Slowcoaster is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 indie rock

Indie rock

Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...

 band from Sydney, Nova Scotia

Sydney, Nova Scotia

Sydney is a Canadian urban community in the province of Nova Scotia. It is situated on the east coast of Cape Breton Island and is administratively part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality....

.

The band's sound is essentially rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

-based, with strong influences of reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

, ska

Ska

Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...

, folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 and jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, combined with pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 hooks and improvisation

Musical improvisation

Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...

.

History

Slowcoaster was formed in November 1999 by guitarist Steven MacDougall, drummer Devon Strang, and bassist Mike LeLievre. To promote themselves, they founded their own management company, House of Rock, which has since become influential in promoting a number of acts from Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island

Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....

. The band performed locally and toured the Maritimes

Maritimes

The Maritime provinces, also called the Maritimes or the Canadian Maritimes, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. On the Atlantic coast, the Maritimes are a subregion of Atlantic Canada, which also includes the...

, releasing two EPs

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, Jody's Garden and Volume II. Slowcoaster added percussionist Darren Gallop to the lineup in 2002 and released Leaves, with Accidents & Excuses following in 2003.

The band began touring nationally and their debut album, Where Are They Going? was released in 2004. Steven MacDougall's song "Spanish Bay" placed second in the 16th Annual National Songwriting Competition the same year. A video for the single "Patio" was released and saw national play on MuchMusic

MuchMusic

MuchMusic is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel owned by Bell Media. MuchMusic is dedicated to music-related programs, pop and youth culture.-History:...

.

Slowcoaster came to the forefront of the Maritime live music scene in 2005 and 2006, touring relentlessly and headlining at Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

's Evolve Festival

Evolve Festival

Evolve Festival is an annual music and cultural festival near Antigonish, dedicated to the promotion of sustainable living and environmental awareness. The festival uses renewable energy sources, recycled and biodegradable products and endeavours to limit solid waste...

 and Stan Rogers Folk Festival

Stan Rogers Folk Festival

The Stan Rogers Folk Festival, informally known as Stanfest, is an annual three-day music festival held in Canso, Nova Scotia.Established in 1997 in honour of the late Canadian folk singer and songwriter Stan Rogers, the festival bills itself as "an international festival of songwriters",...

, New Brunswick

New Brunswick

New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...

's Sunseekers ball music festival, the Canada Day Countdown

Canada Day Countdown

The Canada Day Countdown is an event first started in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada as a way to re-invent the celebration of Canada's National Holiday: July 1st . The Canada Day Countdown is a free music festival that takes place on June 30th at...

 and Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival

Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival

The Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival is an annual music festival held in downtown Fredericton, New Brunswick that features blues, jazz and world music....

, and Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

's Shoreline Festival. Slowcoaster won Music Nova Scotia's Alternative Group of the Year award in 2005, and an ECMA award for Alternative Recording of the Year in 2006. Drummer Devon Strang left the band at this time, with longtime collaborator Brian Talbot replacing him.

In 2007 the band released Future Radio. A video for the single "Leave" was released in early 2008.

The Darkest of Discos marks Slowcoaster’s fifth studio album, to be released in September 2010.

In August 2010, the band released a new single "War on War."

Albums

• Where Are They Going? – 2004
• Future Radio
  Future Radio (album)
  Future Radio is the fourth full-length studio album released by the band Slowcoaster in 2007.-Track listing:# Ex-Girlfriend# Leave# Drink the Water# Special Kind of Love# I Was Here# Eurotrash# Why Does This Happen?# Ten Birds# Three Reasons...
  
  – 2007
• The Darkest of Discos
  The Darkest of Discos (album)
  The Darkest of Discos is an album by Slowcoaster.-Track list:# Darkest of Discos# Fragilest Thing# B.Y.O. Life# Is This Stuff Working# Light Years# In Front Of The Speaker# Town On The Edge# Mexican Guitar# War on War# Vapor# Porno...
  
  – 2010

EPs

• Jody's Garden – 2000
• Volume II – 2001
• Leaves – 2002
• Accidents & Excuses – 2003

External links

• Slowcoaster official website
• Slowcoaster at Company House Records
• Slowcoaster on MapleMusic Recordings
  MapleMusic Recordings
  MapleMusic Recordings is a Toronto based record label.The MapleMusic Recordings label is a project of Canadian roots rock band Skydiggers and entrepreneur Grant Dexter...