Showing A Little Love For: Sloan

Hailed as Canada's answer to Nirvana and all things grunge, Sloan shot out of the underground in 1992 with their debut album Smeared which featured future classics "Underwhelmed", "500  Up", "I Am The Cancer" and more.  Fast forward two years and Sloan had moved away from the noisy, feedback drenched sound of their debut and had embraced a more classic pop sound (although the pop songs were always there on Smeared, they were just disguised a bit).  1994's Twice Removed is consistently hailed as a one of the best Canadian records of all time, and rightfully so.



My first memories of Sloan are a little hazy.  I moved to Europe in the fall of 1992 and wasn't aware of their meteoric rise on the Canadian music scene. When I returned to North American shores a few years later I was fully immersed in the burgeoning Britpop scene that was coming out of England.  Even still, I remember seeing the video for "Coax Me" and thinking it was a great song.  The same can be said for "People Of The Sky", with the half sung, half spoken vocal delivery of drummer Andrew Scott.  In a landscape of post-grunge, post-Nirvana clone bands, the songs really jumped out.

The follow-up to Twice Removed arrived in the form of 1996's One Chord To Another, a  contemporary throwback pop/rock record (does that make sense?).  It wasn't until early 1997 that I became a full fledged Sloan fan.  Something just clicked and I got it.



It was around this time that I became really interested in independent record labels and, to my delight, I discovered that Sloan had their own label, murderecords.  Originally created to release their debut EP, Peppermint in 1991, Sloan had resurrected the imprint after their subsequent split from DGC (who released Smeared and Twice Removed).

Another intriguing aspect of the band is that they're all songwriters.  Listening to their records for the first time is always interesting as you're never sure who's song is up next or which member will have the most songs on the record.  For the most part they divvy up the songs in equal parts, but there have been anomalies.  In concert, watching them switch instruments so every member has the opportunity to take centre stage is something to see.

Some of my favourite memories ever involve Sloan shows.  The first time I saw the band live was at Edgefest '98 (a huge outdoor travelling festival).  There was a signing tent where fans could line up and select bands would make appearances and meet and greet with fans.  Much to my dismay, Sloan were scheduled in the tent at the same time Foo Fighters were on stage.  Suffice it to say, the line wasn't moving as fast as I would have liked and I began screaming at the top of my lungs "Get out, get out, get out" along to the Foos tune "Alone + Easy Target".  Yes, I was that guy.  Everyone in line ahead of me does a one-eighty and I even managed to draw the attention of a couple of the Sloan guys.  Woops.



Then, in 2001, at Barrymore's in Ottawa, the band were touring in support of Pretty Together.  I'm standing watching The Dears (how awesome is that for a opening band?) and look to my left and there, standing right beside me, is Sloan drummer Andrew Scott, taking it all in.  Being the fan that I am, I figure I'll never get another chance to ask him a question again.  Now, everybody always thinks "If I could only ask so-and-so one question, it would be (insert question here)".  When, on a seconds notice, you find youself in that situation, sometimes the results are less than stellar, as was my choice.  The drummer for The Dears is tearing shit up on stage and I turn to Andrew and think I'm asking a pretty "cool" question, not the usual drivel.   "Hey Andrew, how's it goin'?  Question for you: in a drum battle between you and George, who do you think would win?".  Andrew raises an eyebrow and very matter-of-factly states "Are you watching this, he'd fucking kick my ass!".  Better luck next time, I guess.

Thanks for reading.