Last May, Broken Social Scene kicked off their first tour in support of their new album, “Forgiveness Rock Record” at the Fillmore. In one week, the band – a revolving smorgasbord of the finest Canadian musicians and their collaborators – is coming back for more. On Sunday, Oct. 17, Broken Social Scene will play Treasure Island Music Festival, whose eclectic lineup mashes zeff-fresh Die Antwoord with the cutesy Belle and Sebastian. Sparing a few minutes before a gig in Washington, D.C., bassist Brendan Canning talked about his band’s newest album, this tour’s band lineup and the disappearance of his glorious red facial fuzz. Oh, and there’s a little something about a certain oil spill.

So do you guys know the lineup for Treasure Island, who is going to be playing?
Yep, pretty much as it is right now. We’re an eight-piece, and whoever else wants to jump on board for that as well. We’ve been picking up a lot of guys as well. We’ve been picking up people in different cities – different horn players, string players. But you know, it’s mainly the group that played on the latest record [Forgiveness Rock Record].

And that would be?
Sam [Goldberg], Charlie [Spearin], Andrew [Whiteman], Me, Justin [Peroff], Kevin [Drew], Lisa [Lobsinger] and David French, our newest member on saxophone. And Marty [Davis Kinack], of course, from the house doing the mix.

So a reader wanted to know, you guys have a ton of people in your guys’ band. So how do you keep track of everyone? Is there, like, a Facebook group or, like, a giant e-mail thread?
You know, this is the band that’s touring for this record, so there’s really no question about who’s coming out to the gigs. You know, we’re all buddies, as far as extended family. Everyone pretty much has an idea of where we’re gonna be and when we’re gonna be. You just have conversations with your friends and say, “Hey, are you going to be around on this date?” I could talk to Dave Hodge, he’s our trombone player and say, “Hey are you going to come to Philly?” And he’d say, “No, I can’t come to Philly, but I can definitely come to Boston, and then I’ll be in New York.” So that’s just basically that. There’s no great secret behind it.

In terms of writing music for this, was it the same core group of people?
Yeah, ultimately, it was the six of us. Sam, Charlie, Kevin, Justin, me and Andrew.

So how do you guys get someone like Feist involved, or the guys from Stars?
You just play them songs and see what they like.

Is there ever, like, you write something up and say Amy [Millan] from Stars would sound great on this?
Yeah, yeah sure. Sometimes you just play them something, and either they got an idea for it and either they don’t. And sometimes you have something in mind – ‘Emily [Haines of Metric] would sound great on this tune.” Pretty much like they way you think.

You guys are touring in support of your newest album, “Forgiveness Rock Record.” Kevin gave Pitchfork an interview recently, and he said something about singing what’s really inside of you. So I guess this album is about forgiveness. Is there anyone that needs forgiving here?
Oh you know, sure. Every one of us. You and everyone you know. And everyone you don’t know. It’s a pretty basic concept, the idea of forgiveness. If there ever was a time to employ it, you just wake up and read the papers. That’s pretty much what needs to be happening. The title for the record kind of came out in jest a little bit. When Kevin and I, we’re hanging out in Chicago, that’s where we did a lot of the record, Sam [Prekop] from Sea and Cake was there, and Kevin joked, “We’re making this forgiveness rock record.”  And Sam says, “That sounds like your title right there. It kind of just stuck. No one else thought of anything better.

So is there anything or anyone that you want to forgive in the last five years since you guys released your last album?
Yeah sure. I don’t need to tell you all about all the fucking things I’ve done wrong laughs. I’m not in the confessional box here. We’re all just human beings, trying to get by. You work your shit out every day like a good human being tries to do. That’s all we’re doing, and then trying to put on good shows as a band, trying to make people feel good. And be honest about it, too.

The Sea and Cake are going to be playing Treasure Island. Is John going to be stepping on stage with you guys?
Are Sea and Cake playing Treasure Island? Well, I guess, yeah, but not only John, but Sam as well. Sam sings one of the tunes, duets with Kevin on whatever that song is called…”Romance to the Grave.” There’s going to be a lot of cross-pollination between the two bands. We’ll be a month into the tour, and we’ll meld the two bands. Obviously Sea and Cake will play Sea and Cake songs and Broken Social Scene play Broken Social Scene songs, but we’ll see how many people we can get up from each band. So at times maybe we’ll be a 10-piece or depending on how many horn players we find out in San Francisco, we might be a 12-piece. It’s a little early to be figuring out San Francisco. We usually start figuring out the lineup a few days before.

So when you say you’re finding horn players, is that like, you’ll call someone in San Francisco and say, “Hey, do you guys have any horn players?” Can anyone join?
Yeah, pretty much. I don’t think we’ve ever had horn players in San Francisco. So maybe this time around, maybe we’ll make the effort. On the West Coast, generally, I don’t think we’ve ever had anyone in Seattle or Portland, I don’t know what that is. I’m sure we can find someone. At the same time, we’re pretty solid with two horns.

But if I came out with a trumpet or something, I could maybe…
Well maybe, if you were a trumpet player that would be great. I mean, if you can’t play trumpet, you really have no business being on the stage. We’re looking for people who can play.

So do you have your beard coming back?
No, no I don’t. I shaved it off last summer.

Is it coming back anytime soon?
No, I don’t think so. My gal likes me clean-shaven. You gotta please the ones who love you and spend the most time with you, even though I probably spend more time with my bandmates, actually…

Who love you as well, right?
Yeah, but in a different way. And not every day laughs. That’s part of being a family.

I had one question about a song on your album, kind of current event-ish. “Texico Bitches.” Was that a song about big oil?
I mean, I guess, not originally. But ultimately, if you follow the lyrics in the song, it can be especially apt for guys like Tony Hayward or whatever BP cocksuckers that couldn’t fucking use their God-given brains to rectify a situation. The destruction of the planet is because of greed, there is no other way of putting it. You listen to interviews of guys who are on the ship, and there are orders to speed along the process, and it’s really just incredible. All in the name of making sure your yacht is kept up and whatever. It is amazing. And Tony Hayward, the fucking head of BP, taking no accountability for it. Yeah, any sort of cocksucker like that. Those are like crimes against humanity, they should be locked away for life, considering the sort of wars you have or the war on drugs. It really makes you scratch you head.

But going back to the central theme of the album, is there any forgiveness for them?
I would say, in hell. Yeah, I don’t think there’s any forgiveness in that. You’re ruining people’s lives by the thousands, and let alone the people living in the sea, all the little creatures. Who’s going to speak for them? Certainly not the oil guys. It’s a cruel world. We’re just one band.

A version of this review appeared at Treeswingers.com on Sept. 14, 2010.