The Cowboy Junkies' band members like doing things their way.
"We like having control of our music," bassist Alan Anton said during a telephone interview from Austin, Texas. "The challenge isn't the music, but doing all the business stuff that goes with it."
After a few years with a major label, RCA, the Cowboy Junkies — Anton, guitarist Michael Timmins, drummer Peter Timmins and singer Margo Timmins (all siblings) — have made a declaration of independence.
"It's just more satisfactory for us to be able to do things on our terms without having to get songs together and present them to a music executive," Anton said. "Instead, we record at our own pace."
Their most recent album, "One Soul Now," was recorded in the band's rehearsal space in Toronto, Canada. "We were finally able to make the space into a studio," Anton said. "We were able to record a few things and then take a rest from it and go back to it. We revised a lot of songs during the recording process, and it was good to do that. There was no pressure on us. We didn't feel like we had to please anyone but ourselves."
While the band did have some mainstream success with its dreamy remake of the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane," Anton said the fame wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. "It was funny because that song hit the radio and was in the movie 'Natural Born Killers,' " said Anton, who cited the Velvet Underground, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and '70s punk as some of his musical influences. "But some of the listeners who heard that song hated our other stuff. But then there were some who discovered us through that song and are still our fans today.
"But when it all started happening with 'Sweet Jane,' we all knew it wasn't made to last. So it was pretty weird for us."
However, said Anton, the fame could be seen as an added bonus in his career. "We are very lucky to be playing music for a living," he said. "And I don't know of any musician who wouldn't want to have a bigger audience. We're just doing what we're doing on our own terms, and that is the reward of our career."
If you go. . .
What: Cowboy Junkies
Where: Club Suede, Park City
When: Thursday, 7 p.m.
How much: $22.50
Phone: 467-8499 or 1-800-888-8499
E-mail: scott@desnews.com