Sloan and the Capitol Years at the Black Cat

sloan
Originally uploaded by squidpants.

So Sloan came back to the Black Cat this week, along with Philly power-pop openers the Capitol Years. As usual, Sloan were loud, solid and fun, and the Capitol Years were good too. In case you don't know much about them, Sloan are four older Canadian dudes, maybe late 30s or early 40s, who play loud power-pop. They're big in their native land but are not very well-known here, which is too bad, because their records are good and they're always fun in concert. Apparently their "Twice Removed," their second CD (they have 8, plus a new greatest hits disc and a live one) was named the best Canadian CD ever by Chart! magazine, which I think is the Canadian equivalent of Rolling Stone, and they also just came out with that greatest hits CD, "A Sides Win." But like I said, they were very good as usual, playing a few songs from their very good new non-greatest hits CD, 2004's "Action Pact," and some other songs that I mostly recognized. They didn't play much from my favorite album, "Navy Blues," but that could have been because it has a lot of keyboards and there wasn't one at this show.

The crowd was smaller than last time, but despite the fewer Canadian flags and "Sloooo-oooooan" chants, (which I tried to start, probably pissing off some girls in front of me,) the crowd was still pretty energetic. The bass player and guitarist split the singing duties like they always do, but you can't really tell their voices apart. My roommate's theory (he also wrote a review, here) is that they must have grown up in the same 'hood, so that's why they sound the same, but I don't know if I buy that. They're all from Halifax, so I guess it's possible. But the bassist, who wears big glasses and is named Chris Murphy, is a really good showman, he makes a lot of funny faces while singing and playing and does high kicks with his bass. The band switches instruments from time to time as well and the songs sound pretty much sound the same no matter who is playing what, which always impresses me.

The Capitol Years were good too, sort of similar, hooky power-pop, and I enjoyed their set. I didn't know anything about them, except thinking they were from Ohio (which wasn't true, they're from Philly), but they wone me over and I went over afterwards and bought a CD. They were funny performers as well, especially when they all started talking to the crowd simultaneously so you couldn't understand anything they were saying. I'd never seen that before and it was pretty clever and funny. They also had their drummer lined up at the front of the stage with the guitarists and bassist, which was neat. The webistes of both bands are below, as well as a picture of the Capitol Years, holding guitars in different directions and generally jumping around.

Sloan
the Capitol Years

Both bands are on Myspace too: Sloan the Capitol Years