MSN Exclusives: Sloan

--taken from: MSN Entertainment

Matt [Schichter] sits down with Canadian alt-rock legends Chris Murphy and Jay Ferguson of Sloan.

Check out the link below to see the video!

http://video.ca.msn.com/?mkt=en-ca&vid=c7185240-0982-4b86-b61b-9d6ff2e3225c&from=sharepermalink&src=v5:share:sharepermalink:

Top 10 Reissues of 2012

--taken from: Exclaim!

by Brock Thiessen & Gregory Adams

1. Sloan

Twice Removed: Deluxe Edition
(Sloanmusic.com)














Having just Sloan's beloved 1994 sophomore album repressed on wax would have been enough of a treat, but the self-released box set for Twice Removed had the band mining the vaults for three LPs and a 7-inch's worth of treasure. While the extensive liner notes suggest this may have been the most difficult time in the band's career — from the rest of the group's assumed betrayal of Andrew Scott's move to Toronto, to managing label expectations and undergoing occasionally uncomfortable studio sessions — the album has most definitely stood the test of time. The full demos LP shows the evolution of the album, including a head-scratching grunged-up version of "Loosens," while the third LP showcases some of the group's more psychedelic moments ("Autobiography"). If you needed more proof that Twice Removed is downright Canadian classic, here it is. (G.A.)

--taken from: Exclaim!

Concert Review: Sloan’s Twice Removed makes for half of a perfect night

--taken from: National Post

by Noah Love

If you have lived in Toronto between Bathurst and Dufferin any time in the past 15 years, there is a good chance you have experienced Sloan’s omnipresence. You’ve probably seen Jay Ferguson or Andrew Scott riding a bike or Chris Murphy hanging out on College St. or Patrick Pentland at Loblaws. On a personal level, it went a bit further than that.

For three years, I lived next door to Ferguson and watched the rest of the band drift in and out from the couch. After that, I was less than a block away from Murphy. More recently, the group’s practice space was a block south of the building I moved out of in June. And from 2005-2007, I worked at now-defunct Chart Magazine, which featured Sloan on the cover more than any other band in its 18-year history. The very last of those covers was shot in my living room.

In spite of this, I have never been a diehard Sloan fan. I grew up on British and American indie rock, and Sloan existed in the peripheral. Their singles and videos were great, but I just didn’t seem to have the time for the records. I got a bit more into the band during my Chart years, mostly through osmosis. When I arrived in 2005, Sloan was on its cover again, with Twice Removed being coroneted the best Canadian album of all time by hundreds of music critics, musicians and industry people. It was the second time Twice Removed had won the critics poll — the first was in 1996, a mere two years after its release. (Joni Mitchell’s Blue took the top spot in 2000.)

Again, though, my relationship with that record is limited. Outside of People of the Sky and Coax Me, I spent more time with Twice Removed in the last week than at any other point. And that is because Sloan is touring that album, a tour that arrived at the Phoenix in Toronto on Thursday night, and which ends on Friday in Montreal. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: album tours are never a bad idea. They re-energize your fan base, and if you pick the right record, it’s an event. Given Twice Removed‘s special status among those were were in their late teens and twenties when the LP came out, this tour was a mega-event for Sloan fans.

Having said that, I don’t think you needed a superfan to get caught up in Thursday’s emotional homecoming. There is another reason why album tours are great: they combine the power of live music with the careful sequencing of a studio record. Everything feels right. And everything about Sloan’s Twice Removed set, the first of two on Thursday, went tremendously right. Even if the band rushed it a bit — delivering the album’s 12 tracks at close to its 44-minute running time — the crowd had a hand in propelling the night forward. Singalongs, clapping — nothing needed to be prompted because Twice Removed is a burned imprint on the minds of many of those who attended.

After Jale’s Jennifer Pierce appeared to reprise her part on I Can Feel It, the group left the stage for about 30 minutes, but giddy enthusiasm flowed freely in the room. What followed took a bit of the shine off the evening. Sloan returned to play somewhere in the neighbourhood of 20 songs. Many were hits, and everything sounded between pretty good and great. But songs from any album released after 2001 had a tendency to dull the energy level. The later part of the second set, which featured The Other Man and Underwhelmed, allowed Sloan to leave on a high note, but the whole thing felt like a bit of a missed opportunity.

I’m underrating it a bit. There were so few missed notes in a night-long celebration of Sloan. But this was a night where perfection was so, so close. It’s a shame it barely eluded them.

--taken from: National Post

Sloan's Jay Ferguson talks re-issue of Twice Removed

--taken from: blogTO

by Adam Kamin

For a lot of folks, Sloan's 1994 album Twice Removed is a watershed moment in the Toronto-via-Halifax band's history. For a group who would become beloved for their jaunty, infectious take on Beatles-esque pop, their career had begun a few years prior with a debut LP, Smeared, that took the best elements of the sounds du jour - namely shoegaze and Sonic Youth-inspired noise-rock - filtered through the innate pop sensibilities of four distinct songwriters.

Seeing the potential of the band at the forefront of the Halifax scene, at the time deemed the "new Seattle" following that city's grunge boom of the early '90s, Geffen Records had signed the band on an international deal for the follow-up to Smeared, as well as giving their debut it's first American release.

Twice Removed was released in August 1994, less than six months after the death of Kurt Cobain. Unfortunately, in a period marked by an explosion of derivative proto-grunge Nirvana knockoffs tailor-made for radio play, the brilliantly direct songcraft of the mostly fuzz-free Twice Removed was perceived as a disappointment by the label, who famously dropped Sloan after all but sweeping the album under the rug of the international market.

Rather than opting to throw in the towel, the band reconvened with 1996's wildly acclaimed One Chord to Another, going on to great success over seven more LPs at the helm of their own label, murderecords.

Having delivered one of the best records of a long and storied career with last year's The Double Cross - the title a reference to the band's two decades in the business - Sloan have taken the last few months to pay respect to their sophomore classic with a crazily comprehensive box set, augmented by a series of shows featuring a performance of Twice Removed in full at a sold out show at the Phoenix tonight. Guitarist and songwriter Jay Ferguson took the time to answer some questions about the various anniversaries being commemorated by the band, the initial reception to what has become one of their most beloved albums, and what's on the horizon for Sloan.

---

After spending the last year promoting Sloan's 10th album and celebrating your 20th anniversary as a band, why pick now to look to the past for this series of shows?

Jay Ferguson (JF:) Some of us had been talking over the past couple years about reissuing older LPs (on vinyl or other formats) and perhaps touring one of these older LPs; playing it as a show from top to bottom. Those kinds of shows have obviously become a bit of a trend over the past few years. We thought it might be a fun idea and perhaps lure out some long lost fans who haven't kept up with us since the 1990s. After touring The Double Cross through 2011, we didn't really have a plan for this year, so it seemed like a good time to try to combine a reissue and tour for 2012.

Although it's not a particular anniversary for Twice Removed (happy 18th!), it seemed like the best place to start - it appears to be one of the records that many of our fans have a particular fondness for, and we also had a plenty of demos to choose from to really expand a reissue. As well, it was a fairly well documented time that enabled us to assemble a large, thorough book to accompany the vinyl box set.

Was there any talk of running through Smeared in its entirety prior to these performances of Twice Removed?

JF: Well, I guess it would have made sense to work chronologically, but I think we agreed that Twice Removed would be the best foot forward. We'll get to a Smeared box set, too. The version of Andrew [Scott, drummer] singing "Median Strip" has to see the light of day.

How has the reception to the tour been so far? What can be expected from the show aside from airing out the record?

JF: It's been super; good sing-a-longs. We play two sets - first up is Twice Removed in it's entirety, then a short break, after which we come back and play an all-sorts set of songs from the rest of our catalogue.

How has Twice Removed held up for the band? It's been said that there were a fair share of label issues with Geffen upon its original release, but did the band ever put any stock into these? Have your opinions of the record changed over time?

JF: I guess you might get a different answer from each of us. I've always liked the LP and while at the time the response from Geffen in the US was frustrating, it didn't mar the music for me. We've also been playing a handful of the songs ("Penpals," "Coax Me," "People Of the Sky") fairly regularly over the years, so it's not like we're unearthing something completely unfamiliar, but it's satisfying playing the LP as a united piece.

Is it true that the lyrics of "Penpals" are taken from fan letters to Kurt Cobain?

JF: Quite true. There is a recreation of the letter included with the new box set.

Twice Removed is a world away from the washed-out fuzz of Smeared and the earlier Peppermint EP, and is the first indication of the refined pop milieu Sloan has worked in since. What brought on such a sonic change from your first album? How do you see Twice Removed in relation to what followed?

JF: Personally, touring Smeared for the better part of two years was taking a toll on my eardrums. I was happy to play a little quieter at the time. I also felt that the musical climate was getting overstuffed with-half baked noisy guitar bands and wanted to take a turn away from that sound. Perhaps it was not the right thing to do commercially?

I think that was Geffen's frustration with Twice Removed, in that it didn't follow logically from the sonic template of Smeared. I/we were happy to pull from different references like Fleetwood Mac, or Plastic Ono Band, or the third Velvet Underground album, and to try to chart a different musical course that would set us apart (hopefully) from the glut of noisy indie groups that followed in the wake of (the great) My Bloody Valentine and Nirvana. It does seem that Twice Removed perhaps set the template for what followed, with every member singing and writing, and no particular set style or format of the songs contributed.

This time last year saw you give One Chord to Another a similar treatment at one of one of Fucked Up'sholiday benefit shows at the Great Hall. Are there any plans to revisit that or the other LPs for a proper tour?

JF: Since it appears this Twice Removed tour and box set have done well, I think we'll continue in the future with the box set reissue/tours for as long as fans will allow it. I think One Chord To Another would make a logical next choice.

Lastly, is there anything currently on the books in the way of new material? Has revisiting material from the band's formative years had an effect on the current songwriting process?

JF: We've yet to make a concrete plan for 2013, but hopefully we'll have a new Sloan LP out for next autumn, and then perhaps try another reissue/tour after that campaign is over. We also have a brand new 7" due out in a couple months that sounds absolutely nothing like Twice Removed.

--taken from: blogTO

Rockers give fans Twice Removed on vinyl

--taken from: NOW magazine

by Joanne Huffa

Eighteen years ago, Sloan altered the landscape of Canadian pop music with Twice Removed. Buoyed by clever lyrics, jangly guitars and meaty drums, the Halifax band’s second album was released by DGC, a label that also boasted Sonic Youth, Nirvana and Beck – decent company by any standard.

Thanks to requests by fans to see the classic album reissued on vinyl, Sloan have done just that through their own Murderecords imprint. They’re also currently winding up a Twice Removed tour in support of it.

The deluxe package includes three vinyl albums (the original, demos and outtakes), a 7-inch single with two bonus demos, high-quality digital downloads, a 32-page booklet, a copy of the letter that inspired the song Penpals and other goodies compiled for both new fans and listeners who’ve been around since the early days.

“We just played out west and heard a lot of ‘We haven’t seen you guys in 10 years,’” says singer/guitarist Jay Ferguson over tea in a Trinity-Bellwoods café a few days before flying to Newfoundland with bandmates Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland and Andrew Scott to continue the tour.

“This show might be a little more special to some people than a regular Sloan show. [Twice Removed] was the point at which a lot of people got into our band. It seems to be the album that keeps getting brought up.”

With plans to record a new album next year and then treat 1996’s One Chord To Another to a similar deluxe reissue, the Toronto-based band is booked solid well into its third decade together. And the critical and commercial success of last year’s The Double Cross, which made the Polaris Prize long list, has certainly helped remind listeners of the group’s songwriting prowess.

“I didn’t know it could happen,” Ferguson says about Sloan’s longevity. “But it’s what I wanted. The longer I’m in a band, the more supportive I am of acts who are still together.

“You know, the Rolling Stones are rehearsing for four shows this fall and a tour next year. People are like, ‘Oh, they should give it up.’ But no, man, this is what they do. It’s almost uncharted territory – a rock ’n’ roll band that’s been playing for 50 years. How’s it going to end?”

--taken from: NOW magazine

Sloan takes tour through Maritimes

--taken from: The Chronicle Herald

Indie pop rock group Sloan will be bringing its 20th anniversary tour for its landmark second album Twice Removed to the Maritimes in February.

So far the band has shows slated for Feb. 15 at New Glasgow’s Glasgow Square Theatre and Truro’s Marigold Cultural Centre on Feb. 20. Tickets for both concerts are now available at Ticketpro outlets (1-888-311-9090 or ticketpro.ca).

Earlier this year, Sloan reissued Twice Removed as a deluxe triple-vinyl box set complete with the remastered album, plus an assortment of demo recordings, B-sides and outtakes.

--taken from: The Chronicle Herald

Bandwagon - Sloan - Coax Me

Join host Dani Stover as she drives around town with a special guest musician / band performing from the backseat. Episode 1 of Season 2 features Sloan performing "Coax Me"



-- Jay and Chris play an acoustic version of Coax Me

HOT TICKET: Sloan revisits 1994 classic

--taken from: The London Free Press

by James Reaney

Not long after rocking Brooklyn, where Toronto pal Feist joined in the encore, an iconic Canadian rock band is on the road to downtown London.

Sloan’s 40-date tour celebrating the reissue of its 1994 classic Twice Removed reaches the London Music Hall on Friday.

The band will be playing Twice Removed in its entirety and also a set of Sloan favourites.

Feist’s surprise shot in Brooklyn last month was in the latter category. “Feist joined Sloan’s Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland, pictured at right, Jay Ferguson and Andrew Scott for a spirited rendition of She Says What She Means (from 1998’s Navy Blues) and, in embracing her rock goddess-ness, swiftly put a bright exclamation point on what was an already memorable evening of music,” said hollywoodreporter.com of that show.

Murphy’s “voice will never be the same,” said the band on sloan.com in its haha mode.

--taken from: The London Free Press

Sloan plays a powerful show at Shadow Lounge

--taken from: Trib Live

by William Loeffler

Sloan’s power pop anthems have sometimes obscured their formidable live chops. If their albums are bright and catchy but a tad restrained, it’s a different story when the Canadian quartet walks onstage.

Thursday’s show at the Shadow Lounge in East Liberty galvanized a small but vocal audience and may have rattled the stained glass windows of the church across the street. The band played their entire 1994 album “Twice Removed” before hurtling through a second set that included blistering versions of “Losing California” and “Who Taught You To Live Like That?”

The evening’s best moments came when Sloan’s arena rock drive combusted with their stingingly sweet choruses that recall the Beatles, Byrds and Beach Boys circa 1966. Bassist Chris Murphy sang like his life depended on it and drummer Andrew Scott seemed to be shooting the (Keith) Moon. Guitarists Patrick Pentland and Jay Ferguson injected rock and roll grit to “I Hate My Generation,” “Fading Into Obscurity” and “Take Good Care of the Poor Boy.”

--taken from: Trib Live

Sloan re-release Twice Removed; protect their legacy

--taken from: The Record

by Patrick Finch

Too many bands find their legacies in the hands of buffoons. One-sided record deals and oceans of legal mumbo-jumbo often keep bands and their catalogues at arm’s length. Luckily, for fans as much as for the band, Sloan has managed to keep a tight hold on their life’s work and ensure that quality control is paramount. Recently, after much demand, Sloan re-released their 1994 masterwork Twice Removed on vinyl. Packaged with an LP of demos, a third LP of unreleased material, and a wealth of never-before-seen photos, the handsome box set is the ultimate “deluxe edition”. To celebrate, Jay Ferguson, Chris Murphy, Andrew Scott, and Patrick Pentland are touring, playing the record in its entirety.

“Some of us in the band had been thinking about it for a while,” singer-guitarist Jay Ferguson tells me. “I’d kind of always wanted to do one of those back-to-back album shows; a band taking an older album and playing it back to front, sort of revisiting it. Playing it for older fans or younger fans who were too young to see the shows the first time around.

“Twice Removed originally came out on vinyl in 1994 and I think we repressed it maybe in 1997 or so, and it’s been out of print since then. So we thought we’d combine those ideas and do a tour and a reissue at the same time. Chris and I have amassed so much stuff over the years for a Sloan archive — it’s basically a race between Chris and I to see who can amass the most Sloan ephemera — we kinda thought this would be a way to put all of that stuff that we’ve saved to good use. We didn’t have a new Sloan album planned for this year, so it made sense. Chris and I spent the early part of 2012 creating the box set.”

Twice Removed was a game-changer for Sloan. They were hot in Canada and critical favourites in the U.S.; their label at the time, Geffen, hoped to find another Nirvana in the young Nova Scotians. Unfortunately, the album was not the noisy, grunge opus that Geffen had hoped for and the label promptly withdrew their support. Twice Removed would go on to be named the Greatest Canadian Album of All-Time by Chart Magazine, and it forever changed how Sloan handled their business.

“We didn’t really get dropped from Geffen,” Ferguson said. “Our band kinda broke up and then we left Geffen, basically. In Canada, Twice Removed did all right, but in America it didn’t do that great. So I think what it really taught us was that it’s difficult pleasing someone else who’s paying for what you’re doing. It’s better to do what you want to do and pay for it yourself. Which is what we learned when we did (1996’s) One Chord To Another. We did it at our own pace, at our own budget, and we didn’t have to answer to anybody. And we knew we were putting it out ourselves and paying for it ourselves. If you take the reins of your own business, I don’t know if you have a better chance or a worse chance, but you have a more satisfying business model as far as I’m concerned. And I think that’s what we learned from the Geffen experience.”

Twice Removed, despite its tumultuous birth, is still as vibrant, charming, and exhilarating today as it was when their short-sighted record label deemed it ‘not grunge enough’ to deserve adequate promotion. In fact, it is just that decidedly un-90s-ness of the album that may very well ensure that it someday stands alongside the best of Big Star and The Replacements.

“I think it sounds like a record that could have been made whenever,” Ferguson agrees. “I don’t think it has a dated sound or anything like that. But I also think the songs were good and it’s nice to know that people still remember it and still hold it in some sort of esteem.”

--taken from: The Record

The 25 greatest Canadian guitarists ever

--taken from: CBC music

15. Patrick Pentland 

As member of a band in which most of the members rotate instruments, Sloan’s Pentland has remained the lead guitarist for more than 20 years. With a repertoire that includes pop hooks ('Everything You’ve Done Wrong'), tender melodies ('I Can Feel It') and high-flying arena rock riffs ('She Says What She Means'), Pentland picks the perfect sound for each of Sloan’s 4 songwriters.

--taken from: CBC music

NOISEMAKERS EP 13: Sloan

--taken from: CHARTattack

by Dan Busheikin




Sloan’s 1994 album Twice Removed nearly broke them up. In a valiant effort to transcend the popular grunge sound of the day, the band created a collection of songs that were at once vulnerable, nuanced, and delicate. Their label, Geffen, wasn’t terribly pleased with the result, and offered little promotional support, making their U.S. tour incredibly trying. But what emerged was a treasured hallmark of Sloan’s indie rock legacy, and a record our readers voted “Best Canadian Album of All Time” twice.

Nearly twenty years later, the band – still intact, of course – have independently put together a comprehensive reissue of Twice Removed complete with b-sides, demos, and an exhaustive oral history. Sloan allowed our cameras in to their recording space to capture a performance of album cut “Worried Now,” and spoke to us about the record.

--taken from: CHARTattack

Feist Sits in With Sloan at Brooklyn Gig

--taken from: The Hollywood Reporter

by Tracey Davenport


It was a night of fan favorites in Williamsburg as the band played classic album "Twice Removed" in its entirety then invited friend and fellow Canadian Feist to join in for the encore.

Indie rock stalwarts Sloan are taking their critically acclaimed 1994 album Twice Removed on the road, playing the fan favorite in its entirety for audiences up and down the east coast. Among the diehard devotees? Fellow Canadian Feist, who joined the foursome on stage during the band's Brooklyn show on Oct. 15.

Playing the Music Hall of Williamsburg on a Monday night, Sloan delivered a contemplative Twice Removed set, which found the band to be in fine form with well-practiced classics like “Penpals,” “Snowsuit Sound” and “I Can Feel It." Then the guys kicked up the energy a notch for another 20-song set that encapsulated their two-decades-plus career. It included a handful of tunes from their most recent release, 2011’s terrific The Double Cross.

Surprise guest Feist came out for the encore, naturally. A longtime friend of the band's from Toronto and beyond, the singer  was coming off a recent gig singing Kate Bush's part with Peter Gabriel on “Don’t Give Up” (the occasion: the Focus For Change benefit at New York's Roseland Ballroom). In Brooklyn, Feist joined Sloan's Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland, Jay Ferguson and Andrew Scott for a spirited rendition of “She Says What She Means” (from 1998’s Navy Blues) and, in embracing her rock goddess-ness, swiftly put a bright exclamation point on what was an already memorable evening of music.

--taken from: The Hollywood Reporter

Sloan coming to Glasgow Square

--taken from: New Glasgow News

NEW GLASGOW – Glasgow Square has announced that Sloan will come to its stage this winter as part of the band’s Twice Removed Tour.

The album, “Twice Removed,” was the band’s second album released in 1994. It was reissued in a deluxe triple-vinyl edition in September of this year. The reissue features two discs of previously unreleased recording from the era including demo tracks and unreleased songs. The concert will include songs from the Twice Removed album and the band’s hit songs from other albums as well.

Carlton Munroe, Program & Events Manager for the Town of New Glasgow said in a press release that Sloan has always remained loyal to their Nova Scotia roots and it will be a thrill to host them at the Square. “These four unique songwriting voices, guitarists Patrick Pentland and Jay Ferguson as well as bassist Chris Murphy and drummer Andrew Scott form an incredibly strong collective that is a world class talent,” he said.

--taken from: New Glasgow News

Live: Yep Roc's 15th anniversary goes power pop for Night 2

--taken from: Indy Week

by David Klein


Sloan, the 21-year-old Canadian quartet, provided the evening’s best set. What they brought was the volume, the energy, and the snarl that truly seizes a room of hundreds on a Friday night. Fronted by Chris Murphy, who resembled a cross between Paul Kantner and army-jacket-era John Lennon, the band blasted through a set that found each of its members, all of whom write their own songs, taking at least one lead vocal. The band played with precision and passion, hooks and harmonies, along with well deployed blasts of feedback and un-ironic demonstrations of hands-in-the-air clapping. Set closer “Money City Maniacs” was especially incendiary.

After Sloan left the stage, the crowd thinned out noticeably. Still, penultimate performer Liam Finn, son of Crowded House’s Neil Finn, took the lead, accompanied by singer and occasional percussionist Eliza Jane. A frenetic, athletic performer with a Shakespearean beard, Finn opened with a crazed number that found him howling, bashing away at the drums (which he would do throughout his set) and playing over knotty guitar loops. An indefatigable performer, Finn ended by breaking out what looked like a portable theremin for a feedback-filled climax, providing the evening’s loudest moments.

--taken from: Indy Week

'Have Not Been the Same' Gathers Rare and Unreleased Material from Sloan, Skydiggers, the Pursuit of Happiness for Charity Comp

--taken from: exclaim!

by Alex Hudson

The Canadian music tome Have Not Been the Same was released in a new edition last year, and it later spawned a star-studded collection of Canadian covers. Now, the book has inspired another compilation album, this time for a proper hard-copy release.

On November 13, Pheromone Recordings will put out the album, also titled Have Not Been the Same, as a CD, double-LP and digital download. It features rare and unreleased music from a host of Canadian acts.

Among the artists included here are Sloan, Skydiggers, Weeping Tile, Doughboys, the Pursuit of Happiness, Change of Heart, the Grapes of Wrap, Nomeansno and more. According to a press release, "The collection offers a treasure trove of long out-of-print and previously unreleased material, touching on every chapter in the book."

Co-author Jason Schneider (and Exclaim! assistant editor) said in a statement, "This has been part of the plan since the book was first published in 2001. I'm grateful to all of the artists for donating their work, and in many cases going the extra mile in giving me something really special that very few people have ever heard before. I'm confident that this compilation will shed new light on an era of Canadian music that is still in process of being rediscovered."

The album was mastered by Joao Carvalho in Toronto. All proceeds go to Kids Help Phone.

Have Not Been the Same:

1. Slow - "Have Not Been the Same"

2. Poisoned (Art Bergmann) - "Final Cliché"

3. NoMeansNo - "Dad"

4. The Nils - "In Betweens"

5. Doughboys - "Long Hall" (previously unreleased)

6. Rational Youth - "To The Goddess Electricity" (2011 mix)

7. Jane Siberry - "Symmetry (previously unreleased version)

8. Hunger Project (pre-Cowboy Junkies) - "The Same Inside"

9. The Pursuit of Happiness - "Wake Up and Smell Cathy" (previously unreleased)"

10. A Neon Rome - "Shatter the Illusions" (previously unreleased)

11. Change of Heart - "Smile"

12. Jr. Gone Wild - "God Is Not My Father"

13. Skydiggers - "When You're Down" (previously unreleased)

14. Crash Vegas - "Moving Too Fast" (previously unreleased version)

15. 13 Engines - "Beached"
16. Weeping Tile - "Pushover"
17. The Grapes Of Wrath - "Misunderstanding" (2000 acoustic version)

18. Sloan - "Lucky For Me" (previously unreleased version)

19. Jale - "Jesus Loves Me"

20. Bob Wiseman - "Gabriel Dumont Blues"

--taken from: exclaim!

Sloan revisits ‘Twice Removed’ tonight

--taken from: The Telegram

by Sarah Smellie

It’s known as the album that almost got them booted from their record label.

With songs about love, longing, braces full of sand, and other teenage woes, Sloan’s 1994 sophomore album, “Twice Removed,” is arguably their best-known and most easily recognizable record.

To celebrate its enduring presence in the Canadian pop cannon, Sloan launched a “Twice Removed” tour this fall, and they’ll be playing the album from start to finish tonight at Club One.

The success of “Twice Removed” would have been unbelievable to Chris Murphy back in 1994, when the Halifax-based band first started recording it.

Sloan had been signed to Geffen Records, a major label in the grunge scene of the 1990s, after the success of their loud, droning 1992 debut, “Smeared.”

“Geffen signed us a certain type of band,” says Murphy. “We were supposed to be a grunge band, basically. So when we did this musical about-face with our second album, ‘Twice Removed,’ they were like, ‘Come on, guys, just make the record you were signed on for, now we’ve got to start marketing from scratch.’”

A huge departure from the distorted guitars on “Smeared,” “Twice Removed” focused on crisp, sweet riffs and warm vocal harmonies.

“When we started ‘Twice Removed,’ I felt that the expiry date for grunge was over,” says Murphy. “Even when ‘Underwhelmed’ came out, grunge was over for me. In Halifax, we were kind of copying things that these American bands like Nirvana and My Bloody Valentine were doing, and when it was put on a world stage, it just seemed really behind the times.

So we just wanted to set ourselves apart and make a pop record.”

Commercially, “Twice Removed” was a flop: “Smeared” sold 40,000 copies in its first year, and “Twice Removed” only sold 9,000, says Murphy. Geffen decided not to promote the album in the U.S., and it was originally met with negative reviews.

But a few years later, the record had been embraced by fans and critics alike. Chart magazine even voted it the No. 1 Canadian pop record of all time.

“I think that it was a kind of beacon for sensitive kids,” says Murphy. “They had Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind,’ sure, but we kind of created an alternative to the alternative with this pop record.”

It’s clear from the crowds showing up to hear them play the record now that the album still resonates, he says.

“We’ve been really enjoying playing it,” he says. “In the States, because Geffen didn’t do any marketing, the people who are coming out to the shows are these die-hard fans, so those crowds have been interesting. The response has been great in Canada, too — people know the record really well.”

The shows on this tour usually consist of two sets. In the first, the band plays the entire album, beginning to end. In the second, they play songs from their more recent albums.

“The people coming out to these shows are people who dropped off with our band around 2000,” says Murphy. “So we play that second set, with more recent material, to hopefully bring them back to the band.”

“But, of course,” he says, “it’s awfully hard to compete with nostalgia.”

--taken from: The Telegram

Sloan at Black Cat Backstage

--taken from: Washington City Paper

by Alex Baca

Sloooooooooooan! The Toronto-via-Halifax indie rockers have been kicking it for more than 20 years now, steadily releasing albums and touring as if they put out 1992’s Peppermint EP yesterday. Tonight, the band plans to play the entirety of its second album, Twice Removed, which it’s recently reissued as a three-LP deluxe edition.

When Twice Removed came out in 1994, Sloan’s label, Geffen, didn’t aggressively promote it like it did with the better-selling, feedback-swirled grunge that was the order of the day; after the record’s release, Geffen dropped the band. But Twice Removed has confidently taken up residence in the Canadian pop canon: In polls in 1996 and 2005, readers of Chart magazine voted it the best Canadian album of all time. (It slipped to No. 2 in 2000, behind Joni Mitchell’s Blue.)

Sloan’s sweet harmonies, well-placed handclaps, slick and singable choruses, and super-simple lyrics (Robert Christgau once wrote that Sloan’s “popward shift doesn’t change their specific gravity because they’re all surface either way”) come across better today than they did in the mid-’90s, and should fill up Black Cat’s Backstage in short order.

--taken from: Washington City Paper

Danko Jones 'Too Much Trouble' Book Excerpt

--taken from: Spinner

JAY FERGUSON (Sloan): It's hard for some indie kids to take [hard-rock] music seriously, because maybe it's not as poignant, as something like, say, Pavement. With my band, I noticed a turn with [Sloan's 1998, AC/DC-styled single] "Money City Maniacs," which was definitely an homage to '70s rock 'n' roll, and I think a lot of people were like, "What the hell are they doing? Is this a joke? How could these guys possibly like this music?" And maybe people think the same way about Danko Jones -- people just can't take it seriously.

--taken from: Spinner

Live Lounge with Sloan

--taken from: inMusic

Watch the video here at inMusic.

Sloan Revive Twice Removed, The Album That Almost Killed The Band

--taken from: Chicagoist

by Tankboy

The year was 1994 and Halifax, New Scotia's Sloan was primed for huge success. Their debut, Smeared was released two years before on the hugely popular Geffen Records and rode high on the noisy waves of grunge that was quickly dominating that label's roster. It was commercial enough that Geffen saw fit to promote the band along the likes of Nirvana, Weezer, Hole and Counting Crows on a popular compilation released in the midst of the "alternative" explosion. While the band's music was noisy and, yes, sonically smeared, what differentiated them from the rest album was a healthy serving of jangling hummability buried under all those guitars.

The band's sophomore album, Twice Removed, brought those melodies to the fore and dialed back the guitars to create a work that was leaner and cripser but no less powerful. Unfortunately this new approach didn't sit well with the airwaves at the time and Geffen offered the band almost no support, causing an album that was once picked as the #1 Canadian album of all time to slip by almost completely unnoticed in the U.S., sending the band into a nosedive. In fact Sloan was believed to have been broken up until 1996 when they self-released One Chord To Another, a surprisingly successful and insanely catchy rebirth for the band lauded by the CMJ set (think of it as an old man's Pitchfork) and reinvigorating the band's career. Twenty-four years later Sloan is still going strong and releasing album after album of solid material.

This year the band released an expanded and lavish deluxe edition of Twice Removed to properly celebrate both the album and the band's success in turning that low point of popularity but high point of creativity into the genesis of one of the longest and most successful second acts we've ever witnessed. The group is in the midst of a tour, stopping at Subterranean Sept. 22, playing Twice Removed in its entirety along with a second set of music from their entire career. We've been peeking through the band's setlists over the last month or so and it looks like fans of the band are in for some real treats including both "the hits" and a couple unburied treasures. Whether you're a longtime follower or brand new to Sloan's music, we can't highly recommend seeing this show enough.

--taken from: Chicagoist

Sloan rocks Louis’: Toronto band exceeds every expectation live in concert

--taken from: The Sheaf

by Leif Carlson

Don’t forget to check out our full photo gallery from Sloan’s Sept. 19 show at Louis’.

Oh, Sloan. I’ve loved their albums since I was a zitty-faced teen and I still love them now, as a 29-year-old scumbag.

I’ve always been more in love with Twice Removed than any other album of theirs, mostly due, at first, to its accessibility. One song after another is pop perfection. Luckily for me, they played that classic album in its entirety at their Sept. 19 show at Louis.

I should mention at this point that I had never seen them live before. I’ve attempted to, and lost out, but this time I finally made it. There was no opening band, much to my pleasure. Over two hours of Sloan.

About an hour past the estimated time, Sloan hit the stage. They started with “Penpals,” the first track from Twice Removed.

As they continued to play the album, I had a horrible grin on stuck on my face while I awkwardly mouthed the words the entire time. I had more and more beer, and duck out for a cigarette when they played the last song.

The second set was a mix of old favorites and songs from their new album, The Double Cross. The new songs sounded great and I wish I had known more about them prior to them playing.

The encore began with “Motor City Maniacs” and ended with songs that were less familia to me. While I have not been following them closely for the past 10 years or so, I definitely wished I had been when I got to the show.

As I said, I have never seen them live before. At the first chords of “Penpals,” and further through one of the greatest Can-Rock albums ever released, I found myself exactly where I wanted to be in life.

Frontman Chris Murphy is a beautiful man who led a chorus of 1990′s innocence all the way to the root of my heart. Later in the night I attempted to talk to Chris, rather unsuccessfully. It came out something like, “Hurr duur good shoooow.”

If you don’t trust my admittedly biased review of this great Canadian band, and listen to any one of their albums before submitting yourself to one of the most satisfying live experiences of your life.

--taken from: The Sheaf

Sloan to revisit album live in Regina

--taken from: Metro News Regina

by Carrie-May Siggins


Halifax-raised band Sloan is playing in Regina tonight as part of their Twice Removed Tour.

The tour is celebrating the 18th anniversary of the release of the album, which they’ll be playing in its entirety.

It’s now the stuff of Canadian music legend- “Twice Removed” was at first rejected by Geffen, the band’s label at the time. The album was bright and pop-y and melodic, nothing like Sloan’s first grungy album or the grinding noise of hit-makers Nirvana at the time. Geffen asked the band to re-record the LP, which they refused to do. As a result, Geffen didn’t promote it when it was released in 1994, and then dropped the band.

But over time the album built up a strong critical response in Canada. Single “Coax Me” spent 12 weeks in the Top 10o. In 1996, it was voted best Canadian album of all time by readers of the music magazine Chart (now online and called ChartAttack), and in 1998, it went gold. The album ranked 14th in Bob Mersereau’s book The top 100 Canadian Albums.

Alan Cross is a music writer based in Toronto. He says that, along with Geffen, Canadian fans were surprised by the change in direction from Sloan’s first album to their second.

“But there was something charming in this Beatle-esque left turn,” says Cross. “Maybe Sloan wasn’t a bunch of grunge copycats after all. The fresh pop sensibilities of the songs won people over rather quickly. And it’s this Canadian support that prevented the band from flying apart completely.”

--taken from: Metro News Regina

Sloan takes Twice Removed on the road

--taken from: the projector

by Matt Williams

Band’s original lineup still going strong and coming to Winnipeg

For over 20 years, Sloan has been one of Canada’s most consistent and hardest working bands. Their critically acclaimed 1994 album, Twice Removed, was voted Chart Magazine’s best Canadian album of all time. It’s now getting a tour in celebration of its legacy and a deluxe vinyl reissue, complete with outtakes, demos, a seven-inch single and a 32-page booklet.

“It’s not like a reunion per se where I haven’t seen these guys in years or we’re out of playing shape. We’re just a touring band… You’re okay, go play in the mud!”, singer and bassist Chris Murphy said in a phone interview while watching his youngest son at a park in downtown Toronto. Although they’ve been around for longer than most young bands can fathom, Sloan shows no signs of slowing down.

“I don’t feel like we’re, you know, just a greatest hits act or whatever,” Murphy says. “We still make new records, but you’re competing with yourself when you put out a new record. People are like, ‘I like your old stuff. I don’t want to hear any of your new shit!’ But you know people are nice to us and they give the new stuff a chance.”

Giving new stuff a chance might be exactly what set off the success of Twice Removed. In 1994, the music world was obsessed with grunge, and Halifax was supposed to be the new Seattle. Sloan’s label, Geffen Records, wasn’t interested in doing much to promote such a poppy and melodic album. Although they released it, the label’s relationship with the band ended there. The album went on to be a massive hit in Canada.

“By the time we made Twice Removed, the writing was probably on the wall that we weren’t gonna break, we weren’t gonna become a big band,” Murphy says. “After that we became, I guess, more independent. We were independent the whole time, sort of, in that we were able to do a lot of that stuff ourselves, but it was kind of fun to be courted by the major labels and think that maybe everybody would know all our songs. But it wasn’t to be.”

While a blow like that is often a death sentence for an up-and-coming band, Sloan has continued to put out albums at a consistent pace. And what’s better is that they’re consistently good. Their latest, The Double Cross, was a nod to their 20 years together.

“I’ve often joked that bands that’ve been doing it a long time, like The Rolling Stones, they think their new record is good, and everyone knows it sucks,” says Murphy. “But I’m still delusional enough to think that our new record actually is good. So maybe I’m just as delusional as they are.”

Murphy says he’s, “into group chemistry,” and that might be the reason Sloan is still together. In their 20-plus years of being a band, their original lineup – Jay Ferguson, Andrew Scott, Patrick Pentland, and Murphy – has never changed.

“I think that’s basically the best thing we have, our strongest suit. I feel like all that stuff sort of sets us apart. But I don’t know if the fact that we lasted for 20 years means we can last forever, because I always feel that we’re one bad conversation from the fistfight that ends the band,” Murphy laughs. “But hopefully it doesn’t happen.”

--taken from: the projector

Japandroids, Sloan, Kathleen Edwards, Dan Mangan and John K. Samson Nominated for SOCAN ECHO Songwriting Prize

--taken from: Exclaim!

by Josiah Hughes

Every year, the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, better known as SOCAN, attempts to highlight "the most creative and artistic songs" via their ECHO Songwriting Prize.

The winning song, which is voted on by the public between September 10 and October 10, will receive a grand prize of $5,000. Today, organizers have unveiled the nominees.

The nominees for the 2012 English SOCAN ECHO Songwriting Prize are "House that Heaven Built" by Japandroids, "Post-War Blues" by Dan Mangan, "Soft Place to Land" by Kathleen Edwards, "Unkind" by Sloan and "When I Write My Master's Thesis" by John K. Samson.

There's also a French language prize in the same contest. The nominees for that section are "Dans la prairie" by Salomé Leclerc, "Intuition #1" by Avec pas d'casque, "Lignes d'Hydro" by Lisa LeBlanc, "Si tu savais" by Marie-Pierre Arthur and "St-Eustache" by Koriass.

The winner of the ECHO Songwriting Prize will be unveiled on October 19. To vote for your favourite song, go here. One voter will win an iPad for his or her efforts.

--taken from: Exclaim!

Sloan's NSCAD roots

--taken from: Nova Scotia College of Art and Design

Arguably the best band ever to come out of Halifax got its start right here at NSCAD.

Let’s start that sentence over: The best band ever to come out of Halifax got its start right here at NSCAD.

Sloan—Andrew Scott (drums/vocals), Chris Murphy (bass/vocals), Jay Ferguson (guitar/vocals) and Patrick Pentland (guitar/vocals)—had its first gig on February 11, 1991 in the NSCAD cafeteria.  After the noisy debut (Chris recalls an “extremely long noise freak-out with strobe lights”), things happened fast. Within 18 months, the band toured Canada, released an EP (Peppermint), recorded an album (Smeared), and signed a deal with a major label. Halifax was being hailed as the “Seattle of the North,” and other Halifax bands—Jale, The Super FriendZ and Thrust Hermit—were on their way too.

Unfortunately (for us), Sloan has a gig in Chicago at the same time as The Back to School Special, taking place September 22 at the ol’ alma mater. But band members will be there in spirit and have sent along some video clips of their first performance which will be screened during the concert. See if you can spot a classic Chris Murphy scissor kick.

The band has just embarked on a tour in celebration of an earlier album—Twice Removed. A fan favorite and critical darling, Twice Removed actually got the band dropped from its record label Geffen because it didn’t sound quite like its more-grungy predecessor Smeared. As well as the cross-country tour, there’s a deluxe vinyl reissue.  More dates in the Eastern U.S. and Canada are expected to be announced soon.

As they got ready for the tour, NSCAD alumni Andrew Scott and Chris Murphy took the time to reminisce about their NSCAD days.

Andrew Scott

I attended NSCAD from 1986 to 1991. I entered directly after graduating high school and still maintain that these were the most formative, eye-opening years of my life thus far.

I initially enrolled thinking I would become a graphic designer. This was just prior to computers being the centre of this discipline and I understood that a firm hand and a focused eye were essential and I felt that I had possessed both. Ludwig Scharfe was my professor for introductory GD and I recall his initial introduction to the class as something like, (briefcase slammed on desk ) ... “Okay, my name is Ludwig. My wife has left me. I am an insomniac.” He flicked his hair back and continued...  “Anyway, our first assignment is going to be drawing the most excruciatingly precise lines with pen and ink and I will look them over under a microscope to point out the most molecular inconsistencies...” I followed through for the intro semester and quickly realized perhaps graphic design was not my calling after all.

I tried many other areas. Choices were all around, and smart, thoughtful instruction was always there too. Bruce Barber, the intermedia prof, introduced me to Dada and how to see things for what they really are. Dennis Gill was my sculpture instructor and quickly asserted himself as one of my most valuable mentors during my stay. Sandy Graham in the metal shop was a terrific educator. I tried and loved printmaking under the wonderful tutelage of Bob Rogers in lithography and Ed Porter in intaglio. A year or two into this area, I was hired as a technician in the printmaking department. Aside from the inevitable late night acid experiments Marcus Jones and I performed on various surfaces (we were both ‘technicians’ so we knew what we were doing—ha!), I  learned so much about the varying ways of transferring images and manipulating surfaces to do what I wanted them to do. Happy accidents were so much a part of the process and I thrived. I had heard that painting held these qualities too but I had no interest.

It was at this time that Gerald Ferguson approached me to re-etch a zinc plate with an image of an anonymous skull from a series of his earlier prints. I did the job to his satisfaction and then he said to me, “What the hell are you doing this stuff for? Do you plan to have a five tonne press and some giant slabs of limestone and a forklift available to work with after you graduate?”

I never really considered the reality in his statement because the facilities were so well established and appointed that, lost in the flow where I was in the school I just thought of it as my world. It was my whole world, plain and simple. I never thought about leaving or what came after NSCAD.

He convinced me to come and do his intro painting class the next year and I cannot believe I didn't enter it much sooner. We quickly became quite close—I was good friends with his son in high school so there were multiple connections. His way of teaching, as many knew, could be very confrontational and acerbic. Not for everyone. I gravitated to his expertise and learned so much from him, both about painting and life. I, along with many others, was deeply affected by his suicide a few years ago.

I lived in the studio until I left the college. I had worked with Alex Livingston and Gary Kennedy although Jerry was a true mentor figure for me. My band Sloan came together during my last couple of years at the school.  Chris Murphy and I were both at the college for a year or so.

Music and painting were very different pursuits for me for a long time. Music was this; painting was that. Collaborative here; solo there. It is only recently that I've given in to the fact that they're both basically the same thing. The band quickly became the main focus and I chose to go along for the ride willingly. Jerry was very supportive and always reminded me that “Painting is something you can do until the day you drop dead! Rock ‘n’ roll has a best before date attached to it. Go for it.”

When I left to pursue touring with the band, a few art history credits were still outstanding toward my BFA and Jerry wondered if there were a way for me to send him postcards from wherever I was that could somehow be construed as a NSCAD credit worthy bit of “art potential.” It never did happen but the band still continues as well as it ever has today as does my practice of painting and art making in general. Both could never have been possible without the school.

Upon entering the school in '86, my instructor told the class that “...maybe, maybe, one of us would be able to make a living as an artist.” This has stayed with me and continues to bang around in my head as I write. I knew that it was what I wanted to do and to this day I'm still trying to figure out how to do it. I couldn’t be happier with the choices I've made along the way, most of all, with my decision to go to NSCAD.

To see Andrew Scott’s work, please see his website: www.andrewscottwork.com

Chris Murphy

I “earned” an English degree from Dalhousie in 1990 but I didn’t have the marks or the interest to do post graduate work so it was another undergrad for me! My NSCAD experience was better for having gone to Dal though. It meant I had all of my academics and electives out of the way so I just had to do the fun stuff and a lot of what I used for my portfolio for NSCAD was drawn while not contributing in class at Dal.

My good friend, Andrew Scott had gone straight from high school into NSCAD so he was a lot further along in his studies and art practice than I. He was encouraging of me applying and he was part of the reason I wanted to go. I had hung out at his painting studio with him and was jealous of how friggin’ cool it was in there surrounded by art and artists listening to music on radios that were covered in paint. I felt so square when I was in there.

Andrew was away for my first term when I did the Foundation program, which was merciful because everything I made would have been such an eye roll to him. He was back at NSCAD in January 1991 and we quickly formed a band that we called Sloan and played our first show Feb 8th, 1991 in the NSCAD cafeteria. We went on after a band whose name really says 1991: Wolfblitzer’s Gas Mask. They did some rolling around on the ground but we upped the ante with an extremely long noise freak-out with strobe lights and interestingly a Bert doll of Bert and Ernie fame.

No thanks to us, the last band of the night, Coffee In Madrid weren’t able to start until late so they ended up getting the “wrap it up” signal before they were done. When they refused to stop, they had the plug pulled on them and there was a huge kerfuffle about it being an art school and how dare the school interrupt their art. It was a huge fight. People were yelling! I was sorry to be the cause of the fight but it was exciting that there was a fight. These people took art seriously. Incidentally, one of my best puns ever was from the end of that night when I referred to Coffee In Madrid as Cut Off In Mid Riff.

I went to NSCAD thinking I could draw but was shown what real talent was when I got there. I hadn’t taken art courses in eight years so I was out of practice. I ended up loving the TV studio and (linear) video editing. I learned history from Ancient to Medieval Art History. I had had no timeline in my head before that. Were cave paintings before the Renaissance? Turns out – yes. Alright, I would have known that but I really knew very little. I loved my sculpture instructor, Dennis Gill and my photography instructor, Gary Wilson. I loved David Clark for passing me even when I had to leave school before it was over in order to do Sloan’s first tour.

I’m no great artist but it was during my NSCAD days that Andrew and I put together a band that is still recording and touring (with the same line-up 20+ years later. We always make the album art ourselves. We usually direct and often shoot and edit our music videos ourselves. Thanks for the tools and high concept, NSCAD.


--taken from: Nova Scotia College of Art and Design

Sloan Talk 'Twice Removed' Tour, Future Reissues

--taken from: Exclaim!

by Cam Lindsay

Tonight (September 7) Sloan kick off their tour celebrating the reissue of their seminal 1994 album, Twice Removed, whose box set was released earlier this week.

Speaking with Exclaim!, guitarist/vocalist Jay Ferguson gave us an idea of what to expect when they cross Western Canada over the next few weeks.

"We're going to try and play two sets, which is sort of unusual for us," he explains. "We'll play Twice Removed all the way through then take a ten-minute break, and then come back and play a normal Sloan set for about an hour."

Ferguson says having played the album in its entirety before made them realize that they could in fact do a proper tour looking back on their most cherished album, even though they are a bit rusty with a few of the songs.

"We've done it a couple times, at Halifax Pop Explosion two years ago and then at SappyFest unannounced, and the crowd loved it," he says. "It was fun to do. But I hope for Patrick [Pentland] it won't bring back some weird feelings he felt while we were recording it.

"Twice Removed definitely has a lot more slower, weird ones we don't play in our set on a regular basis. It has a couple more downer moments, like 'Loosens,' but I love the whole record."

As for whether they will follow this up with another reissue and tour, Ferguson says if Twice Removed meets their expectations, they hope to begin a cycle of releasing a new album, then putting out another reissue, both with tours.

"I would love to tour One Chord to Another," he says. "Some would be difficult, though. Navy Blues, I would have a lot of bass homework because I don't remember how to play some of those songs. I could see us doing Between the Bridges, and I think that could be fun. I'm game to do all of them, depending on who wants to come see us. I'm game for the long haul."

--taken from: Exclaim!

Sloan celebrate 'Twice Removed,' a beloved album once considered a failure

--taken from: The Canadian Press

Jay Ferguson, left, and Chris Murphy, right, of rock band Sloan pose for a photo in their Toronto rehearsal space on August 16, 2012. Now that it's a fixture on lists of the greatest Canadian rock albums of all time, it's easy to forget that Sloan's "Twice Removed" was once reviled. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michelle Siu

by Nick Patch


TORONTO - Now that it's a fixture on lists of the greatest Canadian rock albums of all time, it's easy to forget that Sloan's "Twice Removed" was once reviled.

Or at least it was by the behemoth of alt-rock record labels, Geffen, when the Halifax quartet delivered the glimmering LP, a thoughtful collection of brightly lit guitar-pop.

"Twice Removed" was an admitted left-turn from the group's distortion-contorted debut "Smeared," and at a time when the modern-rock charts were dominated by sludge-slinging Nirvana imitators, their sophomore album was not what the label wanted to hear. It was clean, back when "clean" was a dirty word.

The album killed the golden goose. It broke up the band. But now they're celebrating it, in the form of a deluxe vinyl re-issue and a cross-country tour during which Sloan will play the record in its entirety.

Back when Geffen first rejected it, when they asked the band to re-record the entire thing, the band certainly never imagined they would one day warm to the album.

"Self-doubt is my default setting — but I was the most torn up about it," said bassist and co-frontman Chris Murphy in a recent interview from their cluttered Toronto rehearsal space.

"I probably would have done anything, I was so excited to be on Geffen.... 'Oh, they're asking us to record the whole thing again? I guess that's what you do. I guess that's what we should do.'

"I'm glad that we didn't."

So are the album's legions of fans.

But they didn't really exist back in 1994. Sure, Sloan did have fans. A couple years prior, they had inked a deal with Geffen — the home of Nirvana, Beck and Sonic Youth — on the strength of their 1992 "Peppermint EP," and followed it with their messy but charming full-length "Smeared" later that year.

That debut was a moderate chart success in Canada, but was most notable for the seemingly rosy future it forecasted. In truth, "Smeared" was a dissonant pastiche of various indie-rock influences, one which both belied the band's inexperience and hinted at real songwriting skill submerged under the layers of fashionable fuzz.

That album, of course, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. But the band didn't really savour the idea of playing "Smeared" front-to-back every night.

"There'd be a bunch of songs where we'd be like: 'Ugh. Skip that one,'" laughed Murphy.

But to rich record labels eager to mine the continent's underground for grunge gold, "Smeared" indicated a band with the potential to combine pop prowess (check the wit of single "Underwhelmed") with the noisy rage that was all the rage on the charts in the grimy wake of Nirvana's success.

So, it was a natural decision for Geffen to pay for Sloan's sophomore record up front. But for a band in the midst of an adolescent transformation, the cash seemed to just make the task ahead even more daunting.

"I think I was probably the most nervous about it," Murphy said. "I think a lot of times when we tell the story it's the David and Goliath story. 'Geffen was mean to us' or something like that. But for the most part, what I was feeling was ... they paid us up front, and it was like: 'Hope you like this one.'

"So I was kind of dying inside like, 'Oh, I hope they like it,' wanting to please."

The band demoed roughly 70 songs for "Twice Removed." Then as they do now, the band had four songwriters and all were contributing, swapping instruments as they went. Geffen thought this democratic breakdown of duties was a marketing challenge.

Well, the music was apparently moreso. Sloan dug deeper into their influences — including the Velvet Underground, Slint, '80s hardcore and, of course, some classic British pop — while penning the songs that would form "Twice Removed." There was certainly a degree of defiance as they rejected the direction most of the rock world was drifting.

"We were kind of running from grunge and this sort of house of cards that it seemed to be — all that 'poor man's Nirvana' (stuff)," Murphy said.

Added guitarist Jay Ferguson: "It was a reaction to not wanting to jump the bandwagon. There were so many bands out there playing melodic pop songs with distorted guitars. It kind of got a little played out."

It's not as though they were making the album in secret — the A&R rep who signed them, Todd Sullivan, was present for the sessions and was generally supportive of the direction the band was pursuing.

Looking back, it's difficult to understand how such an accessible album could ever have been considered somehow radical.

The record simply brims with giddy hooks. There's the unexpectedly gorgeous chorus carved like a skylight into Ferguson's "I Hate My Generation," the "ba-ba-bada-ba" chanting in drummer Andrew Scott's transcendent "People of the Sky," or the delicate boy-girl harmonies buoying Patrick Pentland's "I Can Feel It." (Also worth mentioning is Murphy's brilliant "Coax Me," which features what he says is their most celebrated lyric of all time: "It's not the band I hate, it's their fans." It was inspired by a pretentious Kate Bush fan Ferguson knew in high-school.)

"We were like, 'Let's make the Plastic Ono Band record, or Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' — what's wrong with those records?'" Murphy recalled.

"It's ironic that we were referencing ... a record that sold 25 million copies, and then it's like: 'What is THIS? My ears!'" he said, mimicking the response of the label. "It wasn't like we were referencing Can or (Einsturzende) Neubauten or whatever."

But there weren't many bands making polished, intelligent guitar pop at the time. The band agrees that the closest comparison in 1994 was Pavement's masterful "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain," which provided the beloved California quintet their most successful record (although it came out on indie imprint Matador).

Geffen, certainly, was less interested in swimming against the current. To hear Murphy and Ferguson tell it, the label was primarily frustrated because they had promoted Sloan one way and now the band had made a drastic change, thus undoing whatever gains they had made.

"They heard it and it was like: 'We can't work with this,'" Ferguson said. "It seemed like to them it wasn't of the time."

Geffen asked Sloan to record the album again. The band refused. So the label put the record out without promotional support, essentially hiding it in plain view.

Sloan wasn't the only band to endure a process like this. Washington power-pop outfit the Posies were also asked by Geffen to re-record the album that became "Frosting on the Beater," and they consented (the well-reviewed album still wasn't a hit). And Weezer, who were coincidentally also signed to Geffen by Sullivan, saw their now-classic "Blue Album" released with similarly non-existent fanfare by the label until radio stations and MTV sensed a hit and lifted the record up.

With the benefit of hindsight, Sloan feels they made the right choice refusing to remake "Twice Removed."

"I'm grateful that we didn't go and re-do the record because it might not have made any difference anyhow — even if we had turned up the guitars, they might have still been like, 'Well, whatever,'" Ferguson said.

"Our manager, Chip Sutherland, was very ballsy too," added Murphy. "He was just like, 'They're contractually obligated to release it. Let's just do it. You can't guess what they want. Just do what you do and maybe you can show them and it'll be a success.'

"Cut to: it was not a success."

The fallout was swift. Sloan essentially broke up. And Scott relocated from Halifax to Toronto, a move that Murphy felt amounted to turning his back on the band.

Murphy says he couldn't persuade the label to give the band $2,000 for a video — especially galling after he watched the revolutionary "Buddy Holly" clip Spike Jonze directed for Weezer — and he could sense those on the business side were losing whatever little interest in Sloan they had left.

Murphy and Ferguson continued running their Murder Records imprint in Halifax, but with one member gone, Murphy considered the band dead.

"It was so depressing," he said.

Gradually, the situation improved. The foursome was still writing songs, and they eventually got the idea to record a post-humous Sloan album to help their label. Then came gigs, and then the decision to make a video.

By the time "One Chord to Another" came out in 1996, Sloan was back together (and for the record, Murphy ranks that album as his favourite, above "Twice Removed").

Other factors had changed during their hiatus. While "Twice Removed" had quickly sunk into clearance-bin irrelevance Stateside, the record had found an audience in Canada thanks to support from college radio and MuchMusic.

The newfound love for the album first resonated with Murphy when Chart magazine ran a reader poll to determine the best Canadian album of all time, and "Twice Removed" took the top spot. It remained in top spot nine years later when the magazine ran the same poll.

And when music writer Bob Mersereau polled 500 musicians, producers and journalists for his book, "The Top 100 Canadian Albums," "Twice Removed" took 14th place.

The band struggles to understand why the album, shunned in its time, is so beloved now.

"I think there's an underdog element in that," Ferguson said. "But I also think there's a lot of good melodic songs. I think it's nice that it does sort of stand out in that era as sounding different than other things."

Beyond that, "Twice Removed" charted the rest of Sloan's musical path: the Beatles-bred pop precision, the always-coherent blending of four unique songwriting voices, and songs that were drenched in wit, not feedback.

But maybe just as importantly, the lessons learned through failure pushed Sloan toward musical independence. Since the mid-90s, the members of Sloan have run their own label, never needing to submit to the scrutiny of industry overlords thousands of miles away.

In a way, missing their big break brought Sloan together.

"We're the same four people, we have a giant body of work, it's exactly the way I want it," Murphy said. "We make enough money to have houses and we all pay mortgages — so it's perfect for me, because I don't want to make so much money that we don't want to work, and I don't want to be broke.

"I think that we're still a credible band," he added. "And someday, maybe that record and our career in general will be discovered and recognized — I don't know for quality, but quantity anyway. There's a lot of stuff!"

--taken from: The Canadian Press

Sloan return to their roots for Nelson show

--taken from: Nelson Star

by Sam Van Schie

Toronto alt rockers Sloan are taking their fans back in time with the re-release of their 1994 break-out album Twice Removed.

When the quartet stops in Nelson this Sunday, they'll perform every songs from that album in the order they appear. It's a new experiment for the band and something they've been wanting to do for years.

"It's a comeback tour for us, except we never went away," jokes guitarist Jay Ferguson, speaking with the Star from his home in Toronto before the band set out on a month-and-a-half long tour through North America.

Sloan has been together 21 years and released 10 full-length albums in that time, as well as a couple EPs, a live album, and a best of collection.

With so much material to draw from for their live shows, there's songs from Twice Removed that haven't been on a Sloan set list for more than a decade. Ferguson admits there's a couple tracks — like "Loosens" and "Before I do" — that he had to relearn how to play.

"It's a funny thing having to sit down with your own albums to learn how to play something you knew 18 years ago," he said. "Even songs we still play a lot, when I go back to listen to how they were recorded, I notice there's parts I've been missing."

The goal of the tour will be to play the songs meticulously, exactly how they sound on the album. Then, once they've run through the songs from Twice Removed, the band will take an intermission and return with a second set that draws from more recent material.

"All of this — playing two sets, playing a record the way it was recorded – it's totally new for us, so we don't know how it will go over with the fans," Ferguson said. "It's something we've wanted do for a long time, and because we didn't have a new album coming out this year, it seemed like a good time to try it."

Ferguson and bandmate Chris Murphy spent the first half of this year immersed in Sloan memorabilia, sifting through material for new deluxe box set of Twice Removed.

"Since Sloan started, Chris and I kinda had a competition going to see who could build up the largest Sloan museum in our basements because we're nerds like that," Ferguson said. "We kept all our old recordings and demo recordings, and all the old articles and photos and things like that."

The collection came in handy. They had enough previously recorded material to include three vinyl records, one 7" vinyl and 32 page colour booklet in the box set.

They digitized old demo tapes (yes, that's tape, as in cassette tape) of song demos recorded at their jam space before the final versions were produced in studio — or, in a few cases, before deciding to scrap the song all together. They scanned negatives of old photographs and artwork that didn't make it into liner notes. They even copied the original hand written letter that inspired the lyrics for "Penpals," the lead track on Twice Removed.

"It's something for the hardcore Sloan fan," Ferguson said.

If the current box set and tour are well received, there's talk of them doing the same thing for One Chord to Another in a couple of years.

"I think it could become a good pattern for us to alternate between releasing new albums and releasing deluxe editions of our older stuff," Ferguson said, noting the band will be back in studio recording a new album this winter. "It all depends on how this on goes over with the fans."

--taken from: Nelson Star

Homeless in the Hammer

--taken from: The Spectator (read the rest here)

Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland maintain an emotional base in Hamilton while touring the world

Doucet, a master guitarist who performs regularly with Sarah McLachlan, handled most of the instrumentation — guitar, bass and keyboards. He brought in five percussionists including Andrew Scott of Sloan and Paul Brennan, formerly of The Odds, to add heft. Michael Chambers of Catharine North did the sound engineering and eventually mastered the record. In the end, all but one of the songs was completed in the Hamilton studio.

--taken from: The Spectator (read the rest here)

5 for 20: Andrew Scott of Sloan

--taken from: CBC music

by Vish Kanna

When you’re an influential musician, people tend to ask you what you’ve been listening to lately. Here at 5 for 20, we’re just as keen to find out what records loom large in our favourite artists’ memory banks. So, we’re asking folks for their top five records of the last 20 years.

Andrew Scott actually co-founded Toronto-via-Halifax’s Sloan just over 20 years ago. And while he’s most often found pounding out rhythms on the drums, he’s also an accomplished visual artist, a producer, a father, a husband and a multi-instrumentalist, who usually contributes one or two songs to every Sloan record.

Sloan will be reissuing its most popular album, 1994's Twice Removed, on Sept. 4 in a super deluxe edition and will embark on a unique tour across North America, playing the record from front to back. That trek begins on Sept. 5 in Portland, Ore.

The band’s latest album, however, is The Double Cross, a well-received and dynamic release that came out in 2011, which marked Sloan's 20th anniversary. The milestone is significant for this particular exercise, Scott notes. 

“The last 20 years of music production and evolution hold a particular impact for me because I have lived it and evolved through it myself musically,” he says. “I'm not one to usually keep mental lists of faves and top 10s but that said, here’s my top five from the last 20 in no particular order.” 

Bee Thousand by Guided by Voices (1994)
This is one I had heard about but could never have predicted the immediate treasure hunt it unleashed for me. Dizzying and frustrating at times but never uninviting. 

Alien Lanes by Guided by Voices (1995)
It continues. This was the beginning of the end, along with the need to go fully in reverse and hear what preceded these two back-to-backs. Before and after is all a dysfunctional quicksand with relief interspersed. These records are fully solid ground. 

Food For The Moon by Al Tuck
Al has been writing and recording out of Halifax and P.E.I. for years and I always considered him a true genius. This continues to prove my point and I am not the only one who thinks this highly of his talent. This is concept writing without trying and the finest version of “Snowbird” I have ever heard. A monument, as directed. 

Under Your Shadow by Al Tuck
Another, in relative quick succession. So simple and beautiful and a beacon of light in a very dark sea of incredibly difficult listening. 

Kid A by Radiohead or Check Your Head by Beastie Boys
Radiohead I was really resistant to. I didn't like them at all when they first arrived on the scene. They smacked of something that really turned me off altogether, but when I heard the opening lines of Kid A, I couldn't tear my ears from it. It stands alone and holds up against anything before it or after — so strange and unexpected. Check Your Head came out and really knocked the whole genre (at the time) out of the park. They played their own instruments and it was heavy as hell. When Licensed To Ill arrived, it seemed like the joke was to be short-lived, but when this one came out, it proved that the joke was on all of us. 

--taken from: CBC music