Sloan (band) - Songwriting

Songwriting

All four members of Sloan write their own songs, and when they play live they switch instruments accordingly. Usually the band performs as follows: Murphy is on lead vocals and plays bass, Pentland is also on lead vocals and plays lead guitar, Ferguson plays rhythm guitar, and Scott plays drums. The most notable exception is when Scott picks up the guitar to play his songs; Ferguson and Murphy switch to bass and drums, respectively. Prior to 2006's Never Hear the End of It, Ferguson and Scott would also play electric piano on songs that called for it; unofficial 'fifth Sloan' Gregory Macdonald now handles all keyboard duties live.

While Murphy has written more of the band's songs than any of the other members, Pentland is nonetheless responsible for having written many of Sloan's most recognizable hits. Perhaps more noteworthy, however, is the fact that every member of the group has contributed at least two songs per album, with only the following exceptions: On 1992's debut LP, Smeared, Scott and Pentland are credited with just one song each, while on 2003's Action Pact, Scott has no songs, for according to Eye Weekly, that album's producer, Tom Rothrock, essentially randomly selected tracks out of the band's submissions in the interest of creating a more streamlined sound. Scott's songwriting output at that time may also have been somewhat diminished because he had recently become a father.