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It’s 5pm at the Esplanade Tranquille, the sun is beating down and festival-goers are creaming. A handful of passers-by – a mix of young families and workers just released from the office – form a sparse crowd. Then, refreshingly, ALICE takes to the stage.
She settles down behind her Crumar, a smile on her face, and can’t wait to start playing. The drawing power of her incandescent voice works instantly, and the crowd soon fills in. Curious onlookers on the sidelines are drawn into a line dance, led with gusto by ALICE.
So comfortable, so at home. What better way to close the Francos on a Saturday afternoon.
Alice Tougas St-Jak has been working under the name ALICE for only two years, a project she leads from the front, writing both music and lyrics. The self-assurance she exudes today is the result of ten years’ collaboration as singer and accordionist with the now-defunct Canaille – an eight- or nine-piece band where folk and bluegrass met in joyous, controlled chaos. Now she’s branching out into more intimate territory, without denying her country roots.
Good for us, it suits her. The accordion has given way to the keyboard. Bluegrass to rock. She may not have a driver’s license, but she knows how to drive. I met her just after her performance, behind the stage at Pub Brasseur Montréal. She’d just delivered a unanimously charmed set with her ALICE BAND, a solid, fit, well-coiffed, good-humored quartet. Her eyes still shining, she tells me she has plenty of juice left to answer my questions.
PAN M 360: Do you find the same rush – before, during and after the show – as in the Canaille days?
ALICE: The excitement will always be there. At the beginning, with ALICE, it was like starting all over again, I was quite nervous. At times, I was feverish, but in the best sense of the word. Just the excitement of being there with my gang. The big difference with the Canaille days is that now, I’m the one who carries the show and hosts. Before, even though I sometimes led, the pressure was shared.
I really think it must have helped me to have 10 years of show behind me. Right now, I really feel like I’m on my X!
PAN M 360: You decided to give the project your first name. After all these years in a band, did you feel like revealing yourself more, showing off more personally?
ALICE: Yes, that’s right. I felt the need to get into it. I started the solo project when Canaille was still active. The end of the band allowed me to devote more time to it. It’s my name, it’s me, I have to take responsibility for what comes out of it!
Not that I didn’t assume what I was doing with Canaille. I loved being in a band, and I’m glad I went through it, giving back to a song even if it’s not my own. As much as the nostalgia is there, it’s okay that it’s over. It was frantic, we did something like 700, 800 shows. As long as I wanted to do something else, I said to myself “ok, I’d like to be a leader”, and I like composing, even if it’s so much more work! But it’s all a lot more fun.
PAN M 360: Did you write any new songs with a view to releasing your EP, or were they lying dormant during your other projects?
ALICE: I composed one of the tunes during Canaille, but for the most part, it wasn’t sleeping. It took me a while to find my way! I just knew I wanted to drop the accordion and do something more rock.
PAN M 360: Speaking of accordions, I came across one of your biographies that described you as a clown-accordionist. What is a clown-accordionist?
ALICE: Ah haha yes, I studied theater. At the time, I had a friend who was a circus performer, so we decided to set up our own circus to do street entertainment at jazz festivals – in France, Denmark, Poland… It was very theatrical. German wheel, acrobatics, diabolo, juggling. I played the funny part, with the accordion and the mute clown character. I can’t remember the exact year… but I do remember that I turned 21 in Poland!
PAN M 360: Your 21st birthday party in Poland must have been memorable for you to use it as a landmark to situate yourself in time!
ALICE: Yes, I’ll always remember that! My first tour and my first trip without my mother. It prepared me for the Canaille tours afterwards. It was like a fairground haha! Bohemian, but very French, we cooked our salads on the sidewalk. Great memories.
PAN M 360: Is there anything you allow yourself today that you wouldn’t have dared earlier in your career?
ALICE: I used to be really into acoustics. I wouldn’t allow myself to do rock. I had a kind of impostor syndrome… I used to say to myself: “I don’t know enough about that myself”.
Let’s see, I’ve been listening to rock since I was 14, The Mamas & the Papas, The Beatles, The Stones. I’ve always been into ’60s and ’70s music, but it didn’t seem to be an option, maybe because I didn’t see many women doing it, and my voice isn’t particularly rock. I don’t sing like Janis Joplin!
I rock with my instrument, with my intention. Rock takes on any color you want, it’s very vast. Now I’m free to do what I want.
PAN M 360: Does your taste for that era come from your musical influences? Is it fed by a kind of nostalgia for an era you never knew?
ALICE: It reminds me of what I listened to as a teenager. I didn’t live it, but my mother did! There must be a photo of her at Woodstock, bobbing in a lake. I feel that nostalgia. At home, I collect vinyl, crockery, Pyrex and all sorts of useless retro stuff from the ’50s to the ’80s. The amber, the multicolored… those are the years I love!
PAN M 360: With ALICE, you’ve changed your register a little. Has your audience followed you in this turn, or are you reconnecting with new faces instead?
ALICE: Canaille or not Canaille, a lot of my friends come to see me. I know that some of them discovered me through Canaille and continue to follow me, and that means a lot to me. What I find great is seeing new people every time! The Francos are perfect for that: you hear music, it’s fun, it’s free. It really gives me energy. Some people say to me, “We feel like being your friend.
And while I’m playing, I see them smiling. That’s what gives me the fuel!
