Credit: Broken Social Scene

Toronto’s Broken Social Scene frightened fans the world over when vocalist Kevin Drew suggested they might be splitting up after their current tour. With their mammoth revolving line-up including many of Canada’s coolest musicians, Broken Social Scene have built an ardent collection of dedicated fans since they emerged in 1999. And now they’re gonna throw it all away?

Well, not quite. Daniel Robson caught up with founding member Brendan Canning to get the lowdown on the band’s upcoming rest, award nominations and being J Mascis’ backing band.

Brendan! You folks are having a ‘break’, right?
“Yeah, but there’s still lots of touring left before we do. We’re going to Fuji Rock this weekend, then doing an American run, Lollapalooza, and we go over to Europe and the UK, and then we go out again in the fall and do another three and a half weeks in America. So there’s still plenty of work to be done before we go taking a break. And then we just need to see where everything sits after that. We haven’t really had time to revamp the programme as it were. There wasn’t any break in between the last two records, not long enough of a break to see where everyone’s head’s at.”

Does it take its toll after a while?
“Yeah. The membership as it stands is a fluctuating thing, and as a result, people become attached to it and less attached to it for different reasons. We just hope that everyone still wants to make music. I mean, everyone does but they all have their own bands.”

It must feel strange to say ‘We’re gonna take a break – in a few months’.
“I know. When Kevin said that, people seemed all of a sudden to take special note, when really it’s just, ‘After we’ve done all that, we’re gonna take a little break,’ as simple as that. People think perhaps the band is in dire straights of breaking up or something. No one can say for sure what’s gonna happen in two months from now, with any group.”

Perhaps the problem is that ‘taking a break’ is generally the code word for ‘breaking up’.
“Right, the code word. Well, I don’t know about code words so much. I don’t know what other bands talk about cos I don’t read about other bands. I can’t remember what happened when Soundgarden broke up, you know? I think one day there were no more records. I don’t really remember when Jane’s Addiction or My Bloody Valentine broke up, there were just no more records coming out. I think that records will come out, and some will be by Broken Social Scene.”