8 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 18, 1997
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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.
Jay Ferguson, Chris Murphy, Patrick Pendland and Andrew
Scott have been together for six years now, making interest-
ing 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 dif-
ferent instrument, and each member
writes songs and sings on the records.-PR
This lends some unpredictability to
Sloan's varied delivery, but it also pro-
vides for some fresh innovation.
The band is absolutely huge in Canada,
but it has received little recognition in the Call Ticketm
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
Sloan lands at St. Andrews.
m
3S1
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 staggece
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."
E V I E W "('Twice Removed') was recorded.in a
proper, really nice studio and every-
Sloan thing - it came out good," Ferguson
Sunday, April 20 said. "But I think this time we wanted
St. Andrew's Hall to try something different. Like this
er at (810) 645-6666 time around, the drums on this record
sound a lot trashier than on Twice
Removed,' but that's because we recorded them on a cal
sette. 'Twice Removed' didn't really do that well ... it was
more like, well ... we've had such a gradual career tlatwe
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 majesti-
cally 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. V
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 tadio
stations playing your records. I mean, if all those things lip-
pen, I think we can do alright." Maybe we should listen to the
Canadians for once.
Sloan will play St. Andrew's on Sunday night.
Tau Beta Pi
Michigan Gamma
Tau Beta Pi, the National Engineering Honor Society, was founded to mark in a fitting
manner those who have conferred honor upon their Alma Mater by distinguished
scholarship and exemplary character as students in engineering, or by their attainments as
alumni in the field of engineering, and to foster a spirit of liberal culture in engineering
colleges.
We, the officers and faculty advisors of the Michigan Gamma Chapter of Tau Beta Pi, wish
to congratulate the following people who have achieved our high standards and have
successfully completed the initiation rituals, thereby becoming active members of Tau Beta
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i
WAYNE
Continued from Page 5
They changed the whole song around
and put in a 12-bar section so they
could do their little do-wop dance. 16
was surreal to me."'
Fortunately for Fountains of Wayne, a
band named after a garden-statuary store
in Wayne, N.J., its own success has been a
little less surreal, though no less momen-
tous, given its difficult beginnings:"I was
living in Boston and we had, the firsttine
around, made an album for an indepen-
dent label in New York;' Collingwood
explained. "They refused to put our
record out and tried to keep us fromnev
being able to record,. so we were invove
in a legal battle for three or four y6Ls At
the end of that, I moved down to New
York, knowing fully that we were going to
try and work together"
And work together they did.
Schlesinger and Collingwood joined
forces to make a self-titled debut' that
had them spending only one week writ-
ing the songs and one week recording
them for the album.
Recently, the band was on touropeAD
ing for The Smashing Pumpkins,'desite
the two bands' different souids.
According to Collingwood, this p enom-
enon was due primarily to Fountaiis of
Wayne's choice of record labels.
"Our record's on Scratchie Reeerds in
conjunction with Atlantic, and James ha)
and D'Arcy (of The Smashing Pumpkins)
are partners in Scratchie. I don't knewif I'd
do it again, but it was definitelya gocj
experience. Our first big tour."
The band's good time has proven its
worth, as now it has been invited to the
UK for several spring festivals that
should prove to draw an even larger
audience than its Smashing Pumpkins
dates. Until then, Fountains of Wayne
will be touring as headliners.
Fortunately for audiences, there will
most definitely be another album to chat
about in the future. For now though
Fountains of Wayne's bassist is only loo*
ing at the immediate future, including
Sunday night's show at St. Andrew's Hall.
"We're not thinking about the play-
offs right now," Collingwood said. "We
just want to go out there and give 110
percent. Win one game at a time, one
show at a time."
r
The University of Michigan
School of Music
Friday-Sunday, April 18-20
Musical Theatre
Brent Wagner, director
Ben Whiteley, conductor
Meredith Willson: The Music Manr
Power, 8 p.m. (Friday & Saturday); 2 p.m. (Sundays)
[Tickets $18 and $14; students $7] (313) 764-0450
Friday, April 18
Music Engineering Seminar Series
"Experimental Music for Improvisers and Electronic
Instruments" by Luc Houtcamp, The Netherlands
McIntosh Theatre, E. V. Moore Bldg., 8 p.m.
Guest Lecture/Presentation
Ronald Scherer, voice scientist
McIntosh Theatre, E. V. Moore Bldg., 3:30 p.m.
Black Arts Council Performance
Britton Recital Hall, E.V. Moore Bldg., 7 p.m.
Concert Band
Kevin Sedatole, conductor
" features music of David Maslanka
Hill Auditorium, 8 p.m.
Sunday, April 20
University Philharmonia Orchestra
Pier Calabria, conductor
Gordon Beeferman, piano (Concerto Competition winner)
R ahvel:Le Tnmheau de Counerin
ifL.