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

Sloan reissuing 'Twice Removed', touring the album too (dates)

--taken from: Brooklyn Vegan

by Bill Pearis

Over the past 21 years, Chris [Murphy] and I have had a sort-of-unspoken race to see who can amass the most posters, magazines, articles, photos, promotional material, ads, demos, and kitchen sinks related to Sloan. It's still to this day an ongoing chase to fill the vault. Occasionally, we ask ourselves: what on earth do we do (other than bask in the narcissistic glow of it all) with this material we've collected? 

Well the time has finally come to put all that diligent preservation to use. For a while now, fans have been inquiring about us reissuing our older LPs on vinyl, most unavailable since the ye olde 1990's. So we thought, instead of just releasing the LPs as they were, and since we have so much extra recorded and visual material for each album, why not do it up in style and try to make expanded deluxe editions of individual LPs. Because 1994's Twice Removed has alternately been called our 'finest' album (hmmm..), our 'underdog' record (perhaps), or the best Canadian LP of all time by certain publications (now there's a healthy debate, Joni!), we thought this LP would be a good place to start.

- Sloan's Jay Ferguson

Canadian rock royalty Sloan are releasing a deluxe edition of their 1994 second album, Twice Removed, on September 4 and will be playing the album in full on tour this fall. That tour was expanded and now includes two NYC-area dates: Maxwell's on October 10 and Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 15, which is about a month after the first leg ends. Tickets to the Maxwell's show go on sale Wednesday (8/15) at noon; and Tickets for that show go on sale Friday, August 17 at noon with an AmEx presale starting Wednesday at noon. If this tour isn't hitting where you live, it may be: "We are working on more Twice Removed 2012 dates in the Eastern USA and Canada through October and November, with more to announce soon!" All dates are at the bottom of this post.

As for the deluxe edition of Twice Removed, it's a three-disc vinly box set and will be out September 4 and you can pre-order it now. There's a lot of cool extras and here's Jay Ferguson with the deets:

Included in this deluxe vinyl box set will be Twice Removed on LP, a 'mirror' record made up entirely of demo recordings of the songs from Twice Removed (ready for Andrew's icy acoustic and synth version of "People Of The Sky"?...or Chris singing "Before I Do" with entirely different lyrics? ...don't worry, you'll be able to read along) and a third LP of demo recordings of songs that didn't make the cut (check out "Guidance Counselor".. I'm surprised it never made it to an album eventually...and a radically different "Ill Placed Trust," 12 years before it finally appeared on 2006's Never Hear The End Of It). 

As well, there's a 7" vinyl single containing a version of "I Hate My Generation" with Chris handling all the singing (where was I?) and an extended Velvet Underground-style outro. On the flip side, a snapshot-into-the-process alternate demo of "I Can Feel It" with completely different chords. 

Also included is a recreation of the letter that inspired lead off track "Penpals". Yet, the piece-de-resistance is the 32 page 12"x 12" booklet with recollections from all 4 of us regarding the era, making and touring the LP, the songs and the aftermath. This booklet provided the perfect canvas for us to show off all those behind-the-scenes photos (thanks Catherine), posters, alternate artwork and ephemera that have been sitting dormant, waiting to see the light of day since 1994. Oh!..as well, 40 random box sets are also going to contain an original Canadian 1994 tour poster that appears in the book, straight from Murphy's archive and into your hands. Golden!

--taken from: Brooklyn Vegan

An evening with Sloan, coming to The Royal

--taken from: The Nelson Daily

The Royal is proud to present An Evening with Sloan.

Sloan will be taking Twice Removed on the road again, playing the album in its entirety, front-to-back before delving into the rest of their catalogue of hits and favourites.

Twice Removed is Sloan's second album, originally released in 1994, and about to be re-issued in a deluxe triple-vinyl edition in September 2012.

A favourite of critics and fans alike, Twice Removed established Sloan's alternative pop voice, and showcased their talents as four distinctive songwriters.

The reissue will feature two discs of previously unreleased recordings from the era including demo tracks and unreleased songs.

--taken from: The Nelson Daily

Sloan does it their own way

--taken from: NiagaraThisWeek

by Derek Vanderwyk

The music industry is a treacherous place, filled with greed and egos that would tear even the oldest of friends apart. Pairs who spend their time writing songs together in basements end up battling against each other in court, and even bands that forego the stress of touring in a van have an expiration date tacked onto their “creative differences.” With all of the controversy and all of the pride, it seems almost impossible that any group of musicians could survive for even a decade.

How, then, did the members of Sloan manage to stick together for the last 20 years?

“I think you just split the money four ways and you’re fine,” laughs guitarist Jay Ferguson, “It’s all about the money.”

Ferguson’s sarcasm is the first hint that Sloan is a different breed of band. Since 1991, the four-piece from Halifax have been doing things just differently enough to survive the music industry, breaking free from major labels before anyone thought possible. “We’ve been an independent band, technically, since 1995,” states Ferguson, recalling their transition into their own label at Murderecords. Sloan were pioneers in being an “indie” band before that was even a term, and it seems their move of foresight was intelligence rather than coincidence.

“Record sales are declining, with a big part of it due to file sharing and the Internet, so major labels are just having to scramble to make money in other avenues. They sign bans to what they call ‘360’ deals, where they find a band and get not just a piece of their recordings, but a piece of merchandise, and touring, and everything for the advance that they give the band,” lectures Ferguson, “and I think it’s driven a lot of bands away from major labels, because it’s basically a bad deal.” Not to be a cynic, however, Ferguson has also been quick to pursue the opportunities that arose with the change of the millennium. “The Internet has helped us run our own business better, because we have a better ‘band-to-fan’ relationship,” says Ferguson, “it’s almost like direct-to-fan marketing, which never really existed before the late nineties or 2000’s.”

Beyond the business of music, Sloan’s creative dynamic seems to be just as much of rarity as it is a reason they’ve kept together. “Everyone in our band sings and plays music,” explains Ferguson, describing their defiance of the classic four-piece model, “it’s an outlet for everybody, so it’s not like there’s a disgruntled drummer who wants to go make a solo record.” Each member of Sloan is tasked with writing a quarter of each album, and when it comes to playing live, the philosophy on sharing is no different. Instead of keeping their line-up stationary, members of Sloan trade instruments to allow each to front their own songs. “It’s not like ‘this guy’s just a bass player’ or ‘this guy’s just a guitar player or the drummer,’” explains Ferguson, “we usually try to be fairly evenly divided.”

With the release of 2011’s The Double Cross (cleverly named after roman numerals “XX” for 20 years), Sloan has officially built a catalogue of ten full albums, each with a slightly different flavour; however, there are a few trademarks in the music that are undeniably “Sloan.” Anyone picking up a Sloan album can expect a forceful, indie-rock/power-pop/jangle-pop/shining-ball-of-noise sound, filtering elements of fuzz in with soaring harmonies to make the catch of 60’s and 70’s music come alive in a more modern way. To hear a Sloan record is certainly to hear the influences, whether it be The Beatles, The Smiths, or The Pretty Things, wrapped up in a way that is undeniably 21st century. “Everybody in the band translates their influences in a different way or channels them in a different way,” explains Ferguson, “and then the output just becomes what we take from it.”

Sloan is hitting the stage at Canal Days on Saturday, playing in line with the legendary David Wilcox. The band has already made plans to tour their break-through album, Twice Removed, in the coming months, and a deluxe version of the album is being released. Just because they’re looking back for the anniversary, however, doesn’t mean they’re becoming a cover band for their early days. “We’re not going to stop making new music,” says Ferguson, “I just really like our back-catalogue.”

The band must not have gotten the memo that, by this time, they’re supposed to be broken up for ten years and having a disgruntled reunion tour. Everybody makes mistakes, I suppose.

--taken from: NiagaraThisWeek

Experience History (Sloan 1997) - HPX 20th Anniversary

The Halifax Pop Explosion celebrates its 20th Anniversary October 16-20, 2012. Celebrate 20 years of Halifax music and "experience history" with us.

--uploaded by HPXHFX