In June 1996, I was a wayward college student working at my first newspaper internship. I was in Toledo, and my searches for good music on Toledo radio were fruitless — until one day when, on the left of the dial, I discovered CIMX 89X, a Canadian station beaming all the finest sounds from Windsor, Ontario.
(89X has long since chosen to suck, so my musical taste shouldn’t be impugned by its current, Incubus-heavy lineup.)
The Canadian government requires all its television and radio stations to meet what it calls CanCon requirements. CanCon (“Canadian Content”) means stations must fill 35 percent of their airtime with native Canuck artists. For some stations, that means an overdose of Celine and Alanis; for others, more Gordon Lightfoot than you can shake the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald at. But in the mid-1990s, for an alt-rock station, it meant playing a ton of Halifax bands.
Halifax was the center of a burgeoning indie scene — a sort of reaction to the Seattle-y grunge sound. Lots of Beatles influences, the traditional Canadian embrace of slight quirkiness, and a strong belief in band democracy. That idea was exemplified by Sloan, the kings of the scene — the band’s four members each wrote and sang one quarter of their songs. With Sloan as benevolent dictators, other great bands started bubbling up: Thrush Hermit, Jale, Eric’s Trip, and the tremendous Super Friendz.
(I recommend the book Have Not Been the Same — the definitive history of modern Canadian indie rock — for those interested in further Halifax exposition.)
Anyway, on that summer day, driving on Monroe Street in Toledo, I heard Sloan’s The Good In Everyone. It was like eating raw sugar cane: pleasantly earthy, but sweet and addictive. I became a huge Sloan fan.
They’ve had a few missteps over the years (their last album was middling), but they’re always great live: bouncy, fun, funny, and invigorating.
Which brings me to my point, for the Dallasites in the hizzouse: Sloan is playing at Trees Thursday night. Tickets are $12.
Sloan hasn’t headlined a show in Dallas in years. Maybe ever — certainly not since ’99 or so. (In America, they’re only big in Canadian border cities — Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Minneapolis, etc.) A few years ago, I traded email with the band’s manager, pleading with them to roam southward. As bait, I even pointed out the existence of Sloaner, a Dallas band that plays only Sloan covers. But after years of delays, they’ve finally arrived. You should go to the show. I promise you’ll have a blast — they kick at least nine kinds of ass — and I want to make sure there’s a strong Dallas showing so the boys from Halifax come back soon.