Sloan Announce Fall 2014 Us Tour

--taken from: Contactmusic

On September 9th, Sloan will release their 11th studio album Commonwealth viaYep Roc Records. In celebration of the new release, the band will hit the road for a North American tour this fall. Additional tour dates will be announced soon.

The album is now available for pre-order and includes an immediate download of "13 (Under A Bad Sign)" and three other advance tracks. Recently, Consequence of Sound premiered "Carried Away" while The A.V. Club debuted the "swooping power pop" song "Cleopatra" that was written by Jay Ferguson.

Diamond Side (Jay):

1) We've Come This Far
2) You've Got A Lot On Your Mind
3) Three Sisters
4) Cleopatra
5) Neither Here Nor There

Heart Side (Chris):

6) Carried Away
7) So Far So Good
8) Get Out
9) Misty's Beside Herself
10) You Don't Need Excuses To Be Good

Shamrock Side (Patrick):

11) 13 (Under A Bad Sign)
12) Take It Easy
13) What's Inside
14) Keep Swinging (Downtown)

Spade Side (Andrew):

15) Forty-Eight Portraits

--taken from: Contactmusic

Sloan Announce North American Tour Behind 'Commonwealth'

--taken from: Exclaim!

by Gregory Adams

After issuing a few preview songs behind the upcoming four-way album Commonwealth, Sloan have announced a series of North American shows at which they'll no doubt play those tracks and more.

The band confirmed their fall schedule today (August 25), revealing that the trip kicks off out at Sudbury's Townehouse venue on October 7. They'll make their way westward from there, crossing over to various venues between Ontario and BC before heading down along the U.S. West Coast.

Sloan reported on Twitter that this is just the "1st round of dates" behind Commonweath, and you can see the specifics behind the inaugural batch of concert stops down below. Let's point out how perfect it is that they'll be hitting Calgary's Commonwealth Bar.

As previously reported, Commonwealth arrives September 9 through Yep Roc. The double LP splits up songwriting duties between four sides. Using a playing card motif, which casts each Sloan member as a different king, Jay Ferguson's side is called Diamond, Chris Murphy's is Heart, Patrick Pentland's is Shamrock, and Andrew Scott's is Spade.

Today, the quartet premiered yet another single, the Pentland-penned "13 (Under a Bad Sign)." You'll find the fuzz-flying, hard-luck number down below, courtesy of USA Today.

--taken from: Exclaim!

Premiere: Hear Sloan's '13 (Under A Bad Sign)'

--taken from: USA TODAY

by Whitney Matheson

Sloan is one of those rare bands that, if you were to remove one member, the group would probably have to change its name.

The Toronto-based power-pop outfit is very democratic, in that each of its four members — Jay Ferguson, Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland and Andrew Scott — composes music and lyrics. Sloan is also unique in that the guys have been thriving since the early '90s, with 10 albums under their belt.

Next month Sloan releases another record, Commonwealth, and the concept highlights each musician's songwriting skills. Meant to be enjoyed as a double-vinyl release (but also available digitally), each of its four sides features tunes by one member of the band.

Today I'm happy to debut a track that should help you get moving on this Monday. Here's what Pentland has to say about 13 (Under A Bad Sign):

The song was originally written on my laptop as a synth and drum machine thing, but after I messed around with distortion plug-ins, it sounded so much like guitar that I decided to make it a Sloan song, and built it up with real guitars, bass and, eventually, real drums. Lyrically, it's just a rebel song, like the female version of AC/DC's Bad Boy Boogie. Kind of clichéd, but that's rock 'n' roll for you.

Enjoy:



--taken from: USA TODAY

The Georgia Straight presents An Evening With Sloan at the Commodore

--taken from: Georgia Straight

Live Nation has announced that Canadian guitar-rock group Sloan will play a show at the Commodore Ballroom on Saturday, October 18, in support of its upcoming studio album, Commonwealth.

Consisting of Jay Ferguson, Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland, and Andrew Scott, Sloan has released 10 albums and more than 30 singles throughout its two-decade-plus career.

With Commonwealth, the group has taken an exceedingly democratic approach—the double album will see each member stake out a single side as his own.

“We’re always trying to do something a little different from what we’ve done in the past,” Pentland says. “This can be as much to challenge ourselves or just stave off boredom. With four strong writers, it was inevitable that we would eventually do something like this.”

--taken from: Georgia Straight

Our Lady Peace, Sloan, I Mother Earth, Eve 6 at Edgefest

--taken from: Live in Limbo (see more pictures here)

by Dakota Arsenault

Photographs by Sarah Rix.

As I wondered towards Echo Beach, Molson Amphitheatre’s more fun younger sibling, I walked through the Exhibition grounds where the CNE is currently running. When the CNE is on it is almost the end of summer, a bittersweet time of year. School is almost back in session and the weather turns from t-shirt and shorts temperatures to jeans and jackets. You would have forgiven me for assuming fall was already upon us with the way it has been so chilly the last week or so. To make matters worse the sky was painted dark grey, ready to drop buckets of rain and potentially thunder and lightening at a moment’s notice.

The sand in front of the main stage, for The Edge’s third installment of their Edgefest concert series, was already getting full when Current Swell’s set on the side stage was still on. The Edge was unofficially celebrating the 90’s with bands like Our Lady Peace, Sloan, I Mother Earth and Eve 6 on the bill, all bands that (for the most part) were at their peaks in the mid-to-late 90’s. The humor wasn’t lost on the bands performing; the fans or the organizers as all made jokes. That doesn’t really matter when you have a packed house of people who still want to rock out and list Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and Oasis as their favourite bands.

Eve 6 was the first band up on the main stage and they came out with great confidence ready to rock the crowd. Lead singer and bassist Max Collins lead the charge with his flamboyant dance moves and fantastic crowd interaction. Collins declared after having not played in Toronto for ‘a minute’ “Will you take this ride with us?” before launching into Open Road Song. Collins was having issues with one of his basses not having its sound picked up. It was something he could have made a big deal about, he could have stopped the song and restarted when it was fixed. Instead he let his guitarist Jon Siebels take charge. Collins kept singing but let his technician take his instrument and figure out what was wrong and switched the wireless pickup attached to his strap. After the song was done Collins made fun of the situation and jokingly blamed the techie, later, when the set was finished he thanked the guy and made the crowd give him a round of applause. “We love you more than your parents do Toronto!” They ended their set with their biggest hits Here’s To the Night and Inside Out.

The sky remained gloomy when I Mother Earth hit the stage, the first of the three Canadian alt-rock legends on the bill. That didn’t matter to lead singer Brian Byrne who despite their hard rock recordings was a positive ray of sunshine himself. He expunged the poor weather by spouting words of peace and enjoying music in all its power. At one point he even called out some overly aggressive fans near the front and told them to knock it off, all without missing a beat mid-song. While the bass was hard to hear during Eve 6’s set, IME had more than enough bass and percussion to go around, with the rhythm section sounding like a train chugging along at a fast pace. Having both a drummer and a percussionist playing, the band sounded more jam-bandy live then their records suggest. One song’s intro sounded like an alterative version of Black Magic Woman. At one point Byrne took a five-minute break off stage while the band took over and rocked an instrumental number. They made sure to play their biggest hit One More Astronaut second to last while ending with Rain Will Fall their first single from way back in 1993.

Sloan resented that they were being called a 90’s band as they pointed out they have been even more prolific in the 14 years since then they were in the previous 10. Chris Murphy and the guys ran onstage and declared that “We’re Sloan and we’re going to play as many songs as we can!” The band kept that promise as they managed to play fourteen songs in only one hour. The band alternated lead singers for a majority of the songs. Sometimes Murphy on bass was the leader, other times it was Patrick Pentland and Jay Ferguson the band’s two guitarists singing. At one point Murphy and drummer Andrew Scott switched instruments for a few songs while Scott also sung lead vocals. Murphy joked about how the band had played their supposed last show ever 19 years prior right across the beach at the Molson Amphitheatre. Their impossible upbeat songs made the crowd groove a bit for the first time in the night with songs like Who Taught You To Live Like That? and The Good In Everyone. As opposed to playing their biggest song at the end of their set like most festival acts do, they played a song that was announced as “You might know this one from the radio” before launching into The Rest of My Life. At one point Murphy joked about how Sloan played with Our Lady Peace a week before and it poured but how the rain managed to stay away for the night (so far).

Throughout the night The Edge’s DJs would come out to introduce the next act finally putting faces to the voices people listen to everyday. Josie Dye came out to announce their latest addition to their roster, the former Alexisonfire guitarist Wade MacNeil who in turn announced Our Lady Peace to the stage. The band wearing only black and white with lead singer Raine Maida rocking a leather motorcycle jacket came out to the loudest reaction from the crowd of the night. Kicking off their set they played Heavyweight from their 2011 album Curve. The band played plenty of their over abundance of hits included 90’s hits One Man Army and Superman’s Dead. Raine commented on how he “spent so many damn summers at Ontario Place” and how it was nice to be playing at the festival. They rocked a heavier than usual version of Innocent. The fans truly got into the songs by jumping around and throwing their arms in the air more so than all the previous acts combined. The band showed why they were the headliners as they had the best lighting rigs, not to mention an LED screen set up behind them showing celestial images. OLP also had the best sound of the night, some of the bands you either couldn’t hear the bass or understand the lyrics, but they managed to have a perfectly balanced mixing. The band reveled in the fact that most of the choruses were sung by the large crowd, which added an extra layer of energy to the performance. They saved one of their best songs for last ending with somber hit 4AM.

Thankfully the only rain that showed up was Maida, as the proposed thunderstorm that Mother Nature promised, managed to hold off. If this was how most people ended their summer, they couldn’t be blamed for having a great night of soon to be considered classic rock by a bunch of bands that still know how to put on one hell of a show.

--taken from: Live in Limbo (see more pictures here)

Sloan "Carried Away"

--taken from: Exclaim!

by Gregory Adams

Sloan have already rolled out a couple previews from their four-way album, Commonwealth, and have now shown us yet another ace up their sleeve with the unveiling of the Chris Murphy-penned "Carried Away."

Reflecting the Heart portion of the LP, Murphy's subtle pop-rocker brings a series of low-key organ lines, finger snaps and sophisticated string harmonies to a song about trying to get over a difficult period. "It's waking up without him that's upsetting," Murphy sings of the track's lead character, whom he offers consoling words and a couch to sleep on while she gets herself back together.

You can stream the single down below, while Sloan plays their full hand September 9 via Yep Roc.



--taken from: Exclaim!

Listen: Sloan’s new song “Carried Away”

--taken from: Consequence of Sound

by Dusty Henry

Throughout their 25-year year career, Toronto pop-rockers Sloan have taken a democratic approach to music. But after some 10 albums of contributing equally to songwriting and recording, the band members decided to take a more novel process for the follow-up to 2011’s The Double Cross. Though still working together in one room, each of the four members were responsible for writing and shaping their own section, named in part after a different suit of card (“Diamond”, “Heart”, “Shamrock”, and “Spade”). The resulting album, entitled Commonwealth, is due out September 9th via Yep Roc Records.

According to a press release, the 15-track effort “allows for all four members’ work to at last be heard through the prism of individual identity. Ferguson’s opening “Diamond” side showcases his remarkable knack for symphonic pop, Pentland’s “Shamrock” offers a substantial helping of pedal-hoppin’ psych rock, and Murphy’s “Heart” is fit to burst with wit, jangle, and eclectic energy. (Andrew Scott’s “Spade” is taken up by an 18-minute suite.) Ultimately, what makes Commonwealth so special is how the fragmented approach in fact only serves to underscore the veteran band’s extraordinary strengths, showcasing the particular ingredients without ever losing sight of the sum of their parts.”

Already the band has shared Jay Ferguson’s “Cleopatra” and Patrick Pentland’s “Keep Swinging (Downtown)”. Today, Sloan previews frontman Chris Murphy’s “Heart” section with “Carried Away”. The chamber pop track plays to Murphy’s knack for writing radio-ready hits, complete with a doubly infectious melody and finger snaps. The track goes back and forth between an upbeat, “That Thing You Do” aesthetic and lush string arrangements as Murphy mourns his lover falling in love with another man. It’s a prime example of the “sad-song-that-sounds-happy” songwriting Sloan has perfected over the years.

“As I Google ‘Carried Away,’ I realize that I managed to write the song ‘Carried Away’ without having known about the 1996 movie Carried Away (6.5/10 IMDB), or the 2009 movie Carried Away (6.6/10 IMDB),” Murphy said of the song. “I swear it is neither about ‘a middle-aged schoolteacher who lives on a farm with his dying mother’ nor ‘a young man pursuing his dreams in Hollywood (who) returns home to Fort Worth, Texas, at Christmas time to find his family in turmoil.’ I guess if I were to stretch this song into a 90-minute feature, it would read, ‘couple’s alleged polyamorous lifestyle is thrown into jeopardy when woman’s affair gets complicated.’ I would hope to get 6.7/10 or higher.”

Commonwealth Tracklist:

“Diamond” Side (Jay Ferguson):
01. We’ve Come This Far
02. You’ve Got a Lot on Your Mind
03. Three Sisters
04. Cleopatra
05. Neither Here Nor There

“Heart” Side (Chris Murphy):
06. Carried Away
07.So Far So Good
08. Get Out
09. Misty’s Beside Herself
10. You Don’t Need Excuses to Be Good

“Shamrock” Side (Patrick Pentland):
11. 13 (Under a Bad Sign)
12. Take It Easy
13. What’s Inside
14. Keep Swinging (Downtown)

“Spade” Side (Andrew Scott):
15. Forty-Eight Portraits

--taken from: Consequence of Sound

Sloan rocks the Soiree

--taken from:  NL News Now

by Christy Boyd

For 23 years Toronto based rockers Sloan have been captivating audiences with music described by band member Jay Ferguson as “original, energetic and melodic rock and roll.”

The Aug. 9 Soiree Concert in the Park won’t be Sloan’s first trip to Newfoundland. The band has played many times on the island, most often in St. John’s. Their last Newfoundland show was in Corner Brook in 2012.

Ferguson, Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland and Andrew Scott are the heartbeat of Sloan and are accompanied by Gregory Macdonald on keyboards. All four members take turns singing lead.

In an email Ferguson described Sloan’s stage show as “Hits, hits, hits — some album tracks, followed by more hits. When we play more festival oriented shows, we tend to play mostly well-known songs, so that's what people can expect.”

Some of the band’s favourite songs to perform include Coax Me, Fading into Obscurity, Ill Placed Trust, She’s Slowing Down Again and 500 Up.

Sloan fans will no doubt hear some of these hits at the Concert in the Park on Aug. 9, but it’s the only Newfoundland stop for Sloan this summer. The band does have a new album, “Commonwealth,” due for release Sept. 9.

--taken from:  NL News Now