Photo by Nina Corcoran
Broken Social Scene are currently putting the finishing touches on their first new album in six years. The long-awaited follow-up to Forgiveness Rock Record is expected to feature the return of one of the band’s earliest core members in Feist. Now, in a new interview with Canada’s CBC 2 Radio, frontman Kevin Drew has revealed a potential release date for the comeback record. He also spoke about what motivated the band to reconvene in the first place.
Speaking to The Strombo Show’s George Stroumboulopoulos, the indie rocker noted that although the band was still hard at work in the studio, the as-yet-untitled LP could be here in just a matter of months. “We have to finish it, obviously, just a small thing called finishing … I think that we’re thinking summer [release].”
The Toronto collective decided to reassemble after the Paris terror attacks in 2015, a tragedy that really hit “so close to home,” according to Drew. “The whole reason we got back together was after the shootings in Paris. Everyone sort of got on the phone within the small tribe of us and said, I want to play some shows.” He added, “We have to get back out there. We want to.”
Drew went on to explain that, through their new music and live shows, he and the rest of Broken Social Scene are seeking to re-establish a genuine connection with people — something he feels has been lacking in today’s society lately. “We’re not connecting – we the people,” he said. “We are given a false pretenses of connection and we all know it. Some people are speaking louder online than they are in front of others. That’s wrong. That is kind of against the law of human ethics. Eye contact is becoming a thing of the past, I think that is wrong as well.”
He continued: “I know that I am an aging rocker — I truly think that it is up to us and it has always been up to us. I just think that anytime that you have a chance to connect with large crowds, it is a gift. It is incredibly fun and I think that we came together to talk about where we are at in each other’s lives and where we are at in this world we are living in now.”
Listen to Drew’s full interview on The Strombo Show here. Below, watch the band perform “Cause = Time” at this year’s End of the Road festival.