The Lost Summer Line-Up: Lollapalooza 2004
In honor of Lollapalooza returning, here is a trip back to early June of 2004 when Brendan Canning of Broken Social Scene spoke with me for an interview set to appear in the July issue of Chicago Innerview, which was planning on featuring fellow Lollapalooza acts. Then on June 22 came an announcement: Lollapalooza was cancelled.
This summer Chicago will host Lollapalooza on July 23-24. The fesitval lineup has been announced, and The Pixies appear as the only remnant from last year's bill. Organizers have stated that additional acts will be added to the festival's bill over the next couple of weeks. Will Broken Social Scene get a second chance? There's no sure way of knowing...
In the following interview, Brendan Canning spoke about the success of Broken Social Scene's You Forget It In People, a close call with authorities, and the prospects of Lollapalooza 2004:
It’s a Wednesday afternoon, and Brendan Canning is sitting in his home in Toronto. While the topic of the phone conversation surrounds his work with Broken Social Scene there’s a lingering thought that seems to be floating in the Canadian air, almost hanging in the balance for Canning: Greece vs. Spain in the European Championship series—futbol, better known to Americans as soccer.
“I went from wanting to be a professional soccer player to wanting to be in a band,” says the soft-spoken Canning. Whether or not Canning saw picking up the guitar a safer move than slide tackling on-coming opponents on the field at full speed isn’t quite clear. The crystal ball was out to that shop that afternoon. But what is certain is that he and Broken Social Scene have grabbed a couple ears since their last release, 2002’s You Forget It In People, not to mention earning the award for “Alternative Album” at the 2003 Juno Awards--the Canadian equivalent to the Grammys. The delay in its initial release following their first album, Feel Good Lost (2001), put the band in the position to play catch up. Canning and company just recently took a trek through Germany and will be on their way to tour Europe before joining up with the Lollapalooza tour. “It went pretty good,” says Canning regarding the German tour dates. “We did a couple cool little festivals. I think my favorite show was in Vienna. It’s a little funny cause we’re sort of starting over there, again, because we made a couple deals in Europe that, maybe, weren’t the most prudent, as far as career wise. So, it ended up with the record being delayed.”
“As much we could complain about it, we’re glad that we’re being given the chance to tour Europe.”
For Canning, these second chances have been blessings in disguise. As a visible figure in the Toronto music scene and someone who has been in his fair share of bands—hHead, Spooky Ruben, By Divine Right, and Cookie Duster to name a few—Canning feels he has found the right vehicle to reach a new level artistically and musically. “Broken Social Scene is the first band where I really felt there was quality being made, and there weren’t any exceptions to the rule,” says Canning. “There was definitely an indie rock thing where we only played a couple shows but it was with some friends, and that was kind of in the mid 90’s. I sort of thought back then I was getting closer. But I think after being through so many bands over the years; being through major label deals and indie label deals, a good long while, like a good eight years in the business, Broken Social Scene, the whole idea behind it, came at a good time: able to do something creative on our own terms.”
The band has a very open sound, not your average straightforward rock band formula, but strongly due to the band’s evolving lineup and size; ranging up to fifteen musicians on You Forget It In People. There’s an exploration of sound through many different approaches; instrumentals, a minimalist mindset, and often times studio experimentation to develop densely, layered, spacious pieces of music. Whether a song calls for lyrics or not depends greatly on the moment. “Songs can start from a very loose idea,” says Canning.
Feels Good Lost, the band’s first album, was the first major step to where the band finds itself today, free of boundaries. “Feel Good Lost was sort of a test pattern. There was a couple records prior to that under the name K.C. Accidental that Kevin (Drew) and Charles (Spearin) had done which is what led me to want to work with Kevin, and I didn’t even know Charles at the time. So, I guess I ultimately wanted to work with Kevin and Charles, and everyone in there; like a family. I liked what they were doing,” says Canning.
“Feel Good Lost was here’s some ideas, we’re not writing these to play live or anything, we’re just putting down some ideas and approaches to how we want to make music. So, I just think, when we took it to a live forum, we weren’t doing songs from that recording, we were just making up new songs.”
Suddenly, the chat takes a slight detour as Canning says, “Why is there a cop car in front of my house? I don’t think it’s for me. I hope not.” He pauses for a moment. “No, I don’t think he’s coming over here. I wonder what he’s doing.” He then steps away from the phone to investigate outside his window. The interview had been rescheduled once before. Would it have to be rescheduled again? Canning returns to the phone with a report. “There’s two cruisers, and one’s parked in front of my house. All of a sudden I'm feeling guilty for taking my neighbors’ plants from next door,” he says breaking out in laughter. “They moved out! It’s ok! I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong.”
“I’ll testify on your behalf,” I say. Now back to the music.
Canning is anxious to get back into the studio with the band. The current state of limbo has him a bit antsy. I ask him where the band is at with material for the next album. “We did a bunch of stuff at the beginning of the year. We need to do a whole bunch more stuff, but there’s at least half a dozen songs that, right now, looks like, would make the record,” he says. “We’ll see in the fall. That’s a question that would be easily answered at the end of October, but we’re all assuming that we can finish up this record before we have to start shopping for Christmas presents, hopefully.”
And what about participating in this year’s unique Lollapalooza lineup consisting of acts like Morrissey, the Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, and Wilco?
“We were sort of curious if it would draw the numbers it needed to draw to play the big venues because there’s not any million selling artist on it. It’ll be interesting to see what sort of numbers it draws and what kind of people—to see how strong the indie community is, as it were, as opposed to the big rock bands.” But for Canning, he couldn’t be prouder to be sharing the bill with bands he respects and looks forward to an exciting summer.
After a relaxing conversation, I politely thank Canning for his time, and vice versa, but not before he cheers into the phone, “Oh, and Greece just scored! Now we got a game.”
But, alas, the game would end in a tie.
No comments:
Post a Comment