Broken Social Scene Perform Live on the Interface

After five years without an album, Broken Social Scene recently reemerged with 'Forgiveness Rock Record,' which they mostly recorded last year in Chicago with Tortoise's John McEntire. Although the band's roots are Canadian, that didn't stop them from mingling with the locals and riding their bikes to and from the studio each day through the flat streets of downtown Chicago.

"We have a pretty good fan base there, so we'd end up going to bars where the indie rockers go," founding member Brendan Canning told Spinner during a recent Interface taping in New York. "You see fans or friends, so it just became like a second home. It was luring, being able to go to Chicago and transplant ourselves, to be in a different city and try and soak up the local culture."

For the band's Interface taping, they showcased songs by the different lead vocalists, with Kevin Drew's 'World Sick,' Canning's 'Water in Hell' and Andrew Whiteman's 'Looks Just Like the Sun' all making for a rather diverse set from a diverse collective.

The 'Forgiveness' sessions themselves were said to have yielded upwards of 42 songs, which were eventually pared down to a manageable 14. "Like any Broken Social Scene occasion, we're pretty prolific," Canning said. "Because there's so many of us, you really can't afford not to be."

Whiteman adds that as far as coming up with the material, the early stages of 'Forgiveness' were much like the prior two albums in that they'd work stuff out at BSS member Charles Spearin's house for a couple of weeks before heading to the Windy City. "We took a couple weeks and just jammed at Charlie's every day, no matter what the idea was," Whiteman recalls. "Just throw it out there -- people keep playing, keep coming up with stuff, no ideas were shut down. We recorded everything, just to have it there. That's kind of what we brought to Chicago. We're a pretty disorganized bunch really."