by Lindsay Seewalt
Fans of the band Sloan should start sifting through the backs of their closets to fetch their favourite pair of Converse sneeks and Levis, as the still-popular Toronto-based power-pop-rock group will be taking the Bragg Creek Centre stage Sept. 28 at 8 p.m.
Celebrating 22 years as a working band, the Halifax natives continue to crank out albums, contributing to a collection that includes mid-nineties singles such as “The Good In Everyone”, “Everything You’ve Done Wrong” and “Money City Maniacs”.
The boys have been hitting the studio hard these days, gearing up for a 2014 release like never before: a double album where each member gets their own side.
“We’ve never really tried that before. It’s like four mini-albums. Without sounding obnoxious, I feel like we’re one of the only bands who could do it that way (because all the members are singer/songwriters),” explained guitarist and singer/songwriter, Jay Ferguson, laughing when asked how a band functions without dispute when all four members are equal voices and songwriters in the group.
“I think there’s no head-butting because the band is sort of a platform for everybody, and we’re all in the same boat, this eliminates artistic frustration…our band is pretty much democracy in action…We always shared in the money – and the lack of money.”
Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland and Andrew Scott are Ferguson’s bandmates.
Sloan was signed to U.S. label giant, Geffen, in a matter of months after releasing their debut EP Peppermint, on their homegrown label, Murderecords. The band released their premier full-length LP, Smeared, in 1992 through Geffen.
Following Smeared, Sloan and Geffen experienced artistic differences over their sophomore 1994 album, Twice Removed. Although released by Geffen, the label did not promote the album. Ferguson explained that the label was uncertain on how to market them amid the flourishing grunge-rock era boasting bands such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Silverchair.
The album, although essentially dying in the U.S. market, sat well with Canadian alt-rock audiences. The period following this saw the band on a temporary hiatus, only to reconvene and release their most successful album to date in 1996, One Chord to Another, on their own Murderecords; this reaffirmed the band’s indie spirit and they continue to record, produce and release through Murderecords to this day.
Many Canadian artists have the ‘little label that could’ to thank for their own humble beginnings. In the mid-nineties, Murderecords released albums for other fellow East Coast artists such as Eric’s Trip, Hardship Post, Thrush Hermit, The Super Friendz, Hip Club Groove, Al Tuck, Stinkin’ Rich and Local Rabbits, among others. These days, the label exists mainly as an umbrella for Sloan to release their own music.
Never reaching mainstream success south of the border, Sloan still maintains a regular cult following and always tours parts of the U.S. with the release of each album.
“We’re definitely an underground band there,” said Ferguson, explaining ‘Sloan’s America’ as East and West Coasts, as well as Midwest U.S.
“I’m not embarrassed by any of our eras,” said Ferguson. “When I look back on our career and our body of work, I don’t cringe at any of our music.”
With a re-issue of Twice Removed recently served up, Ferguson said he sees no reason to leave his 1971 Fender Telecaster or 1967 Rickenbacker on the sidelines — Sloan will continue to record, release and repeat for the foreseeable future, having already survived through the bulk years of growing pains, finding their sound and expanding families.
--taken from: Cochrane Eagle
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