Description

When attempting to provide an overview of a big story – one that encompasses both the myriad achievements of its subjects over a span of several decades and the impacts of those achievements – you can take two routes. There’s the “just the facts” approach, where you list off the people, places, and things that populate the tale, and then there’s another road that winds through the hows and whys behind the names and numbers. Looking at the story of Canadian indie rock institution Sloan, the temptation to look through both lenses is strong. For those who prefer the factual take, there are certainly enough noteworthy events and experiences peppered through the band’s over 30-year history to make for a good yarn. There are the various musical incarnations that flowered in the rather fertile indie music scene in the Halifax, Nova Scotia of the late 1980s and early 1990s that brought bassist and vocalist Chris Murphy, guitarists/vocalists Jay Ferguson and Patrick Pentland, and drummer/vocalist Andrew Scott together – bands such as The Deluxe Boys, Happy Co., No Damn Fears and Kearney Lake Road that anyone of a certain vintage who hails from the Canadian coastal city will recall fondly.