And we had a bar called Ted's Wrecking Yard and we would do a lot of these shows where we'd say we'll never play the same song twice and-but it was fun. KEVIN DREW (Broken Social Scene): We put together this family and we started doing all these shows with whoever was in town would come and we would play. When those friends began building their own group, Drew borrowed talent from some of his city's best musical acts. He's been close to some of his band mates since childhood. Broken Social Scene co-founder Kevin Drew is part of that community. A lot of those musicians also play in an incestuous ring of bands that have shaped Toronto's thriving music scene. ![]() JOHNSON: The Broken Social Scene collective is made of more than a dozen artists who are always coming and going. FEIST: But then the rest of us come in, those doors that swing in and swing out, and then one of those old saloons need action, you know?īROKEN SOCIAL SCENE: (Singing). They're the ones with the sleeves rolled up and the garters around their-and they're dealing the blackjack hands and stuff. LESLIE FEIST (Broken Social Scene): There's the brothel upstairs, there's the booze behind the counter, and it's being run by-the proprietors are the guys in Broken that are holding down the fort. Band mate Leslie Feist describes Broken Social Scene like a saloon in an old Western. With a horn section, a violinist, two full drum kits and a designated conductor, Broken Social Scene doesn't quite fit the traditional rock band mold. Their latest CD is called simply "Broken Social Scene." NPR's Christopher Johnson reports. Since then, they've grown into an influential indie rock collective that's made three albums and done at least as many international tours. At the band's core are a few old friends who started Broken Social Scene four years ago. Their songs swell with sometimes more than 13 members playing orchestral rock 'n' roll. ![]() This article originally appeared in the July 22 issue of Billboard.Toronto band Broken Social Scene is proof that any group is only as powerful as the sum of its parts. “It still sounds like Broken Social Scene,” he says, “but a new version - nothing but fresh potential.” “There was an endless dialogue about the arrangement,” says the 47-year-old, “but once our producer, Joe Chiccarelli, encouraged me to try a reggae feel on the bass, the song turned around.” The result: a pileup of guitars, horns, piano, beats, a flute line and pop vocals that coalesces beautifully. “The drama remains contained in the songs.”īand co-founder Canning, who scored Paul Schrader’s 2013 erotic thriller The Canyons during the hiatus, points to the creation of the sprawling track “Stay Happy” as emblematic of the new album’s adventurousness. “Friction has been ironed out with time and age,” she says. I’m sure I didn’t go up uninvited, but it’s fairly informal.” For Hug of Thunder, Engle was asked to participate in the writing process, and has grown to understand the connections - and minor tensions - within the group. She joined Broken Social Scene’s 2010 tour to spend time with Whiteman, and says, “I’d hop for a song or two. The group’s newest addition is vocalist Engle, who also performs with her husband, BSS guitarist Andrew Whiteman, as the rock duo AroarA. “Some magical complementary tones emerge when we unify. “I love singing with other women,” she says, nodding to mainstays like Feist and Millan. As the singer of a quartet with three male members, Haines also appreciates the sisterhood within BSS. “It feels like we’ve come back to You Forgot It in People,” she asserts. The 43-year-old singer, who has released six studio albums as the leader of synth-rock group Metric, says that the mood within the current iteration of Broken Social Scene reminds her of the troupe’s early days. “I knew this was something that was going to get me to a better place, because I was going to be around people I love, doing something I love and, eventually, in front of people that I love - the audience.” “It wasn’t the greatest time when this thing needed to re-form, but it needed to re-form,” says Drew, who has released two solo LPs and co-produced The Tragically Hip’s 2016 album, Man Machine Poem. The de facto leader of Broken Social Scene, Drew says he was cautious about getting back in the studio with the collective while coping with anxiety issues. Broken Social Scene photographed June 24 at Arroyo Seco in Pasadena.
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