Canning the humble

Though he may not have the sensationalist surrealism of Big Brother, Brendan Canning doesn’t mind inviting you into his modest world.

The bass-playing Broken Social Scene co-founder and former member of 1990s Canadian alt-rock group hHead recently finished  recording his solo album, Something For All of Us (released Tuesday), the second project under the Broken Social Scene Presents moniker that showcases individual work — as individual as it gets with them, anyway — from the Toronto-based indie collective’s members.

Much like the group’s previous side projects, BSS alumni contributions (co-founder Kevin Drew, Andrew Whiteman, Justin Peroff, Ohad Benchetrit, the gang’s all here) are ubiquitous on Canning’s diverse album, and in the same vein as Whiteman’s National Anthem of Nowhere under the Apostle of Hustle brand, production was meticulous and slow-moving, so much so that Something For All of Us came out one year late.

Canning’s opus was to coincide with the release of the other existing BSS Presents title, Drew’s Spirit If…, which dropped last September, though an earlier version of Canning’s album leaked online in June.   

“I’ve never been the greatest at making deadlines,” laughs Canning, 38. “I wasn’t surprised about the leak either. I just wasn’t happy with the minute details of some of the songs, so I spent a lot of time touching them up for store releases. If you got the online version, you don’t get to go out to your local record store and support the music. But then, what’s that all going to mean 100 years from now, really?”  

But while Drew kept his effort under lock and key, Canning was quite open to revealing his process, allowing Bruce McDonald, director of 1996 mockumentary Hard Core Logo, into the studio to film the closing days of Canning assembling his diverse array of driving bassy undercurrents and unpretentious bangers, such as single Hit the Wall. Titled The Raw Side Of Brendan Canning, the documentary is tentatively set to air on IFC in the fall.

“It’s weird having a camera crew around when you’re trying to record. You get self-conscious, but Bruce and I have worked before. We’re friends and he’s very respectful,” he said.

“I guess I could have gotten myself arrested or drugged up or angrily smashed stuff to make better television, but I let it be. What can I tell you? It’s an unapologetic look at the humble life of a musician in the middle class suburbs.”