{"id":16282,"date":"2018-08-29T09:00:36","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T16:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=16282"},"modified":"2018-08-27T14:50:38","modified_gmt":"2018-08-27T21:50:38","slug":"broken-social-scene-move-ahead-with-30-or-so-feet-on-the-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2018\/08\/29\/broken-social-scene-move-ahead-with-30-or-so-feet-on-the-ground\/","title":{"rendered":"Broken Social Scene move ahead with 30 or so feet on the ground"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Brendan Canning is one of the most down to earth and genuine souls walking among us, and he also just happens to be one of the founders of Toronto\u2019s celebrated indie rock band Broken Social Scene. The band\u2014which is more like a collective than a traditional rock band \u2014is returning to Victoria on August 31, and Canning hopes that locals will leave the show with a sense of liberation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHopefully, it\u2019s some sort of cathartic adventure. You want to be able to go to a show and just rock out,\u201d says Canning, who plays bass, guitar, and keyboards and sings in the band. \u201cJust let something go. Leave something that you brought into the auditorium and walk away a freer person.\u201d <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Broken Social Scene<i> <\/i>released their fifth album, <i>Hug of Thunder<\/i>, last year. The band is known for having a lot of members, and Canning says the lineup on the album consists of \u201csomething like\u201d 15 members, including Canadian indie pop singer\/songwriter Leslie Feist and Metric lead vocalist Emily Haines.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re generally eight on stage, and then four, five on crew, and then we often pick up stray horn players, which we\u2019ve been doing pretty much everywhere we go,\u201d says Canning about the band\u2019s touring lineup.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16283\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16283\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BSS_hires3_NormanWong.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-16283\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BSS_hires3_NormanWong-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BSS_hires3_NormanWong-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BSS_hires3_NormanWong.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/BSS_hires3_NormanWong-180x120.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16283\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Toronto\u2019s Broken Social Scene are back after some time off, and they\u2019re still moving ahead (photo by Norman Wong).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Broken Social Scene took a break in 2011 before reuniting for <i>Hug of Thunder<\/i>. New band member Ariel Engle, a singer married to Broken Social Scene guitarist Andrew Whiteman, fits the vibe perfectly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGoing forward with the band, and when we did this record, it just made the most sense that Ariel was going to be a full-fledged card-carrying member with the Broken Social Scene,\u201d says Canning. \u201cJust kind of a no-brainer decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After their reunion, Canning turned his house into a studio, transforming his living room into a jam space and recording studio. Although Canning admits there are always going to be challenges with this band, he also recognizes that nothing is forced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe just try to go at whatever pace it goes,\u201d he says, \u201cand with this next album coming down the pipe, it will be a little bit quicker than the last one because [last time] we really had to start from the ground on up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While members of the band are getting used to being in each other\u2019s spaces again, they still have a unique bond that has lasted over 18 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou spend more time with your bandmates than you do with most people,\u201d says Canning. \u201cYou get to know how to push each other\u2019s buttons just like a family, or a collection of marriages, or however you want to analyze it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The initial collaboration process on <i>Hug of Thunder<\/i> started with the band\u2019s five core members, and then they started slowly adding people in. Canning says there are many subtleties involved in the collaborative process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt can be a difficult beast to wrangle,\u201d he says, \u201cand if there is too much combative behaviour, then it\u2019s just going to sink the ship eventually.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the ship is still afloat, and for all the right reasons: at the end of the day, there\u2019s still a demand and a desire for the members to go out and play fun gigs.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had a day off in Caldwell, Idaho,\u201d says Canning, giving an example of this, \u201cso we played in someone\u2019s living room.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Canning has been spending a little bit of time in Banff working with bands as well as with the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in a mentorship role.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a nice opportunity to work with some younger artists and get inspired by what they are doing,\u201d he says. \u201cWe started this program out there called the Indie Music Residency, which finally got its plug pulled, but we had a good run there for a little while.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But it always comes back to Broken Social Scene. Throughout the years, this band has stood the test of time and made an honest connection with their fans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think the goal is just to try and put on a good show, and if you can\u2014if the gods of sound let you hear everything on stage that night and if everyone\u2019s a good listener that night on stage\u2014then I think that\u2019s kind of the musical goal,\u201d says Canning. \u201cJust try and have performances that are meaningful and connecting and not disorienting for the crowd in any way, and just really try and deliver the best possible version of the band.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Broken Social Scene<br \/>\nFriday, August 31<br \/>\n$39.50, Capital Ballroom\u00a0(Sold out)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/sugarnightclub.ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">sugarnightclub.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brendan Canning is one of the most down to earth and genuine souls walking among us, and he also just happens to be one of the founders of Toronto\u2019s celebrated indie rock band Broken Social Scene. The band\u2014which is more like a collective than a traditional rock band \u2014is returning to Victoria on August 31, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,215],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-august-29-2018"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16284,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16282\/revisions\/16284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}