Broken Social Scene & The Rural Alberta Advantage Headline Toronto's Festival Of Beer

Toronto's Festival of Beer, presented by the Beer Store will kick-off their legendary summer festival on Thursday, July 26 with Broken Social Scene and The Rural Alberta Advantage. Both Toronto based bands will perform to a crowd of music fans and beer lovers on the OLG Bandshell Stage. The festival runs from July 26 to 29 in the heart of downtown Toronto at Bandshell Park, Exhibition Place. INDIE88 is the official media partner of TFOB 2018 opening night.

"We are thrilled to present this great lineup, on the opening night of TFOB 2018," said Les Murray, President and Owner of Beerlicious and Toronto's Festival of Beer. "Bringing together much loved Toronto based Broken Social Scene and The Rural Alberta Advantage is sure to make Thursday night a can't miss. It is a great night for consumers to enjoy a first taste of the beer, food,and music presented at TFOB. We hope to see you there!"

With over a decade of sell out crowds, Toronto's Festival of Beer, presented by the Beer Store has added a fourth night to keep up with consumer demand. Broken Social Scene and The Rural Alberta Advantage join an already star-studded line up that is performing on the OLG Bandshell Stage, including: Ludacris - Friday, July 27; Dwayne Gretzky - Saturday, July 28; I Mother Earth and Finger Eleven - Sunday, July 29.

Tickets to Toronto's Festival of Beer, presented by the Beer Store are already selling out. Fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets at BeerFestival.ca to avoid missing out.

About Toronto's Festival of Beer:
Toronto's Festival of Beer, presented by the Beer Store features hundreds of brews, seriously good eats, live entertainment, and plenty of #BeerLove from July 26 to 29 at Bandshell Park, Exhibition Place. It's Canada's premier celebration of the golden beverage.

The 2018 edition of the festival will feature performances happening on the OLG Bandshell Stage which include: Broken Social Scene and The Rural Alberta Advantage on Thursday, July 26; Ludacris on Friday, July 27; Dwayne Gretzky on Saturday, July 28; I Mother Earth and Finger Eleven on Sunday, July 29.

About OLG:
Giving Ontarians opportunities to make their dreams come true, OLG is bringing the 'winning feeling' to Toronto's Festival of Beer, presented by the Beer Store. In addition to supporting great music at the event with its sponsorship of the OLG Bandshell Stage, OLG is also bringing that 'what if' sentiment to life through OLG's Winners' Corner. From July 26 to July 29, attendees can visit OLG's Winners' Corner for a chance to win exclusive access, VIP experiences and OLG prizes. Follow @OntarioLottery for exciting contest opportunities.
About Broken Social Scene:

As much a creative collective as an indie rock band, Broken Social Scene is a Toronto-based ensemble whose flexible lineup has included some of the best and best-known musicians from the city's left-of-center music community. The group, whose membership has been as small as two and as large as 15, has created an eclectic body of work that's explored many stylistic avenues, from ambient minimalism to brightly orchestrated Baroque pop.

Broken Social Scene was founded in 1999 when Kevin Drew of K.C. Accidental and Brendan Canning of By Divine Right teamed up to collaborate on new music. After two years spent honing their compositions, Drew and Canning released the first Broken Social Scene album, 2001's Feel Good Lost. The album, primarily instrumental, was largely performed by Drew and Canning, though it also featured guest appearances by Evan Cranley of Stars, Bill Priddle from K.C. Accidental, Anthony Seck of Shalabi Effect, Charles Spearin of Do Make Say Think, and vocalist Leslie Feist. Justin Peroff, who played drums on the sessions, would soon become one of the group's mainstays, while BSS' live shows often included Andrew Whiteman (Stars), Emily Haines (Metric), James Shaw (Metric), John Crossingham (Raising the Fawn), Amy Millan (Stars), and Jason Collett.

Drew, Canning, Peroff, and Spearin were at the core of the band that cut Broken Social Scene's second album, 2002's You Forgot It in People, though the lineup had expanded to 11 musicians, including Cranley, Crossingham, Feist, Haines, Priddle, Shaw, and Whiteman. You Forgot It in People proved to be Broken Social Scene's breakthrough, earning rave reviews from critics and winning a Juno Award as Best Alternative Album. In 2003, BSS released a stopgap compilation, Bee Hives, which gathered B-sides from their singles as well as remixed tracks. The band returned with a self-titled third album in 2005; by this time, Broken Social Scene had grown even larger, with Ohad Benchetrit (Do Make Say Think), Torquil Campbell (Stars), and Martin Davis Kinack performing alongside the crew from You Forgot It in People. Like their second album, Broken Social Scene earned the group another Juno Award for Best Alternative Album, and they mounted an international tour. They also became last-minute headliners at Toronto's 2006 Virgin Festival, stepping in when original bill toppers Massive Attack were stranded in the U.K. due to visa problems.

Following the touring cycle for Broken Social Scene, the group went on hiatus as the members pursued pursued individual projects. In 2007, Kevin Drew dropped a solo album under the banner "Broken Social Scene Presents," Spirit If ..., and Brendan Canning followed suit with 2008's Something for All of Us. Both albums featured extensive contributions from other members of the band. (Drew would also release a series of four "Broken Social Scene Presents" EPs in 2007.) In 2009, author Stuart Berman published a book on BSS, This Book Is Broken, which was created with the cooperation of the band. The following year, Broken Social Scene became movie stars with the release of This Movie Is Broken, a romantic comedy by Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald that takes place at a BSS concert in Toronto.

In 2010, Broken Social Scene returned with an especially ambitious project. The album Forgiveness Rock Record was recorded in Toronto, New York, and Chicago, and included contributions from 28 different musicians, including members of Pavement and Death from Above 1979. Fans who pre-ordered the album also received a ten-song digital EP, Lo-Fi for the Dividing Nights, while also releasing seven different remixes of the track "All to All." Another critical success, the album was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize, and rose to number one on the Canadian sales charts. (In the United States, it peaked at 34, an impressive achievement for an independent release.) In late 2010, Broken Social Scene once again went on hiatus, though they re-formed for occasional concerts and festival appearances, and in 2013 they sponsored a literary competition, inviting authors to write short stories inspired by songs from You Forgot It in People. The 13 finalists' stories were published in a book titled The Broken Social Scene Story Project: Short Works Inspired by You Forgot It in People. The full 15-member edition of BSS reconvened to record their fifth album, Hug of Thunder, which was released in July 2017.

They have created one of 2017's most sparkling, multi-faceted albums. On Hug of Thunder the 15 members of Broken Social Scene - well, the 15 who play on the record, including returnees Leslie Feist and Emily Haines - refract their varying emotions, methods and techniques into something that doesn't just equal their other albums, but surpasses them. It is righteous but warm, angry but loving, melodic but uncompromising. The title of the album Drew says, captured what he wanted people to feel about the group's comeback, and how they sound playing together again: "It's just such a wonderful sentiment about us, coming in like a hug of thunder."

The result is a panoramic, expansive album, 53 minutes that manages to be both epic and intimate. In troubled times it offers a serotonin rush of positivity: "Stay Happy" lives up to its title, with huge surges of brass that sound like sunshine bursting through clouds. "Gonna Get Better" makes a promise that the album is determined to deliver. That's not to say it's an escapist record: Broken Social Scene are completely engaged, wholly focussed, and not ignoring the darkness that lurks outside. But there is no hectoring, no lecturing, but a recognition of the confusion and ambiguity of the world. As the title track closes with Leslie Feist murmuring "There was a military base across the street," the listener is caught in the division between the notional security provided by national defence, and the menace of the same thing.

So what do Broken Social Scene want listeners to take from Hug of Thunder? Canning wants it to make them "pause for the cause and maybe just leave things in your life alone for 53 minutes". For Drew, it's about what it's always been about: making the connection. "I just hope they understand that there's others out there, that they're not alone," he says. "I know that's silly! But you'd be surprised how many times I've had to tell people, 'Hey, you're not alone on this, you're not alone thinking these things.' I mean, with the title Hug of Thunder, I want to hold people. I want to f-ing hold them. And when we do shows, I'm not: 'Look at me, I'm elevated up on the stage,' It's: 'We're here with you, this is us together.' Broken Social Scene is about the people, and it's always been about the people."

About The Rural Alberta Advantage:
The RAA's percussive folk songs about hometowns and heartbreak have taken the trio of Amy Cole, Paul Banwatt and Nils Edenloff from humble recognition amongst indie rock die-hards as "Canada's best unsigned band" to sold-out tours and devoted fans around the world with featured coverage from Spin Magazine, Pitchfork, The New York Times and Rolling Stone all taking note. The band has been nominated for two 2012 Juno Awards, long listed for the 2011 Polaris Award, awarded the Galaxie Rising Star for Recording of the Year at the 2010 Indie Awards and the CBC Music Prize for Best Independent Artist in 2014. Their fourth album, The Wild, is out now featuring the singles "White Lights", "Brother" and "Bad Luck Again". Try the band's White Ale collaboration with Mill Street, RAAle, on site at year's festival.

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