Keep on Thinkin'

If you know me at all, you know that whenever Sloan plays Boston, I'm there. And last night, the Toronto-by-way-of-Halifax rock machine rolled into TT the Bear's in Cambridge for some late night power pop excellence. Already tired from playing hockey Wednesday night and getting five hours of sleep afterward, I got to the tiny club a little after 9:30 to see Scarce on the recommendation of Mike Piantigini of ClickyClicky (check out his photos from the show). Scarce was a band I was unfamiliar with but which has an interesting history as an indie It-band out of Providence in the '90s that signed to a major but fizzled out after lead singer Chick Graning had a brain hemhorrage. They were pretty kick-ass, rocking a heavier Pixies sound. I definitely want to check out their old stuff.


Doobs and Karen showed up toward the end of Scarce's set and I hung out with them in the back of the club for Magneta Lane's set; they're an all-female trio out of Toronto who played competent rock, but they didn't really grab me. The three of us headed up closer to the stage to see Sloan. It was Karen's first time seeing the band in 10 years, when we saw them next door at the Middle East. She amazed me at the time by actually falling asleep on her feet, which before then I hadn't realized was possible. But she stayed awake last night.


Sloan's not touring behind a new album, but they do have a five-song digital EP, Hit and Run, that they're selling through their Internet home page. The title refers to bassist and singer Chris Murphy's recent mishap in which a car hit him while he was riding his bike; he broke his collarbone and was out of action for a few months. But he was in fine form last night, playing to the crowd, mugging for photos and rocking the bass and drums.

During the 85-minute set, the band played everything from the EP, which by the way is top notch and well worth the $4 cost. But they also dug into some songs I hadn't heard in years: "The N.S.," "Don't You Believe a Word" and "Friendship" from 1999's underrated Between the Bridges, "Keep on Thinkin'" from 1998's Navy Blues and "Autobiography" from 1997's One Chord to Another. Other standouts included Murphy's Beatlesque tour de force "Fading Into Obscurity" and Patrick Pentland's roaring guitar work all night long. Drummer Andrew Scott came up front to perform several of his compositions, including the rocking "Where Are You Now?" from the new EP and "The Great Wall," a gem from 2001's generally denigrated Pretty Together (which in retrospect is pretty good). Jay Ferguson sang a bunch of his 1970s-influenced tunes, including the classic "The Lines You Amend" and the killer new one "Midnight Mass."

Although it is truly a shame that this band isn't all over FM radio, it's great to see them still in top form coming through town. This was as good a performance as I've seen by the band, and I've probably seen them 15 times over the years. This band should be huge, but in a lot of ways I'm glad they're not.

Here's another classic tune they played last night: