Ep. 51: The Openers

A/S/L? On this episode, we fall deep into the phenomenon that was 90s web superfandom with the one and only Alan Wong, alias SquirrelAl—webmaster of the legendary Sloan Hut. We wax nostalgic about Sloan Chat meetups, Pictures of the Week and forum escapades, as well as about friendships forged on the information superhighway that stand the test of time. To all Gen Zs and Alphas out there: you kinda had to be there.

We are back — and once again joined by Trenton, NJ based musician and Sloan superfan Aaron Pinto. In this sequel to last year’s Drum Challenge, Rob and Aaron attempt to correctly guess the Sloan song based on its isolated bass track. How many of the 20 songs up for speculation did you get right?

We dig into the Sloancast vault and uncover an entertaining conversation with artist and musician Brian Walsby about his newfound love for the GBOAT and his involvement as honorary merch-artist-in-residence. Join us down a rabbit hole of '80s punk bands, album cover cartoons, and just plain ol' good music.

Travis and Dave from the band Heron & Crane come back to Sloancast to dive into their experiences with the GBOAT's sophomore album and to discuss each of Twice Removed's tracks in detail with us.

We're (finally) back and we're finally addressing the elephant in the room. After four years, the time has come to discuss what many consider to be the band's greatest accomplishment: 1994's Twice Removed. As the album celebrates its 30th anniversary, we delve into what makes it a crucial part of where the band is today, and why critical acclaim might have come so late. Stay tuned for more episodes as the anniversary year rolls on!

This episode is a real haymaker: we had the pleasure of welcoming hitmaker Patrick Pentland back to Sloancast to discuss the band's goings-on in 2024, including the anticipated release of a Smeared reissue box set. Listen to Patrick go into depth about the band's salad days in 1992, 1993 and the slow march towards their second release, Twice Removed.

We welcome producer, record collector and legendary liner-note-writer Chris Trowbridge (aka Chico T. Sanchez) as we discuss the Halifax music scene of the early 90s and dive deep into the sentiment around the creation of One Chord to Another. Plus, we get the inside angle on his creation of OCTA's famous sleeve blurb.

Sloan's 12th studio album — 2018's aptly titled "12" — is an exercise in collaboration and Sloanocracy. After half a dozen years of ripening, we're joined by musician and power pop connoisseur Julian Muia to take a retrospective look at the album and discuss it's place within the GBOAT pantheon.

As a bookend to our "Openers" episode, we individually rank and discuss each of the closing tracks to Sloan's 13 studio albums and reveal the Sloancast community rankings as well. If it feels nearly impossible to rank these tracks, it's because it is.

What makes a great opening track? In this episode, we dig into the openers to each of the band's 13 studio album releases to date. Rob and Ken deliver their own rankings, and we also reveal the Sloancast community's ranking of these seminal tracks.