George Ward
Freelance journalist and online editor for CLUNK. Can be found out and about in Bristol, finding cheap records or having a pint on King Street.
With their new album out today, we chat with Kevin Drew about the current state of Broken Social Scene, their friendships, and the industry
On Friday, Toronto indie rock collective Broken Social Scene will return with their first new album in nine years, ‘Remember The Humans’. Though a step forward for Broken Social Scene, this phase is also focused on looking back, with the band reuniting with David Newfeld, producer of 2002’s ‘You Forgot It In People’ and 2005’s self-titled record: a defining force in shaping the collective’s sound.
After the pandemic, Broken Social Scene slowly returned, celebrating the 20th anniversary of their classic album ‘You Forgot It In People’ a process that vocalist Kevin Drew describes as “being able to look back for the first time in (their) career.” To add to the nostalgia, close friend and filmmaker Stephen Chung released his documentary on the band ‘It’s All Gonna Break.’
“It changed my perspective on the band because I forgot all that we did together. You could see the love was there and you could see the intention was there and you could see it was all for the right reasons,” Kevin shares. As he grew older and inevitably faced the reality of losing friends and loved ones, he noticed a fear towards vulnerability. On their beginnings, he reminisces: “There was no fear back then towards vulnerability. In fact, vulnerability was part of our success.”
Having moved out of Toronto, Kevin Drew then found himself interested in how producer David Newfeld, who he affectionately calls ‘Newf,’ was doing, personally and creatively. Straightaway, the two of them were taken back to the band’s early days: “he seemed pretty jazzed about wanting to do it again.” And so began the slow creative process.
The band began to put down ideas sporadically over eight days, before Newfeld sorted through and picked ideas he liked. “What he was sending back was immediately warming my heart and making me smile,” Kevin tells me fondly, “‘Cause it reminded me of the production that was us when we first started together. I know when the guys heard it too, they thought, “okay, here we go.””
Before they knew it, old members got in touch, all feeling the creative urge to reunite. Leslie Feist reached out with a new song for the band, as did Lisa Lobsinger, who had found herself singing a song that she thought was written by Broken Social Scene before realising she had written it in her head. “It was interesting that once we were rolling, people started showing up. If you call them in, you gather the spirits. It was in full effect” Kevin explains.
Fittingly, the title of the new album is also both a look forward and a glance back. ‘Remember The Humans’ originated as a joke from Charles Spearin, who said it was the “AI title” of ‘You Forgot It In People.’ But, as is often the case, the name stuck around, as Kevin felt it was so true to the values of the band. He reflects on the rise of AI: “There’s just something about it that’s getting so tiring, where you think ‘what else is gonna tell us that we can’t be who we are?'”
“The Clash is a distant memory, Public Enemy is kind of like a puddle somewhere in the corner and people have given up so much that, once again, we’ve forgotten about each other,” Kevin continues, “once the record was together, you look for a mantra and you look for something to follow.” That mantra, of course, became ‘Remember The Humans.’
With bands relying on social media to market themselves and fans expecting a level of ‘authenticity’ and openness’ from them, there’s a refreshing mystery to Broken Social Scene, a collective with an ever flexible lineup. “Flexibility is very important to me. And so is mystery. And so is not having to explain everything.” Drew explains. He considers this fixation on ‘authenticity’ ridiculous and coming from “the male genre of legacy,” one obsessed with killing the ego and “all that bullshit. It’s like, no, you need your ego! It’s kill the arrogance, that’s what it is.”
To combat the male obsession to build a legacy before you die (“You’re dead! It doesn’t matter!” he rightly points out), Kevin learns the most from women in his life, from band members to friends to his own mother, who sadly passed away during the creation of the album. “My education comes from mother,” he tells me, “And as I get older, I really, really lean on it more because I see the struggles of moms all around me, not only with health, but with this rejuvenation of male toxicity coming in strong.”
However, despite his worries about the world, Kevin remains refreshingly optimistic, about to head on tour with longtime friends Metric and Star, after a similar tour with Feist fell through. “Friendship is the best protest we have right now. I want to honor this relationship and what these people have brought into my life and I want to go on the road with them.
“Do I worry? Of course I do. It’s family and you know what family’s like. But I think the intention is one of honesty and truth and I want to see that get honoured throughout all the shows because I believe it would be something beautiful,” he reflects on the tour.
During my conversation with Kevin, one thing is entirely clear: he is truly rooting for the younger generations. He strongly urges any young musicians to find communities and build them together, and believes that remaining independent is one of the “smartest routes going” right now. “You can find a team of friends who can be your marketer, your publicist, your manager… there’s strength in numbers. And that’s something I try to push on all the younger generations. You are the ones that I’m rooting for. And I am so rooting for you.”
From their insistence on independence to their endlessly shapeshifting collective of members, young bands can learn a lot from Broken Social Scene, but shouldn’t feel the need to copy their path. “I don’t wanna put you through my Arts & Crafts (Kevin’s label) system. I want to see you build new systems,” Kevin passionately shares.
After reeling off this whole collection of valuable insights for younger bands feeling hopeless in the industry, Kevin rounds off the interview in his classic self-deprecating fashion, offering one last word of advice: “Don’t rely on your elders. They sold themselves out a long time ago.”
Listen to ‘Remember The Humans’ here: