Stand Back w/Second Line Parade, Roadside Scarecrow Thursday, June 28, 9pm The Carleton, 1685 Argyle Street $7 For the three members of Stand Back, songwriting is a team effort. “Generally, if we write the song, we’ll sing the lead. I guess classic Halifax rock, kind of Sloan style,” says Ben Matthews, bassist and vocalist for […]
Sloan
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ECMA30: Sloan
Sloan w/Adyn Townes, Walrus, Hello Delaware, The Town Heroes Thu May 3, 9:30pm, Marquee Ballroom, 2037 Gottingen Street, $25 Halifax is a university town, and universities love to fête their famous alumni. So it makes sense the ECMAs would invite Sloan, arguably the city’s most renowned musical export, to perform at Thursday night’s awards show and […]
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Sloan plays the Marquee May 3
Halifax’s favourite boy band Sloan—which Exclaim recently proclaimed better than The Beatles—will make your high-kicking East Coast Music Awards dreams come true with a show May 3 at the Marquee. Tickets are $25, go on sale today at 10am, and will get you onto both floors of the building, which has a stacked lineup of Adyn […]
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“If you like The Beach Boys, you’ll probably like TUNS”
TUNS w/Partner, Monomyth, Century Egg Friday, October 21, midnight The Marquee Ballroom, 2037 Gottingen Street $25 The members of the pop-rock group TUNS were friends first, which is probably why their debut, self-titled record feels as familiar and tasty as a sonic slice of vanilla cake. Or, as Mike O’Neill says about the “vocally driven pop” […]
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All 164 Sloan songs ranked worst to best
Sloan made me want to be in a band. From the first time I watched them on MuchMusic (“The Other Man”—still my favourite music video) to seeing them play Twice Removed at the Marquee, I was enamoured. During my Masters at Dalhousie, under the guidance of Dr. J (shout out to Jacqueline Warwick!) I examined […]
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AFF Review: Sloan at The Marquee
On Saturday night, Toronto-Halifax’s Sloan returned home to celebrate the 35th Atlantic Film Festival at a pass-holders special event at The Marquee Ballroom. There were also performances by The Brood, Rose Cousins and Buck 65 but I only made it for my Sloan dogs. Just after midnight, Sloan appeared and jumped right into “If It […]
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Retro vibes: the 2015 Atlantic Film Fest full program announced
The 35th Atlantic Film Festival announced the full program this morning at The Lord Nelson Hotel. There was cake, popcorn and coffee and I also met my childhood hero, CTV‘s Liz Rigney. Along with the earlier-announced Atlantic Canadian selections, AFF 2015 offers an exciting lineup of award-winning domestic and international features and shorts hitting Halifax theatres from […]
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Cinnamon Toast Crunch: Rebecca West plays ProSkates
This is a tale told a thousand times but just in case . . . Back in the early 1990s, with bands like Sloan, Plumtree, Thrush Hermit and jale, indie labels Cinnamon Toast Records and Murderecords, with Eric’s Trip just over in Moncton, a brand-new alt-weekly newspaper (ahem!) and a growing annual music festival, almost everyone thought Halifax was becoming “the next Seattle.” […]
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Sloan come home
With a 20-plus year career, Canadian indie rock heroes Sloan return for a hometown show at The Marquee March 7 to celebrate, Commonwealth, the band’s 11th studio album. “We’ve been around for so long we could have easily made another Sloan record where everyone contributes another one or two songs,” says Jay Ferguson. “We talked […]
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Sloan Do 20th Anniversary Tour, Skip Maritimes
Sloan is set to release its 10th album, Double Cross, on May 10th. The release also marks the 20th year that the band has been together (and holy hell do I feel old now.) The band has scheduled a North American tour to commemorate this auspicious event, but we’ve noticed that Maritime dates are conspicuously absent from the itinerary. Huh. I guess if you’re around any of these other cities during these dates, you can check them out – they will be playing hits from all 10 albums, and everyone loves hits, and whatnot. May 25 Cleveland OH at
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HPX spotlight: Sloan performs Twice Removed
It’s easy to forget, now, how long it took Sloan’s sophomore jinx-defying classic to find its audience. Before Napster—before Netscape version one, even—Sloan zigged when they were supposed to zag, and delivered the wrong record to their record-label masters. There was no World Wide Web to fall back on, no Plan B to end-run the […]
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Halifax Pop Explosion Initial Lineup Announced
The lineup for the Halifax Pop Explosion was announced yesterday and you can see it here. So what do you people think? People are pretty stoked for the Hold Steady. I am going a little nutso for The New Pornographers FEATURING NEKO FRIGGIN CASE myself. Early bird passes, alas, have sold out, but if you’re […]