Sherwood is a band continually pushing the edge. While some musicians are slow to accept the ever-changing music industry, Sherwood was one of the first bands to digitally release an album as a free download and is now the first band to release a record on the newly formed MySpace Records. Their positive pop sound is also incredibly infectious and the combination should explode into a memorable 2007.

Now, they are on tour with Relient K and have a brand new album entitled A Different Light. Here, lead singer Dan Koch speaks to Infuze about the swirl of good news, their mission as a band and what it's like to be approached by the famous Tom from MySpace.

Matt: Do you guys have enough going on right now or what? (Laughs).

Dan: Yeah, the album comes out Tuesday and the tour with Relient K starts tomorrow!

What is the anticipation level for you guys right now?

Oh man, this is just an exciting time. I don't understand how so many things could be going so right at the same time. I really feel incredibly lucky. This is probably the most positive moment in our band's history and it just makes for all kinds potential, so we're excited.

Obviously, this tour gives you a whole new platform.

Yeah, we're gonna be playing in front of a lot of new people. If they like us, then that's a brand new crop of fans and more name recognition.

What are the logistical plans for the tour?

Most of the venues are large clubs, so almost all of them are between 1,000 - 2,000 capacity. The whole tour is over two months long and it goes coast to coast.

Let's talk about the album for a bit. How was it working with Lou Giardano?

Working with Lou was really fun. He feels sort of like an uncle to me now. We definitely had a really good dynamic with him. And I think that he was able to bring out the best in a lot of our ideas. Sometimes people think that when you work with someone like him, that he comes in and sort of overhauls everything. But that wasn't the case. We had the songs pretty well mapped out before he got there. Together we made small decisions about them. We just trimmed and added and trimmed and added and got the songs as good as they can be. The plus with Lou is all the sounds he can get out of the instruments.

How does this record stand out for you compared to your past efforts?

It's the record that we've been trying to make for a long time and have never had the ability to do it. I think it's the culmination of everything we've done musically so far. I think the diversity is something I'm really proud of but I think it also fits together well within itself. It's hard to talk about your own record in terms that album reviewers use, you know what I mean? I don't think of it in the same way. But I'm really proud of it and I just hope everybody loves it as much as I do.

The album title is A Different Light. There's sunshine artwork on the cover. You guys have a positive pop sound and you also work with a lot of charitable organizations. Is this all intentional to be such a positive musical group? Does that dictate the album title?

There was a bunch of reasons for the album title and it's boring for me to list all of them. But I know that we liked that it was hopeful. Because even though it's positive, the lyrics are mostly about sad stuff. So it's kind of tongue-in-cheek a little bit. That track has some of the most hopeful lyrics on the album, so I like having the title centered on hope. And as we were getting the artwork in from the illustrator, we were just really, really impressed with their work and the way they portrayed the sun and the moon. The moon is on the inside of the artwork. They are two different forces and so we thought that would be a good title.

But we do want people to feel a sense of hope and we are about a lot of hopeful things. We are about supporting causes that bring hope to people. We're about bringing hope to anyone who wants to hang out and talk to us. If we can do anything positive in their life, then we are ready to do that.

How do you end up deciding what organizations to partner with?

Personally, I have a friend in Washington D.C. who was working with a non-profit for awhile, so I ask her about various organizations and what she knows about them, how legitimate they are and their reputation. We try to support causes that are reputable and are doing good things. There is a lot of corruption in the non-profit world, as well as the business world. So we go with who we think is going to do the most with what support we can garner. Another thing is just whatever causes are close to our heart. But it's just the beginning. We haven't had the means to support much, but we're getting to the point where we can make some sort of impact. Who knows what we'll be doing later this year, but it's something we're excited about.

Do you have goals for that part of your band?

Not explicit long-term goals, but we do have goals. For this tour, we are supporting a well charity. Our goal with this tour - we have a jar that looks like a well...

Like the 1,000 Wells Project?

Yeah, something like that, although I'm not sure yet who is gonna get the money, if it's gonna be Bloodwater: Mission or World Vision. I'll actually be talking to them this week, but we made this well and people drop a few bucks into it at the merch table. Our goal at the end of the tour is to dig two deep wells for one of those organizations. So that's a concrete goal for now, but it's all new. We're finally able to do something, but not all the directions have been figured out yet. We just want to be willing to do whatever we feel we need to do.

Is that a decision backed by the whole band, because you mentioned that you personally were contacting your friend and deciding what directions...

Yeah, that's something that the whole band wants to be involved in, just doing something positive and giving to people, bringing hope, etc. Generally if someone has an idea within the band, they have a lot of support to run with it.

What about songwriting? Is that a whole band process?

Yeah, I am the songwriter, so I will write them and bring them to the band. We will demo them and then we will get around a room together and we will play it back, add things, take things out, and so forth until we are all involved in the final project. It starts in my head, but it's a whole band effort by the time it's done.

What's coming up after the Relient K tour?

Yeah, 2007 will mostly be touring. There are a couple tours that I think we have, but they aren't fully confirmed yet so I can't announce them. But we'll be on tour pretty much the whole year.

Headlining at all?

Yeah, I think so but not until the fall.

Any festivals?

Well, we're playing Bamboozle in the spring. I'm not sure. We'll probably do a few this summer but we're not sure because it depends on what tour we are on.

So do you celebrate a tour like this one? With Relient K? Because the news is that their album could possibly be #1...

Yeah, it's fighting with Arcade Fire. We celebrated by going to the bar in our hotel and playing pool. And then watched Conan O'Brien. It really wasn't too amazing.

Let's talk a bit about the band's ability to embrace the Internet. You guys signed with MySpace Records and put out an album as a download on AbsolutePunk.net. Is that important for you to position yourself in that way or partner with whatever medium is the most pervasive?

Yeah, there's all this chatter going on mostly about what's gonna happen to the music industry. And things are changing rapidly. We see that as much as anyone else sees that. We've been offered this unique opportunity to take the bull by the horns instead of running away from it. Well, I guess a better way would be to say that we hopped on the bulls back to ride it. Both are unique. Because of our friendship with Absolute Punk, we were able to develop this idea with them to really release it through them. I think that's been copied by other bands since then.

And Tom [Anderson, MySpace.com founder] just really liked our band, so that's why we were able to sign with MySpace Records, which is a relatively new move. It's exciting. It's new. We definitely feel like we are to do our best to utilize the way it works now rather than fight it and try to do things the old way.

When you're approached by Tom to be on MySpace Records, is it an instant, "Yes, we have to do this" or is there a worry about going with them?

Well, it was such a new thought. It took a lot of deliberation and conversation, a lot of seeking advice from trusted friends. It was a difficult decisions. Mainly because it was like, "MySpace Records? What?" (Laughs). Are people gonna think that's lame? Or is it really smart? But I think everybody is very glad we made the decision that we made.

Why do you say that?

Because the amount of people who have been exposed to our music before the album comes out is enormous. They were a part of getting us this tour and a part of these other tours I'm not allowed to talk about yet. Beyond all of that, we've had a lot of say in the album set-up. We've gotten to make a lot of important decisions with them. We've been a part of everything. We know exactly what's happening. We're comfortable. We feel we are being treated very well. Plus the whole billions of people thing...

How many artists on the label?

Technically, I think there are four. We are the first album coming out that's fully in-house. I think there's a lot of excitement behind it. There's always risks in that but we thought it was worth it. And it has been so far. We're very happy.