The hours are long, the pay negligible, but for Clothes Make The Man, music might be a necessary evil.

It’s a bright and urgent July day when I get off the phone with the Toronto-based rock outfit’s front man Ryan McLennan and guitarist Scott Henry. I’ve found them in recent good fortune in advance of their gig at the Horseshoe Tavern on Saturday, July 18, coming off of Edgefest, NXNE and an acoustic session at radio station CFNY. Their second full-length album is in the can and slated for release in the near future. Unwedded to any label, Clothes Make The Man talked about the uphill DIY battle they fight to stay in the music game.

“I wouldn’t call us an anomaly. We’ve been at this for a long time,” says McLennan of the Ottawa ex-pats who moved to Toronto in 2002. “You work hard for these things to fall into place, as many bands do. It can be discouraging at times, but you have to keep the big picture in your head. If you know you have something good, you keep faith and enjoy the ride.”

The band keeps schtum on sonic details of the release, though Henry does offer that it will be a matured version of what had the local critics (a greener me among them when it dropped in February 2006) fawning over their first self-titled EP. They’ve gotten comparisons with ’90s acts such as Dinosaur Jr. and the Foo Fighters. Terms like “hook-heavy,” “hard-hitting” and “candid” often follow them – those boilerplate tropes the music press snobbery love to bandy about that never really do a band justice.

In any case, recording an album is a demanding commitment; even more so when you go it alone, say the pair. Tracks were laid down at Mississauga’s Metalworks Studios over a period of six months and produced by Julius “Juice” Butty (Alexisonfire, City & Colour, Protest The Hero). While it’s bad business to quote studio and producer rates publicly, notes McLennan, the endeavour was by no means cheap.

“I usually say, ‘Fuck it. Put it on the Visa for now and we’ll deal with it later,’” adds Henry (who doubles as the band accountant). “So yeah, the credit card feels the pain and you work separate jobs to pay that down and one shift won’t cut it. But you have money coming in from different spots. A lot of musicians don’t admire that side of it, but you have to do it.”

There’s no other option but to suffer for your art. But then, the gang wouldn’t have it any other way.

“We’re kind of like drug addicts or sex addicts. You have to have a passion for turning the amps up,” says Henry.

For more on the band, visit http://www.clothesmaketheman.org.