satellite radio. I enjoyed our American tour; I love playing to a room of people who have never heard us. 

Sun: You’ve been on many tours across Canada over the last six years. What have some of the high and low points been? 

T.B.: There’s been no shortage of nothing points, just driving for eight hours every day. The last four years of my life has been so much like a truck driver’s job. But, there have been so many high points, every night when there’re hundreds of people singing along to my lyrics. 

Sun: I noticed that you’re on a small Canadian label, Sonic Records. Why not a bigger label?

T.B.: We never really got offers; we weren’t in a state to shop around. I like the way they run, they don’t stick their nose in hardly ever. Labels are dying — if you want to get signed to a big label, they’re going to want to control marketing, promotion, touring, a 360 deal. I’m glad we’ve taken the slow route; we were very different from who we are. We grew organically, in a slightly slower way. 

Sun: The second album developed your initial folk sound into a more potent rock sound. How will the third album be different? 

T.B.: A lot happened in the two years [between the debut and the sophomore album] — touring, growing, listening to music, more money, a great producer, Hawksley Workman, who is a Canadian pop star and much bigger production.  Our next album sounds a little more refined and mature. 

Hey Rosetta! hit Castaways on Nov. 12 at 8 p.m. with Sarah Harmer and indie folk artist Gregory Alan Isakov.