12- The Michigan Daily Summer Weekly -Wednesday, May 5,1993

Not your
By SCOTT STERLING
With such luminaries as Anne
Murray and April Wine as predeces-
sors, Halifax, Canada isn't exactlyno-
torious asahotbed for happening new
bands.ButSloan'sChrisMurphyseems
more than a little irritated when he's
askedwhatit'slikebeing theprovince's
first official hip indie rock "Thurston
Moore signing" for punk rock corpo-

everyday
rate raiders, DGC Records.
"I think our record is good enough
tonotbejustthis freakofnature Halifax
thing,"heemphasized."The Canadian
press often makes us out to be just a
novelty, since most bands that get
American deals are from Toronto."
Sloan's debut, "Smeared," is defi-
nitely good enough. It's chock full of
post-Teenage Fanclub (minus the bla-

Halifax, Canada indie band

tant Big Star obsession) sing-along,
guitar-saturated fuzzpop - think
Cheap Trick covering My Bloody Val-
entine with Don Fleming producing.
"When Iwas younger,Iwasheavily
intoCheapTrick,"Murphyconfessed.
"Ireally love bands like MBV as well,
but we're also into poprmusic, like the
Beach Boys and stuff."
While Sloan may appear to be the

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" All we want to be able
to do is put out good
records and go on the
roach To me, that's
hilariously successful"
Chris Murphy
Sloan
latest in a long line of indie bands all
jostling for position as the next Nir-
vana, Murphy is adamant to dismiss
these accusations.
"We don't put much stock in all
that,"he said. "All we wantito be able
to do is put out good records and goon
theroad. Tome, that'shilariouslysuc-
cessful. I mean, what else would you
need?"heasked. And these guys prac-
tice what they preach. While putting
together shows in Halifax, they spent
$2,000 recording the songs, which
became "Smeared."
"It was all done inthis guy's house

(Terry Pulliam). We made all the mu-
sicaldecisionsonourown,beforeDGC
was even in the picture. They basically
just bought those tapes from us."
Just after signing with Geffen
Records, they released the "Pepper-
mint"ep,ahandful of tunes from those
sessions.
"Geffen was taking solong,and we
wanted to be able to tour and bring
something with us to sell and stuff. So
we put out the ep on our own label,
Murderecords," Murphy related.
"We'reputting outarecordby aband
called Eric's Trip, friends of ours that
just signed to Sub Pop. We're hoping
to help out other bands in our area,
since A & R guys usually don't swing
through Halifax"
Embarking on theirfarst U.S. tour,
Murphy islooking forward to the final
frontier. "America's just so big,"
Murphy marveled. "But we can't wait
to hit all of the record stores and stuff,
catch some cool bands. Touring is like
a big vacation for us."
SLOANplays INDUSTRYin New
Pontiac tomorrow night. Call 334-
1999for more information.

6

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