Moe is the tops

--taken from: St. Albert Gazette

by Scott Hayes

When I first started as a reporter here almost nine years ago, one of the first things that I did was to figure out a way to interview Moe Berg. The lead singer of awesome CanCon power pop band The Pursuit of Happiness was born and raised right here in St. Albert. I never felt that justice was given to him in the way of some kind of official recognition or even a feature story in the press to acknowledge not only his contributions to the world of music but also his lifelong dedication to his vastly successful and influential artistic practice.

We’ve celebrated Mark Messier in a few different ways but he barely had any connection to this city as far as I’m concerned. Messier has a road and an arena named after him and all he had to do was play hockey. The Moose is retired but where’s the Moe Berg Amphitheatre? What are the directions to get to TPOH Way? Why isn’t Love Junk taught in schools?

Furthermore, Moe is still active in TPOH, teaching music at Fanshawe College in Ontario, producing music for other musicians, and making tracks with his new band The TransCanada Highwaymen. Joined by former lead singer of the Barenaked Ladies Steven Page, Sloan's Chris Murphy, and Craig Northey of Odds, the band is set to tour the country starting in the spring.

Nothing against Messier – honestly – but his connection to St. Albert was pretty threadbare and he’s been retired for more than a decade. Moe Berg, on the other hand, is a workhorse who went through elementary, junior and senior high school here, taught himself to play guitar, practiced endlessly and wrote songs his whole life just to get good at it, and he’s still doing it. He toured around the world and put this city on the map for major musical birthplaces. He’s a self-made Rock God.

Okay, I know I’m sounding too much like a die-hard fan here. I just felt that respect was due. If there’s no statue dedicated to the man then the very least I could do was write a feature article about the life and times of Moe Berg.

And so I spent the years from 2008 to 2016 slowly doing my research and eventually making contact with Moe himself. Earlier this year, I put the plan into action by talking to school librarians and going through copies of old yearbooks, slowly putting the pieces together. I was lucky enough to interview Moe twice wherein I learned about his early bands, especially The Modern Minds that also featured Kim Upright on drums and Bob Drysdale on bass. I interviewed Kim who started up www.themodernminds.ca as a way of cataloguing and preserving the history of that trio that didn’t last long but sure helped launch each of their careers, even on wildly different paths.

Sadly, I missed my chance to talk to Drysdale. He passed away 13 years ago. Even in his short years, he made his marks with The Modern Minds and then the Rock and Roll Bitches before he gave up on being a performer. He didn’t give up on music, however, and kept on composing his own soundtrack. He preferred to march to the beat of his own drum anyway. It was an honour and a pleasure to meet his mother and younger brother to talk about the legacy and the mystery that was Bob Drysdale.
As it turned out, that feature turned into a Rolling Stone-sized triple feature, full double-page spreads with a three-pager for the big finale. It ran on three consecutive Saturdays, ending Dec. 17. I interviewed former teachers, music bloggers, people involved with hosting the unofficial TPOH website and Facebook page, former and current bandmates, and other music journalists.

It was by far the most work that I’d ever put into anything I’d ever written for the Gazette. I lost sleep over it and was endlessly tinkering with it even after I’d submitted it for publication. If it weren’t for the patience and tolerance of my editors and the creative layout team here, it simply wouldn’t have turned out as well as it did. It might not have been the most important story that I wrote this year, nor the most timely, but it meant a lot to me. As passion projects go, I don’t know if I could top it.

--taken from: St. Albert Gazette

Canadian band Sloan will headline Barrie’s Downtown Countdown this year

--taken from: The Barrie Examiner

by Susan Doolan

One of Canada's most popular bands, Sloan, will be performing for their third New Year's Eve, Saturday, in Barrie. The headliners for the annual free family Downtown Countdown also mark two significant anniversaries - Canada kicks off a year-long celebration of events in 2017 for its 150th year and Sloan is wrapping up their One Chord to Another 20th Anniversary Tour.

The tour began in Barrie earlier this year. It marked the Canadian reissue of the band's 1996 release of One Chord to Another. The U.S. release was one year later. It was the third album for Sloan and was their most commercially successful record. The group will be playing some of those songs along with the recently released - "Kids Come Back Again at Christmas" and "December 25" - at the Downtown Countdown.

"We will probably do our most recognizable songs," said bass player Chris Murphy, of their plans for the evening. "We've had songs on the radio a lot of people of the right age - 30s and 40s - would know."

Some of their children would also know the songs as the band has been together long enough - 25 years - to attract a second generation of fans. Murphy and Jay Ferguson (guitar, vocals) knew each other from other bands prior to Sloan but didn't join forces until Kearney Lake Road, an underground band they were both members of from 1987-1990.

Currently based out of Toronto, Sloan started out in Halifax, emerging out of the early American punk alt-rock scene before it became mainstream music. Patrick Pentland (guitar, vocals) and Andrew Scott (drums, vocals) both of whom played in other bands in the area, joined them 1991. For the past 10 years, Gregory Macdonald has become their regular keyboard player.

While Sloan never became a world-wide phenomenon, the band did have a lot of exposure on Canadian radio and television from the 1980s to early 2000 and acquired a dedicated following in the U.S. Along the way, they released 20 albums - including two compilations, one of singles and one of 'B' sides - and collected several East Coast Music Awards and nine Juno nominations.

All went university but all studied different subjects. Murphy acquired an English degree at Dalhousie in Halifax. He did it to "stay friends with his dad forever" and then moved on to study at NSCAD (Nova Scotia College of Art and Design).

For Murphy, it was always music, even though as a kid the genre was different, and that impacted any formal training in guitar.

"I was set up to take guitar lesson in Grade 3 and I was so into KISS that I wanted to be a rocker already and when I went to guitar class they wouldn't put me on a guitar - it was all clapping and ta, ta, t,t, ta stuff," he recalled. "I was so turned off. I was an impatient kid, I would have shown up for guitar in full KISS makeup but ta, ta, ta - I'm out of here."

His mother ended up teaching him a few guitar chords and by junior high he was really into music, mostly punk. While Sloan is far from punk, it does tend to defy genres - band members like to argue about whether they are more of a pop rock band or a rock pop band. Whatever the end result, they all come to songwriting a little differently than a typical band.

"Everyone is in charge of their own real estate on the records and the set list and whatever you want to do is your prerogative and we'll all do it," said Murphy, adding that kind of approach could run them into problems but it balances out when 25 per cent of the time, each can do exactly what they want to. "Every decision we made from day one was for the longevity of the band whether it was getting everyone to contribute creatively or splitting the money."

Twenty five years later, the original lineup remains the same. For Murphy, touring with the band and the extended crew is also a lot of fun because they are his best friends. When he's not touring, he's a homebody, living in an artistic household with lots of music and dance. His longtime partner is a dancer and the couple of have two children age nine and six.

--taken from: The Barrie Examiner

The Happiness of Pursuit

--taken from: St. Albert Gazette (read more here)

by Scott Hayes

Ladies and Gentlemen ... The Trans-Canada Highwaymen!

Next year, Moe will be zig-zagging the Great White North as part of supergroup The Trans-Canada Highwaymen along with Sloan's Chris Murphy, Steven Page (ex-lead singer of the Barenaked Ladies), and Craig Northey (Odds). They're being guided along by theatrical director and producer Jim Millan, the fellow behind the most recent Kids in the Hall reunion tour.

Millan said, “I had the idea of putting Moe and Chris Murphy and Craig Northey together as a group people would die to see. Craig was on the road with Steven and they all jumped on the idea.”

In a recent FYI Music News article, reporter Kerry Doole quoted Northey saying that Moe was a driving force in the project. Perhaps that's putting it mildly.

“If Moe Berg wants to rock, you don't get in his way, you just say, ‘let's go.'”

They've had a gig or two in Ontario to find their sea legs but the great news is that a tour is already in the booking phase and it's set to kick off in April. Fingers are surely crossed across the Western provinces for a date or two where Moe first stomped on campus stages and hotel rock room fold-up platforms.

My fingers are crossed.

--taken from: St. Albert Gazette (read more here)

Listen to Sloan's New Christmas Songs

--taken from: Exclaim!

by Josiah Hughes

As previously reported, Canadian power-pop heroes Sloan got into the holiday spirit with a new Christmas-themed 7-inch. The record has since sold out, but in the spirit of giving Sloan have made their tracks available online.

"Kids Come Back Again at Christmas" pairs a sprightly bass line with some holiday bells. Similarly, "December 25" offers plenty of piano alongside its sleigh bells. Both songs give you the best seasonal feelings with none of the schmaltz.

Listen to both songs below, where you'll also find a Christmas greeting from Sloan's Jay Ferguson.

What did you find yourself doing on the hottest day of this past summer? Hanging at the beach? Going for a swim? Relaxing with a book under a tree? Having a tall cool drink by the pool? How about standing in front of a microphone with sleigh bells and singing about snowballs, sleighs and Christmas day? That's the position we found ourselves in this past August while recording a brand new 7" single of 2 original Christmas songs. I think It's safe to say that it was a challenge, but we still managed to get into the holiday spirit while it was 39 degrees (that's 102 degrees fahrenheit, American friends) outside the studio. 

We've tried our hand at Christmas recordings before. In 2011 "The Twelve Days of Christmas" got an elaborately musical treatment that would have made Perry Como do a Hollywood style double-take, while Slade's "Merry X-Mas Everybody" got a rocking tribute in 2012 commandeered by Patrick on lead vocals.  

This year we decided to add 2 original songs to the canon of holiday fare. On Side A, Chris, with Patrick harmonizing along side, takes the lead on his galloping, acoustic driven future-holiday-classic "Kids Come Back Again at Christmas". On Side B, I contributed a snowy piano song suitable for a slow skate called "December 25". Thanks as well to our Gregory Macdonald for adding his touch of seasonal splendour to these recordings. 

Andrew chimed in with the wintery collage artwork found on the 7" cover and the 4 Christmas cards that come with this package. The cards feature seasonal messages inside in the form of lyrics from our catalogue. Some miiiight be a stretch, but hopefully the merry sentiment remains intact and your relatives and recipients won't be puzzled!
One final note: as a tribute to our One Chord To Another album that we've been celebrating this year, the drums on these new songs were recorded direct to 4-track cassette just as we did with that album 20 years ago. I'm not sure if Chris' or my engineering skills have improved since 1996, but I still think they sound kinda cool. I've added more blank C-90 cassettes to my Xmas wish list. 

From us to you, please have a merry holiday season and a happy new year! 

Yo Ho Ho, 

Jay F. 

--taken from: Exclaim!

Hear Sloan's Chris Murphy perform 'Kids Come Back Again at Christmas'

--taken from: CBC (listen to the song here)

On Dec. 2, CBC held its annual Sounds of the Season charity drive event in Toronto and q host Tom Power was there (festive sweater and all) to talk to Sloan frontman Chris Murphy about Christmas songs and traditions.

Murphy, who was there to perform a Sloan Christmas original called "Kids Come Back Again at Christmas," talked about staying in touch with his family after moving to Toronto from Halifax many years ago.

"With touring in the band, some years I'd be in Halifax three or four times a year, but now I go back pretty infrequently," Murphy explains.

Now, Murphy's parents make the trek to Toronto for the holidays, where they continue their tradition of listening to Christmas music of Perry Como.

"Kids Come Back Again at Christmas" is part of a special holiday 7" vinyl single by Sloan, which is currently sold out.

--taken from: CBC (listen to the song here)

Sloan headlines Barrie's Downtown Countdown

--taken from: Simcoe.com

by Janis Ramsay

Juno nominees Sloan will take the main stage to help welcome the new year in downtown.

Sloan is headlining the city’s 19th annual Downtown Countdown on New Year’s Eve.

The band has been together for more than 25 years and is known for songs The Good in Everyone and Money City Maniacs.

Also performing that night are Treehouse TV’s Splash ‘N Boots and local band Cardinal Street — who was picked over 35 submissions to the city.

Along with the music, guests can join the free celebration outside City Hall starting at 6 p.m. with skating on the Circle at the Centre rink, horse-drawn wagon rides, family activities and fireworks.

--taken from: Simcoe.com

Canadian band will headline Barrie event

--taken from: The Barrie Examiner

Sloan will headline Barrie’s 19th annual Downtown Countdown on New Year’s Eve.

The popular event will once again feature an amazing line-up of Canadian talent that is not to be missed.

“Sloan has been nominated for nine Juno Awards over their 25- year career, and the success of their many hit singles, such as 'The Good in Everyone' and 'Money City Maniacs', has made them one of the most popular Canadian bands,” said Arin Donnelly, community event co-ordinator.

Sloan has released 20 albums and EPs since 1992 and celebrated its 'One Chord to Another' album with a 20th anniversary tour.

Originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Sloan is a Toronto-based rock/power pop quartet.

The Downtown Countdown will also feature entertainment for the younger crowd with Treehouse TV’s Splash ‘N Boots, who have performed thousands of shows all over the world, released nine award-winning CDs, have been nominated for JUNO Awards, and were crowned Canadian Children’s Music Group of the Year three times. They will bring their exciting and fresh approach to entertainment for families to enjoy right here in Barrie.

Every year, the City of Barrie invites local acts to submit for the opportunity to perform on the Downtown Countdown stage. From over 35 submissions this year, Cardinal Street was selected to perform their original music and classic covers in front of a hometown crowd.

In addition to a fantastic entertainment line-up, this free celebration outside Barrie City Hall in the downtown will include skating on the Circle at the Centre rink, horse-drawn wagon rides, roaming performers, fun family activities, and fireworks all beginning at 6 p.m.

--taken from: The Barrie Examiner

Live: Sloan Feels Good, Does It at the Cradle Back Room

--taken from: Indy Week

by David Klein

When my dad was in college, he attended some of Vladimir Nabokov’s lectures, and his most concentrated nugget of wisdom from that experience has always stuck with me. He told me the great man of letters told his students that when reading a novel for the first time, read for plot. But the second time through, toss away the plot and look deeper at everything else to excavate the work's essence and the author’s intent.

After I saw Sloan play almost exactly two years ago at Cat’s Cradle Back Room, I sorted out my reaction in a detailed review full of praise and song titles. Having continued to listen to a lot of Sloan music since then, I can say with assurance that I'm definitely up on the plot. With that in mind, I was excited and maybe a little intrigued by the chance to marvel at the Toronto-based rock foursome's craft this time when they rolled into town on their latest tour.

Last time around, with the band was promoting the ambitious, double-sided Commonwealth, the Back Room was only about half-filled. The band turned in a kickass performance, but the lack of attendance felt slightly dispiriting. The turnout was much better this time, and the enthusiasm in the room seemed to please the guys onstage. Guitarist Jay Ferguson, who seemed slightly enigmatic during the previous show, looked content on stage right, wearing a relaxed grin, chewing gum, and adding incisive rhythm guitar and sweet vocals. At stage left, lead guitarist Patrick Pentland sported a flowing grey-white beard and locks, yet somehow, clad in black and cranking out precision chords on his low-slung Gibson, he looked every bit the rock star.

Chris Murphy remains the band’s ostensible frontman, delivering between-song patter, playing mighty bass, and  cueing the audience to clap its hands or join in at operative moments. Drummer Andrew Scott provides the thunder that drives this well-tuned engine, and multi-instrumentalist Gregory Macdonald, who’s been with the band for ten years, provides essential keyboard parts on many crucial songs.

This tour commemorates the twenty-year anniversary of One Chord to Another, the band’s self-released third album on which it galvanized its sound, produced a few of its best loved songs, and put its collective foot forward on a career that still remains vital in 2016. Accordingly, the first set consisted of the record from start to finish, and it was all your hypothetical first-time reader would have needed to get a clear picture of the band’s hallmarks: bracing power pop played with a punk edge, clarion harmonies, guitar crunch, precision, emphatic drumming, handclaps, hooks. But just when it seems clear how Sloan operates, the band changes it all up.

Halfway through the LP, for “A Side Wins,” Scott, quite seriously one of the great rock drummers in existence, got up, strapped on a Gibson SG, and took over lead vocals, switching places with ostensible frontman Murphy (who plays like Keith Moon), while Ferguson picked up bass duties. There and on the album-closing “400 Metres,” Scott adds a vital tinge of psychedelic sprawl to the hook-heavy power pop, refracting the band’s bright colors kaleidoscopically. His lyrics are half-spoken, something like a Bob Dylan parable, and the tempos loosen up and shamble, another contrast from the Sloan sweet spot.

Playing a set sequence of songs is likely to thrill hardcore fans, but it may be less than ideal for the uninitiated. Not with Sloan Wednesday night. The audience reveled in the band's faithful rendition of a record that many seemed to know by heart, and the reaction was almost as hearty as for OCTA as it was for the second set, which leaned on the band’s Canadian hits and felt like one giant sing-along.

So did this experienced Sloan reader focus on the craft and the deeper facets of Sloan’s music this time? Yes and no. Having had a chance to read the Sloan book a few times, I could better appreciate the vital role that Andrew Scott plays both as a drummer and songwriter. But by the end I was too caught up in the instant gratification of hearing these great songs played with such bracing gusto, too busy shouting along to lines like, “She cursed me up and down and rolled her R’s, her beautiful R’s” to focus for long on the considerable artistry on display. It was all over too soon.

Rock 'n' roll is more visceral than a novel, and Sloan’s music hits you front and center. In the privacy of headphones or in the car, one can contemplate the skill and precision of a record like One Chord to Another, but in a live setting, better to just let it roll over you as you sing along as loud as you can. Not exactly a Nabokovian distinction, but surely a valuable lesson learned.

--taken from: Indy Week

Canada’s Sloan makes rare Charlotte stop revisiting its biggest U.S. album

--taken from: The Charlotte Observer

Sloan circa 1996, around the time the Canadian band recorded and released “One Chord to Another.” Jannie McInnes

by Courtney Devores

As Canadian alternative rock band Sloan crossed into the United States to begin the current leg of its “One Chord to Another” 20th anniversary tour, many Americans were starting to look North as election results began rolling in.

“We were watching (the results) before we played,” says guitarist Jay Ferguson, who hails from Halifax, Nova Scotia. “We do two sets. Before we were playing, there was an early lead for Trump. We came in mid-set. This is not looking good, and then by the time the show was over it was locked in.”

Americans crashed the Canadian immigration site.

“It makes me wonder if Americans think it’s easy to move to Canada,” says Ferguson. “It’s harder to get a job because jobs are preferred to Canadians, but the costs – a friend tried to immigrate from Michigan to Canada and it was going to cost $10,000 to $15,000. It’s a bit of a challenge. I don’t meant to rain on anyone’s parade.”

Raining on parades is far from what Sloan plans to do at Visulite Theatre on Thursday, when it makes a rare Charlotte appearance revisiting “One Chord to Another,” the 1996 album that reignited the band after it parted with the DGC label (a hotbed of alternative rock in the early ’90s).

“(1994’s ‘Twice Removed’) wasn’t the record we were expected to make,” he explains. “It was a lot different than our first album,” 1992’s “Smeared.”

When the band chose to release “Twice Removed” as-is without honoring the label’s request for changes, DGC just didn’t promote it.

“In the United States we did a big tour, but not playing to anyone,” he adds.

Circumstances surrounding the making of “One Chord” and its predecessor were vastly different. While DGC spent between $100,000 and $200,000 for the quartet to record “Twice Removed” in New York, “One Chord” cost roughly $10,000.

It was supposed to be the band’s last record, given the experience.

“The end of the Cinderella story is that it became our best-selling record. In Canada, we had three top 20 videos and it did well at radio,” he says.

The slim budget helped color the album’s personality. For instance, says Ferguson, the drums were recorded on a 4-track cassette in the band’s practice space.

“The drums in turn sound scrappy and raw, but in a positive way,” he says.

The tour has helped bring old Sloan fans back to the fray.

“It brings out a lot of fans who might’ve been in high school or university when the record came out, but don’t go out to shows anymore. We did a similar campaign for our second album, and it re-stoked an element of our fan base.”

At 48, Ferguson can relate.

“There’s times when bands come through town that I would’ve driven 10 hours to see when I was younger and I say, ‘Oh, I’m not going out tonight,’ ” he says. “For us, it seems to have brought out those people.”

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/entertainment/music-news-reviews/article115084588.html#storylink=cpy

--taken from: The Charlotte Observer

Sloan celebrates 20th anniversary of 'One Chord to Another' at Iron Works

--taken from: The Buffalo News

by Michael Farrell

Some albums leave listeners with more questions than answers. In the case of Sloan’s power-pop masterpiece “One Chord to Another,” inquiries about the work still loom two decades after its initial release.

Should “The Good in Everyone” be considered among the greatest opening tracks of the 1990s? Is it possible to listen to “G Turns to D” while driving and not pin the accelerator to the floor? And finally, how did the effort not launch the Halifax, Nova Scotia quartet toward major American stardom? These wonders and more can be revisited when the band brings the album’s 20th anniversary tour to Buffalo Iron Works (49 Illinois St.) for an 8 p.m. show Nov. 19.

It may feel like last weekend when its original lineup of guitarists/vocalists Patrick Pentland and Jay Ferguson, bassist Chris Murphy and drummer Andrew Scott first transitioned from its grunge-leaning “Smeared” and “Twice Removed” to its clap-inducing brand of Fender pop cherished by both Beatles disciples and alt rock denizens.

But that progression was a generation ago. It lit the fuse that led to eight more albums, and crystalized an infectious sound still available from the band setting up shop in the city’s Cobblestone District this weekend.

--taken from: The Buffalo News

Sloan offers democracy in music

--taken from: Creative Loafing Charlotte

by Samir Shukla

All four members of the Canadian rock combo Sloan are singers and songwriters. It's a collaborative effort that's democratic and creative.

Andrew Scott (drums), Chris Murphy (bass, vocals), Patrick Pentland (guitar, vocals), and Jay Ferguson (guitar, vocals) formed Sloan in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1991. These musicians have made fab records over the past 25 years while maintaining this creative partnership. It's a lesson we should learn while the band is on their current tour through our unhinged post-election America.

They are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their album One Chord to Another with a tour and specially-packaged vinyl box set. The guys will play the entire album in the first set and then launch into a second set of hits and fan favorites.

Sloan's democratic creativity was fully showcased on their last recording, the double LP Commonwealth released in 2014 on NC-based Yep Roc Records, which featured the songwriting prowess of each band member once per side on the vinyl — for CD and digital, just think a quarter of the recording each. The record is a prime example of the diverse voices that gel so well, the fluid individuality merging into one. There are feedback-laden songs, pure three-minute pop ditties, jangly guitars, sweet harmonizing and experimentation. Scott's side is a single 18-minute song while the other three sides highlight each persona that becomes one with their interplay.

I asked Jay Ferguson recently how four songwriters work so well together.

"(Commonwealth) was kind of an anomaly in our career, we are probably one of the few bands that can do that because everyone is a singer and a songwriter. Generally, when we make a record, everybody kind of writes and contributes," he said. "We usually try to make it that if there's 12 songs on the album, everyone gets three songs. If anyone is like 'I only have two songs,' then usually someone can pick up the slack. It doesn't really go through a process like a vote or anything amongst ourselves, everybody kind of brings forward the songs they want to do the most.

"Chris and I get together the most ahead of time so he would know my demos and I would know his and we would chime in like 'You know I really like that song' and Chris would be 'I like this one of yours or less of this one,' and that's sort of an encouraging way to go. Other than that it's sort of like here's your quarter of the real estate of the record and you can do what you want and we just try and sequence it after that happens in the best way possible."

Ferguson explained how the bandmates might come into the recording process with ideas on how one song might flow into the next, but for the most part, they're in charge of their own specific projects.

"We're not all in the studio at the same time, sometimes in groups of two or groups of three. So often it's very Beatles' White Album where Paul's in one studio doing 'Why don't we do it in the road?' and John is in another studio with Yoko cutting up tapes. It works a little bit like that, although we only have one studio. So it's democratic but everyone still gets to rule the roost on their quarter of the real estate."

For this tour, the focus is on the album One Chord to Another.

That album was first released on the band's own Murder Records two decades ago when they parted ways with major label Geffen after a couple of records and went the indie route. It was soon picked up by The Enclave label and became a smash in Canada, while bringing Sloan further attention in the States as a power pop combo to be reckoned with. The have steadily released music ever since, including a just-released Christmas 7" with two original songs.

Although I sold their records in the '90s at my record shop, Sloan flew under my radar. I played their records but didn't quite dig into them as I should have. Now, as I flip through killer song after song on the eleven studio albums that stream on their website, I realize how much of shame that was.

However, it's never too late for you.

--taken from: Creative Loafing Charlotte

Catch Canadian Power-Pop Cult Heroes Sloan Tonight at The High Watt

--taken from: Nashville Scene

Nerd alert: Sloan makes rare Nashville appearance tonight

by Edd Hurt

There may be a few rock scholars reading this who appreciate the ’70s Canadian band The Wackers, who specialized in agreeably sweet and charmingly twee variations on what people call power pop. Their group harmonies and attenuated rhythm section made them a band that appealed to epicures of power pop, and they may have been the precursor to Sloan, the long-running Canadian power-pop band that hit it big with the 1996 full-length One Chord to Another, whose anniversary they celebrate on a tour that hits The High Watt tonight.

On their most recent album, 2014’s Commonwealth, Sloan made some gorgeous music — I get off on the post-Chris Bell acoustic ballad “Neither Here nor There,” on which they sing about “hypochondria of the heart.” Meanwhile, “Cleopatra” is a post-Beatles rocker that operates in the general vicinity of The New Pornographers’ work. Maybe someday they’ll cover The Wackers’ great 1971 song “Travelin’ Time” and bring it all back home.

--taken from: Nashville Scene

16 Of Our Favorite Events In Chicago This Weekend

--taken from: Chicagoist

by Michelle Meywes Kopeny

POWER POP FROM THE NORTH: We have long been fans of Halifax's Sloan, and the group is currently touring behind the 20th anniversary of One Chord to Another, the album that brought the band back from the brink of break-up and broke them into the college rock '90s scene. Since then the group has accomplished the seemingly impossible; releasing a string of solid, hook-laden albums with not a single a dud amidst the bunch. Expect to hear One Chord to Another in its entirety along with a slew of the other bands hits during Friday's set at Bottom Lounge.

--taken from: Chicagoist

Sloan kept playing while the ship sank

--taken from: SooToday (see more pictures here)

The sold out performance was a welcome break from the crazy presidential election

by Donna Hopper

"We're gonna keep playing while the ship sinks,” said Sloan’s Chris Murphy mid-way into Tuesday night’s sold out performance at the Grand Theatre.

For two wonderful rock-filled hours, the Halifax quartet provided welcome respite from the chaotic presidential election news feed from south of the border.

The band kicked off the final leg of a tour celebrating its baby turning 20 years old – the 1996 release One Chord To Another – in Sault Ste. Marie before heading south into the United States.

The evening was split into two sets, the first comprised of One Chord To Another in its entirety from front to back, and the second a career-spanning collection with many fan favourites.

Those included Underwhelmed, C'mon C'mon (We're Gonna Get It Started), Money City Maniacs, Who Taught You to Live Like That?, Losing California, The Other Man, I’m Not a Kid Anymore, So Far So Good, Worried Now, Unkind, Coax Me, and If It Feels Good Do It.

One Chord To Another is Sloan’s most commercially successful release to date, and Chris Murphy told SooToday prior to Tuesday’s performance that it’s his favourite.

It marked a change in direction for Sloan and was completely funded by the band, Murphy said.

--taken from: SooToday (see more pictures here)

Sloan Get into the Holiday Spirit with New Christmas Release

--taken from: Exclaim!

by Brock Thiessen

Like it or not, it's getting to be the time of year for sugar plums, mistletoes and all that. Of course, bands are already getting into the spirit, and among them, we can now count Canadian treasures Sloan.

Following a pile of 20th anniversary celebrations around their beloved One Chord to Another, Chris, Patrick, Andrew and Jay have announced a special Christmas 7-inch.

On Tuesday (November 8), Sloan will release a mini-release that will house the new Christmas compositions "Kids Come Back Again at Christmas" and "December 25." The 7-inch will arrive on "seasonal red translucent" vinyl will be limited to 500 copies. The release also includes a download of both tracks, as well as four holiday greeting cards featuring Sloan member Andrew Scott's "wintery collages."

You can order the release on Tuesday at 10 a.m. EST over here.

Sloan's Jay Ferguson has also shared a holiday greeting of sorts to explain the release. You can read it in full below:

What did you find yourself doing on the hottest day of this past summer? Hanging at the beach? Going for a swim? Relaxing with a book under a tree? Having a tall cool drink by the pool? How about standing in front of a microphone with sleigh bells and singing about snowballs, sleighs and Christmas day? That's the position we found ourselves in this past August while recording a brand new 7" single of 2 original Christmas songs. I think It's safe to say that it was a challenge, but we still managed to get into the holiday spirit while it was 39 degrees (that's 102 degrees fahrenheit, American friends) outside the studio.

We've tried our hand at Christmas recordings before. In 2011 "The Twelve Days of Christmas" got an elaborately musical treatment that would have made Perry Como do a Hollywood style double-take, while Slade's "Merry X-Mas Everybody" got a rocking tribute in 2012 commandeered by Patrick on lead vocals.
This year we decided to add 2 original songs to the canon of holiday fare. On Side A, Chris, with Patrick harmonizing along side, takes the lead on his galloping, acoustic driven future-holiday-classic "Kids Come Back Again at Christmas". On Side B, I contributed a snowy piano song suitable for a slow skate called "December 25". Thanks as well to our Gregory Macdonald for adding his touch of seasonal splendour to these recordings.

Andrew chimed in with the wintery collage artwork found on the 7" cover and the 4 Christmas cards that come with this package. The cards feature seasonal messages inside in the form of lyrics from our catalogue. Some miiiight be a stretch, but hopefully the merry sentiment remains intact and your relatives and recipients won't be puzzled!
One final note: as a tribute to our One Chord To Another album that we've been celebrating this year, the drums on these new songs were recorded direct to 4-track cassette just as we did with that album 20 years ago. I'm not sure if Chris' or my engineering skills have improved since 1996, but I still think they sound kinda cool. I've added more blank C-90 cassettes to my Xmas wish list.

From us to you, please have a merry holiday season and a happy new year!
Yo Ho Ho,
Jay F. 

--taken from: Exclaim!

Sloan concert sold out. For real this time

The second batch of tickets sold out in less than 10 minutes

--taken from: SooToday

by Donna Hopper

Last night it was announced that a second block of tickets for Tuesday's Sloan performance was set to go on sale at Case's Music today at 3 p.m.

Much like the first batch of tickets, this second run sold out in less than 10 minutes, a testament to the Canadian band's popularity and longevity.

Carrie Suriano, manager of Case's Music, told SooToday about six people who had waited in line were unfortunately unable to obtain tickets, and people were still coming to the store with the hope some were left.

Due to overwhelming demand, the performance was moved from the 100-seat Loplops to The Grand Theatre to accommodate a larger audience.

Sloan is currently on tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the band's 1996 release One Chord To Another.

--taken from: SooToday

Club Scene: Tuns brings rock ’n’ roll mix to Call the Office

--taken from: The London Free Press

by Lori Mastronardi

Calling all Sloan fans!

You can hear the next best thing at Call the Office Thursday night.

That’s where Sloan frontman Chris Murphy, Super Friendz member Matt Murphy and The Inbreds’ Mike O’Neill will take the stage as part of their band Tuns, which formed a couple of years ago.

The power-pop three-piece really broke out when they played at Hayden’s benefit show Dream Serenade in the fall of 2015 at the legendary Massey Hall. Now, people are soaking up their joyous and electrifying rock ’n’ roll mix.

--taken from: The London Free Press

Who's better – U2 or R.E.M.? Canadian supergroup TUNS has opinions

--taken from: NOW Toronto (listen to the podcast here)

"You can't like R.E.M. and U2. That was the Beatles/Stones of the 80s. Or the Oasis/Blur, if you will," Chris Murphy says.

by Vish Khanna

Somewhere on Chris Murphy's phone there's a recording of TUNS trying to write an original song based on an iconic drumbeat by Larry Mullen Jr. of U2.

"When we first began playing," Mike O'Neill explains over pho with his bandmates/long-time friends (but not relatives), "we needed a starting place because there was myself, Matt [Murphy] and Chris" - all top-notch songwriters, vocalists and players - "and a lot of mutual respect.

"But how were we going to start a song?" O'Neill asks, acknowledging the pressure of expectations they felt. "The first thing we tried was, 'Chris, play a drumbeat you like and we'll make up a new song over that beat.' We tried that with various songs, where he played a song by the Cure or something, and then we ended up with all this fruit, and you couldn't even hear the [cover song aspect].

"The one exception, with comical results, was when we tried to write a song over the drumbeat from Sunday Bloody Sunday," O'Neill says. "It's a scream."

The reason for the pressure they felt? TUNS drummer Chris Murphy also plays bass in Sloan, guitarist Matt is known for his time in the Super Friendz, and bassist O'Neill made his name in the Inbreds - all bands that reflect Halifax's 90s "pop explosion." TUNS really are a supergroup.

From their mop-tops to the sweet vocal harmonies and lead vocal trade-offs heard on their self-titled debut, released on Royal Mountain in late August, TUNS appear most heavily influenced by timeless British bands like the Beatles and the Kinks. But growing up, Chris and O'Neill were actually really, really into U2.

"In fact, I thought we should learn a cover," Chris recalls, "and I said, 'Mike, let's play Seconds by U2,' but we didn't."

When I mention a bit of trivia about O'Neill also adoring and attending shows by R.E.M. on some of their earliest tours in the 1980s, Chris bristles.

"You can't like R.E.M. and U2. That was the Beatles/Stones of the 80s. Or the Oasis/Blur, if you will. I was definitely into U2. I thought R.E.M. were boring - although Matt and Mike often play riffs and one of them will say, 'Oh, that's very R.E.M.' and I say, 'Great, sounds good to me.'"

Of course, U2 are not a band most people like all that much these days.

"I don't know any of their albums past [1988's] Rattle And Hum, when they discovered American music," O'Neill says. "The Joshua Tree [from 1987] is the last thing I heard, and then I stopped paying attention."

"I bought The Joshua Tree and never played it once," Chris says. "I have a mint copy if you want it. Or you could just turn on the radio and hear the whole record.

"But, yeah, I loved U2 so much," Chris continues. "I remember when [1984's] The Unforgettable Fire was about to come out, just the feeling of, 'Oh my god, I can't wait to hear what this sounds like.'

"That was near the end of that feeling for music in general for me."

--taken from: NOW Toronto (listen to the podcast here)

All in the name of TUNS

--taken from: Guelph Mercury Tribune (listen to the podcast here)

by Vish Khanna

In a way, the band TUNS reflects almost all of my musical interests from the most formative years of my life as a cultural consumer and processor.

On November 5 at the Ebar (41 Quebec St.), they play Guelph for the second time after an Island Stage set at this past summer’s Hillside Festival, which was fun, spirited, scrappy, and as enjoyable as I’d hoped it’d be. The band consists of Chris Murphy of Sloan, Matt Murphy of the Super Friendz, and Mike O’Neill from the Inbreds. That’s their musical pedigree any way. They do other things too.

But those bands they were or are in (Sloan remains a going concern; the other two outfits come and go when the mood strikes) meant everything to me as a teenager. I grew up listening to the radio and watching MuchMusic a lot. If I had surrogate parents, they were electronic boxes that revealed hidden cultures of music, comedy, and storytelling of every sort.

My gateway into this world was my cousin Anand. He had a bunch of tapes and eventually CDs and, when we’d visit his and my other cousins in Scarborough, we always stayed late or spend the night, which meant I’d get to watch Saturday Night Live or Late Night with David Letterman. Anand first played me some best-of Beatles tape and I was immediately hooked on the band and music generally. Including one of his other favourites: U2.

For some discerning music fans, U2 are now a guilty pleasure or a band to be outright derided for their preening, rock star posturing, and performative emotional manipulation. But for a kid like me, growing up in the 1980s, their blend of outspoken political songs, catchy melodies, and vaguely post-punk style seemed super cool to me and I was all in. I got every record, every single, every magazine, every book, every video, every film. Obsessed is what I was.

Chris Murphy and Mike O’Neil were too. While their work in their respective bands and even now in TUNS tends to draw comparisons to great pop artists and harmony singers in the Beatles, Everly Brothers, Kinks or the Stones, they came of age when U2 were among the most interesting rock bands going.

I interviewed TUNS recently and asked them about U2 because I’d kind of heard through the grapevine that, while they’ve probably a little over a decade on me, the band also meant a lot to them when they were younger. It turns out that U2 almost made its way into the sound of TUNS.

O’Neill told me that, when they first convened, Chris would play drum parts from actual songs he liked, in their entirety. He’d just, part for part, play a song by Led Zeppelin or the Cure and Matt and Mike would come up with fresh guitar and bass lines over top. The formula worked so well, TUNS released a whole self-titled album’s worth of original songs in August, and the source inspiration for Chris was buried.

A notable failure in these experiments was an attempt to write a new song via U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and its iconic beat by Larry Mullen Jr. Apparently it was super amusing.

When I graduated to other bands after U2, they included Sloan and their own label murderecords’ roster, which included the Super Friendz and later the Inbreds. I first saw Sloan at Peter Clark Hall in Guelph in 1994. The Super Friendz opened the show and I was 16 years old. The independent, Canadian culture that these guys opened me up to, that particular night alone, permanently altered my aesthetic and led me to dig deeper for underground art that, say Rolling Stone, wasn’t covering because they mostly just covered U2.

So, while TUNS finds a group of friends coming together as a tremendous musical unit after decades of friendship and shared experiences, it’s also a sound that brings me full circle in a way I never imagined. Good or bad, we share bands together and may not even know that we’re doing it. Sometimes you just gotta ask.

--taken from: Guelph Mercury Tribune (listen to the podcast here)

TUNS of fun

--taken from: The Guardian

Nova Scotia-based band delivers “cool” performance at Sportsman’s Club in Charlottetown

© Todd MacLean/TC Media Matt Murphy, left, Chris Murphy and Mike O'Neill of TUNS perform at a recent at the Sportsman's Club in Charlottetown.

by Todd MacLean

I remember the feeling I was struck with in walking into a bar in downtown Halifax in the fall of 1997, shortly after I had turned 19, and amid the energy of the Halifax Pop Explosion of the mid-90’s.

I had maneuvered my way to a good spot near the stage to see The Inbreds — a band I was a big fan of — and a band that was, along with bands like Sloan, Plumtree, the Super Friendz and Thrush Hermit, part of the phenomenon of the indie rock supernova taking place in Halifax in that remarkable era of music.

And, if I were to try to give a one-word summary of the feeling that that rocking-melodic duo brought to the bar that night, I think the only word I could use would simply be “cool.”

Last week in Charlottetown, I was brought right back to what that feeling was like.

This is because Pat Deighan (of Back Alley Music and The Trailside Café) organized a show featuring a band called TUNS: a new super group that consists of Mike O’Neill (bassist/vocalist for the Inbreds), Chris Murphy (bassist/vocalist for Sloan, and drummer in this group) and Matt Murphy (guitarist/vocalist for the Super Friendz).

(And by the way, for anyone who might be familiar with “TUNS” as being short for the Technical University of Nova Scotia – yes, the band’s name is in reference to this.)

These guys formed last year when they released their debut single called “Throw it All Away”, before their first major live show at Massey Hall, in Hayden’s Dream Serenade benefit concert in October, 2015.

They released their self-titled debut album this past August and their new single, “Mind Over Matter” reached number one on CBC Radio 2’s Top 20 chart.

TUNS is on a Canadian tour this fall, and before band members embarked west across the country, a crowd of close to 175 enjoyed a taste of TUNS fun last Thursday night at the Sportsman’s Club.

It was a bonus, too, to catch the opening act — Liam Corcoran and his band — who took the stage right around 11 p.m.

Playing to the enthusiastic gathering crowd, the former Two Hours Traffic front man delivered tunes from his 2015 album “Rom-Drom”, along with some new songs too.

(As Corcoran is currently in the studio putting the finishing touches on a new 10-song record called “Nevahland”, most of the tunes he performed that night were of this new material.)

It was then at about 11:45 p.m. that the bar began to be pumped full of the sound of TUNS, as we were hit in the chest right away with the kind of slick chordal hooks, melodic chants and driving percussive grooves that one would expect from these three seasoned rock musicians united in one powerhouse trio.

With Mike O’Neill laying down the bottom end on his sweet Rickenbacker bass, Matt Murphy on his red and white Fender Telecaster guitar, and Chris Murphy excelling at the balancing act of playing the drums and singing at the same time (all while skillfully keeping his glasses on), the band nailed out songs like “Mixed Messages”, “To Your Satisfaction”, “Mind Over Matter”, “Throw it All Away” and more.

And with many tradeoff and harmony vocal parts between all three singers, surrounded by the support of a tight rhythmic foundation, it was just an hour-long set – but that was all the time that TUNS needed in order to make their impression.

Indeed, the era of the Halifax Pop Explosion may be long gone, but 20 years later, in TUNS, the aftershock is now strongly ringing out.

And to reiterate, if I were to summarize in one word the feeling that this pop aftershock brings about, that word would simply be “cool.”

--taken from: The Guardian

Hot gigs this week: Retro is the new black + shows for Halloween

--taken from: Ottawa Citizen

by Kirstin E. Endemann

The place to be on Saturday is Zaphod’s, where indie-rock supergroup TUNS, made up of Sloan’s Chris Murphy, Matt Murphy (Super Friends, Flashing Lights) and Mike O’Neill (Inbreds), is throwing a concert party with East Coast exuberance. The band is a passion project formed by musicians to write what they adore: fresh originals that borrow from their favourite parts of music, from Beatles-esque harmonies to power-pop hooks and classic Canadian, guitar-heavy rock: “We made an album that was built around our love for singing and singing together,” said Matt Murphy.

The self-titled album — TUNS is pronounced tonnes, for those wondering — is a collection of imminent good-time classics that are easy to enjoy live even when heard for the first time. Of course, the sheer joy the band gets from playing to an audience helps; Murphy may have said something about plans to “destroy the stage” (not literally) at the Ottawa show.


--taken from: Ottawa Citizen

Halloween weekend shows feature The Hidden Cameras, TUNS

--taken from: CBC News

by Jessa Runciman

Chris Murphy from Sloan. Mike O'Neill from The Inbreds. Matt Murphy from The Super Friendz. Three musical heavyweights, one dream-team for anybody who loves 90s East Coast indie-rock.

TUNS (pronounced "tunes") gets its name from the now-defunct Technical University of Nova Scotia, where Murphy, O'Neill and Murphy used to play basketball and take part in science fairs as kids. Musically, the band is an exercise in thirds, with each member contributing equally to the harmonies, instrumentals, and shared verses.

Young Rival opens the night at Zaphod's for TUNS's show there on Saturday.

--taken from: CBC News

TUNS Marquee Club, Halifax NS, October 21

--taken from: Exclaim!

by Ryan McNutt

If you were to organize a summit of Canada's best scientists and pop-heads and ask them to scientifically engineer an alt-rock vocal-harmony supergroup… it wouldn't be at all surprising if the result came out sounding an awful lot like TUNS.

Heck, even if you were just picking from the Halifax indie boom of the 1990s, you'd probably end up realizing that Chris Murphy (Sloan), Matt Murphy (the Super Friendz, the Flashing Lights) and Mike O'Neill (the Inbreds) were your best options. It's not just that they know their way around a hook; it's that the three have a remarkably similar vocal timbre, making for harmonies in which it's hard to tell where one voice begins and the others end.

Despite their connections to the city (and the fact they borrowed their name from the nickname for the old Technical University of Nova Scotia, now part of Dalhousie), the band's first show in Halifax was low on banter and stuck mostly to business: thanking the crowd, pitching their one album and playing every one of said album's breezy, catchy guitar pop songs. Tracks like "Mind Over Matter" and "Throw It All Away" were delivered with record-quality poise, still leaving room for the veterans to drop a few rock poses and guitar/bass solos into the mix for good fun.

Before the show, I heard multiple attendees speculating if the band would perform any songs from their various other projects. I had my doubts, but the numbers always win: one nine-song record isn't quite enough to fill a set. So into the encore went two attempts by the band to navigate their way through O'Neill's super hummable "Wasted Time" and, most excitingly, the Flashing Lights' "High School." The latter — in this author's opinion, one of the best power-pop songs to ever come out of this country — may have been more energy than precision, but it sent the large, keener crowd home on a high.

--taken from: Exclaim!

Halifax indie pop pioneers join forces for TUNS at this week's Halifax Pop Explosion

Sloan, Super Friendz and Inbreds members make a compelling case for power pop at Marquee Ballroom on Friday

--taken from: LocalXpress

Matt Murphy (Super Friendz, Flashing Lights), Mike O'Neill (the Inbreds) and Chris Murphy (Sloan) bring their new trio, TUNS, to the Halifax Pop Explosion on Friday at the Marquee Ballroom. (Vanessa Heins photo)

by Stephen Cooke

How appropriate that Halifax Pop Explosion, the festival, should host the Nova Scotia debut of a trio formed by musicians who were part of the so-called Halifax pop explosion, the movement, of the early 1990s.

TUNS is the new entity formed by Sloan's Chris Murphy, Super Friendz and Flashing Lights co-founder Matt Murphy, and Mike O'Neill, whose band the Inbreds moved from Kingston to Halifax in the mid-1990s to get closer to the action.

Ironically, it was O'Neill who stayed, emerging as a gifted solo artist as well as a collaborator of Trailer Park Boys creator Mike Clattenburg, while the two (unrelated) Murphys put down roots in Toronto, but it'll be like old times when all three are onstage at the Marquee Ballroom on Friday night, with Partner, Monomyth and Century Egg.

"I'm kind of the new guy in the band, even though I've been around since '96 or whatever," chuckles O'Neill. "But those guys will talk at length, and I won't know when it's coming, where they fall down this hole about old places or bars or players.

"That's how the name came about. We were all trying to come up with one, and I think we out-clevered ourselves several times, with sheets of paper with all these names on them, and I could tell these guys wanted something that referred to Halifax. Maybe they're a bit homesick or whatever, but they needed something that referred to Halifax.

"At some point I said, 'How about I start bringing things that refer to Oshawa? Sunset Heights!' But no one was listening to me."

The name TUNS is a reference to the institution formerly known as the Technical University of Nova Scotia, the Barrington Street campus eventually absorbed by Dalhousie University. Its student lounge the T Room featured at least one show by City Field, Matt Murphy's collaboration with Halifax musician and artist Mitchell Wiebe, and it's the sort of inside reference that only a Haligonian of a certain age would get.

Perhaps it's also indicative of the feat of engineering it takes to get Murphy, O'Neill and Murphy in the same place at the same time — Matt Murphy is also a busy producer for Vice Media — for writing, rehearsing and recording. As a result, TUNS' self-titled debut has a sense of urgency about it that crackles with life and the need to get everything done right the first time.

It helps they've been friends for so long. O'Neill notes the idea for the trio actually dates back to when the three murderecords mates shared rehearsal space in Halifax in the '90s, and hashed out a few tunes for the hell of it.

"I think the first song we made up at the time was based on the fact that the Sobeys on Queen Street was open all night," he recalls. "So the song's chorus was, 'I know you're open when it's late.'

"That's all I remember about it, and the fact Matt sang the chorus, but that was our first jam and Chris was on drums, and that was close to 20 years ago."

More recently, O'Neill found himself increasingly in Ontario for work and to visit his mother, and during one hangout with his transplanted pals, Chris Murphy suggested reviving the trio concept.

"He asked why don't we jam at Sloan's rehearsal space and see what happens," says O'Neill. "I don't think I felt any of the nervousness or pressure that I would have if we had done this in our 20s. It was just like, let's do it and keep expectations low.

"What ended up happening was, Chris's incredible archival instinct took over, and he was recording everything, with our permission, all of the ideas we had. We knew we were going to try and write songs, but he was the one who started to create this archive of ideas."

With Sloan between albums, and Matt Murphy in need of a musical creative outlet, things progressed quickly, with 50 or so riffs and melodies coming together. O'Neill again credits Chris Murphy's organizational skills with devising a rating system to determine which ideas had the most staying power with all three members.

"We just sort of voted for our favourites, and from that list, we narrowed it down to 16, and then the process of turning those riffs into songs began," he explains. "By that time, I was in Halifax and Chris and Matt were working together in Toronto, and I would send them the stuff I was working on from that list," says O'Neill, who calls the ensuing recording session "a most productive and pleasant process."

"We enlisted Ian McGettigan (Thrush Hermit, Camouflage Nights) and recorded what we had. I don't have to tell you how funny all those guys are, and we all love hanging out, so the whole recording process was a joy without — and I'm speaking for myself here — the insecurity of trying to prove yourself. Maybe that's the maturity talking; we've all been making music for years, Chris is still in the same band he was in in the '90s, and it felt more like a matter of keeping up with each other rather than trying to win arguments."

The self-titled TUNS album was recorded and mixed last year, and the trio planned to release it before Sloan was back on the tour treadmill this year with its One Chord to Another 20th anniversary project.

Things got pushed back to this summer, when the project was picked up by boutique label Royal Mountain Records, also home to Canadian indie favourites Alvvays and Hollerado, and remixed by the go-to production team of Gus Van Go and Werner F.

"So it turned into a super-busy time for Chris, because Sloan was out doing these stretches of One Chord to Another shows, and plus he's also a dad, so he's been running between both bands. But it's been super-fun, and we're also going out on tour with Young Rival soon, which I think is going to be a great bill," says O'Neill, who says he loves watching the Murphys' musicianship in action onstage, and blurring the lines between each others' songwriting skills.

"With one exception, where I'm singing words that Chris wrote, if one of us is singing, then that person wrote the lyrics, with the help of the other guys," he notes. "But in terms of songs and melodies, it was very much something that we arrived at together. So if I got credit for one of the songs, like I Can't Wait Forever, it may sound like a classic Mike O'Neill song, but I can't say who wrote what because there's a lot of Matt and Chris in there too.

"It's a novelty, it's so different when you feel like you have to point out what you've done. I'm more anxious to point out what the other guys have done, because I remember that more strongly."

--taken from: LocalXpress

“If you like The Beach Boys, you’ll probably like TUNS”

A trio with roots in Halifax’s time as centre of the music world.

--taken from: The Coast

by Morgan Mullin

The members of the pop-rock group TUNS were friends first, which is probably why their debut, self-titled record feels as familiar and tasty as a sonic slice of vanilla cake. Or, as Mike O'Neill says about the "vocally driven pop" the band makes, "Let's put it this way: If you like The Beach Boys, you'll probably like TUNS."

The mostly-Toronto-based three-piece ran in the same heady "next Seattle" circles in 1990s Halifax. Back then, O'Neill moved here from Ontario to join the scene with his band The Inbreds, and his TUNS bandmates are Chris Murphy of Sloan and Matt Murphy of The Super Friendz. O'Neill remembers feeling at home with the unrelated Murphys in '96, almost a decade before talk of doing an album together began.

"When you meet new people and you're like 'wow, I found people that are like me in another city,' you almost can't spend enough time with them," he recalls of that period. But a sense of loyalty to their own bands meant the jam sessions in those days never bore fruit.

That changed when circumstances drew O'Neill back to Ontario to visit, and back in touch with Chris Murphy. Monthly jam sessions began, and soon there were enough recordings on Murphy's phone to warrant an album.

Now, with a tour to back the LP and a headlining spot at the Pop Explosion, Exclaim! magazine bestowed the three-friend-jam-party "supergroup" status, a term that can get overused but here is nonetheless accurate.

"Of course we're thrilled. It sort of sounds like an all-star team," says O'Neill, laughing. "We just wanted to make a fun record together."

Singing, instrumental and writing duties were all evenly split, causing members to buck traditional designations like lead guitar or vocalist. The three are so in sync, their voices border on indistinguishable—to the point that O'Neill's mom could only guess who sings what songs. And she guessed wrong.

--taken from: The Coast

TUNS on stage at the Sportsmans in Charlottetown

--taken from: The Guardian

Back Alley Music presents TUNS featuring Chris Murphy (Sloan), Mike O'Neill (the Inbreds) and Matt Murphy (Superfriendz/Flashing Lights) at the Sportsmans Club in Charlottetown Thursday at 10 p.m., with special guest Liam Corcoran (Two Hours Traffic/the Love Junkies) opening the show.

Doors open at 9 p.m.

TUNS is a new band of equals, of collaborators, of experienced veterans who sound as exuberant as ever. It’s power pop with intricate melodies, electrifying rock ‘n’ roll written with a deep appreciation for song craft, states a press release.

--taken from: The Guardian

“From One Chord to Another,” Sloan Celebrates a Landmark at Daryl’s House

--taken from: NYS Music

by Mike Kohli

Sloan has been at it for 25 years, but could easily have been a footnote in Canadian music history if not for their fortitude. Formed at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax in 1991, the alt-rock quartet has made a name for itself in its homeland, winning several East Coast Music Awards and a Juno Award for Best Alternative Album — 1996’s One Chord to Another. This album, however, almost never happened at all.

Sloan was signed to Geffen Records early on, as label executives rushed to find the next Nirvana. As part of a burgeoning Halifax music scene that included Eric’s Trip and Thrush Hermit, that saw a gold rush to the maritime province from the labels, Sloan was the band that survived.

The band’s first two albums Smeared and Twice Removed were released on Geffen in 1992 and 1994 respectively. After a dispute with the label over lack of promotion for Twice Removed,  the band took some time off, leading some to believe they had broken up. Sloan self-produced and self-released the follow-up to Twice Removed, One Chord to Another.  Sunday night, the band rolled into Daryl’s House Club in Pawling for an intimate rendering of that landmark album on its 20th anniversary of release.

Sloan has made its bones sharing writing duties, vocals and instruments among the band’s four original members: Chris Murphy, Jay Ferguson, Patrick Pentland and Andrew Scott. Power chords, hand claps and Beatle-esque harmonies are hallmarks of the Sloan sound.  All these elements were firmly in place for the intimate audience of hard core Sloan fans this night.

Make no mistake, this is not a simple pop band. To survive 25 years in the business requires more than just catchy songs. The lyrics from each of the members reveal a depth that belies the catchiness of the music.

Throughout the history of pop music, many of the most poignant songs have carried a sense of darkness. The Beatles exhibited this to the extreme in “Run For Your Life” from the Rubber Soul album.  And while Sloan has never intro’ed a song as bluntly as John Lennon did with,”I’d rather see you dead little girl than to be with another man,” a quick glance at Sloan’s song titles bears this out: “Everything You’ve Done Wrong,” Nothing Left to Make Me Wanna Stay.”  Sloan has the songwriting chops to turn a subject such as unrequited love into dark poetry with a pop melody.

Daryl’s House Club is an offshoot of Philly Soul legend and half of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame duo Hall and Oates, Daryl Hall’s popular internet, now MTV Live show, Live From Daryl’s House. Hall opened the club in Pawling in 2014 as a venue to feature intimate gigs similar to those seen on his show. Tickets are sold as reserved seating or standing tickets and all reserved seats are at tables, allowing patrons to enjoy a meal and some drinks prior to and during a performance. The main performance space has room for a couple of hundred patrons. Wait staff meander in and out of the seated areas, taking orders and delivering dishes. It makes for a a dinner theater type atmosphere that doesn’t much allow for audience participation during a show, especially one for a band with such uptempo music.

This tour is a celebration of the band’s watershed moment. They’re playing the One Chord album in its entirety during the first set of each show. However, the music they were celebrating almost seemed like an afterthought as patrons ate their dinner during the performance.  Murphy commented on this fact a couple of times during the set, “Finish chewing your food and sing along with us on this one,” he said, introducing “G Turns to D.”

Despite the limitations on audience participation, though with many in the crowd being in their late 30s/early 40s, there may not have been a whole lot of physical participation anyway. The band rallied through the album in its entirety. The participation in the chugging “G Turns to D” included many hand claps and singing along from those in attendance. A smooth transition into the Beatles, by way of Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys, “A Side Wins” had fans swaying in their seats.

The set concluded with “400 Metres,” a song that wouldn’t be out of place on a Pavement album with its speak-talk lyrics. The hypnotizing keyboard presence mixed with Pentland’s guitar ended the set with a chill vibe reminiscent a late night ’70s FM radio show.

“Coax Me,” opened the second set, encouraging the devoted to sing along. This opened the doors to a rousing second set featuring many of Sloan’s greatest hits, including what is probably its best known song, “Money City Maniacs” as well as “Losing California,” a song requested all night long by some of the more boisterous fans in attendance.

The band seamlessly traded instruments and vocals throughout the night. Murphy stepped behind Scott’s sparse drum kit while Scott grabbed a guitar and sang and Ferguson took up the bass several times. The formula of equals behind this band is what has kept it going for 25 years. All four members contribute to the whole. And while there’s a formula to the sound, Sloan is far from formulaic. Their songs echo past eras, yet remain uniquely their own.

Those in attendance on this night were the Sloan faithful in downstate New York. Some traveling great distances to see their cult heroes in the intimacy of Daryl’s House. They were treated to a special show from one of music’s hardest working bands.

In a more fair world, Sloan would be playing a sold out show at Madison Square Garden rather than a small downstate club in front of noshing patrons on a Sunday night in October. Somehow, you can’t help but wonder if Sloan prefers it this way though.

Sloan’s One Chord to Another 20th Anniversary Tour continues throughout the U.S. in November, finishing with a show in Buffalo at the Iron Works Nov. 19.

--taken from: NYS Music

Big Winter Classic returning in 2017 with more beer and bands, including Tuns and Said the Whale

--taken from: Calgary Herald

Canadian pop supergroup Tuns are performing at the Big Winter Classic in 2017.

by Mike Bell

It’s bigger. And possibly, um, classic-ier? We could, though, do without the wintery-ier.

After a successful and rather mild-weathered 2016 event, the Big Winter Classic festival is set to return next January for four days of music, beer, beer and music at a time of the season when the city could use it most.

Organizers announced the first wave of acts participating in the event at a special, surprise concert held at the Wild Rose Taproom Thursday night featuring Big Classic alums The Wet Secrets along with The Velveteins, Ghost Factory, The Wells, and others.

Acts already booked for the Jan. 19 to 22 fest include: Canpop supergroup Tuns, featuring Sloan’s Chris Murphy, Matt Murphy of The Super Friendz and Mike O’Neill from the Inbreds; West Coast indie act Said the Whale; East Coast electronic crew Holy F—k; Northcote, the project of Vancouver Islander Matt Goud; and Edmontoner Lyle Bell’s two projects Whitey Houston as well as the returning Wet Secrets.

More big-name acts will be announced over the coming weeks.

“We just want to keep transforming it and obviously making it bigger, making people more aware of this celebration in winter — of Calgary and Alberta,” says talent director B.J. Downey, who watched it grow from a one-day, one-room event to this year’s three-days in two bars celebration.

“Calgary was very supportive (this year). Obviously the economy is dead in Alberta and we still pulled it off without a hitch, so time for another round.

“We’re going back at it and we have some bigger bands from all of the place.”

As a result, not only will the event be held this year, inside and outside of 11th Avenue neighbours Last Best Brewery and Broken City, but some of the bigger shows will also head several blocks north to the larger capacity Dickens Pub, which has come on as another venue.

Downey, though, notes that while bigger there also remains a certain intimacy to the fest.

“The good thing about Winter Classic is that you can see some of these bands still on the top patio of Broken City or the patio of Last Best where only 120 people can fit, when normally some of these bands are playing in front of 6-800 to 1,000 people. It’s going to be nice and intimate interactions with these performers.”

They also dipped back heavily into the local music well, with such homegrown talent as Miesha and the Spanks, The Wisers, Bad Animal, The Torchettes, Napoleon Skywalker, and KJ Jansen from Chixdiggit infamy among the “ridiculous amount” of acts.

“I think it’s the locals that really make this festival,” says Downey. “It’s a small festival, on the grand scheme of things, so to have a lot of Alberta bands, that’s like the muscle behind the machine.”

Of course, the other local muscle that drives the Big Winter Classic is the beer — and not of the Molson variety.

It is also a showcase of this region’s thriving craft brewery scene, with last year featuring band and special cask pairings from such area crafters and keggers as Wild Rose, Big Rock, Village, Tool Shed and Dandy Brewing Company.

This year’s participants have yet to be finalized, but with the growth that’s gone on in the industry, expect some more names, new names and new tastes to be added to the festival.

So, yes, expect it also to be beery-ier.

--taken from: Calgary Herald

Canada band Sloan averts disaster in San Diego

Singer Chris Murphy deems the evening "awesome" from the stage

--taken from: San Diego Reader

Sloan took a short intermission and then returned for what would be a gift of a second set.

by Dryw Keltz

In the 1990s, four Canadians known collectively as Sloan took their home country by storm with a collection of albums that fused the alternative nation with the paramount aspects of classic rock. The group never broke as big in the United States, so it’s likely only their hardcore devotees were even familiar with One Chord to Another — the 20-year-old album they were playing on this evening.

The band blasted out of the gates with album opener “The Good in Everyone,” a perfect song, one of the best “track ones” in existence. They proceeded to march through the rest of the album with “G Turns to D,” “The Lines You Amend,” and closer “400 Metres” being highlights.

The band took a short intermission and then returned for what would be a gift of a second set. They basically sprinkled crowd favorites (“Money City Maniacs,” “Losing California”) together with classic deeper cuts — such as the pristine Andrew Scott–penned “Sinking Ships” off their 1998 album Navy Blues. Another random inclusion was the AM radio on steroids “Don’t You Believe a Word” dug up from their 1999 album Between the Bridges. The band once again tapped into this album for the first song of their encore set, the majestic “The Marquee and the Moon.”

At one point singer/bassist/drummer (the band shuffles instruments onstage) Chris Murphy revealed to the crowd that while planning the tour they were advised not to play San Diego because it would be “a disaster.” An enthusiastic crowd seemed to prove the naysayers wrong, as he deemed the evening to be “awesome” from the stage.

--taken from: San Diego Reader

Rock favourites Sloan bring One Chord To Another tour to P.E.I.

--taken from: CBC News

Band celebrating 20th anniversary with East Coast tour, including Charlottetown stop Thursday

Rock group Sloan has long been a favourite East Coast act, and they even have an anniversary to celebrate on P.E.I. Thursday.

The group is playing a special show in Charlottetown to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of their hit album, One Chord To Another.

A staple of radio and video play, it featured the hits Everything You've Done Wrong, The Lines You Amend and The Good In Everyone.

It's always meant a lot to the band, as bass player Chris Murphy told Island Morning's Matt Rainnie.

"The story of this record is my favourite story of any of our records," he said. "First of all, it was our biggest commercial success, and it was done just with our own money. We spent about $8,000 doing it, and we sold, I dunno, 80,000 copies or something in Canada, maybe more now, that was kinda in the first year or two. That was as big as we got."

Almost last album

However, it was almost the group's swan song too, as they had decided to split up before it was done and out.

"When the record came out, we had broken up for real," Murphy explained. "We had decided we weren't going to do anything else, but we had a record label (their own murderecords), and we said, 'Well, let's do one sort of posthumous record, to put money into the label.'

"We didn't hate each other, we were just frustrated. We had been signed to Geffen Records in the States, which was big news and a big leg up for us, but the record we put out before, Twice Removed, which has since been lauded by critics, but it was a commercial flop."

The group felt let down by the big American label that had promised so much, and they no longer felt like they had a future.

Success revived group

But One Chord To Another made them stars in Canada instead, and brought them back from the ashes to become one of the country's longest-running and best-loved bands.

"We went through this process of becoming a band again," said Murphy. 'Let's make a record, oh we got a video grant, let's make a video. Let's play a couple of shows.' And then it was just gradual, and then a couple of months into it, 'What's going on here? Are we a band, or what's happening?'"

The group is playing a series of East Coast dates to mark the 20th anniversary of the album, and a trip to Charlottetown is always an important one for Murphy.

It turns out the famous Halifax musician isn't 100 per cent Nova Scotian after all.

"I was born in Charlottetown, and my grandparents lived at 201 Water St., and that's the house I lived in when I was a baby," said Murphy. "My dad's from Georgetown and my mom's from Charlottetown."

Murphy and Sloan will be playing the appropriately-named Murphy Community Centre in Charlottetown Thursday at 8:00 p.m. No relation, he said.

--taken from: CBC News