TORONTO — Great Big Sea no longer wants to be the party band known mostly for jumping up and down onstage with boundless energy.

Nor is the folk-rock band happy to just play the biggest hits from its 15-year career and back catalogue of 12 CDs.

Even though they're a household name in Canada and continue to build their fan base elsewhere, Great Big Sea still wants to be huge.

"We're not interested in just reaping what we've sown, we want to keep growing," said band member Sean McCann during a telephone interview from his hometown of St. John's, N.L., as the group enjoyed a brief break between touring the United States and getting back on the road in Canada.

"We want to be huge, big stars, as big as we can be. We're not satisfied yet."

The band built loyal audiences across the country with a number of memorable singles over the years, starting with their cover of the Slade song, "Run Runaway," in 1995, and then songs like "Mari-Mac," "Goin' Up," "When I'm Up (I Can't Get Down)," "Ordinary Day," and "Consequence Free."

They still play most of those songs live, but after releasing a folk album in 2005 they decided to move away from bars, rowdy clubs and arenas and have elected to play in more sit-down theatres, McCann said.

"Once we got into the theatres we loved them, we loved the vibe in there. The show evolved and became more about the music and less about the lights, and more about what we say and less about how much we jump," he said.

"Sometimes you can't get away from your past but you don't have to use all of it. We tend to say to the audience, 'Here's what you want but here's what we like right now, and you're going to like it too, trust us.' Our fans want to sing along, so we have to give them something they know the words to - and we do - then we give them something they don't know, and they'll learn it for the next show."

While that evolution has turned off some of their longtime supporters who've come to expect a certain vibe at a Great Big Sea concert, the excitement and challenge of playing to new, growing audiences in the U.S. helped the band develop their act.

"You kind of got used to your front row knowing exactly what's going to happen and what they're supposed to do - because we're kind of an audience participation band - but we went out there (in the U.S.) many nights and most people had never seen us before," he said.

"We were facing rooms of 1,000 people who had never ever been to a Great Big Sea show, which for us, it had been a while since we'd seen that happen."

Because many American audiences are going to their shows based on word-of-mouth recommendations, many times they have no idea what the band, their music or their roots are all about.

"Playing in places like Boise, Idaho, or California, or Iowa, or Chicago even, for them it was brand new, (our music) was seen as exotic and weird," McCann said with a laugh.

"Most people in America do not know where Newfoundland is, or haven't even heard of it. In America, people are surprised there's an island off the coast of Canada called Newfoundland, it just floors them, they have no idea."

Still, the band has acquired at least one high-profile non-Canadian fan.

Movie star Russell Crowe has been known to join Great Big Sea onstage whenever he's in the same town the band is touring in, and has co-writing credits on their latest album, "Fortune's Favour."

"He's a great guy to be around, very entertaining and he's a great songwriter and lyricist," McCann said.

"It's usually a great surprise when he shows up at shows and the fans love it, he doesn't come in making small noises, he comes big, he's awesome."

The band has risked turning off some of its prospective fans down south by playing one of its new songs, "Straight To Hell," which is about making a deal with the devil and enjoying every second of sin until damnation comes.

But they're not dropping it from the set list.

"In the southern U.S. people are more religious and they were really upset," McCann said.

"They said, 'You can't be doing that song, it's about the devil!'... They were deadly serious, they were shocked. But that just meant we played it more often."

Great Big Sea is playing in Kingston, Ont., on Nov. 17; Barrie, Ont., on. Nov. 18; Hamilton on Nov. 19; Kitchener, Ont., on Nov. 20; Oshawa, Ont., on Nov. 22; Thunder Bay, Ont., on Nov. 26; Winnipeg on Nov. 27; Saskatoon on Nov. 28; Regina on Nov. 29; Edmonton on Nov. 30; Calgary on Dec. 1; and Vancouver on Dec. 3 and Dec.