Name: Jay Ferguson
Plays: Mostly rhythm guitar and vocal but also everything else, especially piano.
Beatle: George
Style: 1970’s AM radio pop perfection
Mood: Quiet, friendly
Like George in the Beatles, Jay often appears to be the outsider in the band, the one who has the least to go with the other guys, he just kinda does his own thing, helps the guys out with parts and then sings his own stuff.
A gorgeous songwriter, sweet lovely voice and a perfect jangle jangle style of guitar playing. His piano work (and drumming) is also top notch.
The Songs:
I Can Feel It – a very young Jay, his first single, just a lovely song, tap your foot and smoke up and lay back. “don’t ignore me, cuz I can always make it louder, 3 is nothing out of 10”. His girlfriend at the time, singer for the Halifax band Jale sings with him here, those lyrics! “happy birthday to the best brother in the world… at least I’m still cool to girl”, THAT is how you do a vocal bridge!
The Lines You Amend – possibly Jay’s biggest hit, a standard at every live show, the Jay style should be clear after I Can Feel It and the start of this song, so lovely. the double-track vocals (enjoy with headphones!) is SO George Harrison, Chris takes over vocal at 1:09, something he often does in Jay songs, love it every time, HE EVEN REFERENCES THE BEATLES IN THIS ONE!
I Wanna Thank You – Jay’s love letter to the Sloan fans, the only Sloan song i can think of with cello, Jay piano! and he’s singing in his perfect range, yayyayyay, love holding back on the drums until a minute in, punch it Andrew! tempo change at 2 minutes is perfection, now things really start to swing, sugar sweet Jay, I love this one as all the background vocals are also him, he isn’t a huge fan of his own singing so usually asks the guys for help, I like him alone here.
You’ve Got A Lot On Your Mind – no one plays piano like Jay, so simple, so perfect, and again, Andrew’s drumming, he is insanely gifted, Chris called Andrew “the most musical drummer I have ever heard”. This is 60’s Byrds or Buffalo Springfiend all the way, that shift at 1 minute!
Stand By Me, Yeah – I could eat that opening chugachugachuga for lunch, sugarcube voice Jay, Chris walks the bass around again and Patrick helps on vocals, lovely. fuck this is a good song
Beverly Terrace – about as “rocking” as Jay gets, I can listen to this on repeat for an hour, Chris’s bass riff at :30!!! Andrew with the oo-oo’s in the background vocal, a foot stomper for sure, WAIT FOR IT WAIT FOR IT, WTF IS THAT AT 2:20!?!?! It’s Chris butting in and singing one of his songs, “Shadow of Love”, I LOVE THIS, Jay joins in and they close the song with a chunk of Chris’s song, and on “Shadow of Love” Jay’s lines from this song come in as well, fun!
A Bit Gone 