Sloan Stay Strong After Twenty Years Thanks to 'Us-Against-the-World' Mentality

Posted on May 20th 2011 3:00PM by Lonny Knapp
Comments

Lisa Mark

After twenty years and ten albums, Sloan is to Canadian indie rock what maple syrup is to a lumberjack's pancakes.

After the band debuted tracks from its recently released album, 'The Double Cross,' on the CBC, Canada's national public radio, Spinner asked guitarist and vocalist Patrick Pentland if he was comfortable with his band's role as Canadian music icons.

"There are a lot of Canadian acts that came before us, Tragically Hip, the Guess Who, and Rush; there is a lot of competition," he says. "But if you slightly believe the press we get, it's not that farfetched. We've certainly participated in alternative rock in Canada for a long time."

Despite a patriotic admiration at home, Sloan never attained international success. It's not for lack of trying.

Back in the early '90's, when the rock media labeled Halifax, Nova Scotia, "the Seattle of the north," and pony-tail sporting A&R reps scoured the maritime city in search of the next Nirvana, Sloan was at the forefront of the so-called East Coast Pop Explosion.

That hype helped land a big-time American record deal, but Pentland says that he and bandmates Chris Murphy, Andrew Scott, and Jay Ferguson, never felt destined for international superstardom.

"We never believed that Halifax was going to be the next Seattle, and even though we were signed to the same label in the states, we didn't think we were going to blow up world-wide like Nirvana," Pentland says.

Tempered expectations served Sloan well. Over the band's long career a pattern has emerged: Sloan makes international headway, and then something goes awry.

Watch Sloan's Video for 'The Rest of My Life'
Sloan first signed with David Geffen's DGC Records in 1991. But when the label got behind Sloan's Sonic-Youth-meets-the-Beatles debut record, 'Smeared,' but failed to promote the more melodic follow up, 'Twice Removed,' the band found itself with out American representation.

That was not the last kick at the American soda can.

In 1997, Sloan signed with the short-lived EMI subsidiary the Enclave, but the fledgling label soon folded. Then, in 2003 Sloan signed with RCA only to have legendary label boss Clive Davis sideline the band's plans for American domination.

"When we were making the record, we had tons of support at the label. Then the president who supported us got let go, and Clive Davis came in, and he didn't get along with our A&R guy," Pentland explains." So there we were mixing this really expensive record, and we knew it was screwed even before it was released."

The band's latest 'The Double Cross' is released on Outside Music in Canada and has distribution with Yep Rock in the States, and their upcoming tour includes stops in Cleveland, New York, and Los Angeles, among other American markets. Pentland says Sloan is no longer concerned with "breaking" in the States, though.

In fact, he insists, that despite the media's insistence, Sloan enjoy a comparable career on both sides of the border. They've also done at solid job of picking up fans across the pond in the UK.

"Perception is skewed. We are not as big here, or as small there as people think," he says.

Watch Sloan XX 'The Double Cross' EPK
Like fellow Canuck acts the Tragically Hip and Blue Rodeo, Sloan enjoys commercial and critical success in Canada, but get less love south of the border. Somehow, this lack of international success only endears them to fans at home.

Sloan's contribution to alternative rock in Canada cannot be overstated. Few of Sloan's indie rock contemporaries are making records today; despite a sometimes-lukewarm response from the rest of the world, and even as the band celebrates it 20th anniversary, Canada's Fab Four remain relevant.

Pentland says that having something to prove to the rest of the world, keeps Sloan hungry.

"If we had an international hit early on, I don't think we'd be together,' he says. "The adversarial atmosphere has kept us together; it's an us-against-the-world thing."