Underwhelmed (live w/ Jay Coyle on drums) @ Lincoln Hall, Chicago - Chris takes the camera - recorded on December 7, 2009:
--this SlnVdOfThDy was shared on Twitter via @Sloanmusic on the date above it
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
more Commodore pictures
@ Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, British Columbia
--taken from: Stephanie's Facebook (see more pictures here)
--taken from: Stephanie's Facebook (see more pictures here)
Friday, December 18, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Concert Review – Sloan at The Commodore Ballroom
--taken from: The Snipe News
The only thing better than going to see a band you’re a Superfan of is going to see a band with a serious Superfan.
The Superfan in question is my friend Kim, who in addition to being a serious Superfan (her daughter’s middle name is “Sloane”) also has the unusual distinction of having managed both myself and Sloan’s Jay Ferguson at record stores – albeit in different chains, coasts, and decades. Needless to say the excitement at getting to see her Rock Star Boyfriend (Patrick Pentland) play was palpable.
A quick and cold tour to promote their latest EP “Hit and Run” wrapped at Vancouver’s legendary (and fantastically festive) Commodore Ballroom last night. The venue is a favorite of both fans and bands, as this Tweet from @sloanmusic can attest.
After some back-and-forth texting, Jay (sweetheart that he is) managed to meet us upstairs to greet me and the Superfan and engage in some delightful conversation, which included discussing inaccuracies on his Wikipedia pages (let it be known that contrary to popular belief, Jay does not, in fact, like shrimp). Pre-show texting combined with one-on-one time and looks from curious onlookers were enough to make me feel far more righteous than I have any business feeling—perhaps my favorite way to feel. Kim and Jay caught up while I smiled and nodded, trying my best to look as self-righteous as I felt.
Ever the polite Canadian, the tour-worn Jay occasionally found himself turning away from us to cough into his elbow. My Jewish Mother superpowers kicked in and I offered him a sachet of Emergen-C from my purse, which he accepted. I am sure this random act of kindness on my part saved the show. In addition to being self-righteous, I am also useful.
We talked a bit about the tour and the insanely cold temperatures encountered along the way. I learned that Sloan is both pragmatic and creative when it comes to dealing with the mechanical failures (quite possibly temperature-related) of their tour bus bathroom—beware of touring Canada in winter, all-girl bands. Oh, the glamour…
As per Superfan’s prediction, the eager crowd (the biggest I’ve seen at the Commodore in a while) chanted “SLO-OAN!” while waiting for the headliner, which made a wise choice in kicking off the set with the infectiously poppy, piano-laced “Take it Upon Yourself”, the first song off their new EP. The track is classic Sloan and despite the song’s newness the crowd was amped and receptive from the get-go, sealing the deal for what would prove to be a fun, high-energy night.
The set was an even-handed sprinkling of popular singles, fan-favorites from every album, and songs from the new EP – they even managed to sneak in every song from “Hit and Run”. Their first big hit of the night came a few songs in, with the eerily melodic “The Other Man”, followed by a seamlessly smooth yet rock-hard wall-of-guitar transition to “Money City Maniacs”, which was so kick-ass that I never even had the chance to feel like I was in a Future Shop commercial.
At this point Superfan felt the need to switch sides to get a little closer to her Rock Star Boyfriend, so we headed to the other side and fearlessly took over a reserved table. The undeniable lure of boys-with-guitars was a constant for the rest of the night; while I must confess I appreciated Sloan’s sex appeal, I myself did not get any Rock Star Boyfriend vibes. To do so would have been in clear violation of the established Girl Code of Conduct, and I do not roll thusly.
That being said, I did get heated when drummer Andrew Scott and guitarist Chris Murphy switch-hitted for a few songs – I appreciate rock star flexibility – and got increasingly excited when they did yet another hard-and-fast transition from “Everything You’ve Done Wrong” into “Who Taught You to Live Like That?” Several minutes of cheering and pounding on tables produced a few more songs for an encore which included a duet with Lexi Valentine, from opening band Magneta Lane, and the raucous crowd-pleasing closer “Good in Everyone.”
A memorable night indeed and great to see the members of Sloan all playing and getting along so well, despite any potential backstage tension associated with Chart Attack’s inclusion of all four members’ in their annual readers’ poll for the “Throw Your Underwear Award for Sexiest Canadian Male” (currently, Chris Murphy is at the top of Sloan’s panty-pile). Surely, any competitive angst these veteran Canadian rockers may be dealing with is mitigated by “Sloan’s Grey Hair” being ranked so highly in the “Sweet Happenings in Music This Year” category.
--taken from: The Snipe News
stage pictures
--taken from: axeguitar's Twitpic
--taken from: kirkofdoom's yfrog
--taken from: coryaross' Twitpic
--(in Brooklyn) taken from: rainmc's Twitpic
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Monday, December 14, 2009
Interview – Sloan's Jay Ferguson
--taken from: The Snipe
by Rachel Fox
Sloan’s Jay Ferguson and I have one thing in common – we both worked at record stores and had the same manager, Kim (albeit in different chains, coasts and decades). I had the chance to catch up with Jay to talk about Sloan’s current tour, their new EP “Hit and Run” (inspired, no doubt, by bandmate Chris Murphy’s experience as the victim of one this past summer), fandom, laundry, and Ogopogos.
RF: Where are you calling from and what are you doing right now?
JF: I’m calling you from Calgary, Alberta in Canada. I am waiting for my laundry to dry at a hotel in Calgary and watching a film all about about apartheid in the 1940s or 50s on Turner Classic Movies with the sound down – so don’t worry I’m paying attention.
RF: That’s very glamorous. I really like the laundry part. I like to think of rock stars as having clean britches.
JF: (Laughs) Today was the last day. That would not have happened tomorrow if I’d have not done laundry today. Is there a limerick around there…?
RF: So you’ve done some dates in the Northeastern US and across Canada in the winter, which seems very brave to me. How’s that going, what’s that like?
JF: (Laughs) Well, it was brave. I was shocked to learn it… We were supposed to do dates earlier in October, but there were a couple of little setbacks, and Chris in our band had a little accident, broken collarbone and we had to move some shows around. So we’re touring in this ridiculous month of December in Western Canada. The Northeast was pretty great actually in the States, the weather was really nice. But yeah, going across Canada went from a pleasant 10 degrees to -20 in Winnipeg the other day so it was a bit of a shock to the system.
RF: -20?
JF: Yeah, it was -20 in Winnipeg the other day. Basically, I couldn’t walk further than a block. It was brutal.
RF: Wow, and people live there.
JF: I was sitting in Winnipeg, and thinking, “Why is this place… populated? Why do people move here? Why is it civilized… here?”
RF: I don’t know. I think they’re all looking for the Ogopogo or something.
JF: Oh, that must be it. There’s about a million people looking for Ogopogo in Southern Manitoba and uh, well, I don’t know. Well, good luck to them.
RF: Everyone has a purpose. I’m looking at your new EP, “Hit and Run”. Why an EP?
JF: What were we thinking? Why on Earth did we do that? The original idea was that we were starting an online store of our catalogue on our website, all our older records which we own the rights to, and we thought, Now’s a good time to put it all out because we’ve learned about this new application platform that can turn your website into almost a little iTunes store. So, a lot of our albums weren’t available digitally through iTunes in Canada, so we thought, in order to launch the store, let’s put something new as well to talk about at the same time, which became “Let’s do a little EP instead of a full-length new album, because that would take longer to do and as part of this experiment, let’s just make a short little EP that would take less time to prepare and record and mix.” So that’s mainly why.
RF: Do you have any plans to release it as a physical, tangible thing?
JF: Uh, maybe. We have a lot of people at our shows complaining already, “Where’s the CD?” and it’s like, “Well, you just download it,” but they want something to hold in their hand…
RF: So you’ve had to explain the Internet to people.
JF: Basically I’ve had to explain, “What you do, is you go buy a computer. Then you go home, and then you plug it in. And then you call up a service provider, and then blah blah blah, then two hours later they sort of understand.” So it’s been a little frustrating. But no, I’m teasing. Most people are into it. I like the idea of recording something and it’s immediately available online and you can sell it. As a musician, it’s fun to record a song one week, mix it, and then next week it’s up for sale on your website as a giveaway or something.
RF: Looking at your site, stalking you guys online and stuff, it seems like you are really using social media. I noticed there’s something already up online on Youtube from your show last night. Who’s in charge of that and how important a component is social media to you guys now?
JF: It’ a good thing, especially to a band of our size; we’re on the radio a lot in Canada but not so much the US, so all those things are really good at connecting fans with each other about letting and know about shows or contests, or anything that gets you excited about being into a band. So it’s pretty important to us. I don’t really know a lot about Twitter. Patrick in our band runs the Sloan Twitter thing ….
RF: He’s the Twat.
JF: I did not say that. You did. (Laughs) He is much more into that side, so he’s got that under control. A lot of people will post live stuff from shows, a fan will just come and video it and post it. That stuff we don’t really have control over. I suppose we welcome it unless it’s really terrible.
RF: I was very intrigued to learn about The Maughns’ Mary Cobham and her tribute album to you, Songs in the Key of Jay. I read about you being “Sloan’s sweetest member,” and that this was something of an aural love letter to you. As someone who’s been on that creepy side of musical fandom, I’m curious – what was your initial reaction to being approached for it?
JF: I didn’t have anything to do with it (musically), although I ended up inadvertently doing press for it because so many people were asking about it when it came out. I didn’t really know Mary, she played in a band in Halifax and we had mutual friends, and she had a song out that was about me, and I’d heard about it and thought, “Oh my gosh, that’s so flattering.” And then I met her …
RF: And then you were frightened?
JF: No, she’s super nice. Mutual friends introduced her and she was like, “Hey, I hope you don’t mind I’m doing that song and by the way, I’m not crazy, I thought it was a fun thing to do.” And I said, “No, that’s fine, it’s cool, “and then she said, “by the way, I’m sort of planning a whole album based around you.” And I was like, “Ohhhh-kay.” I was fine with that, and after talking to her I realized that she wasn’t weird or anything like that. She explained it to me that she was doing it as a tribute to ’70s Tiger Beat pop fandom obsession, and that it was fun and cute and, “I’m taking this lightly, and I hope you don’t mind if I do this.” And I said it was fine as long as I get a copy when it was done as I’d like to hear it, and she sent it to me when it was done and I thought it was very sweet. It didn’t bother me because now… well, and now she lives in Toronto and she lives in my neighborhood I think.
RF: I feel like this is a script to a film and I kind of wonder why you don’t know what’s going on.
JF: In fact, my neighbor said there was someone mysterious in my backyard the other day… blonde hair and, oh… never mind. No it’s fine, she’s cool. I see her around every once in a while, it’s not like she’s knocking on my door. I don’t think she wants to hang out with me or anything like that. When I see her it’s nice and we always have a chat and a good laugh but it’s not weird, I have no weird vibes from her. I always thought she was very sweet and very friendly.
RF: Do you guys have crazy, band-aid-type fans in your audience?
JF: Not really. Sometimes we meet crazy fans, but not so much. We have regular fans that we recognize.
RF: So, you’re not on the stage and spotting them in the audience and going, “She a Patrick,” or something like that.
JF: Oh, you mean, like can you tell… no, not really. Although anybody who’s into Patrick, they’re usually on his side of the stage and anybody who’s into me, they’re on my side, so the division is visual.
RF: Alright, good to know. I’ll pay attention to that at the Commodore.
JF: Patrick’s side is gonna be piled and my side is gonna be a bunch of 30-year-old guys with glasses.
RF: I’ll keep my eyes open for the 30-year-old woman in a dress and Doc Martens. I’m thinking that’s your fandom’s aesthetic on the ladies’ side.
JF: Is that right? That’s our demographic?
RF: That’s what I’m thinking. Girls in dresses, glasses, fishnets, and Doc Martens. It’s what I see.
JF: Really? It’s funny you’re saying that, I don’t really see that so often. But I’ve found in the States, our audience is so much older than in Canada, it’s wild. Definitely 30 and above is the core audience, they’re all quite a bit older… actually a lot of 40-50-year-old people at the shows. Then we come back to Canada, like in Winnipeg, and it was a bunch of 19-year-olds in the front row. It’s a really interesting view of how people get into our band or how people see our band. In the States, because we’re not on commercial radio and we’re more of an underground thing, and we have people who’ve stuck with us from the beginning, from the early ’90s, and have grown [with us]. Not a lot of super young people there, we’re not on MuchMusic anymore, but in Canada, because we’re still on the radio or in the central media we get a younger audience. It was very interesting to see the difference between Chicago and then all of a sudden Winnipeg, it was like night and day.
RF: You guys have such timeless, listenable, poppy songs that get played more here [Canada], which attracts a younger audience as well, so it’s more relevant here…
JF: I think you’re probably right, yes.
RF: Just say I’m right.
JF: I agree!
RF: Thank you. On the other side of the fandom equation, I’m curious—are there any musician crushes that if you were going to create an album—who would it be for? No judgment.
JF: Oh, I don’t know. If I was younger… I’ve been listening to a lot of Blondie recently, so I think I could’ve written a good song about Deborah Harry, although it’s too late now….
RF: She’s single.
JF: Is she really?
RF: She was with Chris (Stein) for a long time, but I believe she is single.
JF: Oh, wow, well, I guess this is my chance. How old is she now? She’s only 60, that’s fine.
RF: She’s a cougar.
JF: Oh my God. I don’t know if I’ll be pursuing that. I’ve been reading a book, The Making of Blondie, and she looked so awesome in the late '70s… but the people who I was into more when I was a teenager, it would have been guys… it’s embarrassing. I wouldn’t write a love album to Keith Richards or something like that.
RF: If you wanted to there’d be no judgment from me. Are there any “bests-of-2009” that resonated with you, music, movies, anything from the past year?
JF: I saw Up, the animated Pixar movie and it blew my mind. Have you seen it, do you know it?
RF: No. I have issues with suspension of disbelief and animation, so I’m not very good with it.
JF: [Laughs] You mean because it’s tricking you?
RF: This goes back to childhood… I can’t relate very well to things that aren’t three dimensional. I saw “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and I really liked it because he lives in a world with gravity and depth, as do I.
JF: Fair enough. How was it?
RF: I really enjoyed it. Even as a puppet George Clooney’s really sexy.
JF: I’m psyched to see it, but I can’t say it because I haven’t seen it. One of the things I really liked this year was the new Julian Casablancas, I liked a lot of that. And I really enjoy a singer-songwriter from Vancouver, International Falls. I don’t think the band is around anymore, but there’s a guy named Jay Arner who makes his own solo music and has a new EP that is online. And I’m almost embarrassed to say this because I sang harmony on one song (“Uncoverers”) for him, but I’m actually a fan of his, and he has an EP out that is called “Bird of Prey,” and it’s fantastic. I think he’s an awesome songwriter that basically nobody knows about.
RF: That’s cool. Everything really does come full circle. I’m looking forward to seeing you at the Commodore on the 15th, have you played there before?
JF: We’ve played there many times. I always really enjoy the Commodore, it’s great.
RF: Those are all the questions I’ve got for you. I have to transcribe, you see. I’m old school. I have no minion to do my bidding.
JF: (Laughs) Oh, just get Kim to do it for you. She doesn’t have anything to do today.
RF: Actually, I’m babysitting for her tomorrow. I do my laundry at her house.
JF: Oh, really? Aww, that’s lovely. That’s so nice.
--taken from: The Snipe
by Rachel Fox
Sloan’s Jay Ferguson and I have one thing in common – we both worked at record stores and had the same manager, Kim (albeit in different chains, coasts and decades). I had the chance to catch up with Jay to talk about Sloan’s current tour, their new EP “Hit and Run” (inspired, no doubt, by bandmate Chris Murphy’s experience as the victim of one this past summer), fandom, laundry, and Ogopogos.
RF: Where are you calling from and what are you doing right now?
JF: I’m calling you from Calgary, Alberta in Canada. I am waiting for my laundry to dry at a hotel in Calgary and watching a film all about about apartheid in the 1940s or 50s on Turner Classic Movies with the sound down – so don’t worry I’m paying attention.
RF: That’s very glamorous. I really like the laundry part. I like to think of rock stars as having clean britches.
JF: (Laughs) Today was the last day. That would not have happened tomorrow if I’d have not done laundry today. Is there a limerick around there…?
RF: So you’ve done some dates in the Northeastern US and across Canada in the winter, which seems very brave to me. How’s that going, what’s that like?
JF: (Laughs) Well, it was brave. I was shocked to learn it… We were supposed to do dates earlier in October, but there were a couple of little setbacks, and Chris in our band had a little accident, broken collarbone and we had to move some shows around. So we’re touring in this ridiculous month of December in Western Canada. The Northeast was pretty great actually in the States, the weather was really nice. But yeah, going across Canada went from a pleasant 10 degrees to -20 in Winnipeg the other day so it was a bit of a shock to the system.
RF: -20?
JF: Yeah, it was -20 in Winnipeg the other day. Basically, I couldn’t walk further than a block. It was brutal.
RF: Wow, and people live there.
JF: I was sitting in Winnipeg, and thinking, “Why is this place… populated? Why do people move here? Why is it civilized… here?”
RF: I don’t know. I think they’re all looking for the Ogopogo or something.
JF: Oh, that must be it. There’s about a million people looking for Ogopogo in Southern Manitoba and uh, well, I don’t know. Well, good luck to them.
RF: Everyone has a purpose. I’m looking at your new EP, “Hit and Run”. Why an EP?
JF: What were we thinking? Why on Earth did we do that? The original idea was that we were starting an online store of our catalogue on our website, all our older records which we own the rights to, and we thought, Now’s a good time to put it all out because we’ve learned about this new application platform that can turn your website into almost a little iTunes store. So, a lot of our albums weren’t available digitally through iTunes in Canada, so we thought, in order to launch the store, let’s put something new as well to talk about at the same time, which became “Let’s do a little EP instead of a full-length new album, because that would take longer to do and as part of this experiment, let’s just make a short little EP that would take less time to prepare and record and mix.” So that’s mainly why.
RF: Do you have any plans to release it as a physical, tangible thing?
JF: Uh, maybe. We have a lot of people at our shows complaining already, “Where’s the CD?” and it’s like, “Well, you just download it,” but they want something to hold in their hand…
RF: So you’ve had to explain the Internet to people.
JF: Basically I’ve had to explain, “What you do, is you go buy a computer. Then you go home, and then you plug it in. And then you call up a service provider, and then blah blah blah, then two hours later they sort of understand.” So it’s been a little frustrating. But no, I’m teasing. Most people are into it. I like the idea of recording something and it’s immediately available online and you can sell it. As a musician, it’s fun to record a song one week, mix it, and then next week it’s up for sale on your website as a giveaway or something.
RF: Looking at your site, stalking you guys online and stuff, it seems like you are really using social media. I noticed there’s something already up online on Youtube from your show last night. Who’s in charge of that and how important a component is social media to you guys now?
JF: It’ a good thing, especially to a band of our size; we’re on the radio a lot in Canada but not so much the US, so all those things are really good at connecting fans with each other about letting and know about shows or contests, or anything that gets you excited about being into a band. So it’s pretty important to us. I don’t really know a lot about Twitter. Patrick in our band runs the Sloan Twitter thing ….
RF: He’s the Twat.
JF: I did not say that. You did. (Laughs) He is much more into that side, so he’s got that under control. A lot of people will post live stuff from shows, a fan will just come and video it and post it. That stuff we don’t really have control over. I suppose we welcome it unless it’s really terrible.
RF: I was very intrigued to learn about The Maughns’ Mary Cobham and her tribute album to you, Songs in the Key of Jay. I read about you being “Sloan’s sweetest member,” and that this was something of an aural love letter to you. As someone who’s been on that creepy side of musical fandom, I’m curious – what was your initial reaction to being approached for it?
JF: I didn’t have anything to do with it (musically), although I ended up inadvertently doing press for it because so many people were asking about it when it came out. I didn’t really know Mary, she played in a band in Halifax and we had mutual friends, and she had a song out that was about me, and I’d heard about it and thought, “Oh my gosh, that’s so flattering.” And then I met her …
RF: And then you were frightened?
JF: No, she’s super nice. Mutual friends introduced her and she was like, “Hey, I hope you don’t mind I’m doing that song and by the way, I’m not crazy, I thought it was a fun thing to do.” And I said, “No, that’s fine, it’s cool, “and then she said, “by the way, I’m sort of planning a whole album based around you.” And I was like, “Ohhhh-kay.” I was fine with that, and after talking to her I realized that she wasn’t weird or anything like that. She explained it to me that she was doing it as a tribute to ’70s Tiger Beat pop fandom obsession, and that it was fun and cute and, “I’m taking this lightly, and I hope you don’t mind if I do this.” And I said it was fine as long as I get a copy when it was done as I’d like to hear it, and she sent it to me when it was done and I thought it was very sweet. It didn’t bother me because now… well, and now she lives in Toronto and she lives in my neighborhood I think.
RF: I feel like this is a script to a film and I kind of wonder why you don’t know what’s going on.
JF: In fact, my neighbor said there was someone mysterious in my backyard the other day… blonde hair and, oh… never mind. No it’s fine, she’s cool. I see her around every once in a while, it’s not like she’s knocking on my door. I don’t think she wants to hang out with me or anything like that. When I see her it’s nice and we always have a chat and a good laugh but it’s not weird, I have no weird vibes from her. I always thought she was very sweet and very friendly.
RF: Do you guys have crazy, band-aid-type fans in your audience?
JF: Not really. Sometimes we meet crazy fans, but not so much. We have regular fans that we recognize.
RF: So, you’re not on the stage and spotting them in the audience and going, “She a Patrick,” or something like that.
JF: Oh, you mean, like can you tell… no, not really. Although anybody who’s into Patrick, they’re usually on his side of the stage and anybody who’s into me, they’re on my side, so the division is visual.
RF: Alright, good to know. I’ll pay attention to that at the Commodore.
JF: Patrick’s side is gonna be piled and my side is gonna be a bunch of 30-year-old guys with glasses.
RF: I’ll keep my eyes open for the 30-year-old woman in a dress and Doc Martens. I’m thinking that’s your fandom’s aesthetic on the ladies’ side.
JF: Is that right? That’s our demographic?
RF: That’s what I’m thinking. Girls in dresses, glasses, fishnets, and Doc Martens. It’s what I see.
JF: Really? It’s funny you’re saying that, I don’t really see that so often. But I’ve found in the States, our audience is so much older than in Canada, it’s wild. Definitely 30 and above is the core audience, they’re all quite a bit older… actually a lot of 40-50-year-old people at the shows. Then we come back to Canada, like in Winnipeg, and it was a bunch of 19-year-olds in the front row. It’s a really interesting view of how people get into our band or how people see our band. In the States, because we’re not on commercial radio and we’re more of an underground thing, and we have people who’ve stuck with us from the beginning, from the early ’90s, and have grown [with us]. Not a lot of super young people there, we’re not on MuchMusic anymore, but in Canada, because we’re still on the radio or in the central media we get a younger audience. It was very interesting to see the difference between Chicago and then all of a sudden Winnipeg, it was like night and day.
RF: You guys have such timeless, listenable, poppy songs that get played more here [Canada], which attracts a younger audience as well, so it’s more relevant here…
JF: I think you’re probably right, yes.
RF: Just say I’m right.
JF: I agree!
RF: Thank you. On the other side of the fandom equation, I’m curious—are there any musician crushes that if you were going to create an album—who would it be for? No judgment.
JF: Oh, I don’t know. If I was younger… I’ve been listening to a lot of Blondie recently, so I think I could’ve written a good song about Deborah Harry, although it’s too late now….
RF: She’s single.
JF: Is she really?
RF: She was with Chris (Stein) for a long time, but I believe she is single.
JF: Oh, wow, well, I guess this is my chance. How old is she now? She’s only 60, that’s fine.
RF: She’s a cougar.
JF: Oh my God. I don’t know if I’ll be pursuing that. I’ve been reading a book, The Making of Blondie, and she looked so awesome in the late '70s… but the people who I was into more when I was a teenager, it would have been guys… it’s embarrassing. I wouldn’t write a love album to Keith Richards or something like that.
RF: If you wanted to there’d be no judgment from me. Are there any “bests-of-2009” that resonated with you, music, movies, anything from the past year?
JF: I saw Up, the animated Pixar movie and it blew my mind. Have you seen it, do you know it?
RF: No. I have issues with suspension of disbelief and animation, so I’m not very good with it.
JF: [Laughs] You mean because it’s tricking you?
RF: This goes back to childhood… I can’t relate very well to things that aren’t three dimensional. I saw “Fantastic Mr. Fox” and I really liked it because he lives in a world with gravity and depth, as do I.
JF: Fair enough. How was it?
RF: I really enjoyed it. Even as a puppet George Clooney’s really sexy.
JF: I’m psyched to see it, but I can’t say it because I haven’t seen it. One of the things I really liked this year was the new Julian Casablancas, I liked a lot of that. And I really enjoy a singer-songwriter from Vancouver, International Falls. I don’t think the band is around anymore, but there’s a guy named Jay Arner who makes his own solo music and has a new EP that is online. And I’m almost embarrassed to say this because I sang harmony on one song (“Uncoverers”) for him, but I’m actually a fan of his, and he has an EP out that is called “Bird of Prey,” and it’s fantastic. I think he’s an awesome songwriter that basically nobody knows about.
RF: That’s cool. Everything really does come full circle. I’m looking forward to seeing you at the Commodore on the 15th, have you played there before?
JF: We’ve played there many times. I always really enjoy the Commodore, it’s great.
RF: Those are all the questions I’ve got for you. I have to transcribe, you see. I’m old school. I have no minion to do my bidding.
JF: (Laughs) Oh, just get Kim to do it for you. She doesn’t have anything to do today.
RF: Actually, I’m babysitting for her tomorrow. I do my laundry at her house.
JF: Oh, really? Aww, that’s lovely. That’s so nice.
--taken from: The Snipe
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Meeting Sloan
underaged girls invited into a show - uploaded on December 11, 2009:
--this SlnVdOfThDy was shared on Twitter via @Sloanmusic on the date above it
--this SlnVdOfThDy was shared on Twitter via @Sloanmusic on the date above it
Friday, December 11, 2009
Sloan not All Used Up
--taken from: Pique News Magazine
Indie Canadian pop rock group emerges with new five-track EP, Hit & Run
by Holly Fraughton
Who: Sloan
When: Monday, Dec. 14, 9 p.m.
Where: GLC
Cost: $25 advance tickets at GLC, Billabong, Katmandu & Whistler Children's Centre
Sloan is one of the classically Canadian rock bands, particularly popular on the East Coast of Canada. There, if you tune into just about any radio station, you're bound to hear one of their tracks at some point during the day. The power pop rock anthems, All Used Up and Money City Maniacs are Sloan classics, in case you didn't know.
Andrew Scott is the drummer for the band, which also features Chris Murphy, Jay Ferguson and Patrick Pentland. The group has been making music together for almost 18 years now and doesn't show any signs of getting ready to pack it in. In fact, they just released a brand new EP, Hit & Run, at the end of November. It features five new tracks, Scott's Where Are You Now? and Take It Upon Yourself, as well as Oh Dear Diary by Murphy, Midnight Mass by Ferguson and It Is Never by Pentland.
It's clear from listening to the new material that it wasn't actually inspired by Murphy's near-death experience. Upbeat and catchy, with Scott's track, Where Are You Now? even heralding back to the band's rougher rock roots from their earliest days.
"For me, I was just doing what I always do," Scott said before doing a sound check for a show in Chicago on Monday. "I just sort of have these little parts... I don't really work from inspiration, personally, I just sort of do the work and if it seems to be making sense to me then I continue, and if it's not I just sort of throw it away and start over, which I did a couple of times on this thing," he said with a laugh.
It's Sloan's first album since the Parallel Play LP was released in 2008 and it shows a promising level of renewed energy.
But this upbeat effort actually came from an incredibly trying time for one of their members, Murphy, who was the victim of a hit and run accident during the summer and spent much of the fall cooped up and recovering from a broken collarbone and serious back and neck injuries.
"From the sound of it, it was a near-death experience... I spoke to him the day after and he was just kind of giddy with a second chance at life," Scott said.
The band decided to take advantage of the forced downtime and make some new music for their fans.
"He was in a pretty horrific bike accident, but it wasn't really inspired by that, outside of simply the title of it, which came long after the fact," Scott explained. "We were mentally in the process of making this thing before he almost died in June."
All songwriters in their own rights, these musicians don't do a whole lot of collaboration on the studio projects. In fact, each goes off and works independently, writing tracks and bringing in members to play in the studio. Then, after the album is finished, they teach one another how to play their songs in a live show, before taking it all on the road.
"It can be both fun and frustrating. It's nice to hear it being done, but it can be like pulling teeth depending on who is doing what," Scott added.
This time around, the band has also opted to take a somewhat unconventional approach with the distribution of their music, going a strictly digital route and only releasing the tracks for sale on their website, www.sloanmusic.com , and iTunes; effectively cutting out the middle man between the artist and the music lover.
"The middle man is falling apart altogether in terms of the big record stores and the big record labels," Scott stated.
"I think it was more just a way to test some new waters, you know? The conventional approach of making physical CDs and albums and so forth is obviously not as reliable as it used to be in terms of breaking even on the money you spend to produce that stuff."
But fear not, old-school music collectors: that isn't to say that their new tunes won't ever be turned into a physical product.
"Like anything, as soon as it's out there in any way, shape or form, it's available for free to anybody if they want it," Scott pointed out. "There's nothing one can do about that. You just sort of go on blind faith that your fans - if they're your true fans - will support you."
Sloan hit the road in late November with a three-piece female band, Magneta Lane, making stops across North America to promote the new album.
"Everybody seems to really like the new stuff and we're playing a fairly unusual, broader set in terms of pulling out some oldies," Scott said. "...Kind of semi-obscure older songs, which is fun!"
Next up, they're playing a show here in Whistler on Monday, Dec. 14. A portion of proceeds from ticket sales is going towards the Whistler Children's Centre.
--taken from: Pique News Magazine
Indie Canadian pop rock group emerges with new five-track EP, Hit & Run
by Holly Fraughton
Who: Sloan
When: Monday, Dec. 14, 9 p.m.
Where: GLC
Cost: $25 advance tickets at GLC, Billabong, Katmandu & Whistler Children's Centre
Sloan is one of the classically Canadian rock bands, particularly popular on the East Coast of Canada. There, if you tune into just about any radio station, you're bound to hear one of their tracks at some point during the day. The power pop rock anthems, All Used Up and Money City Maniacs are Sloan classics, in case you didn't know.
Andrew Scott is the drummer for the band, which also features Chris Murphy, Jay Ferguson and Patrick Pentland. The group has been making music together for almost 18 years now and doesn't show any signs of getting ready to pack it in. In fact, they just released a brand new EP, Hit & Run, at the end of November. It features five new tracks, Scott's Where Are You Now? and Take It Upon Yourself, as well as Oh Dear Diary by Murphy, Midnight Mass by Ferguson and It Is Never by Pentland.
It's clear from listening to the new material that it wasn't actually inspired by Murphy's near-death experience. Upbeat and catchy, with Scott's track, Where Are You Now? even heralding back to the band's rougher rock roots from their earliest days.
"For me, I was just doing what I always do," Scott said before doing a sound check for a show in Chicago on Monday. "I just sort of have these little parts... I don't really work from inspiration, personally, I just sort of do the work and if it seems to be making sense to me then I continue, and if it's not I just sort of throw it away and start over, which I did a couple of times on this thing," he said with a laugh.
It's Sloan's first album since the Parallel Play LP was released in 2008 and it shows a promising level of renewed energy.
But this upbeat effort actually came from an incredibly trying time for one of their members, Murphy, who was the victim of a hit and run accident during the summer and spent much of the fall cooped up and recovering from a broken collarbone and serious back and neck injuries.
"From the sound of it, it was a near-death experience... I spoke to him the day after and he was just kind of giddy with a second chance at life," Scott said.
The band decided to take advantage of the forced downtime and make some new music for their fans.
"He was in a pretty horrific bike accident, but it wasn't really inspired by that, outside of simply the title of it, which came long after the fact," Scott explained. "We were mentally in the process of making this thing before he almost died in June."
All songwriters in their own rights, these musicians don't do a whole lot of collaboration on the studio projects. In fact, each goes off and works independently, writing tracks and bringing in members to play in the studio. Then, after the album is finished, they teach one another how to play their songs in a live show, before taking it all on the road.
"It can be both fun and frustrating. It's nice to hear it being done, but it can be like pulling teeth depending on who is doing what," Scott added.
This time around, the band has also opted to take a somewhat unconventional approach with the distribution of their music, going a strictly digital route and only releasing the tracks for sale on their website, www.sloanmusic.com , and iTunes; effectively cutting out the middle man between the artist and the music lover.
"The middle man is falling apart altogether in terms of the big record stores and the big record labels," Scott stated.
"I think it was more just a way to test some new waters, you know? The conventional approach of making physical CDs and albums and so forth is obviously not as reliable as it used to be in terms of breaking even on the money you spend to produce that stuff."
But fear not, old-school music collectors: that isn't to say that their new tunes won't ever be turned into a physical product.
"Like anything, as soon as it's out there in any way, shape or form, it's available for free to anybody if they want it," Scott pointed out. "There's nothing one can do about that. You just sort of go on blind faith that your fans - if they're your true fans - will support you."
Sloan hit the road in late November with a three-piece female band, Magneta Lane, making stops across North America to promote the new album.
"Everybody seems to really like the new stuff and we're playing a fairly unusual, broader set in terms of pulling out some oldies," Scott said. "...Kind of semi-obscure older songs, which is fun!"
Next up, they're playing a show here in Whistler on Monday, Dec. 14. A portion of proceeds from ticket sales is going towards the Whistler Children's Centre.
--taken from: Pique News Magazine
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Everything Horns @ The Pyramid
Everything You've Done Wrong (live w/ Rusty and Phil on horns) @ The Pyramid, Winnipeg - recorded on December 9, 2009:
--this SlnVdOfThDy was shared on Twitter via @Sloanmusic on the date above it
--this SlnVdOfThDy was shared on Twitter via @Sloanmusic on the date above it
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Goodbye USA
Chris talks about the American audience - uploaded on December 9, 2009:
--this SlnVdOfThDy was shared on Twitter via @Sloanmusic on the date above it
--this SlnVdOfThDy was shared on Twitter via @Sloanmusic on the date above it
THE 2009 BUCKY AWARDS!!!
--taken from: CBC music (listen to the announcement here)
by Grant Lawrence
Coming up today on Grant Lawrence Live, 2PM ET / 11AM PT on CBC Radio 3's web radio and Sirius 86:
It's finally time to reveal the winners in the CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards, our annual salute to the finest Canadian independent music of the year!
This has been very much a collective experience, since most of the nominations were audience suggestions, and all of the winners were decided by YOUR votes... in such categories as Best Song, Best Lyric, Best Reason To Learn French, as well as Top Fan and Lifetime Achievement Award and many others!!
--taken from: CBC music (listen to the announcement here)
by Grant Lawrence
Coming up today on Grant Lawrence Live, 2PM ET / 11AM PT on CBC Radio 3's web radio and Sirius 86:
It's finally time to reveal the winners in the CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards, our annual salute to the finest Canadian independent music of the year!
This has been very much a collective experience, since most of the nominations were audience suggestions, and all of the winners were decided by YOUR votes... in such categories as Best Song, Best Lyric, Best Reason To Learn French, as well as Top Fan and Lifetime Achievement Award and many others!!
--taken from: CBC music (listen to the announcement here)
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Grade 5 Rockers.
kid band covering "Who Taught You To Live Like That" - recorded on October 17, 2009
Canadian power pop rockers Sloan at TT The Bear’s on December 3
--taken from: Sooz
by Susan Kaup
Sloan brought their epic power pop rock and roll to TT The Bear’s in Cambridge, MA on December 3, 2009. It was the first time I had seen them since 1996 or 1997. Crazy, yet true! They were as awesome live as I remembered them all those years ago. They’ve got a new EP out called “Hit & Run” that you can buy on iTunes. And why wouldn’t you? It’s awesome and only $3.99. Bargain! Check it out and buy it. Special thanks to the pesky drunk couple who I somehow inspired to move away from the front of the stage so people around me could enjoy the show without the two of them falling over on us. ;)
--taken from: Sooz
by Susan Kaup
Sloan brought their epic power pop rock and roll to TT The Bear’s in Cambridge, MA on December 3, 2009. It was the first time I had seen them since 1996 or 1997. Crazy, yet true! They were as awesome live as I remembered them all those years ago. They’ve got a new EP out called “Hit & Run” that you can buy on iTunes. And why wouldn’t you? It’s awesome and only $3.99. Bargain! Check it out and buy it. Special thanks to the pesky drunk couple who I somehow inspired to move away from the front of the stage so people around me could enjoy the show without the two of them falling over on us. ;)
--taken from: Sooz
Monday, December 7, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
Keep on Thinkin'
--taken from: Kumar's Blizznog
by Jay
If you know me at all, you know that whenever Sloan plays Boston, I'm there. And last night, the Toronto-by-way-of-Halifax rock machine rolled into TT the Bear's in Cambridge for some late night power pop excellence. Already tired from playing hockey Wednesday night and getting five hours of sleep afterward, I got to the tiny club a little after 9:30 to see Scarce on the recommendation of Mike Piantigini of ClickyClicky (check out his photos from the show). Scarce was a band I was unfamiliar with but which has an interesting history as an indie It-band out of Providence in the '90s that signed to a major but fizzled out after lead singer Chick Graning had a brain hemhorrage. They were pretty kick-ass, rocking a heavier Pixies sound. I definitely want to check out their old stuff.
Doobs and Karen showed up toward the end of Scarce's set and I hung out with them in the back of the club for Magneta Lane's set; they're an all-female trio out of Toronto who played competent rock, but they didn't really grab me. The three of us headed up closer to the stage to see Sloan. It was Karen's first time seeing the band in 10 years, when we saw them next door at the Middle East. She amazed me at the time by actually falling asleep on her feet, which before then I hadn't realized was possible. But she stayed awake last night.
Sloan's not touring behind a new album, but they do have a five-song digital EP, Hit and Run, that they're selling through their Internet home page. The title refers to bassist and singer Chris Murphy's recent mishap in which a car hit him while he was riding his bike; he broke his collarbone and was out of action for a few months. But he was in fine form last night, playing to the crowd, mugging for photos and rocking the bass and drums.
During the 85-minute set, the band played everything from the EP, which by the way is top notch and well worth the $4 cost. But they also dug into some songs I hadn't heard in years: "The N.S.," "Don't You Believe a Word" and "Friendship" from 1999's underrated Between the Bridges, "Keep on Thinkin'" from 1998's Navy Blues and "Autobiography" from 1997's One Chord to Another. Other standouts included Murphy's Beatlesque tour de force "Fading Into Obscurity" and Patrick Pentland's roaring guitar work all night long. Drummer Andrew Scott came up front to perform several of his compositions, including the rocking "Where Are You Now?" from the new EP and "The Great Wall," a gem from 2001's generally denigrated Pretty Together (which in retrospect is pretty good). Jay Ferguson sang a bunch of his 1970s-influenced tunes, including the classic "The Lines You Amend" and the killer new one "Midnight Mass."
Although it is truly a shame that this band isn't all over FM radio, it's great to see them still in top form coming through town. This was as good a performance as I've seen by the band, and I've probably seen them 15 times over the years. This band should be huge, but in a lot of ways I'm glad they're not.
--taken from: Kumar's Blizznog
by Jay
If you know me at all, you know that whenever Sloan plays Boston, I'm there. And last night, the Toronto-by-way-of-Halifax rock machine rolled into TT the Bear's in Cambridge for some late night power pop excellence. Already tired from playing hockey Wednesday night and getting five hours of sleep afterward, I got to the tiny club a little after 9:30 to see Scarce on the recommendation of Mike Piantigini of ClickyClicky (check out his photos from the show). Scarce was a band I was unfamiliar with but which has an interesting history as an indie It-band out of Providence in the '90s that signed to a major but fizzled out after lead singer Chick Graning had a brain hemhorrage. They were pretty kick-ass, rocking a heavier Pixies sound. I definitely want to check out their old stuff.
Doobs and Karen showed up toward the end of Scarce's set and I hung out with them in the back of the club for Magneta Lane's set; they're an all-female trio out of Toronto who played competent rock, but they didn't really grab me. The three of us headed up closer to the stage to see Sloan. It was Karen's first time seeing the band in 10 years, when we saw them next door at the Middle East. She amazed me at the time by actually falling asleep on her feet, which before then I hadn't realized was possible. But she stayed awake last night.
Sloan's not touring behind a new album, but they do have a five-song digital EP, Hit and Run, that they're selling through their Internet home page. The title refers to bassist and singer Chris Murphy's recent mishap in which a car hit him while he was riding his bike; he broke his collarbone and was out of action for a few months. But he was in fine form last night, playing to the crowd, mugging for photos and rocking the bass and drums.
During the 85-minute set, the band played everything from the EP, which by the way is top notch and well worth the $4 cost. But they also dug into some songs I hadn't heard in years: "The N.S.," "Don't You Believe a Word" and "Friendship" from 1999's underrated Between the Bridges, "Keep on Thinkin'" from 1998's Navy Blues and "Autobiography" from 1997's One Chord to Another. Other standouts included Murphy's Beatlesque tour de force "Fading Into Obscurity" and Patrick Pentland's roaring guitar work all night long. Drummer Andrew Scott came up front to perform several of his compositions, including the rocking "Where Are You Now?" from the new EP and "The Great Wall," a gem from 2001's generally denigrated Pretty Together (which in retrospect is pretty good). Jay Ferguson sang a bunch of his 1970s-influenced tunes, including the classic "The Lines You Amend" and the killer new one "Midnight Mass."
Although it is truly a shame that this band isn't all over FM radio, it's great to see them still in top form coming through town. This was as good a performance as I've seen by the band, and I've probably seen them 15 times over the years. This band should be huge, but in a lot of ways I'm glad they're not.
--taken from: Kumar's Blizznog
Swooning Over Sloan
--taken from: Chicagoist
by Tankboy
Sloan is one of the most consistent bands in the history of rock and/or roll and the recently released Hit & Run EP continues their 18 year streak of excellence. Seriously, how is a band this good and not filling stadiums? Their blend of anthemic power-pop / classic rock melded with Beatles harmonies and the occasional punk outburst is undeniably intoxicating. And their stage shows? Member bounce from instrument to instrument, trading off lead vocals from song to song, all the time proving the fact through blood, sweat and spit that their is not a weak cog within their fantastic musical machine.
The new EP is a concise, precise collection of excellent pop songs opening with the jaunty single "Take It Upon Yourself" featuring a slightly rawer production vibe than other recent work. The vibe hearkens more closely to Sloan's One Chord To Another era, albeit with more bottom still in place. The tender "Midnight Mass" follows, reading like a long-lost Nilsson nugget discovered by musical archeologists at the bottom of a bottle uncovered at the site of "The Lost Weekend." This is followed by the slightly spacey "It Is Never," that floats along until an explosion of freak-out percussion 3/4 of the way through, setting us up perfectly for the jagged new-wave punk of "Where Are You Now?" which sneers it's way through the speakers. Now that we're all wound up, "Dear Diary" takes us through to the end of the album with a gently sliding vocal melody that veers off just enough on the unexpected side to keep what could be a saccharine delivery on the sharp side. And then, 13 minutes from where we started, it's all over, leaving us wanting more, but also content in what we have.
Sloan is doing a short tour behind the EPs release and they play Chicago on Monday, December 7 at Lincoln Hall. Sloan live is NOT to be missed, and Sloan live in the intimate and fantastic sounding Lincoln Hall is sure to leave many a familiar fan delirious and any new participant reeling from what they've just seen.
--taken from: Chicagoist
by Tankboy
Sloan is one of the most consistent bands in the history of rock and/or roll and the recently released Hit & Run EP continues their 18 year streak of excellence. Seriously, how is a band this good and not filling stadiums? Their blend of anthemic power-pop / classic rock melded with Beatles harmonies and the occasional punk outburst is undeniably intoxicating. And their stage shows? Member bounce from instrument to instrument, trading off lead vocals from song to song, all the time proving the fact through blood, sweat and spit that their is not a weak cog within their fantastic musical machine.
The new EP is a concise, precise collection of excellent pop songs opening with the jaunty single "Take It Upon Yourself" featuring a slightly rawer production vibe than other recent work. The vibe hearkens more closely to Sloan's One Chord To Another era, albeit with more bottom still in place. The tender "Midnight Mass" follows, reading like a long-lost Nilsson nugget discovered by musical archeologists at the bottom of a bottle uncovered at the site of "The Lost Weekend." This is followed by the slightly spacey "It Is Never," that floats along until an explosion of freak-out percussion 3/4 of the way through, setting us up perfectly for the jagged new-wave punk of "Where Are You Now?" which sneers it's way through the speakers. Now that we're all wound up, "Dear Diary" takes us through to the end of the album with a gently sliding vocal melody that veers off just enough on the unexpected side to keep what could be a saccharine delivery on the sharp side. And then, 13 minutes from where we started, it's all over, leaving us wanting more, but also content in what we have.
Sloan is doing a short tour behind the EPs release and they play Chicago on Monday, December 7 at Lincoln Hall. Sloan live is NOT to be missed, and Sloan live in the intimate and fantastic sounding Lincoln Hall is sure to leave many a familiar fan delirious and any new participant reeling from what they've just seen.
--taken from: Chicagoist
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