Theoria

Sloan covering Eric’s Trip “Stove” and “Smother” [mp3]
Eric’s Trip covering Sloan’s “Laying Blame” [mp3]
And the originals of each (Eric’s Trip – “Stove” and “Blue Sky for Julie/Smother“; Sloan – “Laying Blame” [forthcoming - Thanks, Blythe - removed: some jackass, rather than downloading the file, is listening to it about a thousand times; I'm not paying for that.])
First, an apology: I promise not to do “Canadian” music for another couple of weeks after two weeks of “Canadian” music. In the early nineteen-nineties, the United States and, hence, the world, looked to Seattle for its inspiration: be it the mildly derivative post-classic rock of the early Pearl Jam, the nouveau shot-gun “punk” of Nirvana, or the “authentic” “grunge” of Mudhoney. (One should not forget, of course, the man with the deepest, most gawdawful voice in the history of music, Calvin Johnson – whom I’m told went to high school with my M.A. supervisor.) It is appropriate, then, that not only did Sub Pop “discover” Seattle – being located there, it was quite easy – but Sub Pop also “discovered” Halifax (if not the entire east coast of Canada).

In addition to the madness surrounded Seattle-based bands, record companies were also looking ahead, looking to find the next “scene,” as it were. David Geffen’s DGC company descended upon Halifax, signing Sloan in 1992, following the self-release of their Peppermint album. Not to be outdone, Sub Pop, in its first Canadian signings, also descended upon Canada’s east coast, first signing Eric’s Trip and then Jale and the Hardship Post. Insofar as the United States – and therefore the world – was concerned, nothing happened. Sloan wasn’t promoted by DGC in the United States, so they engineered means of escaping their contract. Eric’s Trip released a couple of albums and EPs on Sub Pop, as did Jale and the Hardship Post. None of them, of course, became the next Nirvana.

However, they survived in Canada – Eric’s Trip remained a band into the mid-nineties and then “re-united” a couple of times in the new century – while Sloan came back a few years later with their best album, “One Chord to Another,” and then produced a number of really shitty and forgettable albums (including songs used in beer commercials). Fortunately, they have finally returned to form this year with the release of their “White Album,” entitled “Never Hear the End of It.”

Being, at the time, the most successful “independent” bands in Canada, Sloan and Eric’s Trip covered a number of each other songs, including a seven inch for Dalhousie University radio station, CKDU. On this seven inch, one finds a strange cover of two Eric’s Trip songs by Sloan, “Stove/Smother,” which blends two rather disjunctive songs into one – the disjunction, one might note, being signalled by, on the one hand, the crappy drum machine on “Stove” (rumoured to have been promoted by the then Stinkin’ Rich, later named Buck 65, who was recording his first tape for release on Sloan’s Murderecords label) and, on the other hand, the over-the-top noise and distortion of “Smother.” Eric’s Trip, meanwhile, contributed a faithful cover – possibly better than the original – of the b-side “Laying Blame,” which was possibly Sloan’s best song of the period (released on the “Take It In” cd single in the UK and as a bonus track on the Japanese release of “Smeared”).

Both bands write what might be called pop songs, developing their own “unique” style. Sloan, on the one hand, drawing upon both arena rock and the best of the Beatles, while Eric’s Trip looks to lo-fi home recordings, Sonic Youth, and, perhaps, the remnants of punk.