Filed as a BSS presentation, Kevin Drews first quasi-solo effort, Spirit If
, seems to have its musical soul entwined more closely with KC Accidental, Drews pre-Scene ambient electro instrumental project with Charles Spearin. Granted, many of the usual suspects are at play from the Broken camp but Spirits songs are more simply structured and less raucous in their experimentation, building slowly to transcendent grandeur from humble chord motifs. Ohad and Charles of Do Make Say Think apply their production flourishes with class, splattering and dashing each warmly personal pop song with unique layers that breathe enough to never crowd the melodies. Lush horns, buzzing synths, soaring, skittering strings, chiming keys and bells, hazy voices, a plethora of guitar noises and inventive sound manipulation make every song its own world, sonically and emotionally. "Farewell to the Pressure Kids opens the album with crashing exuberance before giving way to more subdued material for the next six tracks. Charming quirks dont quite mask the encumbering nostalgia in parts of this first movement, though the sentiment feels genuine. The bulk of the more boldly engaging material is on the discs latter half, making Spirit If feel split, but this is an album that rewards attention, right up to the last fading sound wave.
Theres a lot of talk about pressure in the lyrics. What do you feel are major pressures?
I think instant gratification is a massive pressure. Fear, obviously, is a simple one to notice. I also think following traditions make our generations turn out to be failures. Because were following traditions from a time when they werent dealing with everything we are now. I find that we havent adapted well to the new world were living in, in terms of relationships and marriage, all of these things.
Are the lyrics improvised?
Mostly. A couple songs were written and everything else was improvised. You can hear that Im not quite finishing sentences and we couldnt re-do it because of the feel. You just cant fuck with the feel and thats the whole reason why we make this stuff in the first place; they just have to remain that way. We turned the vocals up on this one. People say "Youve got to turn up the vocals and I just look at them and Im like, "What do you want?
What do you hope listeners will get out of this album?
Im not hoping for much except that they use it for their own personal use. Its interesting you ask that because I was kind of thinking, "I have to start answering questions like this now. So for a question like, "What do I hope listeners get out of it? I just hope it makes them feel closer to the idea that its okay to be whoever you are. It doesnt matter if youve failed or fucked up or you hurt or youre hurting or whatever. Thats the whole last song; its going to be hard when we get to the end, but dont forget what you felt. Its a strange record because Im left alone to talk about it. Its not that I dont want to, I just dont have a desire to. Im going to Japan tomorrow to do all these interviews and Im realising that I dont really want to talk about it. Its kind of weird.
Have you had a longer history with singing or is it something youve gotten into later on? I got into it with You Forgot it in People basically, thats when I first started singing. Brendan Canning and Evan Cranley were the two guys who said, "You start singing and well get behind you. With this one I just kind of winged it; I didnt really think about it much. And its funny because some people say, "I cant hear what youre saying, but its because Im just making it up on the spot.
It seems like you treat vocals more as part of the whole picture.
Its part of the whole picture; its part of the song! I have absolutely no desire to have voices and the music behind them, even though thats the way it goes in traditional records.
The pop format?
Well, thats just the way right now, I dont think it was the way back then and definitely within indie rock youre not supposed to hear them! Dont tell me the fuckin lyrics, man!
Parts of this album remind me of the ambient layering of KC Accidental, particularly "Gangbang Suicide. Yeah, its a bit of a "choose your own adventure record. They all are the records Ive always been involved with because we like to do whatever we want, then when we try to fit it in.
What time period were these songs written during?
Basically between 2005 and 2007, like February to February.
Was that going on concurrently with the Broken Social Scene recording?
There were tons of other recordings but I kind of popped two out and started to focus more on them.
How did you decide which songs would go under each banner?
Well, its interesting, a song like "Big Love, that was an Ohad and Charles song that I sang on, and then as the record was ending they both were kind of like, "We should just put this on the album, you know, be my Matrix producers. And I loved it for sure. So thats a really interesting aspect where I think Ohad was working on that in 04 and "Broke Me Up was actually recorded in 04. But its done through a period of time and its a personal fucking record. Im really looking forward to putting it out and then just moving on, makin another one, keep going; I want to get back into the Social Scene world. I want to start making crazy music again. It was nice to go off and do this, to just have a bit of a break from all the craziness.
Is David Newfeld involved in any of this recording?
He plays on it a bit. He plays some bongos and acoustic on one of the tracks. I mean the guest list is like this [gestures to suggest size] on this album, I really should release it. I thought I would, but then people were talking to me and I was like, [apprehensive lip sucking sound].
Its a curiosity.
Its a curiosity. Well, Mascis is on there, obviously, as you can hear, Spiral Stairs, from Pavement and Preston School of Industry, with Tom Cochrane on the same track.
Tom, really?
Toms singing on "Lucky Ones!
Tom needs more attention.
Yeah, he does.
Who and what were some of the inspirations behind this album?
It was mainly an internal thing, just deciding whatever came out at the moment was what it was about. I never sort of thought Id make the "you and I record like I did but it seemed to just happen. Its not really the greatest thing to go and make personal albums. I always said to Ohad, "the worst thing about this record is going to be putting it out, cause it was just such an amazing process [the creation]. But the talking about it, and the judging and all that stuff, its you know, youve got to have a thick skin.
How has the increased media exposure affected your life and how you make your art?
Theres no media exposure. Its like people in Toronto who know this music scene obviously who know who I am. We have a following, weve got a good set of people and thats about it. Im running into kids now who are like 20, 22 years old and they were 14, 15 when You Forgot It In People came out. And thats the record. I dont meet any Social Scene fans that are like, "Hey, man, I really like the last one. Its all like, "You Forgot It In People, You Forgot It In People.
Are you concerned with the ecological impact being a performer has?
Yeah, of course. Im flying to Tokyo tomorrow; its my fourth fucking time. I fly all the fucking time. All I do is fly. And then if Im not flying, Im in a bus. The buses you can start to get a handle on, there are a lot of buses out there that are environmentally in check, but the flying You have to start to counteract it and there are ways of doing things I really havent gotten my shit together quite yet to do.
Any predictions about the future of civilization at the moment?
I actually believe its going to get better. I think inevitably even the stupidest people in the world are going to have to say, "wait a second, cause theyre just going to see it falling apart in front of them. And I think like most people you cant really accept it until you see it, feel it or go through it. Weve had a very big push in the last three years about, "okay, wait a second, the worlds dying. And "wait a second, that war thats happening, that actually is shit, and people are like, "Its not shit! Its not shit! Its not oh what the fuck!?! Whatre we doing over there, Jimmy? So I think the start was Mother Nature revealing the world was fucked with the hurricane that went through New Orleans, which was a big point. And also the way the country reacted to that, so I thought that was the impact of where there was a shift in peoples opinions, and its been going on since. Its like that set the dominos going. So Ive got a lot of hope. I just saw Who Killed the Electric Car? its so fucking depressing and right at the end after all these infuriating conversations these people still are like, "Ahh, dont worry about it, its going to come back, its going to be amazing. And I couldnt believe they were ending it by wrapping it up with these people who fought so hard and lost still standing there saying, "Dont worry, its coming back.
In regards to the promo clip on the Arts and Crafts site, what kind of porn goes best with cereal?
You know what? That was actually people fucking through the wall. But the best kind of porn that goes with cereal is the tender kind. Tender cereal porn, you cannot watch the hardcore.
How have you perceived the evolution of music in the past seven or so years?
I think it won. I think the underdogs came out strikingly amazing. I think the home studios put a lot of things into perspective. I think the Internet created a whole new method of distributing sound and peoples bands. I think the 12-year olds who have their own huge critic music blogs are running the world and I think it just made it so therere no bullies anymore, anyone can do anything. The unfortunate thing that happened was that all the rulebooks got thrown out. Remember how like even four years ago you couldnt do music for a commercial? And then bands slowly started and now its like no one gives a shit. You can do whatever you want and no ones going to attack you. I always found that funny. There was a serious rulebook when I started ten years ago and now I cant even find it. I cant even find a photocopy of it. Its just gone like somebody burned it. Did you see that Timberlake fuckin McDonalds commercial? They literally drop the fucking Timberlake vinyl with the McDonalds logo in the middle and there are people roller-skating hand in hand in front and that song, I like that song! When I hear it Im like, "damn, turn it up. But then suddenly Im watching McDonalds and hear it again and Im like, "its still a good song, I guess.
Itd be nice to see a little more personal integrity.
Id like to see it but I dont think thats part of it anymore. I think its just people hear your music on these commercials and go buy your records. Its no different than radio. Thats what commercials have become. Its no different than licensing to film.
Do you have any plans to revisit instrumental music?
Yeah, time to shut the fuck up, so I look forward to it. I dont know what happened, you know? I started singing and then things got really weird. Im not shooting for gold; I never really was. I always told the boys and girls in Social Scene that this band, no matter what your other bands are doing, are going for the Sonic Youth career. I want to be 65 and rocking out and I want the peaks and valleys to be very smooth. Im not going for the instant gratification, Im going for the longevity of trying to please people and make good music.
I think people really appreciate the music you make partly because you dont take them for granted and actually challenge the listener.
I know but I dont really think people want a challenge anymore. I think you get a couple shots and theres so much music that its just like, "You know what? I dont need this; I dont want to work to enjoy this record. And god knows Im guilty of that. Ill hear an album and be like, "That sucks, put on Deerhoof or whatever, and thatll come on and Ill be like, "This is good, all right! Then you hear another one and youre like, "err, I dont know.
Itd be great to see another show with all the Social Scene-related bands together like those couple of Lees Palace shows.
We will. I think everyones just got to go and reach these levels of where they feel okay about it and then we can go back and do it, and the fans can establish how it comes across, but well all be able to get back and play together.
Have any recent artists blown your mind?
I love that Colleen woman from France. Her new records amazing. I got sideswiped by the Nationals The Boxer record, oh man! I felt like I was running through the rain, going to find my love, and those records are important. I like the new Rick White album. Thats a saucy little number. There have been a bunch of records recently. Ive been listening to the new Collette record, trying to get my head around the sequencing. Oh, and Lightning Dust. Thats a fucking cool record; its pretty wild. Theyre pretty cool. That Black Mountain posse, man, theyre kind of untouchable. They put out stuff and its amazing.
(Arts & Crafts)Theres a lot of talk about pressure in the lyrics. What do you feel are major pressures?
I think instant gratification is a massive pressure. Fear, obviously, is a simple one to notice. I also think following traditions make our generations turn out to be failures. Because were following traditions from a time when they werent dealing with everything we are now. I find that we havent adapted well to the new world were living in, in terms of relationships and marriage, all of these things.
Are the lyrics improvised?
Mostly. A couple songs were written and everything else was improvised. You can hear that Im not quite finishing sentences and we couldnt re-do it because of the feel. You just cant fuck with the feel and thats the whole reason why we make this stuff in the first place; they just have to remain that way. We turned the vocals up on this one. People say "Youve got to turn up the vocals and I just look at them and Im like, "What do you want?
What do you hope listeners will get out of this album?
Im not hoping for much except that they use it for their own personal use. Its interesting you ask that because I was kind of thinking, "I have to start answering questions like this now. So for a question like, "What do I hope listeners get out of it? I just hope it makes them feel closer to the idea that its okay to be whoever you are. It doesnt matter if youve failed or fucked up or you hurt or youre hurting or whatever. Thats the whole last song; its going to be hard when we get to the end, but dont forget what you felt. Its a strange record because Im left alone to talk about it. Its not that I dont want to, I just dont have a desire to. Im going to Japan tomorrow to do all these interviews and Im realising that I dont really want to talk about it. Its kind of weird.
Have you had a longer history with singing or is it something youve gotten into later on? I got into it with You Forgot it in People basically, thats when I first started singing. Brendan Canning and Evan Cranley were the two guys who said, "You start singing and well get behind you. With this one I just kind of winged it; I didnt really think about it much. And its funny because some people say, "I cant hear what youre saying, but its because Im just making it up on the spot.
It seems like you treat vocals more as part of the whole picture.
Its part of the whole picture; its part of the song! I have absolutely no desire to have voices and the music behind them, even though thats the way it goes in traditional records.
The pop format?
Well, thats just the way right now, I dont think it was the way back then and definitely within indie rock youre not supposed to hear them! Dont tell me the fuckin lyrics, man!
Parts of this album remind me of the ambient layering of KC Accidental, particularly "Gangbang Suicide. Yeah, its a bit of a "choose your own adventure record. They all are the records Ive always been involved with because we like to do whatever we want, then when we try to fit it in.
What time period were these songs written during?
Basically between 2005 and 2007, like February to February.
Was that going on concurrently with the Broken Social Scene recording?
There were tons of other recordings but I kind of popped two out and started to focus more on them.
How did you decide which songs would go under each banner?
Well, its interesting, a song like "Big Love, that was an Ohad and Charles song that I sang on, and then as the record was ending they both were kind of like, "We should just put this on the album, you know, be my Matrix producers. And I loved it for sure. So thats a really interesting aspect where I think Ohad was working on that in 04 and "Broke Me Up was actually recorded in 04. But its done through a period of time and its a personal fucking record. Im really looking forward to putting it out and then just moving on, makin another one, keep going; I want to get back into the Social Scene world. I want to start making crazy music again. It was nice to go off and do this, to just have a bit of a break from all the craziness.
Is David Newfeld involved in any of this recording?
He plays on it a bit. He plays some bongos and acoustic on one of the tracks. I mean the guest list is like this [gestures to suggest size] on this album, I really should release it. I thought I would, but then people were talking to me and I was like, [apprehensive lip sucking sound].
Its a curiosity.
Its a curiosity. Well, Mascis is on there, obviously, as you can hear, Spiral Stairs, from Pavement and Preston School of Industry, with Tom Cochrane on the same track.
Tom, really?
Toms singing on "Lucky Ones!
Tom needs more attention.
Yeah, he does.
Who and what were some of the inspirations behind this album?
It was mainly an internal thing, just deciding whatever came out at the moment was what it was about. I never sort of thought Id make the "you and I record like I did but it seemed to just happen. Its not really the greatest thing to go and make personal albums. I always said to Ohad, "the worst thing about this record is going to be putting it out, cause it was just such an amazing process [the creation]. But the talking about it, and the judging and all that stuff, its you know, youve got to have a thick skin.
How has the increased media exposure affected your life and how you make your art?
Theres no media exposure. Its like people in Toronto who know this music scene obviously who know who I am. We have a following, weve got a good set of people and thats about it. Im running into kids now who are like 20, 22 years old and they were 14, 15 when You Forgot It In People came out. And thats the record. I dont meet any Social Scene fans that are like, "Hey, man, I really like the last one. Its all like, "You Forgot It In People, You Forgot It In People.
Are you concerned with the ecological impact being a performer has?
Yeah, of course. Im flying to Tokyo tomorrow; its my fourth fucking time. I fly all the fucking time. All I do is fly. And then if Im not flying, Im in a bus. The buses you can start to get a handle on, there are a lot of buses out there that are environmentally in check, but the flying You have to start to counteract it and there are ways of doing things I really havent gotten my shit together quite yet to do.
Any predictions about the future of civilization at the moment?
I actually believe its going to get better. I think inevitably even the stupidest people in the world are going to have to say, "wait a second, cause theyre just going to see it falling apart in front of them. And I think like most people you cant really accept it until you see it, feel it or go through it. Weve had a very big push in the last three years about, "okay, wait a second, the worlds dying. And "wait a second, that war thats happening, that actually is shit, and people are like, "Its not shit! Its not shit! Its not oh what the fuck!?! Whatre we doing over there, Jimmy? So I think the start was Mother Nature revealing the world was fucked with the hurricane that went through New Orleans, which was a big point. And also the way the country reacted to that, so I thought that was the impact of where there was a shift in peoples opinions, and its been going on since. Its like that set the dominos going. So Ive got a lot of hope. I just saw Who Killed the Electric Car? its so fucking depressing and right at the end after all these infuriating conversations these people still are like, "Ahh, dont worry about it, its going to come back, its going to be amazing. And I couldnt believe they were ending it by wrapping it up with these people who fought so hard and lost still standing there saying, "Dont worry, its coming back.
In regards to the promo clip on the Arts and Crafts site, what kind of porn goes best with cereal?
You know what? That was actually people fucking through the wall. But the best kind of porn that goes with cereal is the tender kind. Tender cereal porn, you cannot watch the hardcore.
How have you perceived the evolution of music in the past seven or so years?
I think it won. I think the underdogs came out strikingly amazing. I think the home studios put a lot of things into perspective. I think the Internet created a whole new method of distributing sound and peoples bands. I think the 12-year olds who have their own huge critic music blogs are running the world and I think it just made it so therere no bullies anymore, anyone can do anything. The unfortunate thing that happened was that all the rulebooks got thrown out. Remember how like even four years ago you couldnt do music for a commercial? And then bands slowly started and now its like no one gives a shit. You can do whatever you want and no ones going to attack you. I always found that funny. There was a serious rulebook when I started ten years ago and now I cant even find it. I cant even find a photocopy of it. Its just gone like somebody burned it. Did you see that Timberlake fuckin McDonalds commercial? They literally drop the fucking Timberlake vinyl with the McDonalds logo in the middle and there are people roller-skating hand in hand in front and that song, I like that song! When I hear it Im like, "damn, turn it up. But then suddenly Im watching McDonalds and hear it again and Im like, "its still a good song, I guess.
Itd be nice to see a little more personal integrity.
Id like to see it but I dont think thats part of it anymore. I think its just people hear your music on these commercials and go buy your records. Its no different than radio. Thats what commercials have become. Its no different than licensing to film.
Do you have any plans to revisit instrumental music?
Yeah, time to shut the fuck up, so I look forward to it. I dont know what happened, you know? I started singing and then things got really weird. Im not shooting for gold; I never really was. I always told the boys and girls in Social Scene that this band, no matter what your other bands are doing, are going for the Sonic Youth career. I want to be 65 and rocking out and I want the peaks and valleys to be very smooth. Im not going for the instant gratification, Im going for the longevity of trying to please people and make good music.
I think people really appreciate the music you make partly because you dont take them for granted and actually challenge the listener.
I know but I dont really think people want a challenge anymore. I think you get a couple shots and theres so much music that its just like, "You know what? I dont need this; I dont want to work to enjoy this record. And god knows Im guilty of that. Ill hear an album and be like, "That sucks, put on Deerhoof or whatever, and thatll come on and Ill be like, "This is good, all right! Then you hear another one and youre like, "err, I dont know.
Itd be great to see another show with all the Social Scene-related bands together like those couple of Lees Palace shows.
We will. I think everyones just got to go and reach these levels of where they feel okay about it and then we can go back and do it, and the fans can establish how it comes across, but well all be able to get back and play together.
Have any recent artists blown your mind?
I love that Colleen woman from France. Her new records amazing. I got sideswiped by the Nationals The Boxer record, oh man! I felt like I was running through the rain, going to find my love, and those records are important. I like the new Rick White album. Thats a saucy little number. There have been a bunch of records recently. Ive been listening to the new Collette record, trying to get my head around the sequencing. Oh, and Lightning Dust. Thats a fucking cool record; its pretty wild. Theyre pretty cool. That Black Mountain posse, man, theyre kind of untouchable. They put out stuff and its amazing.