Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew talks hiatus, and the interweb goes wild

Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew talks hiatus, and the interweb goes wild

Kevin Drew (Image: Simon Schoeters)

Yesterday, independent music review site Pitchfork published a story online in which Kevin Drew, lead singer of Toronto’s Broken Social Scene, discusses the impending conclusion to the band’s relentless touring schedule. As is the nature of the Internet, Twitter and message boards erupted in a flurry of overreaction, with headlines focusing on the “indefinite” aspect of the hiatus (one columnist even took Drew’s statements so personally he blames himself for the band’s alleged breakup). Check out our—less reactionary—take on Drew’s statements, and what we can expect to see from Broken Social Scene members in the future, after the jump.

Perhaps our favourite headline in response to Pitchfork’s post is the one from Paste magazine, which reads: “Broken Social Scene Announce (Another) Hiatus.” Paste touches on the crux of Drew’s interview—the band has been touring for 18 months with their last album, Forgiveness Rock Record, and it’s now time to retire their tour bus for a while, but not necessarily forever. Drew tells Pitchfork, “With a family, you can’t ever say that it’s over. You just can’t.” After all, the band has a history of announcing it is taking a break—the last five-year hiatus resulted in solo work from Drew on Spirit If in 2007, as well as band member Brendan Canning releasing a solo album called Something for All of Us in 2008. This time around sounds vaguely similar: Drew mentions that members of BSS plan to work on solo projects and hints at records from himself and Canning, as well as Andrew Whiteman, Charles Spearin and Justin Peroff, but Drew has also mentioned that he’s interested in exploring film in the future.

Contrary to the panicked Internet reaction, it seems Broken Social Scene’s hiatus signals that the band is moving on to explore new creative avenues. We’re glad to hear it, even if Drew’s sign-off during the interview is the indie rock equivalent of Justin Biebers catchphrase, “Never say never”: “We’re going to disappear for a while, but when you want us to come back, just give us a call. We’ll pick up the phone,” Drew tells Pitchfork.

Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew Talks Band Hiatus, Future Projects, Apps [Pitchfork]