Sloan

Sloan

Sloan is a rock band that first performed in Halifax in the spring of 1991 with members Jay Ferguson (guitar/vocals), Chris Murphy (bass/vocals), Patrick Pentland (guitar/vocals) and Andrew Scott (drums/vocals). "Underwhelmed," the first single from the band's independent debut EP, Peppermint, struck a nerve with young Canadians and helped create a buzz that resulted in Halifax becoming a hotbed of activity for record company talent scouts and Sloan's signing with the Los Angeles-based DGC label in the summer of 1992. The resulting alternative-rock album, Smeared, was certified gold in Canada in 1995 for sales of more than 50 000 copies. Sloan's second album, 1994's Twice Removed, had a more classic pop sound than its predecessor but was plagued with disappointing sales due to lack of record company support. That didn't taint the views of Canadian music critics, however, who named it "Best Canadian Album of All Time" in 1995 and 2005 polls conducted by Chart magazine.

After numerous break-up rumours, Sloan returned in May 1996 with the Beatles-influenced One Chord to Another, which was certified gold later that year and won the Best Alternative Album JUNO for 1997. Sloan's 1998 gold-certified album, Navy Blues, was more influenced by heavier 1970s rock sounds, while its follow-up a year later, Between the Bridges, was the first to feature 3 songs by each of the group's 4 members. In between those 2 studio efforts, Sloan released 4 Nights at the Palais Royale, a 28-song double-CD containing tracks that spanned the band's entire career. Pretty Together was released in 2002 and earned the band its fifth and sixth Juno nominations (for Best Rock Album and Best Single for "If It Feels Good Do It"). Action Pact followed a year later. The group's impressive catalogue of singles was packaged together with 2 new songs in the 2005 compilation, A Sides Win: Singles 1992-2005. All 4 members contributed songs to 2006's Juno Award-nominated Never Hear the End of It, which crammed 30 songs (including the lead single "Who Taught You to Live Like That?") onto one CD. The 13-song Parallel Play was released in June 2008. The band members wrote songs separately and contributed 3 each (with Scott getting a fourth) to the record. "Believe in Me" was the first single. The Double Cross, the band's tenth album, was released in 2011.

In addition to its own music, Sloan has been responsible for the release of records by such groups as Jale, Eric's Trip, Hardship Post, Thrush Hermit, The Super Friendz and The Local Rabbits through its own Murderecords label, which was reopened to other artists in 2008 and issued new albums by Pony Da Look and Will Currie & The Country French.