Fare Thee Well, Will Austin

Photo by Sandra Lynn Belanger

He came from British Columbia with the hair of a madman and a head full rock solos. Like Buddy Holly on acid, he went from one weird project to the next, a troubadour of messed-up folk interspersed with space-rock from beyond explanation.

A proud Concordia University alumni, he will now take his squealin’ Bob Dylan renditions to Toronto, where I suppose he will become an investment banker or a used car salesman.

He leaves countless other musicians to mourn his absence, including but not limited to everyone in the Sake Of The Songs benefit shows, the UnPop Montréal festival, the singer-songwriter crew, Loaded/S.H.A.L.L. and other supergroups, as well as the hundreds of bands he’s started that lasted for six months before going into hibernation/indefinite hiatus. And of course SsKKLLffkk.

Godspeed, sailor. You will be remembered. In 2055.

Writing

Writing; it's a hell of a beast. Yes, I meant writing, not writers. Writers are a disparate bunch, but most of those who consider themselves to be writers have this idealized preconceived notion that it's a glamorous way to kill oneself through poverty and acclaim, when it is often one and rarely the other, and almost never done in the spotlight.

The spotlight kills, always has, always will. Not just writers, but thinkers too. Very few revel in it, and most who do do so fort such short periods of time hat it's irrelevant. From a three-movie career (hello, James Dean) to a decade of high-level sports success (Patrick Roy, Wayne Gretzky), they are shooting stars in a world of dead planets.

So, no, this won't be about writers.

The action of sitting down to put thoughts into words drives a few of us to the brink of (in)sanity, usually because it causes us to exist on a parallel plane, one in which we have time to ourselves, one in which we can afford to take a moment and not make a living for a while. Time is often more an enemy than inspiration, which can be triggered. You can't invent hours, make them up from scratch when you've run out - if so, one could harness that skill to create immortality. And yet some dedicate their lives to this... but, of course, I digress. Which I do so often I'm probably an evil mastermind in a poor sci-fi movie.

Where I meant to go was here, to a blog post by Kelly Kay, a friend-of-a-friend I met at an UnPop show I put on three or four years ago, someone I would have liked to get to know better but probably scared instead. Which is fine, because I already have all the friends-I-don't-have-the-time-to-be-around that I can handle.

Like myself, Kelly's a film grad who loves music, particularly of the live variety, and who, in an ideal world, would get paid to write whatever's on her mind. except her mind is twisted, violently, because she spends way too much time over-analyzing stuff like Lana Del Rey as a fictional, built-up character personalizing America; it's at once mesmerizing, compelling and haunting - not the subject matter, but the depth to which she dives into it. It's a heck of an interesting read.

Video Of The Week: Technical Kidman

I've been onto these guys since booking one of their first shows for my yearly festival, UnPop Montréal, but Technical Kidman are now a whole different beast than they were three years ago.

Gone are the forays into slow, melodic layered rock that spawned mid-2000s-era Radiohead comparisons, and in come pulse-pounding beats that channel tribal music but with added synths and bass just seems like ''futuristic in the way we thought futuristic was going to be in 1996''. Meaning we're here now, and we're hearing just that. It leaves an impression of ''this can't be happening'' in the back of your head as you're coerced into dancing by the hypnotic beat.

Video Of The Week: Astral Gunk

A few years ago, young musician Joe Chamandy applied to have his band - oddly named The Beatles - play my annual UnPop Montreal festival, despite not knowing a thing about it. It didn't pan out in the end, and his Beatles are on hiatus these days.

But he's in another band called Astral Gunk, which he sometimes plugs on his blog, which consists mostly of artwork he's drawing, as independent pieces as much as show posters.

In any event, Astral Gunk - based not in Montréal but in Sackville, New Brunswick - made a video for their song Modern Life, and it's fun to watch:

Blast From The Past: jraff's Poster For Raw Madonna's UnPop 2010 Show

Just happened to fall on jraff's blog page showing off his amazing UnPop 2010 poster:

 I am blessed to have so many generous, talented friends. Truly.

Dora Bleu, Wiwichu & Will Austin @ Piranha Bar, September 15th, 2011

                                                           (picture by .Cut)


UnPop Montréal 2011 has come to an end, shorter than in past years, but just as awe-inspiring and jaw-dropping. This day-after-my-birthday night was no exception.

Here is the write-up I came up with, in its original bilingual form:

                                                         (poster by Triangles Stuart)

(scroll down for English)

Pour la 7e année consécutive, Sébastian Hell vous présente UnPop Montréal, le festival des shows gratuits du mois de septembre, qui commence le 31 par un lancement de disque et se termine le 22 par un show extérieur d'Arcade Fire. Entrecoupé de shows intérieurs comme celui-ci, de partys ravageurs, et de la fête de votre Messie favori le 14.

Mais revenons aux shows, et plus spécifiquement celui-ci...

DORA BLEU est une artiste multidisciplinaire qui transforme les sons ambiants en musique contemporaine, plus souvent qu'autrement accompagnée de nos musiciens expérimentaux les plus connus (Sam Shalabi, Alex St-Onge, Cloudscapes pour ne nommer que ceux-là).

WILL AUSTIN et son ESCAPE, c'est de la pure folie rock qui nous ramène aux années 60 et 70 dans son délire presque toujours improvisé basé sur de réelles compositions, mais jouées ''sur le moment''. Il est aussi le leader du groupe Shyny Diemyndz, qui abondent dans le même sens.

WIWICHU, eux, tirent la couverte dans un tout autre sens. Parfois ''free jazz'', parfois plus ''rock moderne'', ils tendent à vouloir ensevelir vos références musicales dans un maëlstrom olfactif et sonore qui en déroutera plus d'un.

Et le tout, comme d'habitude, animé de sang-froid par SÉBASTIAN HELL, le légendaire trentenaire qui fait courir les foules full bien.

Et c'est encore et toujours GRATUIT, et ce sera au PIRANHA BAR (680 Ste-Catherine Ouest) pour la toute première fois. On vous y voit?
----------------------------------
UnPop 2011. Year 7. Free shows each September, each sillier and bigger and more entertaining than the last, all gifts to you from Sébastian Hell, Grand Whizzer of this nearly-month-long event.

As a palate cleanser, this first show of the 2011 edition has garnered past performers back for an encore presentation:

DORA BLEU, who made grown men weep and normal music evolve last year is back in a smaller, more intimate setting to mesmerize your senses even more.

The one and only WILL AUSTIN ESCAPE, UnPop veterans since 2007, will show you just how high-energy and spontaneous a rock performance can get, as the modern Huddy Bolly of our times makes his guitar screech as much as his voice in re-interpreted versions of his already-classic epic songwriting.

And first but not least, WIWICHU, a collective of nü-improvisers (all ex-members of bands that have played UnPop before, here in an All-Star setting of sorts) guaranteed to expand your mind in ways even Jim Morrison had never dreamed about.

All that and SÉBASTIAN HELL at the helm, hosting with the boasting, funnier than a barrel of fun keys, in all his intrepid ''I-lost-so-much-weight-but-I'm-still-big'' glory. Oh, and a glory hole out back.

Back where? At PIRANHA BAR, for the very first time. 680 Ste-Catherine West. Formerly an arcade, now a place for awesome music. On the 15th, anyway. And, as usual, FREE.

 Here is a review my friend Albérick wrote about Dora's set; he disliked the setting but seemed to enjoy the performance...

For my part, I was again shocked at the sheer power of Dora's voice, how it takes command over the barrage of sounds her collaborators make. Sure, the experimentations were really nice, the songwriting from whence these tweaks occur is stellar, but the magnitude of her glass-shattering voice keeps hitting me hard. She could fill an arena without a microphone.

And what can I say about Wiwichu? I was expecting well-groomed musicians (which they are, each playing in at least one other band) getting silly, but instead got a direct dose of heavy instrumental funk, which I didn't realize I absolutely needed until I heard it. It grooved like I had no idea it could. I was shocked - and pleasantly surprised.

As for the ever-lasting Will Austin, he's always had the talent to write good songs and make covers (by anybody, from Daniel Johnston to Bob Dylan) his own, and could always come up with an impressive performance, but in the past year or so, he has really achieved a level of consistency I would/could/should not have expected on his part, maybe because of his oh-so-natural delivery, or because he doesn't take himself all that seriously - or at least is very level-headed about his ability to rock a mic with just a guitar. Slowly but surely, he is becoming someone you'll regret not having seen live.

Alice Is Wonderland

Pardon the terrible pun - the good one was already taken, by Alice Phieu herself, for her blog site Phieu The Looking Glass. I urge you to check it out.

Alice is one of my favourite visual artists of the past 5 years.

I have these two posters laminated and hanging at my place:

and

Additionally, it would be a crime to not mention the amazing poster she made for my yearly autumnal festival of free music, UnPop Montréal:

She doesn't post all that often, but what she does is terribly beautiful. She posted one on Friday, a superb work she claims was just ''procrastination'' - I'll let you be the judge. She also posted a sequel half an hour ago, ''just messing around with coffee filters''. Again, check it out.

The Unanimous Success Of Philémon Chante

And to think that just last Fall, Philémon Chante was performing a free concert at UnPop Montréal, my annual festival, for a half-full Cagibi... and that I got to share a stage with him, opening for Daniel Greer in an empty Brasserie Ste-Ambroise on a sad Tuesday night...

Like Patrick Pleau before him, Philémon Bergeron-Langlois has accomplished much in a short time span, not content with playing the Fringe Festival on June 12th, but performing at the peak of francophone music, Les FrancoFolies on the 15th.

A quick rise to glory for the man who, just two days ago, released his first record, Les Sessions Cubaines, at Casa Del Popolo, packed full of sweaty, loving adoration. Sure, it wasn't perfect - his usual charming and über-talented magnificent violonist Zoé Saint-Pierre couldn't make it... and neither did the records; despite a lauch show with nothing to launch, it seems the show garnered nothing but praise.

Here are a few articles in French preceding the show: Voir, Nightlife and L'Actualité!

And some pertaining to the show itself:
en français: on 4MTL and Bombe.tv
in English: from Free After Four and Examiner

The votes that matter are in, and despite being eliminated in the Francouvertes semi-final a month ago, we all know in our heart of hearts who the real winners are: those who get to witness Philémon singing.

Video Of The Week: Plajia

Well, that was easy.

As I was looking for a Video Of The Week, friends of UnPop Montréal Plajia released their brand-spanking new video, basically a 'live jam' performance of their new song, Kyaan Done.

Fittingly, the room is postered with Beatles memorabilia, as this song is the most Beatle-esque they've ever recorded - they're usually more 'modern' in their sound. A decent departure, though, much welcome - especially with the ton (plethora?) of Montréal bands that sound like Radiohead these days.

While the band's singer, Patrick Pleau, is currently preparing solo shows, including one at the prestigious Place-Des-Arts, that I'll be writing about the next day - I'll be in attendace - the band is, in fact, in the midst of recording new songs, for a new record we can hope to see released this year.

In the meantime, a strong single to help us through the harshest month of winter (kudos for airplay on MusiMax!):

The Year's Coming To A Close

November's ending, and the year's coming into its last throes - and what do I have to say for myself? What have I done this year that merits attention, that makes it worth havin spent 365 days in it?

I've remained in country (unless you consider Toronto to be another country - I don't yet, but I did feel rather alien in it, as always), I've played 15 local shows and hosted UnPop yet again, but without an actual Finale to speak of yet, few outside shows.

My book is still not out (although it's pretty damn close at this point), I'm expecting news in a matter of days and already have approved the texts, fonts and bar code.

I'll soon be living alone with my two kitties in an apartment that was made for two humans and maybe an extra tiny one...

I'll get to redecorate, though, that should be fun, sports and music memorabilia everywhere.

My grandparents celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary; I like that people who have trouble getting out of couches get more accomplishments done in a year than I do.

I wanted to exercise and walk, that didn't happen. I think I need to buy myself some skates and start playing outdoors hockey again - except for the fact that I hate the fucking cold. And I likely can't afford new skates, especially since I've been using goalie skates all my life and those would be the ones I'd need - and they're fucking expensive.

Oh well, we'll see what the new year brings. Either way, I still have a shot at ending 2009 with a bang.

Video of the Week: Dead Messenger

I started a new weekly feature just last week, Video Of the Week, and I nearly didn't post one this week... so much for continuity, eh?

Well, in the hopes of maybe getting myself to follow through on something for once in my life, here's a video from Dead Messenger that they did last summer (so it's still relatively recent). The song is 'Fat Black Heart', one of the best from their recent CD 'Love Is The Only Weapon', and usually the song they end their live sets with - not bad, considering they're one of the best live bands in this stinking town.

The song starts off as a convenience store in-line camera, then just slowly evolves into random acts of randomness that happen every day in town: people dancing in the streets, people walking down the streets with TVs on their heads, people hanging out in the middle of cinder blocks - and shots of Dead Messenger rocking out.

I like this song so much I've already linked the video four times on my Facebook page, and have used their chorus as an intro to a song of mine at a few live shows of late - and I like the band so much I've booked them for a fifth UnPop show in 5 years this Fall. I also plan on booking and opening for them for a future show at Barfly early in 2010.

Oh, What A Night...

Attended a show last night, didn't really have a choice since I was hosting it as part of my festival, but had I had the choice, I wouldn't have gone - I was just too tired. But I'm really glad I did - and for all the right reasons too.

I got there a bit late, maybe 9:45-ish (start time was scheduled for 9:30), and I was really hoping I hadn't missed too much. At that point, I hadn't slept in nearly 34 hours, and not eaten in even longer, but I caught a shish-taouk on the fly from Amir next door and entered the premises of Quai Des Brumes only to realize soundcheck was nearing its end. All's good. But a guitar player breaks a string, and this night could sudenly turn out much longer than I thought - and I was in no mood for that to happen.

It takes all the way until 10 past 10 for the band to start, but when they do, all's forgiven. Technical Kidman, the most original name in this year's line-up of acts, is well worth staying up for. A three-man unit, they proceed to use 6 instruments (only the drummer sticks to his own the whole time) to produce some of the most melodic new sounds I've heard in a while. If Radiohead, in their Hail To The Thief era, had made an incredible record, they may have sounded this good. Granted, it took singer Mathieu a few effects to get the high-pitched perfection he was going for, but the result was clear as night - perfect. 4 songs, 20 minutes, bliss.

Then followed the computer-generated stylings of Low End Ensemble, two guys making two improv pieces of fully instrumental electronic music, the first piece, a masterpiece, resembling something more industrial, and the second more beat-oriented, less loud, but still quite potent. I meant to purchase their recording (which looked like a DVD), but they left before I could get my hands on hard, cold cash to do so. But that just means 'until next time'.

By now we were well past 11 PM, running over 40 minutes late, only to be caught watching the erection of the stage show that is Natalie Portland, four humans including one lady, two huge keyboards, a guitar, a bass, and a three-story workplace containing what seemed like a hundred effects pedals and a full monitoring console...

While it seemed like they were cutting every song short to make way for the headliner sooner rather than later, each one was a universe in its own right, with added instruments hidden from sight like distorted harmonicas and weird kazoos. Added bonus, the less-experimental final track, where the girl sings, accompanied only by a bass and a few subtle effects, like a modern-day Girl From Ipanema, except it'd take place in a war-ravaged metropolis rather than Rio De Janeiro.

It's a shame most patrons left during or after that set, even if they did get three very good shows - they missed the 'pièce de résistance' - A Devil's Din, a true rocker to wake us up for the ride home.

These guys are the real deal - you can see the experience in their faces, and you can hear the years of rock it took to get where they are today during every second they're playing. At times a bit psychedelic, at times balls-out rocking, this quartet knows their way around their instruments - and definitely turn the volume up to 11.

Quality stuff, all around.

Awake Is The New... Nightmare

I've now been awake for 37 of the last 40 hours, including the last 25 in a row. My eyes are doing everything they can to close, my brain can barely stop them anymore.

That Rockstar energy drink didn't work wonders, that's for sure, and the Diet Pepsi is making me want to puke.

I'm fucking freezing one minute, too hot to breathe the next - it's like I'm menopausing. My arms are twitching and moving uncontrollably.

I remember I wrote about not sleeping last year around this time, when I was in Cuba having the time of my adult life, but I was in good dispositions then, and I was drinking every hour I was awake, which isn't the case right now - on both counts.

I'm locked in a cubicle, writing, surrounded by people who are constantly on the phone. Even their never-ending chatter barely keeps me awake. And once this is over, which can be in half an hour or an hour from now, I'm the one calling it, I have to go to a show I booked for my annual Birthday Festival - one I've been looking forward to for at least a couple of weeks now.

I'm just afraid I might fall asleep in the subway on my way there or, worse still, there.

And I know I'll forget how bad I'm feeling at this time tomorrow. Come to think of it, I guess I always do, because sleeping is not something I do on a regular basis, for better or worse - this time, worse. But I keep doing it, to the tune of a couple of sleepless nights a week.

And I feel bad for the familiar faces that I only see during my yearly festivities, and for the new faces I get to meet, but on nights like tonight, I'm just showing up to show up - I'm phoning it in. Good thing I'm just there to enjoy the show and not to perform!

When Did Festivals Start To Suck?

I hate to write about this now, what with my recent posts self-promoting my own UnPop Festival, but it's more of an anti-festival anyway, isn't it?

But when it isn't bad enough that they overcharge bands to apply, overcharge for tickets, overcharge for programs and souvenirs - now there's a chance you might, literally, lose your clothes at these events, even whilst wearing the buggers.

And if I read that right - it's people's own friends that do that to them?

There's just one thing to do - become a recluse. Listen to music at home, alone - you've paid for the CD or mp3 - or downloaded it. You can listen to what is likely the best version of each song, right in your home, where the drinks and food are affordable, too. And none of your freaking friends will get you naked for the fun of seeing you walk home in the buff with no cash for a cab - 'cause it was in your pants.

And if you want to full concert experience, buy the Live DVD, or download the live bootleg.

Pop Goes the World

Montréal musician and columnist Jonathan Cummins, a Montreal Mirror regular for perhaps a decade now, hit a grand slam in his column today.

He bashed a reality TV show, a Canadian ''making the band'' type of horror thing, with terrible Canadian no-talent judges, with foul language that brings vivid imagery.

He also plugged my show and and festival, UnPop Montréal, and all the acts playing at Parc Des Amériques tomorrow night, without even mentionning the acts playing the same place today, Saturday and Sunday - all organized by Pop Montreal, my ''direct competitor''.

Hmmm: also: I just noticed, while linking to Pop's website, that they too are plugging my show(s) - with a picture of me playing solo, too! And the pic is my former Facebook profile pic, where did they get it? I want to say ''thanks'', but too many questions are raised...

It's weird. I like to comment on the news, but now I am the news. I guess Michael Jackson really is dead.

UnPop Montréal 2009

Well, it's official: UnPop Montréal 2009 will take place, starting August 24th, hopefully until September 15th - I really like partying on my birthday, and beyond.

All shows, as usual, will be free for the public to attend.

The start-off show will be held at Soundcentral, an independent record shop situated at the corner of Coloniale and Mont-Royal, and will feature myself, Sébastian Hell, and Small Wars - UnPop founder Nate Munn's acousti-punk alter-ego.

The most massive show will be an outdoors extravaganza on St-Laurent street, Friday, August 28th, from 4PM to 10PM, during the street fair - a collaboration with our nemesis Pop Montreal (as in 2006, we've given peace a chance, more specifically, the chance to play outdoors to a bunch of people). And it'll rock onwards and upwards from there.

Some shows are still being booked as we speak, some bands have yet to confirm, but this year, Year 5, looks to not only be a good yet, but possibly the best yet.

News Is Happening In French

I know it seems like I've been neglecting this blog this August - 11 days in and barely three posts.

That's because even if the whole world has given much food for thought and angered me enough to write, and I also have tons of stories to tell, my own local news has given me much to write about, and much of it with the French side of my brain.

So I've been writing about it on my French blog, mostly, as well as on a three-language 'political' blog I share with Alex Beaudoin-Duquette - although it's not really political, more an observation at how absurd the world has become.

As a friend pointed out, it's like as if the real news and The Onion were now undissociable.

I'll likely translate a couple down the line (say... this weekend), but in the meantime, if you understand French and Espanol, look those buggers up.

Oh, and I'm also gearing up and preparing UnPop Montréal, my annual gift back to my city where I provide, for free, tons of artists' shows all around town. Including an all-day outdoors event on St-Laurent street during the street fair. Oh yeah!

UnPop 2008 Is Over!

UnPop Montréal. Year Four: 4 More Days Of No Sleep And Good Music. It ended in the wee hours the morning, ended well in a warm atmosphere amongst friends in a climate of love... until it was time to leave and off we went into minus-30 weather. Ah, the joys of winter!

So this year gathered less media attention, most probably because it was completed in a haste, barely a week ahead of the scheduled shows. The turnout was generally fine, overall. And the money required to put the shows on was a lot less than that of years past. All in all, a success story.

It kicked off on Thursday night at Cagibi. Sébastian Hell, Might, Reason To Hide and Anti-School-Year.

Then off to The Pound on Saturday for weird music, with Merles Guitar Band, Launie Anderssohn, The Montreal Nintendo Orkestar and Raw Madonna.

Saturday night, still at The Pound, Smoked Meat Fax Machine improvised a set of instrumental madness, ElevenEighty grooved the house on down, and The Nevers brought the crowd home to an era most of them hadn't even lived in, early-80's Manchester, England, with a sound reminiscent of a cross between Joy Division and The Cure, but realer in a way than Interpol. It's pretty fucking hard to believe these kids are so good.

Then it was back at Cagibi for a case of Patrick Hutchinson (of Swift Years, formerly of Bare Bones), Will Austin, Allan Lento and Elizabeth Bruce. A top-quality finish, but one of those that usually goes unnoticed for too long.

Individual show revires may follow on this blog, as they will be posted from somewhere else.