It’s been a lengthly 7 year wait but Kevin Drew is back with a new and very passionate solo album entitled Darlings. He stopped by the Indie88 studios to perform a “love song” dedicated to Indie88 (video below), and he’ll be playing one of the biggest festivals to hit Toronto this summer. Kevin Drew has played a big part in shaping the indie music scene we know and love today.
 

The Beginning
Chances are if you’ve been living in this beautiful city of ours for awhile now, you’ve been in the same place as Kevin Drew at some point. Born in 1979 Drew grew up in west Toronto where he attended the Etobicoke School of the Arts with the likes of Metric’s Emily Haines and Stars’ Amy Millan. As he grew up his interest with music continued to grow and in 1999 Brendan Canning and him would go on to create a band that would influence the indie music scene for years to come – Broken Social Scene.

What started off as a small ambient noise band turned into a large collective of incredibly talented musicians pumping out indie anthems. These songs would go on to affect a ton of up and coming acts in the scene and help make Toronto globally recognized as a go-to hub for indie music. In 2003, Kevin started a new venture with friend Jeffery Remedios, Arts & Crafts Productions. The original intent of the label was to self-release and help manage Broken Social Scene through the process of their breakthrough record You Forgot It In People. A&C quickly became a platform to manage and release music from all of the artists that were affiliated with ‘BSS’.

Kevin Drew has since become a solo artist, releasing his debut record Spirit If… in 2007 as a part of the series “Broken Social Scene Presents”. The album did well with songs featured on year end lists and charting on the Billboard 200. It wasn’t until this year that we’d hear new solo music from Mr. Drew, with his charming new record, Darlings. Make sure to catch his solo and ‘BSS’ set at Field Trip this summer.
 

Achievements
Kevin Drew and Jeffrey Remedios’ Arts & Crafts record label has gathered 20 Juno awards in their nearly 11 year span. Music from Broken Social Scene has found its way into multiple films including the Time Travellers Wife, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Half Nelson and more. ‘BSS’ themselves have a couple of Junos to their name; both the ’03 and ’06 award for Alternative Album of the Year.
 

Discography
Feel Good Lost – 2001 (Broken Social Scene)
You Forgot It in People – 2002 (Broken Social Scene)
Broken Social Scene – 2005 (Broken Social Scene)
Spirit If… – 2007 (Solo)
Forgiveness Rock Record – 2010 (Broken Social Scene)
Darlings – 2014 (Solo)
 

Videos