  Andrew Whiteham, left, and Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene. (Mark O'Neill/QMI Agency) |
So is Toronto indie pop-rock collective Broken Social Scene’s much-anticipated disc, Forgiveness Rock Record, their last?
That doesn’t seem to be the case, according to two of the band’s more playful members — co-founder-guitarist-singer Brendan Canning and guitarist Andrew Whiteman — who fielded questions recently, leading up to the record’s release Tuesday.
The speculation about Forgiveness Rock Record being their swan song came via a newspaper report quoting BSS co-founder Kevin Drew saying as much during the band’s recent taping of At the Concert Hall in Toronto (airing on Bravo until Aug. 3).
“Anything to sell a few papers, eh love?” said Whiteman, in a mock British accent.
“We’re entertainers. And Kevin is the master of ceremonies. So let’s not get so precious about everything.”
Added Canning more definitively, “It’s not going to be the last record because we definitely have enough material to release another record. It’s just conjecture; it’s fluff.”
Moving on then.
What about the “forgiveness” part? Who is doing the forgiving? And who is being forgiven?
“The attitude is gratitude,” said Whiteman. “This is how I describe it — sympathetic magic. Basically, the more times that you get the word ‘forgiveness’ just being said quantitatively on a global scale, it will actually act on human events.”
“I think everybody should be doing the forgiving,” added Canning. “I think Forgiveness Rock Record, if anyone’s been to a Broken Social Scene show, sort of gets like you’re entering the Church of Broken Social Scene. Like any good rock ’n’ roll show, it’s all about hailing to the altar of rock and roll. We’re very much a self-help band. You know, Kev is up on stage doing his sort of Tony Robbins via John Tesh. It’s all the most basic of concepts. It’s just sort of try to do good by one another, and try to do something good by what you’re doing. It’s all basic life lessons; that’s all this band has ever really strived for, just to be human about the entire experience.”
In all seriousness — yes these two actually get serious for a minute — it was Drew’s desire to go outside Toronto to record parts of Forgiveness Rock Record. In this case they went to Chicago to work with Tortoise/The Sea and Cake drummer John McEntire as producer.
Whiteman said BSS had a gig in Chicago and stopped by McEntire’s studio and jammed and recorded just to see what the experience would be like.
“It was relaxing,” he said. “It was calming. It was like, ‘Whoa, what’s that?’ It was not like a recording experience we have ever had before. And Johnny’s very Zen about the whole thing. He wasn’t really involved in trying to force his ego; he’s not that guy at all. Johnny’s the Kurosawa samurai slumped in the corner who nobody notices until it’s his moment. He was very indulgent. He’s passionately detached.”
BSS additionally recorded at Giant Studio and Th’ Schvitz in Toronto with the entire experience taking about eight or ninth months. Sometime band members (Leslie) Feist, Emily Haines (Metric) and Amy Millan (Stars) also contributed vocals, along with special guests The Sea and Cake’s Sam Prekop and Pavement’s Spiral Stairs.
Canning said the hype that greeted the group just before its last album — 2005’s self-titled effort — was being released found them playing constant catch-up, but this time they feel ready for whatever comes their way.
“It just seems like things are in place a bit better than they have been before,” he said. “When we released You Forgot It in People (in 2002), it was a start-up company, essentially. ‘Okay, we’ve got this record, what’s going to happen? Well, Pitchfork has picked up on it. SXSW was a blinding success.’ Then you’re all of the sudden playing catch-up with the rest of the world. And then you’re trying to make the self-titled record but you’re still playing catch-up, trying to get the world to hear You Forgot It in People.
“So at this point, it feels like there’s a good forward momentum behind this from the get-go. What that’s going to translate to in the upcoming months, is anyone’s guess.”
One Canadian tour date set
Broken Social Scene began their latest world trek on Friday in San Francisco and have just one confirmed one Canadian date so far — June 19 on Toronto’s Olympic Island, with headliners Pavement. A North American tour is expected to happen in the fall.
They currently have eight touring members, although the group famously expands and contracts with each gig.
Along those lines, apparently, the band would love to play Toronto’s Air Canada Centre at some point in its large form.
“As far as playing the Air Canada Centre, yeah, we want to have 22 people in the band for real,” said BSS co-founder Brendan Canning.
“You want to come out and have the show and you want to have your backup singers and you want to have the horns. I mean if you can put on a show like that, it’s a great height to shoot for — whether it’s a hockey arena or an outdoor pavilion or wherever, you just try to rise up.”
