Canadian rock legends Sloan have announced their 14th album, Based on the Best Seller, which will be out September 27 via Murderrecords / Yep Roc. It’s their first since 2022’s Steady and was co-produced by Ryan Haslett.
“It’s not a challenge to make a 14th album,” says guitarist Jay Ferguson. “But sometimes it’s a challenge to think of a new overarching theme for a 14th album (and The Kinks’ 14th album was Soap Opera, essentially a TV play and complete story arc set to music, so clearly Ray Davies didn’t have that problem). Our band has the capability to perform different styles within the rock/pop (or pop/rock) sphere, but it’s often hard to harness the group to adhere to one particular style or theme. That’s okay though. With four songwriters, we tend to make music that perhaps doesn’t always naturally hang together under one (opened) umbrella but that’s our style, and that style is continued on Based on the Best Seller. Nevertheless, whether it’s Chris harmonising on my songs, Patrick harmonising on Chris’ songs or Chris and our keyboardist Gregory vocally backing-up Andrew, I think those elements help tie together this (and previous) Sloan albums.”
The first single from the album is “Live Forever,” which is not an Oasis cover but a patented Sloan earworm by bassist Chris Murphy. “If given the chance to live forever, would we even want to? Careful what you wish for,” Chris says. “Would you want to feel 80 for hundreds of years? I guess that’s the kind of hard-hitting question this song tackles. It also predicts that we will all have ‘90s nostalgia – once we’re 100 years old.” Listen below.
Sloan have Canadian tour dates lined up through the summer and all are listed below.
Based on the Best Seller:
1. Capitol Cooler
2. Dream Destroyer
3. Open Your Umbrellas
4. Baxter
5. Congratulations
6. Live Forever
7. So Far Down
8. Fortune Teller
9. No Damn Fears
10. Collect Yourself
11. Here We Go Again
12. I Already Know
Sloan Tour Dates:
October 31 – Saint John, NB – Imperial Theatre
November 1 – Moncton, NB – Capitol Theatre
November 14 – Victoria, BC – Capital Ballroom
November 15 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
November 16 – Lake Country, BC – Creekside Theatre
November 17 – Vernon, BC – Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre
November 19 – Sherwood Park, AB – Festival Place Theatre
November 21 – Regina, SK – Casino Regina
November 22 – Saskatoon, SK – Amigos Cantina
November 24 – Brandon, MB – Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium
November 25 – Winnipeg, MB – Burton Cummings Theatre
November 28 – Lethbridge, AB – Owl Acoustic Lounge