Arts & Crafts was once just a platform for the extended Broken Social Scene family, but it’s growing up and blossoming into the forward-looking label we always hoped it would be.

All over the world, businesses are laying off employees and hanging on for dear life. The music business, in particular, has been on the verge of collapse for years now. 

So how does the small Canadian indie label Arts & Crafts get to expand its Toronto office and host a huge two-night showcase at NXNE? It’s releasing more music than ever before and just opened an office in Mexico. 

“On paper we’re expanding, but that doesn’t mean we’re not gamblers,” co-founder Kevin Drew cautions. “We’re still on the edge of the cliff – it’s a beautiful view, but we could jump.”

Drew and his label partner, Jeffrey Remedios, are enjoying a sunny afternoon in Trinity Bellwoods Park with Brendon Saarinen and Aaron Romaniuk, two members of the promising young band Still Life Still, recently signed to A&C. 

A nearby café has trusted Drew with its glassware, and while he might complain that he feels out of touch with Toronto, but you wouldn’t know it from the number of people interrupting the interview to say hi. 

Once upon a time, A&C was mainly a forum for Broken Social Scene and the many offshoots of the loosely defined band/collective. More cynical members of the local music scene still dismiss the label as a clearinghouse for BSS-related bands that wouldn’t get a shot otherwise, a charge the A&C guys don’t even bother to try arguing with.

“Well, that’s exactly what we were,” admits Remedios. “We had a tradition of bands coming in through people’s other projects, but we got to a point where we had enough of an infrastructure to start doing other things. When Kevin brought Still Life Still to me, I realized there was another layer here.”

To Drew and Remedios, SLS are more than just a good band. As we talk, it becomes clear that an injection of youth into the A&C family was exactly what was needed, a welcome reminder of the vibrant cooperative community that gave birth to BSS and, by extension, A&C.

“Seeing them live didn’t only convince me to sign them, it also gave me a little fucking breath of inspiration,” Drew raves.

Over the course of our conversation, Drew repeatedly brings up what he sees as a change in the Toronto scene: an unfortunate sense of entitlement. It might be due in part to the increased interest the rest of the world is taking in Toronto (for which BSS can take at least some credit), but what’s really changed? 

Weekly showcase Wavelength (an integral part of BSS’s beginnings) is still around, offering a home to experimentation and community-building, and institutions like Elvis Monday still give young bands their entry point into the scene. That’s where Still Life Still started coming into their own.

“We weren’t involved back then, so I don’t know what it was like,” Romaniuk says.

“There is a tight community, though. I’ll fill in on drums if some other band’s drummer can’t make it, and we try not to book shows on the same night as our friends. We don’t want to be battling with each other.”

“We used to be like that,” Drew interrupts with a cynical laugh.

At times he almost sounds jealous of his proteges. More than that, though, they represent the next generation – musicians who have grown up seeing BSS explode onto the global scene and unknowingly reference 90s indie sounds they’ve picked up second-hand through bands like Drew’s.

“To be honest, when I discovered Arts & Crafts it was a huge turning point for me musically,” admits SLS singer Saarinen. 

“At the beginning I think we were all a bit careful about what we were saying to each other,” recalls Drew. “I’m about 10 years older, so I was trying to make sure I still had a bit of street cred, and they’re thinking ‘Wow, this is Kevin Drew from Broken Social Scene – we’ve got to be cool.’”

Once he got them into the studio, he realized he had more to learn from them than just a renewed appreciation for the close-knit community he misses. Whereas BSS generally did most of their writing in the studio, the benefits of producing a well-rehearsed band like SLS inspired him when it came time to go back in the studio himself.

“We went into the studio with Still Life Still to record a couple of songs. Two days went by and we had 11, because they were so ready to go. Now I’ve just come back from two weeks of recording with BSS in Chicago, where I tried to look at it the same way – three songs a day, rehearse beforehand, bang them out. I’d never really made a record that way before.”

Why Chicago? So they could work with Tortoise’s John McEntire, which seems perfect since the post-rock icons were formative influences on the scene that BSS emerged from. The experience has left Drew glowing and produced an enormous amount of material to sift through. He’ll actually have time to do that, because he’s recently decided to take a step back from his role at the label.

“This is going to be my last year doing A&R for A&C. I had a great time, but I found this year very difficult. I’m just not into having people’s dreams in my hands.”

Interview Clips

Kevin Drew explains how he ended up hearing Still Life Still

The upside of a musical generation gap

How did A&C end up in Mexico?

benjaminb@nowtoronto.com