Sloan Speaks ‘One Chord To Another’

--taken from: Pollstar

This year marks the 20th anniversary of Sloan’s album “One Chord To Another.” The band is celebrating with a North American tour showcasing the LP in its entirety and a second set filled with hits and fan favorites.

The Canadian quartet is honoring its home country with several dates including stops in Quebec, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in between gigs on both U.S. coasts.

One Chord To Another is Sloan’s best-selling album and was awarded the Juno Award for Best Alternative Album in 1996. The Juno awards are Canada’s equivalent to the Grammys. Keeping the same lineup for a quarter century, Sloan features Patrick Pentland and Jay Ferguson on guitars, Chris Murphy keeping the groove on bass and Andrew Scott setting the tempo on drums.

Sloan’s music combines indie rock and pop with ’60s style riffs.

--taken from: Pollstar

If it storms don't do it: No Sloan at Hootenanny

--taken from: The Peterborough Examiner

by Jessica Nyznik

Rain and lightning meant an early end to the Hootenanny on Hunter Saturday night - and no performance by Canadian rock icons Sloan - but the outdoor event managed to beat the weather long enough for a lot of music fans.

Stumbling upon the Hootenanny on Hunter was a bit like déjà vu for a Campbellcroft couple Saturday.

Monique Coll-Cox and Rob Cox tried to park on Hunter St. last year when they came to the city for dinner, but the street was closed. So they wandered into the Hootenanny, ate dinner and danced in the street to live music.

Then this year, the same thing happened again when they tried to turn into Hunter St. to go for dinner.
But this time, Coll-Cox got her groove on first.

She handed off her purse to her husband and danced with no inhibitions to Jack Rabbit Slims, a Quentin Tarantino film soundtrack cover band. “My motto is dance like nobody is watching, so I do that,” Coll-Cox said.

While Cox and his wife just happened upon the Hootenanny for the second year, two Toronto residents made plans around it.

Barbara Marten and Betty Anne Butcher also discovered the event last year.

They were having a girls’ weekend at Marten’s cottage on Chemong Lake when they came across the festival.

And they had so much fun, they saved the date for their 2016 getaway.

“We enjoyed it last year so (we thought) let’s plan our girls weekend for Hootenanny weekend,” said Butcher.

The twosome arrived in time for Kate Suhr, who got through the majority of her set in dry weather.

“And then it started to pour,” said Butcher.

They waited out the rain at the mall, returning when the sun came out.

Though Toronto is filled with street festivals in the summer, Butcher said the Hootenanny has a different feel.

“It just feels a lot more welcoming. It’s more homey and safe,” she said.

Peterborough resident Lilli Fleming had plans to bring her daughters Charlotte, 5, and Gemma, 7, to the Hootenanny earlier Saturday, but the rain scared them off.

Heavy rain created a few snags for the event, with vendors packing it in early when it became too much and two bands were cancelled.

But as soon as the sun came out, the street slowly came to life and restaurant patios filled up for dinnertime.

That’s when Fleming and her girls made their way over from the west end.

“We love coming to the Hootenanny,” said Fleming, adding it’s the good food and music that brings them back.

While food vendor the Flying Chestnut had their attention for dinner, all music is dancing music for the Flemings.

“We love to dance with the kids,” she said.

NOTES: A new storm front later Saturday put the music on hold until the decision was made to shut down the stage. Rock band Sloan did not perform. The weather also led to an early end to the Musicfest show at Del Crary Park featuring Classic Albums Live’s Fleetwood Mac Rumours ... Sloan used Twitter to reveal that drummer Andrew Scott wasn't going to play Saturday night because of an injury, and would have been replaced by Taylor Knox for the show.

--taken from: The Peterborough Examiner

Canadian Musicians Cover Canadian Classics at Concert to Help At-Risk Youth Get Music Lessons

--taken from: SamaritanMag (read more here)

by Aaron Brophy

Over the years members of big name acts like Sloan, Blue Rodeo, Metric, Broken Social Scene and Barenaked Ladies have all taken to the Closer To The Heart stage. This year's event, Closer To The Heart's eighth edition, takes place Aug. 13 at Toronto's Hard Rock Cafe and will feature Sean Cullen (The Producers), David Diamond & Mr. Zero (The Kings), Stephen Stanley (ex-Lowest of the Low), Kevin Kane (Grapes of Wrath), Tara Slone (ex-Joydrop, co-host Rogers' Hometown Hockey), Justin Nozuka, Maranda Thomas (Lost & Found Music Studios TV show), Julian Taylor (Staggered Crossing) and Hill Kourkoutis (The Sky Heroes, Serena Ryder). Diego Antonio Fuentes Lopez is hosting. Tickets are $30.

Samaritanmag spoke to Closer To The Heart's producer Karen Pace about her favourite moments from past editions and what people can expect from this year's show.

The Regent Park School of Music runs after-school music lessons, heavily-subsidized, which means they pay about a dollar or two dollars per music lesson for at-risk kids in underprivileged neighbourhoods in Toronto. It started out in Regent Park for the Regent Park community, but it's been run so well and it's grown so much that they now have after-school music programs in Regent Park, Jane and Finch, Lawrence Heights, Parkdale, at-risk areas all over the city. Right now they have 1,400 students in the program and they want to raise that to 3,000. So the money that people like me can raise privately helps go to subsidize more kids being able to take music lessons.

How do you define an at-risk student?

Usually these neighbourhoods have a very high constitution of new Canadians, low income level, these are people who have come to Canada and are just starting out, just making their lives in Canada from countries all over the world. They start off with nothing when they get here so having music classes affords them with something they're not necessarily getting in schools. Because music programs have been cut, they're the first thing that gets cut from a school budget — music, the arts — these are programs they can't afford teachers for so they just don't have those programs in Toronto schools any more.

Who are some of the big names who've performed at Closer To The Heart over the years?

(Sloan's) Chris Murphy has played it, Emily Haines from Metric, Emm Gryner, Ron Hawkins, Esthero played in 2005 at the Hard Rock Cafe and she was covering a Platinum Blonde song, "Doesn't Really Matter," and someone heard about it before the gig and called (Platinum Blonde's) Mark Holmes and he showed up unannounced and jumped on stage for the second half of the song. She didn't know he was coming up. So it was a surprise. Nobody told her. It was fantastic.

--taken from: SamaritanMag (read more here)

Sloan: 'Modest success will keep your band together'

--taken from: Ottawa Citizen

by Lynn Saxberg

Canadian rockers Sloan are on the road this year celebrating the 20th anniversary of their landmark album, One Chord To Another. To gear up for the band’s gig in Ottawa at the Arboretum Festival next week, Postmedia’s Lynn Saxberg caught up with band member Jay Ferguson to reminisce about those heady times.

Q: What was going on around you when you made One Chord To Another?

A: One Chord to Another was a bit of a different album for us because we made our first two records for Geffen in the United States. Concurrent to while we were on Geffen, we had our own label on the East Coast called Murderrecords. We were releasing bands from the East Coast like Eric’s Trip, Jale, the Hardship Post, and eventually Super Friendz. When we left Geffen after our second album, we weren’t sure if we were going to continue, but we thought, ‘Let’s make one more record just so we have a Sloan record on Murderrecords.’ And it went on to become our most successful record.

Q: The Geffen deal was a huge thing for a Canadian band back then. What happened with that?

A: It was the end of ’94. We had released Twice Removed, our second record on Geffen Records. That record was a bit of a departure from the first record. Our first record, Smeared, was more of a noisy guitar, pop record. On the second record, the distorted guitars were gone and it was a little more melancholy. I think it had good variety. But it wasn’t the record Geffen thought they were going to get the second time around to build on what they had established with the first record. When they took it to the marketing department, they sort of shrugged and went, ‘We don’t know how to market this in the era of Hole and Smashing Pumpkins.’ They wanted us to change the record but we said ‘No, put it out as it is.’ They said okay, but we can’t guarantee this is going to do very well. And that’s exactly what happened. It didn’t do very well in the States.

Q: Then what?

A: It was a little bit frustrating by the end of that year. It did okay in Canada, but touring was difficult. We thought about stopping, and we told Geffen. They said they would let us out of the contract. When we decided we were going to continue, and make a record for our label, Murderrecords, we did offer it to Geffen, and they were going to put it out in the U.S. We kinda realized that it might just be the same kind of thing: Put it out as a favour and not do much work behind it. We decided let’s not go there again.

Q: Sounds like the band almost broke up. Did One Chord end up acting as a unifying factor?

A: I think a little bit. I think Patrick (Pentland) sometimes thought of Chris (Murphy) and I as the alt-gestapo, basically the gatekeepers of cool or something like that. I don’t know that I’d agree, but maybe he didn’t feel that he was writing the kind of songs he wanted to for our band. And on One Chord, he really came into his own. The first two singles, our most successful singles of the time, were from Patrick: The Good in Everyone and Everything You’ve Done Wrong. It felt like a boost and I think it brought our band together. And, meanwhile, Andrew (Scott) was still living in Toronto and recorded his two songs there. We didn’t know what to expect, but the two songs fit exactly with what we were doing in Halifax. So that was a nice unifying factor. And the fact that we released it on our own with more control was a unifying thing as well.


Q: And then it was the only Sloan music to win a Juno (so far).

A: (Laughs). It’s true. I think we’ve been nominated 11 or 12 times and we won one. I’m kinda glad we won back then because it’s a long, three dimensional isosceles triangle that looks really cool. The one they have now looks like an Oscar in a sarong or something. The vintage Juno is way cooler.

Q: The last Sloan studio album was 2014’s Commonwealth. Will you make another?

A: I don’t know what we’re going to do next. I would be interested in making another Sloan record. I have a lot of new songs on the go that I would contribute to a Sloan record. Or we could always do another reissue. I like the idea of hopscotching. A new album, a reissue tour, and then a new album. (We’re) stretching out our careers as far as we could go. Chris and I are also recording a couple of new, original Christmas songs this week. Maybe we’ll put them out for Christmas.

Q: The four of you have been together for almost 25 years. What keeps you on the same page?

A: I think there’s a lot of different reasons. Over the years, we split the money four ways and I think that helps keep your band together. And I think it’s because we’ve never been this million-dollar success. We’ve always had this even-keel, moderate success throughout our career. It’s never been so bad that it’s like ‘Omigosh I have to quit’ and it’s never been so massive that we can take a few years off. I think just not being extremely successful nor being an extreme failure has kept us working. You just sort of keep doing what you do and hopefully it catches on. And if not, you move on and you do a reissue or a new album or something like that. It’s just about pedalling the bike and keeping your small business running. Modest success will keep your band together.

Q: What it’s like on stage for you? Is the magic still there?

A: For me, yes. We sorta know what’s going to happen. We have the songs chosen, and we’re not really a jam band. But being on stage is the best part of the day when you’re on tour. Especially on this tour, with a lot of sold out shows. I love that moment of walking out on stage. When we start into The Good In Everyone, the total showbiz roar of the crowd is still the most addictive feeling that you could possibly have. Just feeling that warmth from your fan base. It sounds corny but it’s overwhelming at times. It really is a great feeling for people to come out to enjoy something that you created on your own and put out there, and it’s exciting that they still want to hear it 20 years later.

--taken from: Ottawa Citizen

Sappyfest another huge success

--taken from: Sackville Tribune-Post

by Katie Tower

An estimated crowd of about 1,000 flocked to Sackville over the weekend to take in the 11th annual indie music festival, which featured a diverse line-up of about 60 bands and artists that took to the stage and the street throughout the three-day event.

“It was just amazing,” said Lucas Hicks, executive director of the festival. “Everything went so great, probably the smoothest Sappyfest we’ve ever had. It was truly wonderful.”

Hicks said although the final numbers aren’t in, he expects attendance was down slightly from what was anticipated but the organizers were still pleased with the overall crowds at the various venues over the weekend.

He said the mainstage tent on Bridge Street was full every night, and the performances at the Vogue, the Legion and Thunder and Lightning were near sell-outs as well.

Hicks said the event’s success is a credit to “a lot of hard work from our team” but also acknowledged the support from the town of Sackville crews, who help with the set-up and clean-up as well as some of the logistical issues that come up over the weekend.

“Now that we’re back on Bridge Street, it seemed like everything just kind of fell into place,” he said. “So that kind of made it stress free . . .and it was a really nice vibe for everyone.”

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The weather also cooperated throughout the weekend, said Hicks, contributing to what he describes as a “flawless” event.

Sappyfest has become widely known as one of the must-attend music festivals of the summer and it livens up Sackville’s downtown with music of all genres for the long weekend.

This year’s schedule was jam packed, with highlights including TUNS, Julie Doiron and the Wooden Stars, Little Scream, Cakes Da Killa, She-Devils, Nap Eyes, Ought, By Divine Right, and Partner.

TUNS, said to be Halifax’s latest “supergroup,” includes Sloan's Chris Murphy on drums, Super Friendz/Flashing Lights' Matt Murphy on guitar and the Inbreds' Mike O'Neill on bass. They hit the stage on Friday night, performing a number of songs they had saved just for their triumphant East Coast return.

“They delivered and had a great time,” said Hicks.

American rapper Cakes Da Killa also blew the crowd away with his performance, but Hicks said it was actually the hip hop artist who was really bowled over by the welcoming atmosphere he experienced here.

Originally thinking he was traveling to New Brunswick, New Jersey for the weekend, the musician was surprised to learn he was headed to New Brunswick, Canada and even more surprised when organizers quickly arranged for him to be picked up at the Moncton airport and was offered such down-home hospitality.

--taken from: Sackville Tribune-Post