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Stills, Broken Social Members Form Eight and a Half
Hear a song from a new band featuring Broken Social Scene's drummer plus former members of fellow Canadian rockers the Stills.
In April, the Stills announced they were splitting up, after three albums that saw the Canadian rockers gradually move from post-punk revivalism to a looser, rootsier approach. In the wake of the breakup, former members Dave Hamelin and Liam O’Neil have teamed up with Broken Social Scene drummer Justin Peroff for a new band called Eight and a Half. Check out their first song here.
Hamelin sang, wrote songs, and played drums and guitars for the Stills, and O’Neil provided keyboard, percussion, and backing vocals, so a spin-off isn’t exactly a stretch for them. Still, new track “Scissors” does represent a bit of a change for the trio, who now share a name with the acclaimed 1963 film by director Federico Fellini. Lush and layered, the song is moody, synth-based pop, with a galloping drum beat beneath wounded vocals that plead for someone to “hold me, like an old friend … like an omen.”
As Canada’s Exclaim reports, Eight and a Half have an album on the way in 2012 via Arts & Crafts. The self-produced collection is reportedly being mixed by Metric producer John O’Mahony. “It’s very synth-driven, but not in a 2007 electro way,” Broken Social Scene’s Peroff told Exclaim. “It’s pretty heavy.”
Hear It: Eight and a Half, “Scissors”
