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Artist
Eight and a Half
12+ albums
Canadianindieslowcoreelectronicsynthpop
about
Justin Peroff of Broken Social Scene + Dave Hamelin and Liam O'Neil of The Stills = Eight and a Half. But while the math is simple, the story behind it is not so. When Broken Social Scene first emerged out of Toronto 10 years ago, a great deal of the band’s success was attributed to the fact that most of its individual members had ties to other bands, or boasted established solo careers. Peroff - the band’s drummer since 2000 - was not without extracurricular pursuits of his own (acting, DJing, party promotion), but had never released music outside of the BSS banner. By 2009, the urge to explore something new was proving ever more impossible to suppress. Hamelin and O’Neil were old friends of Peroff’s - Broken Social Scene and The Stills had shared stages as far back as 2003 - but they weren’t necessarily the most logical choice of collaborators: after all, Peroff was splitting his time between his temporary home in Los Angeles and recording sessions in Chicago for Broken Social Scene’s Forgiveness Rock Record, while Hamelin and O’Neil were in the thick of touring for The Stills’ 2008 album, Oceans Will Rise, and living in their native Montreal when off the road. However, over the course of several phone calls and emails, the trio realized they all shared a desire to create music that was distinctively different than the big-tent anthems their primary bands were known for - so much so that Peroff was willing to spend much of 2009 hopping back and forth between L.A., Chi
