Skip to content
Spotlight

Why They’re Called… Broken Social Scene

101006-broken-social-scene.jpg

Welcome to the weekly SPIN.com feature “Name That Band!” in which we get the inside stories behind the mysterious monikers of some of our favorite artists. (See past episodes of Name That Band! here.)

This week: Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene, currently touring behind the new Forgiveness Rock Record.

Why Broken Social Scene: “I went on tour, like, ten years ago playing keyboards for a friend’s band,” recalls singer-guitarist Kevin Drew, “and I had this really elaborate set-up with lots of different keyboards. I was a keyboard freak back then. When the tour was over, I came back to Toronto and played a Sunday night show under the name John Tesh Jr. and the Broken Social Scene. The John Tesh Jr. part was because of the keyboards. The Broken Social Scene part just sort of popped into my head, I think. But [future BSS bandmate] Brendan [Canning] said that the Broken Social Scene was a great name for a band and that’s what we went with. A writer friend of mine told me to drop ‘the,’ though, and just have it be Broken Social Scene.”

Previously Rejected Names: “I was kind of thinking of using the name Broken Membership for a while, put Brendan wasn’t feeling it.”

Best Band Names Ever: “Oh man, I don’t know. I’m always thinking of band names but they get lost in my brain instantly. [To Canning] Brendan, what’s a cool band name? Brendan says Shout Out Out Out Out.”

Worst Band Name Ever: “I don’t want to be negative. [To Canning] What’s a bad band name? He says Shout Out Out Out Out.”

Bonus Name That Band!: Drew’s pre-BSS band K.C. Accidental gets the reissue treatment on October 26 with Anthems for the Could’ve Been Pills/Captured Anthems for an Empty Bathtub. Drew explains their moniker: “KCare the first name initials of me and [bandmate] Charlie Spearin.Accidental is because it seemed like so many of our best ideas camefrom accidents and mistakes in the studio.”