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