--taken from: The Cadre
by Justin Shaw
You may have heard them in a Future Shop ad. You may have heard them on CBC’s George Strombolopolous Tonight. You may have also heard them in the intro to MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives (CBC’s most baffling attempt to feminize the NHL).
On February 16th, you have the chance to hear them perform on the Homburg Stage at the Confederation Centre of the Arts.
Sloan, one the East Coast’s most popular bands, is returning to the Maritimes and set to perform in Charlottetown. In honour of the occasion, The Cadre chatted with the band’s guitarist, Jay Ferguson.
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Cadre: You have been together for over twenty years, and have maintained consistent quality work. What do you feel has kept the band together this long?
Jay: It’s hard to say exactly what. I think being able to control our own career and not being under the shadow of a potentially fickle large record label, for most of our career, has helped us steer our own ship. I also think that our band is an outlet for everyone creatively, everyone sings and writes and contributes….there isn’t the frustrated bass player itching to do his songs (although I think Chris has a large stash dying to see the light of day!). We’ve also democratically kept things evenly divided on a financial basis so we are all in the same boat, even though it may not be a yacht.
Cadre: In ’94, Spin Magazine referred to Twice Removed as one of the “Best Albums You Didn’t Hear”, a title partially due to the lack of promotion from Geffen Records. How do you feel the band overcame this challenge?
Jay: We didn’t really. The LP received attention and promotion in Canada, but definitely was swept under the rug in the USA. We were aware this was going to be the case before the LP was released. The way we sort of overcame it was to take a long break, essentially kind of ‘breaking up’ after a long tour of the USA. Then, when we decided to reconvene for a 3rd LP, we were on our own murderecords label and more in the driver’s seat regarding controlling our own job and potential career.
Cadre: Do you feel there is much a difference in audience response between your shows in the Canada and the US? How about between Canada and the Maritimes?
Jay: I’m not sure about the Maritimes vs. the rest of Canada, but there is a bit of a difference between the US and Canada. Our Canadian audience has always been a mix of the casual fan who may know a few songs from the radio and the uber-fan that knows every last album track and b-side. In the US, since we never really enjoyed major above ground TV or Top 40 exposure, there are not as many casual fans…the people who seem to come to our shows are fans of everything and know our entire catalogue. It’s a fun issue to have, it’s nice to play the hits and have big sing-a-longs at shows in Canada, but also our US audience allows us to often play more album songs from our catalogue that fans in the US seem to know just as well as the singles.
Cadre: What tend to be your most frequently requested songs?
Jay: Underwhelmed, Money City Maniacs…Chester The Molester is often yelled out too.
Cadre: What is your opinion on the current state of Canadian East Coast music? Are there any artists in particular that have impressed you in recent years?
Jay: I haven’t lived on the East Coast for years, so I’m a bit out of touch. It’s nice to see Rich Aucoin be getting lots of international recognition. I thought Laura Peek’s last record was really fine…as was Mike O’Neill’s latest. It was encouraging to hear him make a new LP after so long. There were bands that kinda split that I really liked…The Stance made one LP that had lots of good songs. Brent Randall & The Pinecones were excellent in their Halifax configuration, but have since transplanted to Toronto in a different form. I’ve not kept up on my latest Two Hours Traffic, but they definitely have some good songs too.
Cadre: When the band first formed, what were among the biggest influences in forming your sound/style? Have these influences changed over the years?
Jay: I guess influences change or one may be listening to different music while making a particular record. For our first record, Smeared, there was definitely an influence represented by the music that was happening in England at the time…pop bands that used layers of distorted guitar but were still writing melodic pop songs…My Bloody Valentine and Ride and other similar bands that were on the Creation Records label. The parallel underground US scene was also rubbing off….influence of bands like Dinosaur Jr and Sonic Youth made it’s way into some of our early recordings as well.
Cadre: What song (or songs) is the most fun to perform live?
Jay: I think my personal favourite is Fading Into Obscurity from our Never Hear The End Of It album…a long song, treated like a suite with many little parts and interesting changes.
Cadre: Thank you for time! Have an excellent show!
--taken from: The Cadre
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