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Or sign-in if you have an account.Broken Social Scene. Photo by Norman Wang.During the course of a half-hour conversation with Broken Social Scene co-founder and frontman Kevin Drew, he is contacted by both Amy Millan and Ariel Engle.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorOn the surface, this isn’t overly surprising. Both vocalists appear on Remember the Humans, Broken Social Scene’s sixth studio record and their first since 2017’s Hug of Thunder. Millan performed with the collective off and on since the band’s early days, but is also a vocalist with Stars, which is currently sharing the stage with both Broken Social Scene and Metric on a tour. Engle’s call is a little spookier. It comes just as Drew is being asked whether (Engel) will be part of the tour.“Oh my God, do you know who’s calling me now? Ariel,” he says, in a phone interview with Postmedia. “She’s on tour in Europe, and you mention her name and . . . “The question is apparently far more contentious than it was meant to be. Broken Social Scene has always had a fluctuating lineup that could range from six to more than a dozen at any given time. This has included a who’s-who of notable Canadian indie musicians over the years — Engle, Millan and Evan Cranley of the Stars, Metric’s Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw, singer-songwriter Jason Collett and Calgary expats Leslie Feist and Lisa Lobsinger, among others. So, it always seems natural to ask who might be joining the lineup for shows. It may be even more relevant given that the new record features songs penned and sung by Feist, Engle and Lobsinger. But Drew has apparently grown tired of these roll-call-type questions after politely fielding them for more than two decades.“I don’t do that question anymore,” Drew says. “There was someone else who said, ‘Who’s going on the road?’ My answer is Broken Social Scene. I’m sorry to be curt, but that doesn’t exist in my life anymore. We spent many years doing that: ‘Oh, well, this person is coming to be there … ‘ Do you know who’s going to be there? The music. The songs. What I’ve realized over time is that as long as the songs are playing, people are happy.”So, without belabouring the issue, we can probably assume Engle won’t be there if she is in Europe. Lobsinger, an ex-Calgarian who has been absent from the lineup for years, isn’t likely to be there either, but sent the band a song called Relief for the new record. Feist, whom Drew affectionately calls ‘Feisty’ at various points in the conversation, won’t be there either.“If Feist was coming out with us, she would be her own entity, her own castle amongst all of us,” says Drew.Millan, Cranley, Haines and Shaw, on the other hand, will likely all be pulling double-duty to perform with both their respective bands and BSS. Haines co-wrote and sang Anthems For A Seventeen Year Old Girl, one of the beloved classics from the band’s 2002 breakout album, You Forgot It In People.“If we can do Anthems with Emily Haines, who wrote it, and Jimmy Shaw, that’s an achievement in itself,” Drew says. “We don’t do that very often with them. One of the reasons we took this tour is so we could honour this song that became such a milestone in all our lives.”That said, Drew rejects the notion that the band is running on nostalgia, even if Broken Social Scene does represent a specific time in Canadian indie rock. Alongside The New Pornographers, BSS rose to popularity as a sprawling collective after starting as a two-piece basement band featuring Drew and co-founder Brendan Canning. The somewhat haphazard cross-pollination in the band’s membership represented a communal vibe that defined the Canadian indie scene just as bands were gaining international attention in the early 2000s.The band hasn’t been idle since 2017, of course. In 2022, it released an album of B-sides and rarities and toured in celebration of the 20th anniversary of You Forgot It in People. That album and the band’s 2005 self-titled follow-up were produced by David Newfeld, who returned to produce Remember the Humans. So there is certainly a “getting the gang back together” vibe for the album, particularly since the band hadn’t recorded together since 2016. In the summer of 2023, various members began meeting at Drew’s Toronto home to jam and record ideas. During that period, Drew’s mother died. At the end of the year, Newfeld was back in the fold, working on the recordings.“It immediately had this familiarity that was celebrated back in 2002 and 2005 when we put those records out with him,” Drew says. “We decided this is what we were going to do. We decided we were working with Newf, and he decided he was working with us. It was very much a two-way street. But there were a lot of starts and stops.”Newfeld suffered his own loss, too, during this period when his mother died.“I could see that this record was going to help him get through this extreme amount of grief that he had,” Drew says. “Some people are close to their parents. Some people are close to their moms or their dads. Newf and his mom were best of friends and talked every day. It was a glorious relationship. So I knew we had to get rolling.”In 2025, Feist sent the haunting ballad What Happens Now. Lobsinger, who began touring and recording with the band back in 2005 and supplied vocals for their acclaimed 2010 album Forgiveness Rock Record, sent in the techno-pop gem Relief.What I’ve realized over time is that as long as the songs are playing, people are happy.“It felt very welcoming, and it felt like going home with (Feist),” Drew says. “Then Lisa Lobsinger did the same thing. She sent in this finished tune that she thought was a song of ours that she was singing, but (she) slowly realized she was writing something in her head. So she put it down and said, ‘Listen, I know you’re recording and might be done, but I thought I’d send this to you guys.’ Again, we sent it out to everyone just like with Feisty’s tune.“We normally like to be with the people in the room to try and catch the vibe, but there was something quite beautiful in releasing control and just letting go and having everything be open. David really pushed for that. I, at times, said, ‘I’d rather be in the room with people,’ and David said, ‘Don’t stop ideas. Just let whoever has something, let them just do it. You never know what gold we’ll find.’”The resulting album covers a lot of ground sonically and thematically, exploring grief, loss, celebration and even Artificial Intelligence. Whether or not this can officially be classified as a reunion, the notion of a new BSS record featuring some of the old gang has sparked a good deal of interest. Both the Canadian Press and Rolling Stone magazine wrote lengthy features that covered the circumstances behind the new record.“You’re my 97th interview, and I’m so grateful,” Drew tells Postmedia. “This has been going very well, and to say the band is happy and grateful is an understatement. We put this record out, and it was no different than when we put out You Forgot It in the People. We thought ‘who knows?’ and we were met with a lot of love, and that’s not lost on us.” Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.