8 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, April 18, 1997 J;4 , .. a i 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 Sure Shot Contest Want to get back together with your old flame like John Cusack does in the comic hit "Grosse Pointe Blank?" Or do you just want to rekindle your currentflame? Then The Michigan Daily has the offer for you. Thanks to Zanzibar Restaurant and Hollywood Pictures, you could win the "Grosse Pointe Blank" Sure Shot Prize Package, which Includes dinnere for two at Zanzibar and special "GPB" goodies or win one of our consolation prizes from "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion." To enter, Just stop by the Daily Arts Office (420 Maynard) or Ulrich's Bookstore and fill out an entry blank before Monday, April 21at 5 p.m. Employees of The Michigan Daily, Zanzibar and Ulrich's are not eligible for the contest. Michael Arciniaga David Armstrong Brian Beal Jaydip Bhaumik Leonard Cassady 'Danny Chan Serhuei Chia Hans Chong James D'Antonio Christina Dellas Michael DePlonty Carolyn Dodge Aaron Duke Rohini Indiresan Mukund Jain Edwin Kokko In Alex Kun Stephanie LaCrosse Cherie Lacsamana Alfred Lee John Lehning III Guillermo Leon Michelle Liedtke Christopher Liu Keith Loop Ryan Lysne Elbert Man Roni Mansur Thomas May LaRuth McAfee Matthew Messina Andrea Messmer Susanne Milas Samuel Morris Kirit Nagda Michael Paczas Valliammai Palaniappan Swee Ting Pan Wendy Pan Melissa Patek Amber Ratliff Eric Richmond Alexander Rosaen Jayshri Sabarinathan Adam Szymczak Benjamin Sabo Ryan Schmidt Jeffrey Scramlin Scott Shaw Bryce Stacer Nathan Stott Likoon Tan Ryan Thompson Binh Tran Christoper Voight Matthew Wenger Jeffrey Williams Janice Yeung Christopher Yip 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.