Unauthorized theme out now! “Did You Know It’s Bandcamp Friday?” by Sloan Brothers feat. Robert Schneider of The Apples In Stereo.

Conceived, written, recorded, released in two days, new tune states: “I’ve got promo costs to defray. Did you know it’s Bandcamp Friday?”
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Sloan Simpson as photographed by John Lee Matney

 
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Did you know it’s Bandcamp Friday?
 
Sloan Brothers (feat. Robert Schneider of The Apples In Stereo) has an unauthorized theme song to remind you about it!
 
Documented below, this bit of tongue-in-cheek advertising (sample lyric: “There are shipping costs to be paid, Did you know it’s Bandcamp Friday?”) went from idea to release over the course of the last couple of days.
 
[STREAM]: https://sloanbrothers.bandcamp.com/track/did-you-know-its-bandcamp-friday
 
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Received on the evening of Tues., March 29^th at 9:29 PM from Sloan Simpson of Sloan Brothers:
 
“This week is Bandcamp Friday. Any thoughts on anything to do other than a ‘we get the money if you buy today’ post?”
 
Received on the evening of Tues., March 29^th at 9:44 PM from Sloan Simpson of Sloan Brothers:
 
“Immediately after sending this I had an idea! I’m going to spend the evening recording a ‘jingle,’ I guess, called ‘Did You Know It’s Bandcamp Friday?’ It’s about a minute long, and Robert Schneider will track backing vocals on it tomorrow after work.”
 
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And now… it’s Bandcamp Friday!
 
System Update, the debut album by Sloan Brothers (available for pre-order at Bandcamp now!) arrives on May 13^th via Science Project Records

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Sloan Brothers includes Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers), David Barbe (Sugar), Carlton Owens (Cracker), Robert Schneider (Apples In Stereo).

“Love You So Good” single from debut by Georgia recordist Sloan Simpson is deeply personal tune for his Mom that brought his collaborators to tears. +++

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Sloan Brothers | “Love You So Good”
 

 

[VIDEO]: https://youtu.be/MG10wOxXUT4 
 
[STREAM]: https://fanatic.lnk.to/SloanBrothers-LoveYouSoGood
 
“My mother would say ‘love you so good’ rather than ‘love you so much,’” explains Sloan Simpson about the new Sloan Brothers single, streaming now via The Big Takeover. “Just as a family Southernism, and it stuck with me again after my sister (a progressive Baptist minister in Michigan) mentioned it in her eulogy at my mother’s funeral.”
 
Simpson continues, “I decided to consider the phrase part of my inheritance and built this song around it. All the singers on this choked up when recording their parts.”
 
Featured collaborators on “Love You So Good” include Patterson Hood and Jay Gonzalez (Drive-By Truckers), Robert Schneider (The Apples In Stereo), David Barbe (Sugar), and Carlton Walker Owens (Cracker).
 
In its premiere coverage of the Erica Strout-directed video for the song, Treble calls the track “infectiously fuzzy pop with a lot of warmth and sadness alike,” saying the video is “suitably psychedelic” and “both heartbreaking and richly accessible, a loving tribute to Simpson’s mother that’ll likely bring a tear to your eye.”
 
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Sloan Brothers
System Update
(Science Project Records)
May 13^th, 2022
  

Track Listing:
 
01. System Update
02. Cleopatra Echo (STREAM)
03. Cryin’ Shame
04. Anxiety
05. Songs Like This (STREAM)
06. Love You So Good (STREAM | VIDEO)
07. So Good (Reprise)
08. Amplified
09. Coffee Black
10. Into My Mind
11. Mirrorball
12. Smile Down On Me
 
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Sloan Brothers | “Songs Like This”
 

[STREAM]: https://fanatic.lnk.to/SloanBrothers-SongsLikeThis
 
“Punchy indie rock tunes with a touch of power pop... begs to be played on repeat.” — Glide Magazine
 
“The song finds Simpson showcasing his penchant for writing punchy indie rock tunes with a touch of power pop,” says Glide Magazine in its premiere coverage of the Sloan Brothers single “Songs Like This”. “With its bouncy synth and uptempo beat, the song is a fun romp that begs to be played on repeat. In true collaborative fashion, Simpson enlisted some of his favorite Athens musicians to join him on the tune, and the result feels both communal and celebratory.”
 
Simpson says, “I wrote this song after asking Andrew Rieger of Elf Power if he would sing on something, if I wrote one he liked. He agreed. At that point, it seemed like something that was a slight nod to the poppier side of Elephant 6 would be appropriate. Andrew sings the high part in the choruses. After recording basics, I realized it was perfect for Kevin Lane of local pop legends The Possibilities to sing in the verses with me and add some rhythm guitar. I’ve been friends with Bryan J. Howard of Cracker for nearly 20 years now, and he jumped in here on bass.”
 
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Sloan Brothers | About
 

Sloan Simpson has been recording for over two decades. Until now, none of the music has been his own.
 
This changes with the release of his debut album System Update (May 13^th, 2022, Science Project Records) under the name Sloan Brothers.
 
Though Sloan Simpson says that while making his debut album he was “listening to mainly The Cure,” the album’s opening one-two punch of the title track and the instrumental “Cleopatra Echo” feels like Daft Punk invited Herbie Hancock to form a trio jamming with The Grateful Dead during that band’s most spirited era of ever-evolving journeyman collaboration.
 
Wow, how did Simpson get here?!
 
The Athens, Georgia-based musician played rock and jazz guitar growing up, but was frustrated by the hit his talents took when a serious car accident sidelined him. Simpson sold all of his guitars and quit the instrument.
 
With music still in his blood, if not in his grasp, Simpson began to document, through live taping, the local scene in his new hometown of Atlanta, eventually relocating to nearby Athens after years spent driving between the two as part of his recording endeavors. His new hobby had become a good habit.
 
“I had a permanent recording setup installed and the reality of losing my favorite venue really set in when I had to go remove it,” Simpson says of The Caledonia Lounge, a nationally-recognized Athens club that closed in October of 2020, sidelining him again.
 
Like the life-changing event that inspired his recording career of recording others, the closing of the Caledonia was eerily fortuitous for Simpson. While live music was in shutdown, he wrote and recorded his first song.
 
“It was the first vocals I’d ever sung into a microphone,” Simpson says. With his friend, guitarist Kevin Sweeney contributing solos, the first Sloan Brothers single “For You” was released later that month.
 
Pleased with the experience, Simpson picked up a bass, more microphones, and drum software. Though he returned to guitar, he says that even without formal training, “playing keyboards is what allowed me to start writing songs.”
 
He also started calling up more friends.
 
Simpson explains, “I asked my friend Robert Schneider (co-founder of The Apples In Stereo and Elephant Six Recording Co.) if he would record backing vocals on the song “Into My Mind,” and he agreed. As I kept writing more songs, I would ask more friends I knew from recording shows over the years to contribute guest parts.”
 
In addition to Sweeney and Schneider, some three-dozen or more local luminaries also appear on System Update, including current and former members of Maserati, Olivia Tremor Control, Japancakes, of Montreal, Drive-By Truckers, Cracker, Casper & The Cookies, Camper Van Beethoven, Elf Power, and more.
 
In fact, it was Elf Power’s Andrew Rieger that inspired Simpson’s songwriting on the album’s first single, “Songs Like This.”
 
“I asked Andrew if he would sing on something if I wrote one he liked,” Simpson jokes. “Andrew sings the high part in the choruses and it was perfect for Kevin Lane of local pop legends The Possibilities to sing in the verses with me. I’ve been friends with Bryan J. Howard of Cracker for nearly 20 years now, and he jumped in on bass.”
 
The tune has one the most relatable indie rock crush-couplets you’ll ever hear and is a defining example of the quality of Simpson’s songwriting future.
 
“I saw you buying records and I saw you at the coffee shop
 
I didn’t hear your order but I bought the same record you got”
 
These words provide a mere glimpse into Simpson’s ability to explore emotion with the kind of candor that only comes from experience brought by age.
 
“I had long been avoiding expressing feelings as some sort of misguided version of the ‘cool’ that rock ‘n roll had taught me growing up,” he admits. “Once I lost family, I realized that it’s okay to express pain, trauma, and desires.”
 
After half a lifetime taking home tapes of the personal struggles of others in song, it’s about time that Simpson is giving us the same opportunity with his unexpected, thrilling work.
 
System Update, the debut album by Sloan Brothers arrives on May 13^th via Science Project Records, preceded by the singles “Songs Like This” (Feb. 11^th), “Love You So Good” (March 11^th), and “Anxiety” (April 15^th). Sloan Simpson is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.
 
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Sloan Brothers | Links
 
ASSETS : WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : BANDCAMP : SPOTIFY : APPLE : SCIENCE PROJECT RECORDS
 
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL