Bran Van 3000 Compare Reunion To Justice League Or X-Men

The way James Di Salvio explains Bran Van 3000's reunion after a seven year hiatus, it sounds as if his flock of musicians were acting like homing pigeons, all returning to their roost when some mystic understanding signaled that the time was right.

Rose, the third full-length dropped by the party music collective, picks up where 2001's Discosis left off — in a mash-up of pop, hip-hop, reggae and soul — and that'll be good news for the band's fans. And how did ring-leader Di Salvio know the world was ready for the next Bran Van disc? Vibes, of course.

"I guess it was just the vibes we were getting from people," he says with the blase drawl of a California beach bum. "People just kinda discovered Discosis more on a cult level.

"All these amazing people just came together to tell some stories," he adds. "I see it as almost like the Justice League or the X-Men or something... When it's time to throw down live, we all just congregate."

Though the band's core membership (which includes Sara Johnston, Jayne Hill, Stephane Moraille, Stephen "Liquid" Hawley, Gary McKenzie, Rob Joanisse and Nick Hynes) hadn't had much contact since their last tour, Di Salvio is reluctant to classify their album gap as anything close to a breakup or separation.

"We never officially disbanded," he states. "We just went into life, really. You do this in your early 20s and you go on this long ride, and you do the thing, and then you stop and you live your life. Some people have kids and bachelors degrees and other people went crazy — I won't say who."

The music never really stopped for Di Salvio, who has spent the better part of the last few years south of the border working on a number of collaborative projects. He still calls Montreal home, however, and though it was affected in some ways by the atmosphere in the U.S., he sees Rose as a wholly Canadian album.

"Even this particular mixtape was shot with Montreal lenses," Di Salvio assures. "We can only give our version of what's going on. It definitely wasn't conscious but it was definitely cool that it happened on the last stretch of the Bush years, where there's this kind of tide in the States right now.

"It's a country of extremes. Going from feeling so manipulated to coming back into realizing — definitely not on a major media level but you can feel it in the street — that people still really are all about soul and connection at the end of the day. It was really cool to bypass the two-dimensional vision of the American people and just get down and dirty and jam."

Bran Van are planning a Canadian tour for 2008, but dates have yet to be set.