Spoke to Chris Murphy, singer and bass player for the Canadian rock band Sloan before he left out on tour in support of their new album ’12’. Released on April 6, 2018 on Murderecords/Yep Roc Records.
Sloan is one of those bands that I wish people in the U.S. knew more about. Their songs are so well written and can be so much fun to sing along with at the top of your lungs while you are driving in the car (Underwhelmed, Wish Upon A Satellite). There’s also the more serious and introspective songs (The Other Man, 44 Teenagers). Then there are just the damn good songs (500 Up, Pen Pals, If It Feels Good Do It, Spin Our Wheels).
Chris Murphy was upbeat and excited to talk about the band Sloan’s music, studio time and even talked a little bit about another Canadian rock legend, Moe Berg.
SoundVapors: Hi Chris, thanks for taking some time to talk about the new record and your upcoming tour. How’s it all feeling this time around?
Chris Murphy: I would describe everything as feeling good! I’m glad that we have a new record. We also have a few reissue records from the 90’s, which are the ones that people are most familiar with and in the big scheme of things I think our touring is probably a bit up from having done those reissues. We are enjoying people coming out to see us. And we’ve had a lot of people say nice things about the record.
SV: It’s a great album. It definitely sounds like a Sloan record but it doesn’t feel tired or like a retread. It sounds exciting and fresh but you can tell it’s a Sloan album.
CM: Yeah, I would say that we’re never really on the cutting edge of technology. I mean we make records on computers now whereas at one point we made them on tape. We are a pre-internet phenomenon. But I would say for the most part, most of our songs could go on any record. I wouldn’t say that a song on this record wouldn’t belong on the last record or the second record we did. Our first record is sort of anomalous in that it was the one that was sort of, of the time. But from thereafter we tried to make timeless records that could’ve come out in 1968, in 1980 or whenever.
SV: I think that shows up again here on ’12’. It’s interesting about the switch from analog record to digital. When did you guys make the switch and start recording digitally?
CM: The first record we would’ve made digitally would’ve been ‘Pretty Together’. Which I think may have suffered from a production standpoint because we were new to digital. It sounds clean, almost too clean. I think it’s still good and everything but that was sort of our growing pains with digital technology. But you know, there are two songs off of there that are two of our more popular songs so I guess we did well by it :laughs:
SV: It’s a great album. I remember buying it when it first came out, I think it was 2000 or 2001 and I was really into it.
CM: Yeah that was 2001. So we were analog in the 90’s and post Y2K we were digital!
SV: So along with the new album being digital were there any song writing techniques that changed? I noticed on the last album ‘Commonwealth’ that each member of the band had a side of material.
CM: Yeah the last record that we made, which was our eleventh album was this sprawling, two record set, where it was like each of us did a solo EP. Jay did a side, I did a side, Patrick did a side and Andrew did a side. So we were all kind of separated from each other. But now were sort of back to the compilation style of songs and trying to exploit our stylistic differences in fun ways. And it’s also more concise, it’s only about 35 minutes as opposed to a sprawling double record that contained an 18 minute song. And because we all write, we have a backlog of songs. So, the songs I picked for myself were the songs that the guys have sort of contributed to. From a songwriting point of view I would say that they were somewhat collaborative. So I had Patrick sing a verse on one of my songs, even though he didn’t offer me a verse on one of his songs :laughing:
SV: Yeah I heard you on ’44 Teenagers’, you sing a verse, right?
CM: Oh yeah, I’m all over that. Musically, that’s Andrews brain, all those crazy musical things.
SV: It’s a great song both musically and lyrically. It’s one of those songs that if you have to take a long drive that’s a great song to put on repeat and just go. It’s got such a great feel.
CM: You put 44 Teenagers on repeat??
SV: Yessir.
CM: Oh man, listen, I’m happy to be talking to someone who gets it. I mean that’s as about as far out as we get and if you get that then maybe, if you are someone that appreciates that then maybe you would find the new record we did too simplistic. Because it’s all a lot more simple than that.
SV: Maybe more simple than ’44 Teenagers’, but your harmonies are anything but, on the whole album. It’s one of those things, I can’t help myself when I hear great harmonies and the work that goes into getting those right. I love it. I makes my brain work, in a good way. And really, if you are a fan, I don’t see how you wouldn’t be into this record.
CM: Well I appreciate you saying that, and I wish you had a powerful job :laughs: But things are good and we still have a career. We are on the tips of a lot of peoples tongues but we enjoy a cult following and we are able to play enough shows that we get to pay our bills and we are happy about it.
SV: Definitely. I wish you guys were able to break bigger here in the states but I’m sort of lucky being a boarder state I get to listen to some Canadian stations that play your songs and song by bands like The Pursuit of Happiness and See Spot Run. So way back when I heard ‘Underwhelmed’ on the radio for the first time and I was completely blown away. I called the radio station and asked the DJ what the song was. He told me and the next day I went to this store that used to be around and bought it!
CM: Which store was it?
SV: Harmony House. Do you remember those?
CM: Harmony House. Yes, I remember them.
SV: It was one of the best records I’ve ever bought. It’s a definite “start to finish” type of album.
CM: Well we make records for people like you that want to go deep into an album and still care about bands. We try to do what we’d want our favorite band to do. We come from an era where bands meant the world to us as kids.
SV: That’s inspiring.
SV: Did you guys record this at your studio? I guess I should ask, do you still have your studio?
CM: Yeah we have essentially what is an elaborate practice space that is surrounded by bands making noise all of the time. So if you isolate any of the tracks you are recording, often times you will hear a drum track in the background from people in the next room.
CM: All of our digital records have been made in the same room except for ‘Action Packed’ which was made in Los Angeles.
SV: Do you like spending time in the studio?
CM: Since we own our own space we tend to take too long in the studio. I always want to be done a lot quicker than we are. The hardest part is getting people to come in and meet up. Scheduling is really the hard part. We don’t really get to together and jam, it’s just not like that anymore.
SV: So how’s that work in terms of writing or recording process?
CM: All of us are capable of writing songs, so depending on when people show up, that sometimes depends on how much collaboration there will be. Often times each of us will all play our own rhythm guitar. Andrew plays most of the drums. I do play some of the drums. Patrick usually play both of his own guitar parts. Jay will play both of his guitar parts. Andrew will play both of his own guitar parts. Andrew also plays piano on his own songs. I usually play bass on all of the songs except maybe Andrews. I usually get guests to do guitar parts. Jay to play leads or Andrew. Patrick not as often. Although I had him play on some stuff on this record. And then I like to get everybody to sing as much as possible on everybody’s songs.
CM: To me, it’s as you say, it’s the harmonies that we’re selling and that I’m proud of the most. I think of The Beatles, they’re great instrumentalists but it’s their singing that sets them apart.
SV: That’s a pretty cool concept of everybody putting their own stamp and musical influence on these songs. That reminds me of another project you are working on. The Trans-Canada Highwaymen. Another group of artists that play multiple instruments. You have yourself, Moe Berg from The Pursuit of Happiness, Steven Page formerly of The Barenaked Ladies and Craig Northey from The Odds. How did all of that come about?
CM: We’re all friends. I didn’t see Steven that much even thought I’ve known him since 1990. I’d see Moe around all the time and I’ve become good friends with Craig Northey in the last ten years. So Craig plays a lot with Steven so we just talked about the idea of doing a show where we all kind of bring in four songs. And that we would do a lot more interacting and joking around on stage. I think that Steven enjoys it becasue he’s a solo artist now and he’s from the world of bands and I think he likes hanging around with guys. And with Moe, TPOH, have played a few shows but wasn’t really that active so I think he was happy to come up and play his songs. With Moe, I’m a fan and songs like ‘I’m An Adult Now’ are classics and when I get to sing on them with Moe, it’s pretty fun. He’s enough older than me that he was on TV and he’s always been sort of this legend and now we’re friends and playing these songs I’m sort of playing them and watching the show. It’s been really fun for me.
SV: Any plans for the Highwaymen to play in America or record an album?
CM: I would love to get that going but we don’t have any shows on the books. Sloan is really busy right now and booked into September so maybe end of the year or into next year we can get that going.
SV: Looking forward to it.
SV: Well thanks so much for taking some time out today to talk with me. And good luck on the tour. I look forward to seeing you guys in concert.
CM: Thank you for the interview and talking about us. You seem like you are pretty versed in what we do, so thank you for your support.
SV: It’s totally my pleasure!
Sloan is:
Chris Murphy
Patrick Pentland
Jay Ferguson
Andrew Scott