Toronto – In an interview published earlier today by esteemed online music journal Pitchfork Media, Kevin Drew of the popular Canadian rock band Broken Social Scene declared that the band was going on hiatus indefinitely after concluding their current tour for their most current LP Forgiveness Rock Record. Arguably one of the most significant bands to emerge in Canada in the past fifteen years, the 67 members of Broken Social Scene have done their part in shaping the landscape in Canadian music for years to come. Alumnus of the band have gone on to great success, especially bands such as Stars, Metric and of course, Feist. The abrupt news of their impending hiatus is sure to bring tears of sadness to many music fans all around.
My own experience with this Toronto band has surprisingly been quite minimal. I only saw Broken Social Scene once. It was 2009, during SXSW of all places. I was walking back to my hotel (the Sheraton..yeah THAT one) and it was about 1:15. As I was approaching Stubbs, I quickly remembered that BSS was playing there. Having never seen the band before, I decided to break my SXSW rule (never see a Canadian/Toronto band in Austin) and check out this act. Forgiveness Rock Record was about to be released later on in the summer and I was lucky enough to hear the track The Sweetest Kill performed then. It was a track I enjoyed. Kevin Drew then introduced some very special guests – Emily Haines and James Shaw to perform Anthem for/of/? a Seventeen Year Old Girl. The crowd went kinda nuts, and I was like “really? is this surprising? Metric is also playing at SXSW, what was the odds of this happening? 1 to 1?” Anyways, the two came out and then performed a beautiful rendition of the track. I then got hungry and went and got a panini, thus ending my first BSS experience.
My second/third BSS experience happened last year during the NXNE charity soccer game, Brendan Canning was on one team and I was on another and I ran into him almost full speed during the game. I kind of expected his seemingly frail body to collapse in a red hairy heap, but it turns out Brendan Canning is a beast on the soccer field so instead, he took the ball away and ran with it. He would later score a goal or two. This year I was in the same soccer game and at the barbecue afterwards, he made me a cheeseburger and I was rather happy about that, even though they used processed cheese instead of the real thing.
There you go, not only were Broken Social Scene important musicians to the industry, they are also people. People with real lives who have to move on, just like you or me. I never saw BSS here because I figured they would always play Toronto, and they would always bring random people on stage to sing songs, and I would always be able to roll my eyes and say ‘that’s so obvious’. Only now, it’s over and I lost my chance. That’s life I guess. The only blessing is that we won’t get to see any more crappy concert films disguised as some weird drama films like the one released last year. For that, I am thankful.
Best of luck to the band in the future, we’ll see you at your eventual reunion.
