When Sloan stopped off in London during their last fall tour, they played a guest-gig at Alan McGee's Radio 4 club night. Alan was recently in Toronto promoting his new label Poptones, and again invited the band to be his "secret guests" at his show.
Here are several articles, about the Toronto gig:
NME.com: McGEE OUTED AS A SLOAN ARRANGER
"SLOAN, one of CANADA's top bands, made a surprise appearance at ALAN McGEE's RADIO4 club night, when he took his LONDON-based club to TORONTO this week.
The band performed new songs at the secret gig at the city's Bar Code, with a set of heavy, previously unheard material, which contrasted greatly with their Beatles-saturated past work.
Echoing his customary DJ set from the club's London roots, the former Creation boss introduced Coldplay-overdosed Toronto scenesters to a somewhat ironic DJ mix of AC/DC, dub reggae, Zodiac Mindwarp and Led Zeppelin.
Earlier, McGee discussed his recent efforts to give Radio4 more international exposure: "Really, it's just a toe in the water of North America, to see if people come out. It's really just a test," he told NME.COM.
"In London the night got famous because Liam [Gallagher], Courtney [Love], and everybody else had been down there. But it's not a media club now - 20 and 21-year-old kids, who love rock'n'roll, come and go fucking bananas. In Milan, 900 people showed up to see me and Innes from the Primals DJ. To be honest, if Primal Scream played Milan, I don't know whether they'd get 900 people out."
McGee's Radio4 tour continues on to Detroit and Los Angeles this weekend."
Canoe.ca (March 29, 2001): Sloan play live set for British record mogul
"Hats off to British record mogul Alan McGee, who had 300 of this city's jaded indie-rock intelligensia dancing -- just by spinning some of his favourite records -- at Barcode Tuesday night.
It was an undeniable kick to see the man who discovered Oasis grinning over the turntables while the crowd danced to New Order's Temptation, and Lee Perry, The Rolling Stones, Donna Summer, AC/DC and Joan Jett.
Some of the credit has to go to Sloan for turning in a natty "surprise" performance, though.
It's no secret that McGee's been interested in signing the band to his new Poptones imprint in the U.K. Sloan used his visit as an opportunity to unveil tunes from their forthcoming album, which included a surprisingly tight handful of rumbling rockers and power-pop numbers."
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