An Interview with Brendan Canning
Beyond Race:You've come a long way since Feel Good Lost, which Broken Social Scene released in 2001. How do you think you have improved or expanded as a musician, writer, or singer since this album?
Brendan Canning: Lots of ways. I'm releasing a record where I do plenty of singing; at the point of Feel Good Lost, I did no singing. As you get older, hopefully you pick up a few tricks here and there. No grand secrets or anything, it's overall understanding composition and arrangement better hopefully, like Feel Good Lost is a good record. I can't say that you don't feel that you could be learning more, but are you improving? I don't know. I guess someone else could say that, maybe people look back and say, 'Oh you peaked at Feel Good Lost and everything else was downhill, you wasted 30 years when you could have been doing something else.'
BR: I don't think anyone's going to say that.
BC: I hope not.
BR: What is it like going from making music with a very large group of people to embarking on a solo record?
BC: Well, I mean there's still lots of people playing on the record, I work with different producers so it was quite similar to the way I made records with Broken Social Scene— smoked too much pot, spent way too much time in the studio, and trying to figure out where the hell you're at and trying to figure out whether you have a record or not, then take 3 months off and then think about it for 3 months and then come back…you know, [that was what happened with] the Broken Social Scene records we made, except for Feel Good Lost, that was an easy one because that was really Kevin [Drew] and I for most of it, and it was very simplistic because we were working on an 8-track, but we've been working with technology, which can definitely slow you down. Because you just have too many options sometimes…'Wanna lay another guitar track down?' ah you know. It leaves a lot of room and a lot of work to the editors, and I'm not an editor.
BR: What are you trying to achieve on your first solo album? Have you been experimenting with any new techniques or approaches to songwriting and instrumentation? Also, do any specific themes run through the album?
BC: It's just the songs that were coming out. There wasn't like a concept written on paper before I went in to record, I don't have some preconceived notion before I start making a record, or before I started making this record. It was more just…I want to make some music and Brian and John, the guys who were producing the record with me, they had ideas too so it was like starting a new group essentially, you know, me, Brian, and John in the studio, spending way too much time, getting to know each other. That's essentially what it's about.
BR: Why did you decide to have "Hit the Wall" act as the album's first single and music video?
BC: Seemed like a good song to lead off with…catchy chorus, no other reason than that.
BR: The album sounds largely upbeat and is full of positive energy, so I was wondering if you had to be in this state of mind while you were creating the music.
BC: Well I'm generally a positive person. I feel like there were actually moments that were a little more somber than usual for Broken Social Scene, or at least on a couple tunes, more stuff in C minor to begin with, but then it ends in B flat Major, sort of like your tension and then your release. "Possible Grenade," that's C minor and I find that a little sort of more on a darker theme, like a very sad cowboy or something…maybe you'll look back on that and think I was being serious, but it is, C minor is very cowboy. Music is generally sad but hopeful, joyous yet melancholy, that's kind of my thing.
BR: Did you feel any pressure to make a solo album after Kevin Drew and to be part of the Broken Social Scene Presents series, or was this something you always wanted to do?
BC: It's something that I thought about for quite a while, you have a band and you do a lot of stuff that's really great and some of the time you're thinking, 'God I just want to work on my own for a little bit,' and I did, but I'm ready to collaborate, not that I didn't collaborate lots on that record. I mean there's lots of time where I thought, 'I wish there were more people around to help with the process and maybe hone in on an idea quicker,' but making a solo record or whatever you wanna call it, you have to deal with yourself more so that's important too, dealing with yourself and your own problems in the studio.
BR: Was it a challenge to do vocals on this album, since you haven't done a lot of vocals with Broken Social Scene?
BC: Yeah.
BR: Did it feel freeing?
BC: When I listened to certain tunes, I was really happy with the vocal performance, like, 'Yeah, I have no problem with the way I sound on this tune.'
BC: I play guitar, bass, acoustic guitar, lots of keyboards, lots of string pads and some piano too. Lots of singing, horn arrangements, string arrangements…
BR: Wow, that's a lot of different instruments.
BC: That's okay, they're not terribly complex parts, any of them.
BR: What do you think personally inspires you and your projects?
BC: What music? You name it. We were at a bar last night and it was sort of like Goth night, but more like post-punk night although they called it Goth, it wasn't too Gothy, it was more like mid-80s music that Interpol probably listened to a lot, and I was really digging it. There was one Depeche Mode song that they snuck in, I like old Depeche Mode. Lots of bands that sort of sound like Echo and the Bunnymen, but not Echo and the Bunnymen, or Sisters of Mercy, but not Sisters of Mercy. Not that that's music I listen to, but I enjoyed it last night…like yeah, good melodies, good baselines, you know it's a little darker, but so whether it's that kind of music or hip-hop or jazz or rock music, folk music, Latin music, I'm inspired by a lot of things. Whatever's good music.
BC: Well, I don't know, there's a couple I think. "Snowballs and Icicles," that was written a couple of years before, from the two songs I recorded with Ohad Benchetrit of Do Make Say Think and that was "Snowballs and Icicles" and the other song was "Take Care, Look Up," but I think "Snowballs & Icicles" is a pretty deep little tune and I can't even figure out how to play it actually because it was written so long again and it was in alternate tuning, so I like that one. I don't know, I think "Antique Bull" is kind of a good one, you know I worked with Lisa Lobsinger and sort of spent a while working on the melody and it's got some interesting parts and it's got another minute added on of a song we faded out so…there's a couple there that I think are good. I think "Chameleon" maybe, maybe we'll leave it at "Chameleon." That's your classic thematic Broken Social-ish kind of song with the horn arrangements...for a while there that was the best tune we had going because the vocals were kind of the most triumphant sounding. There you go, I have two favorites I guess.
BR: I know there were people on this album that you hadn't worked with before. Were there a lot of newcomers or was it mostly friends with musical bonds that you'd already made?
BC: Yeah, I mean I had never recorded with Liam O'Neil from The Stills, or Kevin Hearn who plays with The Barenaked Ladies and also Lou Reed's band, I never recorded with him before…those are two new people, oh and Liz, you know the band Land of Talk? Liz Powell did some vocals on the song, "Been At it So long" and did some backups on "Hit the Wall" so yeah, she's a good one. She's actually someone I recorded with ten years ago but you know, kind of on a project that didn't quite go the right way.
BR: How many people would you say you worked on this album with?
BC: Oh I don't know, 25 maybe.
BR: Is there anyone you haven't collaborated with that you would really like to?
BC: Oh sure yeah, tons. Hopefully I'll get to play with them sometime. I don't know, we'll see when they come my way. The last sort of collaborative thing we did was Spiral Stairs of with the band Pavement, we did this thing with a drummer, this guy Darius who also played for The Posies, we did a band, a one-night only thing called Human Milk, kind of a funny name, at a festival in Calgary…yeah, you know, I think it's a long life of playing music so collaborations will come when they come.
BC: Yeah indie rock, and then there's a little white soul, I think antique folk, kinda sounds a little like The Sundays, kinda got a little Led Zeppelin guitar-picky things, a little Cocteau Twins thing maybe, sort of like the Goth part of the Cocteau Twins, I like them a lot. Something like "Snowballs & Icicles," I think that's in the Elliott Smith kind of ballpark. I think every song lands in a different place, to peg it all down to one thing, to what my sound is, that's for other people to really write and talk about and decide for themselves.
BR: I was reading your Myspace bio, and there's a line that says, "Something For All Of Us… is as much of a reflection of Canning's life outside Broken Social Scene as within." I was wondering what you thought of that statement, and if you agree with it.
BC: Yeah because I think lots of these songs, you'll put them up against other Broken Social Scene tunes and I think they'll sound very comfortable in that setting and then there are a few moments where it's like, 'Oh this is sort of different territory or maybe we didn't hear this coming from Brendan Canning on previous Broken Social Scene work,' but if you kind of look at the whole body of Broken Social Scene, I'm heavily involved with the band and started it so, once again, I'll leave that for other people. It's just a bio and, you know, it's not a bad bio. It's as good an intro as anything.
BR: Do you think that the album cover art, and the artwork on previous Broken Social Scene albums, corresponds well to the music? It's colorful and sort of casual, so I was wondering what you thought of it and how the choices were made.
BC: Well, I like it. I think maybe the artwork could have gone in a different direction, but, for me, it's kind of a reflection of where I live, like that's the street where I live, and that's the people making the record and then some other people that weren't making the record. Because the music sounds a certain way, maybe you'd think darker tones would have better suited the record, but that's sort of Brendan in the neighborhood and it's a little influenced by this reggae artist named Scientist and the artist Tony McDermott that I really like so that's kind of a little where we mixed some of the inspiration behind the art. What do you think of it?
BR: I like it. There are so many details there to look at.
BC: A lot of our artwork in the past was lacking a little bit in the color.
BR: This one is more colorful for sure.
BC: On the other hand, I think all the art we've had has fit the albums well. It's a tough thing to decide on sometimes.
BR: Since you tour often and are involved in a lot of different projects, do you still feel connected to the music scene in Toronto, from which you came?
BC: I do. I don't spend nearly as much time in clubs and going to see bands like I used to, but there are a couple of younger bands, like one band I was going to their rehearsals to say, 'Okay I like you guys, but you guys need some help,' and it was really fun and it was kind of apparent they were fans of our band. There's still plenty of musicians in town that I'll see on a daily basis when I'm home. It's not like when Broken Social Scene were starting. I've sort of been playing in bands in Toronto since 1991 and spending a lot of time there, and that's a lot of time to live in the same city, [but now] I get the chance to tour the world…when I'm home, the neighborhood bar is pretty close to my house, pretty comfortable, they don't play the best tunes but they've got some okay beer on tap, my dog can sit on the patio, has his own chair, me and my gal just sit there and have a drink…Toronto is still my city and I look at the weeklies every week and check to see who's playing.
BR: Even when you're on tour?
BC: No, not when I'm on tour. 'Oh my god I can't believe I'm missing these guys!'
BR: You have a big tour coming up. And you're playing a lot of festivals?
BC: Yeah, a lot of festivals. We're sort of doing it on weekends, but yeah life is manageable. It's a good balance right now and we never spent too much time on the road because I think certain bands can do it, but it's kind of a fucked up life.
BR: It seems like a lot of time away in a microcosm.
BC: Yeah, it's like you're hanging out with bands and they get too into their own thing. It's like, 'You guys are fucked, you know there's another world going on out there and you're missing it.'
BR: Is there any specific festival or show you're looking forward to the most?
BC: We're going to Brazil and Argentina, so I have to say I'm looking forward to going to Brazil. I've never been.
Check out BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE PRESENTS: BRENDAN CANNING –Something For All of Us… (Arts & Crafts) out now.
To find out when Broken Social Scene is playing in your town go to http://www.myspace.com/brokensocialscene.
Words by: Amy Dupcak/ Photo by: Norman Wong
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