INTERVIEW: Sloan
- John Davidson
One of the best kept musical secrets in North America is Sloan. While they win awards and enjoy great popularity in Canada, Sloan is relatively unknown in the United States. With 1998's superb Navy Blues, a live album this spring, and a new studio album later this year, Sloan keeps on coming with great music. Consumable Online's John Davidson interviewed Sloan's Chris Murphy at The Point in Atlanta, GA on February 4, 1999.
Consumable Online: Is Murder Records (the band's label) just the four of you?
Chris Murphy: Murder Records has gone through several stages. It started out with no aspirations, and then we had a couple of records out so we hired a guy to kind of run it. By the fourth record, it was really more about documenting the community. It's always been a hobby, it never really made money. Sloan made money, and that was also because we were getting advances from Geffen and then on our third record from The Enclave. Now we don't get advances from anyone, so it's a very Sloan-centric vehicle now. We can't afford to sign someone. We don't have a staff really, it's just a means of owning our masters. There's our live record coming out that will be our 39th release [for the label] but I think Sloan has been five of the last seven.
CO: So you're not going to do any releases by any other bands?
CM: Politically, I think it's impossible. Because we all own it again, it would mean that we'd have to get approval from everyone. So, if I have some sort of project I'm working on and we're trying to make inroads down here [in the United States], playing to a small club down here, "Why would we spend money on this project of yours when we could spend it on another hotel room?" Again, we're not hurting for money. We're in a peculiar economic situation because we live in Canada and we do well there but in the States it's a little less.
CO: Not as many stadium shows?
CM: No, but that's a fun dichotomy to live, though. It's enjoyable. I honest-to-God prefer to play this show as than any show we'll play in Canada, because in Canada we've crossed over to the degree where there's a lot of university students and casual listeners. In the States there's a little more rabid listeners. In Canada there's definitely rabid: we have almost a teeny-bopper thing to contend with, and here we don't. There's no moshing and all that stuff we have to deal with. We're almost interchangeable with Green Day or something in Canada. That's okay, because I like kids and we've cultivated an all-ages situation but it's also problematic because you get a lot of bozos. But, if we were playing in this club a nd we didn't have that money situation in Canada, I think we'd be really frustrated by now. You know, seven years later and we're still playing in a tiny club. We haven't had a huge opportunity to have a lot of momentum in America, the way we have in Canada. But, we played here four months ago and hopefully that will have paid off to let people come tonight. Then, if we make a new record and get down here quick I think we'll grow because we've only done it in fits and stops before.
CO: Where do you see the band five years from now? It's got to be a big effort to go all over Canada and all over the States.
CM: It's okay. Not being on a major allows us to go territory by territory. We've gone to Japan and worked out a deal with Universal. We're just carving up the world. We did a really good job over there. We just went over there in November. I'd like to see us grow in places other than just the States.
CO: And your records are improving with each time...
CM: I like our records, but we have fights. Like, is this the time we should use a producer or should we just do it again ourselves? Do people kind of like the homespun of our group? I think that that goes a little bit of a way. If we want to sell to more people, we probably want a little more of a radio-friendly sound. It's hard. It's a hard call.
CO: It's hard. Look at the Tragically Hip: sold loads in Canada but couldn't get arrested down here. Then you get somebody like the Barenaked Ladies who figure it out somehow and their dice rolls up right.
CM: Well, they worked really hard, and toured really hard. They definitely put on a really good live show. It's a total circus atmosphere, and they toured regionally like we're trying to do. But, we have a shorter battery. We can't stay out longer than three weeks without the band breaking up. Whereas, they're out for three weeks and they're already planning week four. Working radio, chasing radio and that's how you have to do it. I think you get really burned out that way. I think if we had done that we would have broken up by now. We'd like to keep the band together longer. A lot of groups make a load of cash, and then people turn their backs on them but they don't care because they made a million dollars. I think that our records are good, we're my own favorite band, and I think we're better than every other group, and people will just come around someday. We're in no rush, because again, we're in the Canadian situation where we make money. If all we had to rely on was gigs like these tonight, we'd be fucked. A lot of groups in the States that are good are fucked because they don't have a cash cow like we do. We're really lucky. We're fortunate.
CO: How many records do you sell in Canada? How many of Navy Blues?
CM: 80,000.
CO: And how many down here?
CM: 12,000, maybe. It's hard to tell because I'm going kind of by Sound Scan. When you sell that small of a number...well, it works for Mariah Carey but if it's small you can't tell because you sell them in Mom & Pop stores and there's no Sound Scan. There's no way of telling.
CO: Do you have a distribution deal for Murder here in the US?
CM: Yeah, it's with Proper Distribution. Who knows, in the States we might have a more elaborate situation someday, but it's fine the way it is now. One of the biggest thrills is to be able to go to Japan and work out whatever deal we want, or Australia. It's [_Navy Blues_] is on Murder Records in Australia. Again, that's not gonna amount to millions in sales, but it's nice.
CO: It's better than giving half of it away.
CM: Yeah. And over time, if someday some record comes out on a major we'll own all those old records. We don't own Twice Removed, but we own the rest of them. We own "Twice Removed" in Canada, but we don't own it internationally. If we had a huge radio hit, we'd be in trouble because then we'd be chasing radio and Andrew (the main drummer) would snap and quit because he doesn't want to tour too long. If you wanna chase radio, you gotta stay on the road. I personally could do it [chase radio]. I'd like to work two years straight and just do it and then get to a point where we can pick and choose. Our management is smart and everything has really worked out perfectly. Every failure has been turned into a positive thing. Where The Enclave shut down, we got money and we got our records back.
CO: When you're writing songs, do you feel like you have to create music that is "sellable"?
CM: It's funny because I had this song when I was a kid in my first band with Jay in '87. It was about that kind of thing, and being commercial. I don't mean to quote myself because it's obnoxious but you said almost the same thing. The words were, "You've painted yourself some pretty pictures and some were put out on display, and some you've decided wouldn't sell that well and all these have been hidden away." Again, I'd like to think that every record before this one has been, on my part, I'm trying to write singles and catchy songs. I do it for myself. I'm not like, "Well, fuck, I hate my own songs." I like my own songs, I think they're smart and good, but we have a song on this record called "Suppose We Close the Door," and it's obviously not going to be a hit. To me, that was almost hard to do because I had ten songs to choose from and Jay was really positive about that song. Yes, it was an album track, but it's nice to have your singles. Instead of having twelve attempts at a single, and three of them are good and the rest are kind of sub-par singles, have your single attempts and good album tracks. Even though I had songs that went into the garbage, I'll just bring them out again to piss them off.
CO: Do you have any sage advice?
CM: Sage advice? Make your own records and deliver them finished so no one can tell you what to do. Not just that, but so they know what they're getting, too.
