My friend Deke got me into this power pop band from Canada. Deke and Dave have introduced me to many Canadian artists that I hadn’t heard of before like Blue Rodeo, The Moist, Justin Bieber (Just Kidding Guys!), Tragically Hip, and more. It still puzzles me why some very successful Canadian bands in the 80s-90s didn’t translate in the US.
Sloan got its start in Halifax during the early ‘90s. The band played around the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to Toronto. They got their name from a pot-smoking musician they knew in Halifax. He worked in a restaurant as a busboy and used to be known as “the slow one.”
The band made their recording debut on the Halifax, Canada CD compilation “Hear & Now” with the song “Underwhelmed” before releasing their debut EP “Peppermint” in 1991 on their own label Murderecords. In 1992 Sloan signed with Geffen Records and released their full-length debut “Smeared”. The album had somewhat of a grunge style. They soon switched to power pop and they have some fantastic songs.
Hearing this band is encouraging for Power Pop. A few weeks ago I posted a song about The Beths and now Sloan who have new albums out. Their influences have been listed as The Beatles, Sonic Youth, Fleetwood Mac, and more. In this song, I hear a little Beatles and Who.
This song is on their new album called Steady released on October 21, 2022. It’s their 13th album to date. Guitarist Patrick Pentland wrote this song. There is a great review of this album here. I would recommend giving this power pop band a try.
Spend The Day
It’s not like living in your real worldIs better than my life on The Other SideI’m sick of wired and I’m tetheringAnd weathering somewhere out of my mind
Hide awaySpend the day in here with me a whileHide awaySpend the day in here with me a while
It’s not like every time your wide eyesLook at something that it’s full of liesYou’re gonna try and findThe who what why whereI refuse to recognize
Hide awaySpend the day in here with me a whileHide awaySpend the day in here with me a while
It’s not that living in your real worldIs better than my life on The Other SideI’m sick of wired and I’m tetheringAnd weathering somewhere out of my mind
Hide awaySpend the day in here with me a whileHide awaySpend the day in here with me a whileHide awayHide awaySpend the dayHide awayHide awayWith me a while
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
Thanks for the shout out and I’m glad you are digging these guys Max. I really like the fact that you picked a current tune from Sloan as these guys age like a fine wine as there still making great music!
They are currently touring in Canada and I’m hoping they come through town so I can buy this album direct from them. I will keep you posted if they announce any U.S dates…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Deke…I’ve listened to most of the album and to be honest…I couldn’t decide which one to pick…there are a lot of good songs on there. Please keep me udated….
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the fact that they each get 3-4 songs per record and keep it in house. Will keep u posted for sure
LikeLiked by 1 person
They do even it up nicely. When I read the reviews…they will say so and so is the George of the band…so and so is the John of the band lol…
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is pretty good, I could get to like this with a couple more spins. Definitely still sound like themselves, which is good. I see you’ve done ‘Coax Me’ and ‘the Good in Everyone’ before… two of my favorites by them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yea Dave….like I told Deke…I picked this one because I liked it but I could have picked any song I’ve heard off the new album. They have that crunch and they are catchy.
LikeLike
I ha e a bunch of their earlier stuff but haven’t checked it for years. This track sounds good though- I like the guitar tone on the solo.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yea I like that also….the album sounds really good.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, great solo, agreed.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Light and crisp, yet still lush.
LikeLiked by 2 people
This time Lisa says it for me; I’m starting to feel redundant!
LikeLiked by 2 people
oops, I’ll let you go first next time 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people