Sloan

It confuses me slightly that, for a band that has been producing records for over a decade, I can still find very few friends that know of Sloan. I’m convinced that my particular cross-section is a skewed one indeed – after all, this is a band that has had almost yearly awards and nominations doled out in their name, courtesy of the East Coast Music Awards.

Last Thursday was my first Sloan concert, and, like the rest of the CMW festivities, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. A long-time Sloan fan, but only a recent adventurer into the deeper depths of the band’s back catalog, I found myself dwarfed by the other fans crowding the stage-front with me, mouthing lyrics and melodies with an eerie precision.

Yet, one of the best parts of the evening was just how well the fans enjoyed the evening’s two opening bands – Montreal’s Hexes & Ohs, and Will Currie and the Country French. While the two adopted a much different sound than the focus of the evening, those around me agreed that both bands were solid openers. While I was only able to catch the back half of Hexes & Ohs opening set, I could tell that the high-energy performance was even better than what I had witnessed at The Singing Lamb’s launch party.

Will Currie, meanwhile, was simply more fun than I had expected; the band’s excellent blend of piano-pop and catchy riffs actually managed to expand upon what is already an incredibly solid EP.

One thing that struck me in particular about Sloan was how much fun the band appears to have on stage; there were constant smiles all around, and an almost carefree execution from song to song. Opening with “Fading into Obscurity”, the band quickly moved into a thorough cross-section of hits, new and old, much to the delight of fans.

Meanwhile, fan favourites, like “Good in Everyone,” “People of the Sky,” “Other Man,” were littered amongst newer hits like “Cheap Champagne” and “Believe in Me”. One of Sloan’s greatest advantages is the fact that its members don’t quite take themselves all that seriously. Chris Murphy, Sloan’s main singer and bassist, made the most of every photo opportunity, posing and smiling for those snapping shots up front. Almost immediately after, Murphy changed gears entirely, embarking on a lighthearted and energetic temper-tantrum for “Not a Kid Anymore.”

If there’s one thing I have to give the members of Sloan credit for, it’s that everyone is involved in the creative process. This is a band that doesn’t simply limit themselves to their own instruments – in fact, there were about four points during show in which the band played musical chairs. The result gave the likes of Patrick Pentland, Jay Ferguson, and Andrew Scott the ability to perform their own songs and vocals as well.

The result was a selection of songs that drew from nearly every album in Sloan’s arsenal – including songs like Scott’s “I Hate My Generation” and Pentland’s “Money City Maniacs”.

There are often bands that you have to see live to fully understand, and I think last week convinced me of Sloan’s inclusion in this category. Don’t get me wrong, though – I’ve had Twice Removed and Navy Blues on constant repeat for the past week. Yet, there’s a very big difference between hearing the end result, and seeing a musical creation in progress.

The difference, you ask? I don’t think there’s an album that can properly emulate the amount of fun I had at last Thursday night’s concert. And I think you’d be hard pressed to find a band that recognizes this fact as much as Sloan.