Broken Social Scene's Kevin Drew Says Band Is on 'Hiatus,' Not Broken Up

Although there was widespread speculation that Broken Social Scene's show earlier this week in Rio de Janeiro was their last, singer Kevin Drew hasn't closed the door on future Broken Social Scene projects.

"I said that we were going to take a hiatus -- people seem to think that's a break-up but we're all good family and we're going to be around for a long time, and when people want us back, we'll come back," Drew said in an interview with Brazilian site Quermos (which you can watch below) before the Rio gig.

"But there's no plans to make any records," he added. "It's 10 years, 10 is a powerful number. It was a good time..."

In an interview with our colleagues at the Huffington Post, Drew acknowledged that after wrapping their tour behind 'Forgiveness Rock Record,' the Toronto indie collective would be taking a break.

"We decided to call it because if we didn't call it we'd probably continue to... I don't know, I don't want to be trickle down," he said. "I would like to be feeling good about things."

The musician also said the reason for the final shows in Brazil was due to promoters wanting them and the fact the band had never performed in the country before. Drew also pooh-poohed the notion Broken Social Scene needed to have a final gig in their hometown.

"I live in Toronto so I don't need to do a last show in a city I live in," Drew said. "We've played so many great shows there and they'll be spontaneous shows there, I'm sure. But at the end of the day, that's where I go and eat and that's where I get my coffee and that's where I walk around and that's where all my friends and families are, so I don't have to go and play some big last show at a city I live in. I think that's ridiculous."

"We've played great shows and Toronto put us on the map and we're super supportive of that," he added. "I plan on making lots of music in Toronto until I die so it seemed pointless to do a big show in Toronto and then go and have breakfast the next morning."


As for the last day being emotional, Drew said the band was "really tired," adding a recent San Francisco gig was "pretty emotional." But the downtime will be "great" for the members of the band to do other projects, like Brendan Canning's Cookie Duster project, which Spinner told you about this week.

"That's always how this band has thrived, by everybody having other outlets and it's just time and go and do that again," he said. "It's really that simple. It's been a lot of fun and how could it not be. When you travel the world with 14 people it gets very exhausting in terms of the pinball aspect of it with your body, mind and soul. I know there's a lot of love out there for us and I honor that and I'm grateful for it, and let's just see what happens next -- It's just that simple."

Drew also said his string of tweets earlier this week wasn't due to a mental collapse or breakdown. "Everybody thought I was having a meltdown or going insane but I was just having fun clogging the airwaves for a while with all the little love letters I was getting," he said. "It's nice."