Sloan lands at St. Andrew's

By Colin Bartos
Daily Arts Writer

Canada's never been a hotbed for musical talent, although our neighbors to the north have produced some winning bands. One band sticks out, though: a quirky pop quartet from Nova Scotia, named Sloan.

PREVIEW
	Sloan Sunday, April 20 St. Andrew's Hall Call Ticketmaster at (810) 645-6666

Jay Ferguson, Chris Murphy, Patrick Pendland and Andrew Scott have been together for six years now, making interesting records the whole way through. Sloan is a band that shares a lot with American indie bands like Sebadoh, in that each member is constantly playing a different instrument, and each member writes songs and sings on the records. This lends some unpredictability to Sloan's varied delivery, but it also provides for some fresh innovation.

The band is absolutely huge in Canada, but it has received little recognition in the United States outside of northern cities like Detroit. It's strange that the U.S. hasn't latched on to this melodic four-piece yet, but Ferguson has some ideas as to why the band has not achieved success yet Stateside.

"We started in Canada; we toured a lot in Canada; we haven't toured that much in the states. We get our videos played and we get more radio support in Canada, for sure. The states are huge - Canada is like one territory," Ferguson said in a telephone interview with The Michigan Daily. "We've gradually built in Canada and in the states it's been so stop-start. We'll just see - if it happens, it happens, and if it doesn't, it doesn't matter to us that much."

Sloan released its debut, "Smeared," on DGC in 1992. "Twice Removed," a great Brit-pop sounding record, followed in 1994. After the record came out, the band pretty much split up. Eventually, it patched things up and recorded "One Chord To Another" on its own murderecords label in Canada. The record hit Canada seven months ago, and it has been a big hit there, but was just released in late March in the U.S.

"The reason was, because when we put it out originally in Canada, we were just on our own schedule and we had no American deal," Ferguson said. "It was originally slated for release last September on Geffen and then at the last minute we thought ... let's forget it.

"If you release your record earlier in Canada, you can cover Canada, as far as touring and everything. Take care of it, and then when your record comes out in the states, then you're ready to work on the states," Ferguson added. "A staggered release kind of makes good sense."

While "Twice Removed" had been a definite studio effort, Sloan wanted to return to a more raw, live feel for "One Chord." "('Twice Removed') was recorded in a proper, really nice studio and everything - it came out good," Ferguson said. "But I think this time we wanted to try something different. Like this time around, the drums on this record sound a lot trashier than on 'Twice Removed,' but that's because we recorded them on a cassette. 'Twice Removed' didn't really do that well ... it was more like, well ... we've had such a gradual career that we haven't had to stick to one style."

Something "One Chord" reaffirms about the band is that it doesn't look to make the same record over and over. Where "Smeared" is noisy pop in the vein of My Bloody Valentine or Swervedriver, "Twice Removed" is majestically beautiful at times, and "One Chord To Another" is more experimental and '60s driven. "It's almost like we've set ourselves up now - we've made three sort of records that sound pretty different from each other. We can sort of do anything and it doesn't matter anymore," Ferguson said.

What will it take for the Sloan boys to reach success here in the United States? "I think we make good records and write better songs than most bands," said Ferguson. "A lot of it has to do with timing, promotion and being on MTV, and radio stations playing your records. I mean, if all those things happen, I think we can do alright." Maybe we should listen to the Canadians for once.

Sloan will play St. Andrew's on Sunday night.

04-18-97