Feel Good Lost 🇨🇦

Broken Social Scene fans being “super-connected”

Over the last few years, I have jotted down thoughts periodically on some of my favourite bands for the Toppermost music site. The basic premise of the site is that music fans submit their top 10 favourite tracks of a chosen band. Not necessarily the most popular songs, but a mixture of the undeniable classics or those hidden away on underrated albums and their reasons for the selections. My Toppermost posts contain entries for Foals, Future Islands, Kaiser Chiefs, Local Natives, Gaz Coombes and one particular Canadian band that have a special place in my heart, Broken Social Scene.

I’m a long time fan of the Toronto indie ensemble, since their debut ‘Feel Good Lost’ record. I have been collecting their other albums along the way. The first occasion I got to see them play live was in Dublin in the Tivoli venue in 2018, which was their first Irish appearance in ten years and I still remember my ears buzzing afterwards.

Broken Social Scene rockin’ the Tivoli, Dublin 2018

Fortunately, later that year I got to see them live again when they played the Pickathon festival in Portland, Oregon when I was visiting friends in the Pacific Northwest. At that particular event, I bumped into one of the founding members Brendan Canning who was great fun and very generous with his time, chatting with my kids who were young at the time. They still ridicule me that I was “geeking out” meeting him, that I was speaking a hundred miles a hour in our exchange. I guess I was super excited and wasn’t doing a great job at containing that or playing it cool.

The band were due to play here again in 2019, but unfortunately due to health issues, they had to cancel their EU tour dates and I consoled myself with the purchase of their “Let’s Try the After, Vol. 1” EP.

Broken Social Scene rockin’ the Pickathon festival

The nature of this unpredictable collective force, is that they seem to travel the world and their band career without a roadmap. You never know what lineup or how many band members are going to turn up on stage or when a new album is going to appear!

Aging

Scrolling through this year’s Galway Arts festival programme, it a was such a pleasant surprise to see that front-man, part Arts & Crafts record label owner and the general glue of the band, Kevin Drew was set to perform music from his current solo album ‘Aging’ and from the Broken Social Scene back catalog.

‘Aging’ is his third solo record, after ‘Spirit If’ and ‘Darlings’. This deeply introspective album was heavily influenced by the recent passing of friends and mentors, as well as the declining health and ultimately the death of his mother. The record was initially shelved after an emotional year for Drew but it was his band mate Brendan Canning who convinced him to release it and to go tour in support of it.

I’m a few years older than Kevin and am in no need of a reminder of the passing time or aging, my body reminds me of that fact after every run or workout. I think back of howling with laughter at the comedian Billy Connolly and the routine he used to perform about getting older:

“I’m not as young as I was. None of us are. I don’t think I’m old, I don’t feel old, but I have noticed certain distinctive change coming over me recently. My hair is changing colour. I’ve got the winter plumage on now. And at the back, it has gone a kind of Turkish hooker blonde… which I must say suits me down to the ground. My nose hair is accelerating for reasons best known to yourself. I used to cut it once every 30 years. Now it’s, like, twice a month. I’m presuming the body know what it is doing. I am very baffled. I wonder what’s going to happen to me that’s going to need a long nasal hair to deal with it.” — Billy Connolly

But now that I’m at that particular vintage and donning the winter plumage it’s less of a howl and more of a wry smile. I even remember listening to his ‘The Pick of Billy Connolly’ on vinyl from a time when comedians used to release recordings, maybe I’m older than I feel!

Kevin Drew at Roisin Dubh

I chatted with Kevin briefly before the show, after meeting him at the bar. I think I was much more composed than the last time I met the other founding Broken Social Scene member, at least that’s the way I remember the encounter in my mind.

Once the intimate evening performance started, it was clear that this wasn’t going to be the usual “party Kev” that we know, as he was in more reflective mood. Beginning the set with a K.C Accidental song that he used to perform in his Mom’s basement, his first band with Charles Spearin. (The album ‘You Forgot It in People’ contains a song titled “KC Accidental” as a reference to the earlier group.)

Totally informal, he interacted with the full audience asking people to shout out their first names, one by one. After finding himself safe in the knowledge that there were many Michaels and Toms in the room, he moved on and explained the background context to the recording of this album during a time when Toronto was in a long lock down period. He was yearning for a recording routine as a creative artist, while a shadow loomed large as he watched on at the physical demise of his mother. Hoping for her to overcome her illness and the feeling of helplessness when it became evident this wasn’t going to be the case.

He traversed between upbeat tracks on his earlier solo albums including favourites “Safety Bricks”, “F-ked Up Kid” and “Good Sex” through stripped down renditions of classic Broken Social Scene tracks such as “World Sick”, “Sweetest Kill” to the more poignant releases from ‘Aging’. He spoke vulnerably about losing a friend and the emotion of watching their lonely exit in a cremation service. The song “Party Oven” is a reply to being asked if they all partied too hard.

We partied into your grave. Was that okay? Was that okay? / We partied to be saved. Was that okay? Was that okay?”

An audible sobbing outburst could be heard from a table part at stage-side, made him reach in to his pocket to provide a tissue to a lady, who appeared to have been overcome with the emotion in the room. Some notable tracks from ‘Aging’ were “Out in the fields”, “Awful Lightning” and “Dont be afraid of the Dark”

“I get world sick every time I take a stand
Well, I get world sick, my love is for my man”

But there also were amusing scenes that provided light relief, including when the guitar strap snapped off mid song, and he said lightheartedly that his Mom didn’t like the earlier joke he had made that “she was a Tiny woman”. (He was referring to a minuscule container which housed some of her ashes that he brought with him on tour.) There was also a moment despite many adjustments, that his glasses kept sliding down and threatening to fall off so he abruptly stopped again midway through a song to remove them. But he knew he was amongst friends and checked with the audience, before continuing on…“How’s everyone doing , we still OK?”.

Drew earlier had encouraged audience participation, so between songs while he re-tuned his guitar I decided to ask a question, is it weird for him without all the other Broken Social Scene members up there on stage?

Drew said No, not really and hinted that they may have been recording together recently. He went on to explain this tour with dates in Ireland provided an opportunity to visit his mother relatives in Cork with some of his extended Ottawan family, nephew, cousins and Aunt, which maybe provided a little closure too.

I spoke to his family members and Aunt after the show, who proudly gave a button badge of her town Goderich and told me to go check out the town.

Kevin Drew performing a track from ‘Aging’

Broken Social Scene always had a family ethos to the group and like family, experience all the ups and downs of life together. Fans across the globe take the band into their hearts because of this. The way Drew displays his emotions on his sleeve and last night they clearly empathised with his current inner turmoil.

In true Broken Social Scene fashion he closed off a cathartic performance with their song “Superconnected”. He then proceeded to bring on stage a musician friend from Dublin to play a cover of Rod Stewart’s “When I was younger”, one of his mother’s favourites. This created a genuine sing-song memory for all in attendance and the end of a bittersweet night. He made his way through the room thanking people for coming out and supporting him.

The show felt like a great mix of a home concert, part lounge comedy act and part group therapy session for anyone who has lost someone dear to them. I’m so glad I didn’t miss this special gig and hopefully brighter days are ahead and the full band return to these shores, in more buoyant form.

Liner notes from Self titled album