Kevin Drew

0:00Hi, I'm Kevin Drew and you're watching me watching you watching me on MSN Exclusives. We got a fourth one.

0:46And I got a free kick. Are you a soccer fan? Yeah! Well, that's what I played when I was a kid because I was uncoordinated. So that's where they put you. It was defense. Kids who don't know how to play sports play defense and soccer. And that's just how it goes. Thank you. Life lessons from Kevin Drew. That's amazing. But the video, yeah. The video was important that there were real couples that there were people who had an aspect of love and in Samir. Oh, here we go. I don't know if we can concert doing an interview. We have three four balls flying at once. Yeah, we can. Alright. Balls everywhere. So I'm losing though. It's good for me when I get my loonie in there in a second.

1:31So there's a quote of you saying a friend told you it's not the what, it's not the where, it's not the how, it's the why. That was Gordonie. Okay. Even better. Yeah, well named Gordonie. Perfect. He's been playing in the background. That's what I'm saying. So why this record, why now, why just you? I wasn't finished. I was frustrated. Finished what? Just to the music with albums and it's a natural reaction when you do something like this. I know it's a crazy time and I own a record label and putting out a record is, can we drink that? Yeah, I'll have one too. Cheers. Apple juice, delicious. Mmm. Apple cider.

2:16Apple cider. I'm getting older. This is what I love doing. Making records is an incredible thing. It's a lot of fun. When I say to the bands in my label, I say no matter what happens, don't let anyone take this process away from you. It's the best part. Sitting and recording and mixing, it's, it's just. What's your favorite part of that process? Because I mean there's the writing, there's the recording, there's the mixing. I love the feeling when you find it and you get it and you capture it like anything. Mmm. I mean think you're doing it in life. When you know something's happening and it feels real and it's good to you, it's a wonderful thing. Why I made a record, I just wanted to, I had songs to sing. It's the only way that I can actually connect with people and get opinions out there.

3:02You know, I've had a lot of relationships and 37, done some great things, done some wrong things and I think it's cold out there. I've been saying that a lot. I'm kind of repetitive but you know, I understand it's hard and I get it and I'm there with me and I want some compassion and I want to show that and I want to remind people about tenderness and I want to remind people about eye contact. Eye contact. And yeah. It is. It's the, it's like it's home. All the hip songs are good. Let's switch topics. Gordon Downey, you're working with him now. He's on Arts and Crafts with this new band? Yes. Gordon Downey and the Sadies and the Conquering Society.

3:47Yeah. He called me. And he was like, let's have lunch. So I went, obviously. Yeah. Lovely guy, great record. The band, I mean to be honest with you, I said what are we doing? Why am I here? And he said I have a record that I made with the Sadies. Done and everything finished. I said to him I don't need to listen to it. Let's do this. Really? Yeah. True story. But how many other bands do you do that to when they present you with a record? Yeah, I'm good. It's Gordon. Yeah. I mean these guys are, they're national treasures in a way. But I don't want to say that because I make them sound old because they're not. They're young young young young. I said to him, I was nervous at first because I very much like Gordon.

4:32I very much respect him and it's been amazing becoming his friend. He's such a magical, magical Andy Kim's word that I use. I shouldn't use double. Oh, I'm bringing the band in a bit, both. Yeah. He's just an incredible man. And he's a man who walks the earth. He's one of us. And obviously I grew up on him and all that stuff. So it was the influence he was a lyricist? Gordon? Yeah. In terms of imagery, in terms of... His description of things was always incredible. And I always felt that he always knew exactly when to just drop that sentence in a song where it impacts you. He has such an incredible knack for that. What on this record were the lyrics for people to listen to when it comes up next week?

5:18Where that happens? Where the impact is? Where you know? I think it's these are words I need to tell you. Well, this is, you know, Dave Hanlon. God bless him because he mixed this and how he produced this. He was really adamant on people hearing. So don't mumble and give them lyrics that they can hold on to because I always want to change them and hide them in metaphors of fingernails and carpet stains that you have done and made a living out of it. Anytime, yeah. Ten years. But I think for everyone it's just an individual feeling when you hear something you love. And I could tell you that at any moment lyrics for me are... I love being challenged by them. I love Steve Malcolmus.

6:06I love Isaac Brock. He's a modern day of amazing, incredible lyricist. G.D. You know? Do you find that to be the hardest part of songwriting? Lyrics? Yeah. If I write lyrics that means I've failed. So I just kind of go on train of thought, sort of impulse, and then record it and then I'll go back and I'll hear what I said. And I'll either rewrite it to what I think I'm saying, change a few things. But it sounds like you and your word. That was one take. I just went in and said, we should do something like this and is Leslie on their records? Is that her voice? That's her voice. Yeah, yeah. Fyse. Yeah. Yeah, I know she's...we know each other for 14 years, 16 years now. I love everything about her. So it was great to have her on the record.

6:54On the topic of Fyse, I got a Twitter question when I was talking to you. Someone was like, what are the social scenes solo discs? Like the records everyone's put out outside of the social scene tunes. Do you still go back to her pleasure listens? Me? Yeah. Oh, I listen to do-makes they think on a daily basis. Yes. And I love all the bands, but they all... Yeah, they're on your label. Well, do-makes is not on...do-makes on constellations. Whatever. Constellations, sorry, records. But out of...and I mean, they were around long before us. Mm-hmm. But, no, I got to admit, I listened to them all. I think Metrix Fantas is my faith and Starr's last record, north, the north. Yeah. Beautiful. I gave that one a lot of spins. I'm not going to bring up the Twitter one.

7:40Oh, wow. I love how they try to make stories and stuff. Yeah, they're trying to make stories out of you. You know, they're going to try to steal shit from you. That's what I'm doing here, okay? They're going to try to take you away from you. That's what they want to do. Don't let them do it. No, don't. It's speaking of that. You're giving away the last record with this record if you buy a physical copy. You're doing the opposite of stealing, you're giving. Great. Well, there's enough CDs to build a home and a warehouse somewhere. So, have it. How different is it for you putting just your name on it? Does it change anything when it's just a Kevin Drew record as opposed to Social Scene Presents, Kevin Drew? The Social Scene Presents was wonderful. We just decided we didn't continue with it because we got the band back together when we were given this rock record. Social Scene Presents was a wonderful marketing movement,

8:26it was a wonderful financial movement. It was a marketing thing. Well, no, we had records, but we wanted to stay within our family. Yeah, this is, no, I'm going solo, I'm going out on my own. For me, I just feel like I'm just taking the torch of Social Scene and I'm continuing. I feel like it's been such a huge part of my life and being the lead singer, or leader, de facto leader, or all the things. I'm just continuing on. Nothing changes. I don't even really think the music changes that much, except I'm not with my guys. Well, it's just a four piece. Is it done with this record? Is that what I read? Just a four or five of this. Yeah, who's on it? Dave Hamlin, from The Stills in eight and a half. Oh, head venture to Charles Spearin from Do Micks, I think. Dean Stone from a possible hospital. Brenda, Canyman, makes little appearance, plays some bass, which was great.

9:12Jimmy Shaw has a little cameo in there and Feisty comes out. I didn't really ask, I kept it contained, and I did a lot of the stuff because I wanted to do that that way. It's very hard to take your journal and talk about it with so many people and then have all their people talk about it. The one thing that in the end of social scene, which was a magical, magical, amazing, incredible thing, is that it was hard to get into the inner conversations about everything when you're just every night, you got to explode, and you got to be up there. But the band, the guys, they took care of me. I know there's a lot of lead guys out there who don't feel the support of their band members,

9:57and it's hard. These guys, I thought about it a lot recently, just thinking about it and talking to other lead singers. There's a little lead singer convention you can go to and talk about your emotional issues. And these guys had my back. You know, they did. Are they coming on the road with you? Who's touring with you for these ten centuries? The gentleman that I mentioned, Charlie, you know, had in Dave and... Nice. The shows that I'm going to do with Leslie Feistard just me and a piano. I've never done that before. Are those the ones that are on the website? Yeah, they're on there too. There's only one show right now. Two, three shows with a band, and then there's four shows with myself and a piano, because it's raw, and I've never done it before, and I want to try to do things like that. Is that where some started? A lot of these songs started on piano, and in fact they started on a certain piano that James Shaw

10:45had in his house and then he gave it to me. Talking about friendship, because it's just a piano for some reason. And I think everyone who plays it at my house, they have the same feeling, but it's just one of those pianos where... It's asking you to insert coins on each place second round? It's just one of those pianos. That's where I wrote good sex. I wrote good sex in three minutes. I just said, oh, okay, there's these chords, and then I'll just... And suddenly it just gives you the opportunity to create. I don't know how to truly describe it. It's the piano. Andy Kim calls it... The fucking piano! You got the fucking piano! Oh my god! How did he change your perspective? He reminded me what it's about.

11:31It's a song. It's a beautiful thing. It's part of your life. You're the director. You're the director of your own film. Be the director. It's your life. And he had such a youthful love for music, and O'Hadd and I started writing with him and we worked with him for a month. And every day for him he was grateful. And it was a celebration. And he didn't take anything lightly. Not a no-nothing. Not a little symbol drop. Everything was so emotional to him. That it was unavoidable to become addictive. It's like, wait a second, you're right. This is how you go about it. It's a celebration. This is how we used to do it.

12:17And then you become a business and you become a corporation and you have all your friends and everybody gets involved and that's a wonderful thing. You want that. It's a necessary thing. It's how you sustain. It's how you sustain. I understand. But, you know, we're all fools just trying to be great people. And Andy reminded me of that. He reminded me like, here's... Just do something. And I'll always be grateful to him for that because it... It snapped me back into the idea that this is a life and it deserves to be lived. You know, I'm going to make music. I'm going to do a lot of things. I want to do a lot of things. A lot of people, I say this all the time. I think people are the greatest thing. I really do. And I titled you, Forgot It in People.

13:03And what I meant by that, back in the day, and I mean it today, is that we forget. We just forget. And it's about kindness. And it's about a struggle. It's about being courageous. And it's about feeling something. And as we get closer and closer to whatever's coming our way, there's just this disconnection that's happening among so many of us. And people are making a mint on fear. They're making a mint on loneliness. They're making the... Everywhere you turn, someone's making billions off of... on emotion. And I'm not saying there's going to be a revolution. Because those won't last that long. I'm saying that you have to just stop and go back to basic ideals

13:53and values of what it was all about in the first place. And you've got to try to remind the younger people that it's not such an instant gratification way of living. And in doing that, do you think he's getting all close? Beered on beard. Beered on beard. You forgot it in people. It gives me a thing to bring up here. Because I had Tokyo Police Club on last week. And I asked Dave because he was saying in some interview how socials see and influence them so much. So I said, give me a question for Kevin. Kevin, you're probably so sick of hearing about cause equals time. But we love that riff. And we said, yeah, I'm that riff all the time. That was one of the things that... it felt doable. We're like, oh, this song is awesome.

14:38And it's like within reach. We can... yeah, it just felt... it was great. If cause equals time, what is space divided by time? Does that equal effect? There's your question. Wow. Now, it's super deep. If cause equals time, what does space divided by time equal? Does it equal effect? Yes. Yes, Dave. You are right. Imagine I argued that. No, no, no, Dave. Hold on. First of all, five questions, five questions, one more answer. Okay. Roder Studio. Studio, Leonard McCartney. Only because you know what the answer is.

15:28Everyone says a different answer. Change. I'm getting older. Okay. So what does that mean? I'm becoming a little more conservative. My values are changed. Yes. It's a love song. I know it is. It's a fucking love song. MacKurt, was that your Beatles accent? Was that a Liverpool accent? I have one accent for every country. Let's say McCartney and I can't believe I'm saying that. But, ah! When you hear a song, what usually hits you first? Leericks Melody, rhythm. Melody. If someone... Ooh! Rhythm. Okay. If someone's never heard Kevin Drew before, what song did they start with? Love or spit? That's coming back, man. That song has permeated the culture in a way that, like,

16:17Lords even singing about it now. I know. That was cool. Somebody sent me that and I had no idea who she was. And I liked the tune. I was like, oh, this is a great song. Who is this girl? I thought it was whoever sent it to me. I thought it was... That comes under whatever. Yeah, I did. It's like, is this your... Who is this? Didn't they wrote that? She's taking a... The biggest star in the world right now, yeah. I have to take my nephew to that show. To Lorde? Yeah. What? Why do you have to? I don't want to go. No, I do. I'd love to go see her. Did you write a song? You write a song? On this record. Did I read that? Yeah, I basically took the chords of Love or Spit and did it with Good Sex. Don't worry, we know. Good sex. How can you felt the need to revisit? Well, I saw all these people. I just felt people just do that.

17:04That's just what part of songwriting is. Whatever works, keep going with it. And I'm very much a CGDF kind of guy. And Love or Spit was a very good song for me. People talk to me about it all the time. And I'll stop. I'm sorry. No, no, I mean it in a way that it's... You know, they say if you could write one song. So Love or Spit started to become that for me. And with Good Sex, I wanted the same sort of notion. I wanted that feeling. I find Love or Spit is very comforting within the confusion of it all, if I may. And that's exactly the sentiment I wanted to get out with Good Sex.

17:52Just older. Back to the five questions. Five questions in one word. Kevin drew. But you'd like to spend time? In one word. Can't do it. Fine, won't let you. One word? One word? One word? Fine. That's a good way to end it. Yeah, I'm not doing that. That's fine. I've had a few people do that before. How much time do you guys have? I think you need to go. Wasn't that David being like, we gotta go. How am I doing? He's the least I can do some sit ups. Work out. It's important. You want a Mazarati? You want a house in France? You gotta work, bitch. You've been seeing Rap lyrics now? I'm quoting one of the great poets of our time, Britney Spears.

18:40Right? Hey, you gotta work work, actually. Let's make it PG. You gotta work work. Gonna work work. That was a great tune. Which one? The last Britney Spears song? I don't know. What? Maybe I do if I heard it. I can't think of it top my head. I have a different record every day for work. Yeah, you do. What have you been listening to? I took you. Then you. I got Dallas Smith next week in the matinee. Dallas Smith, default. Got a country record out now? Cool, cool, cool. You're done? This is part of the game. Jesus Christ. This is already chatting. Yeah. Idol chatting is where the real stuff comes out.