Sloan’s heart remains with

Bob Mackin

News Reporter SOMETIMES you have to look back before moving ahead.

Sloan has done both on its introspective new album Between the Bridges.

The band shows a musical maturity not evident on its pre- vious four studio albums. Perhaps the subject matter has something to do with it. Between ¢ Bridges is essential-

$y a concept album about leav- ing home, experiencing the real world and trying to come back home.

Guitarist Tay Ferguson, hassist/drummer/keyboardist Chris Murphy, guitanst Patrick Pentland and drummer/key- boardist Andrew Scott have gradually migrated from their ‘riative Halifex vo the band’s new base in Toronto. Because

~ of the move, some diehard fans accuse Sloan of selling out. They arc closer to the centre of ch. country’s music industry,

_ buc the move was precipitated amore by relations’

“stuck to a that we were going to stick it to Toronto and we were all about Halifax and the commu- nity there, but you get to be 30-ycars-old and the gang

. Starts partnering up with girls,” says bespectacled Murphy.

“None of us hold Toronto’

dear to cur hearts,” says Scott.

“Tt’s our temporary home for i0w." The title refers to the north :

ifax res

end of Halifax berween the McDonald and McKay Bridges, an arca of town where Murphy lived and the band recorded its third album One Chord to Another.

Says Scott: “Even if we did- n’t have this notion of a record that was all about growing up in Halifax and being detached, it would still be basically the same theme. All of our songs are about who we are and where we stand and where we come from. We don’t write songs about politics or the Nile, we pretty much stick to

“what we know.”

“The Nile?” asks Murphy.

“Yeah, like the Tea Party, the Nile is a big influence,” Scott replies.

“I fove the Atlantic Ocean,” Murphy says.

But seriously, Murphy says the band is at a turning point in its carcer. The four got together in their late teens, early 20s to pass time with gui- tars, bass and drums, not thinking i it would lead to a lucrative career of recording and touring.

“Now we have to invent what it means to be 30 and in your band, it’s kind of weird,”

y says. “It’s a pretty 3004 j job, but we don’t have a Blueprint. Anybody in Canada who's doing it, you really don’t have a mentor. We’re stuck in our own world.”

The band enjoyed initial success in Canada after the 1992 release of Smeared on DGC Records, which was

highlighted by the

SLOAN’s Andrew Scott (left), Chris Murphy, Jay Ferguson and Patrick Pentland have released their fifth stu dio album, Between The Bridges. it's a conceptual work about growing up in Halifax and leaving to pursue

“Underwhelmed?” single. It released another album on DGC, 1994's Tivice Removed but became disillusioned with the Hollyvvood music business- es and mulled breaking up. Instead, they retreated to Halifax and turned their own murderecords independent label into a going concern and emerged as a musical force to be reckoned with in the latter part of the decade with 1996's One Chord To Another. Sloan is still a rough sell in the U.S., buc has a strong fan base in .

“Excellent Five Star service with a strong

goal,’

Japan.

“We're really fortunate, we're in complete control of our destiny,” says Scott. “We're approaching it more as adults now than we were in our early 20s and quickly got signed to Geffen records and had big pipe dreams of what that might turn into. We learned a lot of lessons in the last cight

BS a Ba BPN,

One chord te another —

Stoan discography of CDs & Els:

Peppermint EP (1992 murderecords); Simecared (ag92 : DGC); Twice Remaved (1994 DGC); One Chord to Another (1996 murderecords); One Chord to Another + "The Party

Album" US releasc (1997 The Enclave); Navy Blues (1998

murderecords); Four Nights at the Palais Royale (1999 murderecords); Between the Bridges (1999 murderecords).

@ Official band Web site: sloan.a-d-n.com

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