It's 4:30 p.m. and Pete Carmichael is up and out of bed.

Last night was another long one for the voice of The Diableros, a Toronto-based band that over the past two years has ridden a wave of deserved acclaim for its expansive sonic confections.

And with a fine new album (The Diableros Aren't Ready for the Country) to promote and a tour imminent, Carmichael has been putting in many long nights.

The superior songwriter's day job -- and occasional night job -- sees Carmichael chauffeuring the stars to and from filmsets, and occasionally helping the crew as needed. The Diableros' first album, You Can't Break the Strings in Our Olympic Hearts, might have turned a number of heads, but one has to pay the bills.

"It's nice to be identified with Canadian bands that are doing so well," Carmichael sincerely says of the critical praise that has greeted his band's striking sound. "But as for whether being Canadian has made things easier for us, well, we still haven't got any record deals outside this country, so I guess not."

At least, not yet. With Aren't Ready for the Country, The Diableros have proven that brilliant debut album to be no fluke. Plans are in the works to dazzle South by Southwest next spring. And one can expect an enthusiastic crowd to greet the band tonight at Zaphod Beeblebrox.

It's a band that continues to grow stronger, having initially developed from singer-songwriter Carmichael's one-man show. The new album, he enthuses, is essentially the sound of a band playing live in the studio. And finding its feet, as a group.

"Quincy Jones said something along the lines of, the best songs are the ones the songwriter can just sit down with a guitar or at a piano and play by himself and that still hold their own," Carmichael observes. "I don't necessarily feel that all my songs do that. I really value what the band adds to it. A lot of the writing effort I put into the song is actually thinking about the arrangements while I'm writing it.

"But that particular quote is starting to take on more meaning to me as I get older and I start to think about wanting to write songs that essentially come down to that -- just being able to pick up my guitar and play it to somebody and still have it have just as much weight as it does with the band. But, having said that, I really want this band to grow and evolve as much as possible."

And, perhaps one day, to leave the driving to others.