by Joe Belanger
Pride is not a word Chris Murphy prefers on Canada Day. No, the bass player and vocalist from one of Canada’s most respected rock bands, Sloan, performing Sunday for free as part of the city’s downtown Sesquifest celebration, Murphy prefers another word. “Gratitude,” Murphy said.
“I feel people should feel more gratitude than pride,” he said. “The real heroes are few and far between in Canada. I think we’re extremely lucky to be born here or live here.”
Sesquifest continues Saturday with a full slate of activities, including London Symphonia, a dance, a choir and bands on the Trillium Stage from 1 p.m. until a Headphone Party begins at 10:30 p.m. where you’ll be given illuminated headphones on site to listen to a DJ duel.
On the Carolinian Stage, there will be multicultural performances from noon until 5 p.m., music from 6:30 p.m. with the Jack Richardson Orchestra and local singers perform from 8:30 p.m. until 11 p.m.
The orchestra, presented by the Jack Richardson London Music Awards, includes some of London’s finest musicians, vocalist and guitarist Tanya Lovell, guitarist and vocalist Doug Varty, lead guitarist Jim Nestor, drummer Fil Beorchia and saxophone great Noel Lesperance. Singers taking the stage include Scott Bollert, Casper & Kehmak, Alan Charlebois, Laura Gagnon, Sonja Gustafson, Sarina Haggarty, Brent Jones, Jenn Marino, Darla Stratton and Amanda Lynn Stubley.
“The band will blast through 24 Canadian hits from The Guess Who and The Tragically Hip to Jann Arden, from BTO to The Weekend and along with other Canadian hit compositions by Bryan Adams, k.d. Lang, Nelly Furtado and Michael Bublé,” said JRLMA’s Mario Circelli.
Sunday, Centennial ‘67 Day, the fun continues with a musical lineup that includes a variety of acts from Montreal, including the stilt drumming group, MaracaTall, on the Trillium stage, and, on the Carolinian stage, a line-up featuring London Multicultural Community Association at noon until 2 p.m., Howzat at 2:35 p.m., Texas King at 3:30 p.m., Kman & The 45s at 4:20 p.m., Julia Haggarty at 5:20 p.m., The American Rogues at 6:30 p.m., Carly Thomas at 7:30 p.m., The Weathered at 8:30 p.m. and Sloan at 9:30 p.m.
Sloan is a Canadian band that’s never quite got the international attention it deserved, but has maintained a strong Canadian following since they formed in 1991 in Halifax.
Since then, they’ve released 11 albums, two extended play albums, a live album and a greatest hits album and more than 30 singles.
They’ve received nine Juno award nominations, winning one for best alternative album for One Chord to Another.
Their second album, Twice Removed, released in 1994, has been heralded as one of the greatest Canadian albums of all time in various polls, including one in 2005 that placed the album at the top.
Twenty-five years after forming in Halifax (they’re now based in Toronto) the band includes the same line-up, Murphy on bass and vocals, Patrick Pentland on lead vocals and lead guitar, Jay Ferguson on rhythm guitar, Andrew Scott on drums and multi- instrumentalist Gregory Macdonald on keyboards since 2006.
“I love doing this,” said Murphy. “I have a fantastic life. We’re one of those bands who are beloved in Canada but didn’t really make it elsewhere. But there have been years where I’ve been home with 340 days off and I’m still able to make some money, although I’m not rolling in dough.”
Murphy said the band has managed to stay together for two specific reasons: “We encourage everyone in the band to write and contribute songs and we split the money evenly.
“We’re very lucky,” said Murphy. “We come from a place (Halifax) that supports the arts, but now with mortgages and kids (Murphy has two, seven and nine) we take less risks than we used to.”
Murphy said the band has been recording new material “but I don’t know when it’s going to come out.”
He said the London show will be loaded with “familiar” tunes from a songbook that includes such hits as Underwhelmed, Sugartune, Coax Me, People of the Sky, Everything You’ve Done Wrong, Money City Maniacs, Losing California and Unkind.
“A show like this we’ll play a lot of familiar tunes,” said Murphy. “We have the good fortune of having songs from a good body of work.”
--taken from: The London Free Press
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