Unified for Now: Broken Social Scene's Brendan Canning

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE has never been about stability. In fact, it's always been the opposite. The band's lineup can change on any given day based on where it's playing and who's available.

Leslie Feist, Metric's Emily Hanes and Jason Collett are just a few former members. But don't confuse the word "former" with "ex." While none of those three are currently touring with the group, if you turn up to the right show, they could appear — it's part of the Toronto indie-rock band's collective spirit.

At the helm are Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew, who along with drummer Justin Peroff, are the only constants throughout the band's career. After 2005's self-titled album, Canning and Drew took a bit of a break from being a band, focusing instead on solo records. The albums, Drew's "Spirit If ..." and Canning's "Something for All of Us," were released in 2007 and 2008, respectively, under the name "Broken Social Scene Presents ..." Full BSS-backed tours followed and now the band is on the second leg supporting Canning's record.

Express talked to Canning about the band's current tour, the "Broken Social Scene Presents ..." series and the ups and downs of playing in a rotating collective.

» EXPRESS: A few years back there was the announcement that Broken Social Scene was taking a break, sort of. Did you guys just need a vacation from being part of a band?
» CANNING: It was mainly just done to satisfy a need and a desire both Kevin and I had because we don't have the same sort of freedom that some of the other members do by going off and playing with different bands and making different records.

Ultimately, a lot of our time is spent trying to figure out who's available for each date and worrying about who we can bring with us. It was a time for both of us to reflect more inward and be more selfish. Not think so much about schedules, try and make some music. Just have the final say without any sort of worry about who's going to be upset if you have the final say because it's your record.

» EXPRESS: Looking back now, are you pleased to have released both yours and Kevin's album's separately?
» CANNING: I think there's lots of, whether they're called Broken Social Scene tunes or not, there's a lot of great tunes on both records. I'm happy with the course it's taking; it's not your traditional route. This probably wasn't the greatest marketing strategy, to start out with a band and then have it splinter off into so many fashions that it confuses people, but it is what it is and we're not going to lie to ourselves and we can't lie to anyone else about what it is.

» EXPRESS: Back to the tour, what can fans expect this time around, is it a mix of both records, old stuff, some new ones?
» CANNING: Yep, we're playing — shit, we played for just under three hours in Omaha, Neb. I mean, keeping in mind that sometimes we take breaks and there's chit-chat in between songs, but our shows — I think by the time we reach Falls Church we'll settle into a tighter two-hour-and-change set.

We were out all summer but we were doing the festival run, so we're only four shows in on this tour. We've had so many days off; I'm calling this the Club Med tour. Normally, you don't get a lot of days off when you're on a tour bus.

We're just still finding the groove of the tour. In Minneapolis we really hit our strongest stride — it's just a good music city, not that Chicago isn't, but it was a really early show. It's hard to jack the crowd up at 8:30 p.m. It's a little easier to play — I guess it can go both ways, sometimes you can get a real crowd that's maybe too drunk and too chatty, but if you're going out at 11 p.m., you give them a chance to get loose a little bit. It helps, it's a rock 'n' roll show, after all, it's supposed to be a party.

» EXPRESS: In other recent interviews you've been saying there may be a new Broken Social Scene record soon, but maybe not. What's your thoughts on it today?
» CANNING: Right now it's just been a lot of talking about it. No one's committing to anything. This band has always been a sort of laisse fare sort of attitude — wherever the wind kind of takes us. You get different opportunities. Everyone is making music at the same time — it's not like I haven't been recording for the past four months and Kevin as well. Everyone is working on recording and different things.

We did do a day in Chicago. That might have helped get everyone a little excited about in the prospect of recording. Yeah, [we laid some tracks down]. Nothing more than a few initial ideas. You know, you got the day off, "Well let's go kill some time in the studio." Nothing more than that — just some ideas.

Some of the new tunes are floating around the set as well, we'll probably play a bunch of those or some of those. We do have a set list but at the halfway point of the show the set list could be tossed out the window. Wherever you're feeling like you need to be going in the set. You can easily read a crowd to see how they're reacting. You want to make it a party.

» EXPRESS: Is the "Presents" series going to continue?
» CANNING: Right now there's nothing pressing. At one point we were sitting on a bunch of stuff we had done for films like over the past few years and some score stuff that hadn't ever been released, or a lot of people hadn't have been able to hear. ... That was an idea we had, but I don't think that's going to happen right away.

» EXPRESS: The band is still very much a rotating collective, and always has been. Is it ever a drag to not have a stable lineup at any one time?
» CANNING: Well, this year we've really maintained a stable lineup, aside from one tour in Europe we did in May. ... The one tour that Andrew Kenny didn't do in Europe we had Evan Cranley and Amy Millan from Stars because Andrew leaves a bit of a gap when he's not there, so we need two people to replace him.

Sometimes it can be a drag, but Elizabeth Powell [of openers Land of Talk, which is also playing with BSS] had a sore throat and she couldn't sing in Omaha, so we had someone from another band come perform with us. She got a call at 8 p.m. and had never played with us.

We did a whole tour of Asia and we had a different singer each night. In Mexico City as well, different singers, different horn sections. We had a mariachi band in Mexico City. We do whatever it takes to make sure the show happens and that's it's interesting enough for the folks at home and interesting enough for us. Sometimes you're like, "Oh god, I have to show someone else how to sing this song." And right before, the moment before the vocals are going to come in, you sort of think, "I hope its good," and usually it works out.

» State Theatre, 220 N. Washington St., Falls Church; Wed., 8:30 p.m., $25; 703-237-0300. (East Falls Church)

Written by Express contributor Rudi Greenberg

Photos by Norman Wong