Jay Ferguson is the guitarist for Sloan, one of the most successful Canadian rock bands of the '90s. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Ferguson started Sloan in 1991 with Chris Murphy (bass & vocals), Patrick Pentland (guitar & vocals), and Andrew Scott (drums). All four members of Sloan write songs for the band and they often...More
Jay Ferguson is the guitarist for Sloan, one of the most successful Canadian rock bands of the '90s. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Ferguson started Sloan in 1991 with Chris Murphy (bass & vocals), Patrick Pentland (guitar & vocals), and Andrew Scott (drums). All four members of Sloan write songs for the band and they often change instruments during live shows.
Sloan released their first EP, the Peppermint EP, in 1991 on their own label, Murderecords. After being signed to Geffen imprint DGC and releasing their debut full-length, Smeared, in 1992, the band's second full-length, Twice Removed (Geffen, 1994) was not promoted by the label. Twice Removed was subsequently voted one of Spin Magazine's "Best Albums You Didn't Hear" in 1994 and was ranked as the top Canadian Album of All Time by a reader's poll in Chart! Magazine.
The band went back to releasing records through their own Murderecords, starting with 1996's One Chord to Another, an album which won a Juno Award for Best Alternative Album and was praised by US critics. Sloan released five additional studio albums, including their ninth full-length album, Parallel Play (Murderecords, 2008), which was nominated for a Juno Award for Best Rock Album. They also released a double live album, 4 Nights at the Palais Royale (Murderecords, 1999) and a digital EP, Hit & Run (Murderecords), in 2009.
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