Interviews – Page 43

Pianist, drummer, and composer Julius Rodriguez, 24, is a raw talent magnified by very solid academic training. He was already showing off his talent before he was even a teenager, jamming with the pros at Small’s Club in New York. He got his training at Juilliard, no less, in jazz and classical, no less also! A contract with Verve and the release of his first album as a leader in 2022 (Let Sound Tell All) completed his gradual but inevitable arrival in the world of the jazz elite. A young man of discreet appearance, but burning with inner creativity and the desire to express it musically.

On Saturday 1 July at 8 and 10 p.m. at Pub la Traversée Molson Export in Place Tranquille in Montreal’s Entertainment District (two free sets, then), Montreal audiences will be able to hear Julius Rodriguez in action for the first time in Canada as a feature and leader. Sit back and enjoy the magic of the Festival, which gives you access to this kind of high-calibre artistic offer, at the marquee’s expense!

PAN M 360: Hello Julius. It’s your first time in Montreal. What does it represent for you to be in this Jazz Fest lineup?

Julius Rodriguez: Well, it will be my first international (out of the US) performance as a leader, so it’s a big deal to me. And since it’s the first time as a leader, it’s another step also. I’m really looking forward to it.

PAN M 360: You started so young, so, even at 24 you’ve had time to mature quite a bit. Nevertheless, a few years ago, you said in an interview that you felt pressure to be “legit,” that you didn’t want people saying that you didn’t know jazz history or, on the other hand, didn’t push the music forward. Do you still feel that pressure?

Julius Rodriguez: Yeah, that pressure is definitely not there the way it was when I gave that interview. Like, you know, at that time, I was traveling with a lot of other musicians and playing other people’s music. So it’s, you know, it was a job per se, but now that I get to go and play my own music, that’s kind of the validation that the way I see the music heading is something that listeners also might start to agree with.

PAN M 360: You also said somewhere else that jazz is not the most mainstream type of music nowadays, so you have to get creative in the ways that you can reach people and grab attention. Have you found the way? Or are you still looking?

Julius Rodriguez: I wouldn’t say I have a particular formula or a way to do that. But I think the way one can find that is by being as true and as honest to the art as possible. Because when you do that, it’s this kind of undeniable proof. Even when you see people that are not as great as what they do, you can tell when they’re really feeling the music and making you feel that energy. So whether you enjoy it or not you’re gonna enjoy the performance because you know that they’re connected to what they’re doing in a very special way. So for me, I always try to be as honest as I can with the music. I think through that honesty, is how you’re able to connect with people, whether they know what you’re doing or not, or agree with it or not.

PAN M 360: You are very well-versed in both classical and jazz styles and techniques. And you are also a young man of your time, meaning that you also delve into hip-hop and soul, and then you bring all those things together. What is your composition process?

Julius Rodriguez: I guess it’s just a matter of improvisation and experimentation. I like to try and write melodies that I feel can be versatile. So I write a song, play it with, you know, some musicians who do more than the straight-ahead jazz stuff. And I’ll try and arrange that same song for a band that does more R&B kind of music, or if I have a musician that plays more rock-oriented stuff, I say how can you twist the song, you know, give you space to do what you do in your musical idiom. So it’s just a matter of, you know, trying to be adaptable to different situations. And that’s the way that the music, for me, ends up adapting to different types and styles because I’m just open to letting it be something else.

Pan M 360: Do You feel it’s mandatory for today’s musicians to be steeped in all kinds of music and mix them up?

Julius Rodriguez: To an extent yes. Because even if you are looking at music that you don’t like or don’t want to play, I think you have to know what it is to know what not to do. It’s good to have an awareness of everything. Even if it’s not what you want to do.

PAN M 360: You have one recent new album (Let Sound Tell All), and only one EP before that. I guess you will play this stuff and probably new things as well in your two sets in Montreal?

Julius Rodriguez: There’s definitely gonna be some new music we’ve been working on. And you know, that’s a part of my process, putting the music into different venues and situations, to see how people deal with it. See how the audience reacts to it, to see how we feel playing in new spaces.

PAN M 360: Has the pandemic had an impact on you, on your creative process?

Julius Rodriguez: It forced me to focus on music in a different way. And kind of rely more on myself than the people around me. Because before the pandemic, I was just trying to get into the studio as much as I could, which I still value by the way. But I didn’t realize how much time and attention to detail I wanted to be paying in the post-production part. So I started to pay more attention to the overall sound of the performance in the recording and find ways to expand the sonic palette in a way that I can actually do live, which is important. The recording is supposed to be different for me.

PAN M 360: How much can we expect a new recording in the future?

Julius Rodriguez: I am definitely working on new material. I’ve been doing so pretty much all year. I have a lot of time on the road. Maybe hopefully at some point next year, we’ll see.

PAN M 360: At some point in the first years, you said elsewhere, you felt intimidated by other well-established players around you. Was there a point where you realized that you owned your space, that you were, at this point, one of their peers?

Julius Rodriguez: I think the first time I met musicians from elsewhere in the US. That also was the time I started my academic music program. There I was like, okay, there are other people that are as serious about the music as I am. And you know, they sound even better than me. So I have somewhere to go with this. It just inspired me to take it all and start reaching for the next step to make this my purpose and my profession. But in reality, it didn’t come to me at one point really. It was more of a gradual blossoming.

PAN M 360: Another aspect of you that is unique is the fact that you play both the piano AND the drums! You often say that each instrument and its technique informs the way you play the other. Which instrument do you play most often, and how do you choose, in each instance, which you’re gonna play in a particular piece?

Julius Rodriguez: These days, I play more piano. It’s not that much of a choice, it’s just happening. And I don’t know if there’s a way that I choose what to play at which time. Maybe if it’s like the instrument that I composed the piece with. Like, the song Two Way Street on the album, I composed the beginning of the drums. So then I played drums on it. It just comes naturally. You just feel it. But it’s often just depending on where I compose the piece from because often when I compose a piece from a specific instrument, I’m gravitating towards that particular part.

PAN M 360: You’ve studied both classical and jazz. How do you see the place of these two rich musical styles interacting in the 21st century?

Julius Rodriguez: Obviously, classical harmony is always influencing jazz and modern jazz. On the other side, I feel like, these days, a lot more classical music is incorporating elements that were invented and coined through the avant-garde jazz and free jazz. It’s coming from that same place and it’s kind of morphing to be the same thing but each part influencing the other. It’s good.

Pan M 360: Would you consider writing something more thorough-composed in a more modern classical style?

Julius Rodriguez: Yes, I’ve already started doing it in a sense. On the Deluxe version of Let Sound Tell All, there’s a song called Dora’s Lullaby, and it’s mostly thoroughly composed. I have some more songs that are that way that we’re working on for the next record, too. We’ll probably play some at the festival. So, yeah, I will certainly do it more often in the future.

Pan M 360: Julius, it was such a great pleasure talking with you. I can’t wait to hear you Saturday night!

JULIUS RODRIGUEZ PLAYS THIS SATURDAY AT FIJM, PUB LA TRAVERSÉE MOLSON EXPORT, 20H ET 21H

A highly-sought after performer on the festival circuit, pianist Emmet Cohen is considered a contemporary master of swing music. With his ‘Live at Emmet’s Place’ series on Youtube, he gave himself and jazz music considerable exposure, and has been dazzling audiences both online and in person for years.

PAN M 360: Hey Emmet, great to speak with you. Where are you tuning in from?

Emmet: Victoria, BC. You happened to catch me at a time where we’re either flying or driving every single day now.

PAN M 360: So you’re doing a little Canadian circuit then?

Emmet: Yeah, yeah. We started in Seattle, we took the ferry today to Victoria, and we play Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary, and then Montreal. From there we are headed to Europe.

PAN M 360: Just curious but do you notice any differences between Canadian and American audiences at all?

Emmet: Well they say ‘eh’ a lot more. Just kidding. You know, I think I was actually in Canada last week too. We played Winnipeg, Regina and Minneapolis in the United States. But I mean, my general feeling is that audiences are the same who come out to hear this music. They’re good, warm people who want to see positive things for the world and want to see the world be a better place and care about other human beings. Jazz is about community. It’s about looking around and saying, how can I do something for the people around me? And that’s what it means to be an accompanist. That’s what it means to play in a group together.

PAN M 360: Your house concerts were a big part in creating that sense of community, both physically, and virtually. When you started those shows was that a kind of statement of intent on your part, or were you just doing what you love to do and everything fell into place naturally?

Emmet Cohen: I think there was a confluence of some different things. We live in Harlem, and there’s a history of Harlem rent parties that date back at least a 100 years into the roaring 20s of last century, and here we are in the roaring 20s of this century! There’s such a concentration of musicians in that area, and I’ve been playing with a lot of them for almost 10 years at that point, you know playing different gigs, different jam sessions, and just hanging out. When the pandemic started, we had a lot of collaborations, especially the trio,with so many of the great musicians that lived nearby. So I think that was the first thing that we noticed. And so then when we started doing it, it was just us, but then after about 10, 12 weeks, we started to get guests and it became more kind of like, you know, let’s do this thing for the community.

Now it’s cool because I can have jazz masters there, or older musicians, and then kind of celebrate them, or I can have younger musicians who maybe people don’t know about, and the exposure on the show can help them. And so, you know, it’s taken a very, very many twists and turns. But I think, you know, the underlying thing is that we’re just trying to have a good time and share the music and share a little piece of New York with the world.

PAN M 360: I’m so glad you started that series. I would say those concerts have a lot to do with bringing jazz and swing back into the mainstream again, especially with the younger generation, have you noticed that yourself?

Emmet: I think it’s always a bit cyclical, you know, Esperanza Spalding won the Grammy a number of years ago for her album, or for Best New Artist or something like that. And then it kind of paved the way for Jon Batiste to win all the Grammys that he won, which paved the way for Samara Joy to win. And, you know, I mention the Grammys because those are associated with pop culture. I think I have noticed a resurgence in younger musicians wanting to swing, and I think maybe we had something to do with that, but, you know, we just show the joy in the music and people relate to it and that’s the way it is.

PAN M 360: The joy you play with is contagious, and you make it look so easy. Last night I saw Brad Mehldau, and I was wondering, at this level, what is the work that you do on the piano?

Emmet: You know, it’s funny, I admire Brad too, and he always says Bach in the morning. Really though, I think that it’s all about time management at this point. When you’re on tour, half of your life, you know, I’m in a hotel room speaking to you now, there’s no piano around here. It’s harder for me to get a chance to work on stuff but I like to do other things like read, do yoga. I like to play chess, and even just listen to music. But I think composition is a big one, so when I do have some time I spend it writing some music or maybe putting some things together, arranging, or learning other people’s music. I know we did a lot of those Emmet’s places and some people would send me music and I’d have to get working on that for the show. I think that learning songs is one of the main parts of the folklore of music. Seeing how many songs can you play without the sheet music in front of you, and to get into the music and just jam. That’s a big thing for me.

PAN M 360: Perhaps you could tell us more about what we can expect in Montreal, maybe a little bit about the repertoire?

Emmet: Yeah sure, we’ll be playing trio. We have a vast repertoire and kind of suss out what the vibe is before we play. We like to be free and to get some original stuff in there. We have some arrangements. We like to play some stuff from the 1920s and kind of bring it alive at this time, you know, kind of the Harlem stuff. We try to do the best we can in communicating our feelings to the audience that’s there and creating some feeling of joy and hope and happiness and prosperity. That’s what the music’s about, it’s about spirit and energy.

PAN M 360: Really looking forward to it, Emmet. Thanks again and all the best.

Emmet: My pleasure!

Love in Exile is a great recording project led by singer/producer Arooj Aftab, keyboardist and improviser Vijay Iyer and bassist/ producer Shahzad Ismaily, all based in the New York area. This collaboration excistes PAN M 360 music lovers because this project brings together artists from different horizons who share Indian or Pakistani origins. Inevitably, their cultural heritage leads us to improvisations tinged with the colors of southern Asia, but which are also part of an open musical language that takes shape in the West, more specifically in the USA. The meditative character of this recent album is not its only vector, warn the three artists interviewed in their dressing room at the Monument National, shortly before taking to the stage.

PAN M 360 : So this is a trio project, within each member has an equal importance? Everyone is contributing to the same goal? So can you comment about this teamwork? How is it built? What motivated it?

Vijay Iyer : I think the best way to put it is that we had a chance to play together five years ago, spontaneously. And we immediately had a feeling that it was something with continuing. I think that’s how the best bands start with a feeling like, Oh, this feels like something. It wasn’t anything more than that. But also, it wasn’t anything less than.

Arooj Aftab : I agree. Yeah, it was, it felt special in a way that we wanted to do it again, because, you know, you can throw together special bands for different occasions, you know, like collaborative presentations, and then you may not, you’d like and say, Okay, that was really wonderful. But like, we’re not going to do it again. But we did it again. And then it felt again, amazing. And we did it a third time. And it felt again, like, like so strong.

PAN M 360 : We can’t say it’s a sort of a instrumental ambient, it would be reductive and simplistic. And at the same time, it’s cool and soft. Sometimes there are some elements of intensity, but most of the time, we are close to meditation. Well your explanations will be much better!

Shahzad Ismaily : Well, one thing I’ll say about that : sometimes, not always, but sometimes if I feel like a few pieces have evolved to be quite still, I may decide to pick up the bass and let the next piece be active or let the next piece start with a baseline that, for lack of a better word might be a little bit like funky or rhythmic or from a different space. So in that sense, I think truly, the music could go many other places, though it does often land in a kind of, like a glacial sort of deeply considering heart space. Sometimes he did, it’s open to other kinds of things. Yeah, for example, we played last night in Ottawa. And there was one piece that featured kind of an anarchic, chaotic sounds from Vijay and I and Arooj singing through the center of that. So that also had a very much non meditative, like, non peaceful kind of space.

Vijay Iyer : A friend of mine who I spoke to me after the concert, she said that she was with a friend of hers. And this friend said, Well, if these musicians are trying to evoke a lot of different feelings, it was successful. So It’s not only about ecstasy and pleasure, you know, or stasis, it’s not only that. There’s often tension also. So it’s sort of about the tension and kind of finding its own way towards resolution. Then we talk about tension and release. This is like that on the scale of like, the timescale of how we breathe or how we have feelings in marriage and receive that. Yeah but it’s still basically a similar principle. We might start somewhere that has a question. And then we find an answer to it.

PAN M 360 : About cultural references in this music: of course it would be reductive and simplistic to perceive this music as an modern update of South Asian or Oriental traditions. That wouldn’t be relevant.

Shahzad Ismaily : It’s helpful to hear you articulate that, because we often come up to either journalists or, or even just a listener, or fan after show, who don’t have the delicacy to really see that or even begin that way. Because what’s interesting is, after you said that, then it allows us to go further into it instead of starting at that beginning place.

PAN M 360 : Yeah each of us have some history of our music ancestors, it’s impossible to avoid that. But at the same time, this is not the point. It happens through us. Let’s take the example of Arooj. Some traditional stuff is there, but Arooj is doing contemporary and universal music.

Arooj Aftab : Yeah, I mean, I get to explore the many influences of mine, that lead me to sing the way that I do. And I get to explore singing, I get to explore voice as an instrument with this group, which is something that is quite difficult to do. And I don’t think that the code is quite cracked yet. And so it’s really, really nice for me to explore that in every show. And to really, you know, unapologetically go into my Sade, into my Mariah, into my Ella, into my inner strength, etc. throughout the concert. So it’s really showing off a lot of range, you know, vocally which I don’t do in my solo project. I am more of a producer. I’m more of an equalitarian focused on music. And the singing is not so virtuosic.

PAN M 360 : Yeah, we can say that you are more into production creativity than technical performance.

Arooj Aftab : Yeah, the emotions are all very… Like, sometimes it’s just sort of fun and goofy, as well, when we’re playing. So yes, it’s a beautiful project that has a lot of different colors inside of it.

PAN M 360 : And there is also a difference between each performance of this trio and also what can happen with it in the studio.

Vijay Iyer : Yeah, we basically every time that we’ve performed together or recorded together, we approach it the same way, which is we start from nothing. And we just start building all together from whatever elements are offered by each of us. And so it kind of every, every piece emerges from that process. And we don’t hold on to and say, Let’s do that one again.

PAN M 360 : So there is no setlist planned before a concert.

Vijay Iyer : Yeah, there’s no repertoire, I would say. And so it’s more that there are elements or ingredients or processes that have become now more and more familiar. We’ve done it a few times. . Yeah. So I think the other thing is that process gives us a chance to sort of channel together. We like to tap into whatever reveals itself, and whatever comes through us, you know, but then in the course of that, we’re sort of figuring out what it is that we can do together. So these different these different possibilities kind of reveal themselves as best we coalesce around a new way of doing something together.

PAN M 360 : Yeah. And your playing is quite different from what you do in your own ensembles, you know, it’s not, it’s not based on, you know, high virtuosity or complicated constructions. It’s, you know, it’s about being at the moment very, very present and reacting. Am I right?

Vijay Iyer : Well, I like to think that everything I do is like that sense of like, being in the present. Yeah. But, I would also say that there are different kinds of so-called fair to assume that’s true. And I feel like there’s a virtual stupid listening going on in this group. Yeah, that was pretty special. Yeah. So that’s kind of that’s, I think, why we keep doing it because of

that.

PAN M 360 : Yeah, sometimes being calm and simple is much harder than the very complicated and technically high. Both are important, but you have to master both. Thank you so much.

AROOJ AFTAB , VIJAY IYER AND SHAHZAD ISMAILY PERFORMED AT MONUMENT NATIONAL ON THURSDAY JUNE 29th.

This year’s Festival International de Jazz de Montréal sees pianist extraordinaire Hiromi Uehara returning to the festival after six years. We spoke to Hiromi from New York City about her upcoming show with PUBLIquartet.

PAN M 360: Hi Hiromi, thanks for taking time. I noticed this year you will be playing with a string quartet, could you tell us a little more about the show?

Hiromi: Yeah sure. This is a project that I made an album with in 2020, but it was released in 2021. Of course when everything stopped during the pandemic, when I had to be at home for many, many weeks like everyone else, I started to think about what I could do under the circumstances. At the time I was living in Tokyo and of course no one was flying in to play anymore. There is a club called Blue Note Tokyo, and every show they had booked was all of a sudden cancelled, and since I’m close to them, I told them that I could help out and fill those dates. I think I must have ended up performing 111 shows or something like that and I called the series ‘Save Live Music’. During that time I began to think of something new that I could do, and I thought about working with a string quartet.

I had played a couple of times with the Tokyo Philharmonic and I knew some amazing classical players from there. And, you know, I always had this passion to write for strings, I love the sound of strings, and so I started to write about this emotional journey through the pandemic. We performed one show and it turned out really well and I wanted to record it, so I did, and it was released in 2021. It’s called Silver Lining Suite.

When things began to open up again, I started a tour in Europe with a European quintet, and here in the States, there is an American quintet called PUBLIquartet. So I had three different international string quartets to work with over this period and this year the PUBLIquartet is the one that I’ll be playing with. They are based in New York, such an amazing, inspiring quartet.

PAN M 360: Sounds like it’s going to be a special show then!

Hiromi: Yes and it’s always amazing to play Montreal.

PAN M 360: When was the last time you were here? Was it for Spark with Anthony Jackson and Simon Phillips?

Hiromi: Actually it was 2017 with Edmar Castañeda , the harpist. In fact we made a live album out of that performance. It’s called Live in Montreal.

PAN M 360: This year will be a really interesting festival because it seems to be a really interesting time for ‘jazz’ music. We seem to be losing masters but at the same time a whole new generation is ready to fill their shoes.

Hiromi: Yeah, I mean, I’m not sure if it’s necessarily ‘jazz’, but there definitely is like this new interest in improvisational music with many different elements. I see, you know, younger generations really enjoy playing this new style and they are reaching a high level. I think it’s beautiful.

PAN M 360: Was the score for Blue Giant your last work? With anime too, there seems to be a lot of interest in jazz, with shows like Sakamichi no Apollon and Cowboy Bebop.

Hiromi: Yeah that’s true. Manga, the animation, you know is huge in Japan. And the original cartoon, which was based on this feature film Blue Giant, was very popular among all generations really. And with this movie, I see that a younger generation have started to watch it and really get into it and the soundtrack. It seems to be a great outlet for them to be able to know this music and get inspired. It was really a great opportunity for me to be able to score for this.

PAN M 360: I’d love to see a performance of that sometime. Thanks so much Hiromi. See you soon!

Hiromi: Thank you.

For several months now, Banx & Ranx, a super duo of Montreal producers, songwriters and remixers Zacharie “Soké” Raymond and Yannick “KNY Factory” Rastogi, have been making a name for themselves. After many years working behind the scenes for renowned artists such as Dua Lipa, Sean Paul and J Balvin, they now find themselves at the forefront of releasing their own music, notably through their record and publishing company 31 East. PAN M 360 caught up with the pair at Planet Studios to discuss their new reality, their recent track The Birds with Zach Zoya and much more!

For the record, Yannick Rastogi was born in Paris and moved to Montreal several years ago, while Zacharie Raymond was born in Gatineau. From an early age, they began posting tracks on the SoundCloud platform. It was in this way that they spotted each other and decided to get in touch. After several meetings and countless recording sessions, Banx & Ranx was born in 2014. Since then, the tandem has enjoyed a string of successes with numerous international artists.

They recently set up their own record label, 31 East, with the aim of showcasing home-grown talent to the four corners of the globe. Since then, the two artists have been gaining in visibility and are increasingly at the forefront. Winner of the Juno Revelation of the Year in 2023, Banx & Ranx also received their first GRAMMY nomination in 2023 for their contribution to the production of Sean Paul’s 8th studio album. Needless to say, the pair have enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past year, with hits such as Flowers Need Rain with Preston Pablo and Headphones with Rêve, two tracks produced with artists signed to 31 East.

In early June, Banx & Ranx returned to the fray with The Birds, a collaboration with Quebec’s Zach Zoya in keeping with its primary aim of promoting local artists. At the confluence of pop, electro, reggae and funk, this track is just in time for summer, and is likely to get plenty of radio play over the coming weeks. What better way to kick off the summer!

PAN M 360: Over the past few months, you’ve been increasingly in the public eye, and the Banx & Ranx name has been gaining in visibility. After so many years in the shadows, how do you feel about this new reality?

ZACHARIE RAYMOND: It’s really cool. We didn’t really chase this visibility, but when the opportunity presented itself to us, we were definitely open. We’re studio guys, and that’s where we’ve been comfortable for a number of years. So it’s a challenge and a learning curve to do more live performances and show ourselves off more. It’s a great pleasure for people to know more about our work. Our “artist” project helps promote the songs we do behind the scenes for others. It also allows us to promote the talent signed with our 31 East label.

PAN M 360: Tell me more about what this visibility allows you to accomplish?

YANNICK RASTOGI: On the live front, it allows us to do more and more shows. So we have more and more opportunities to showcase our music and attract new fans. We’ve been in the shadows for a number of years, and it’s important to win over new listeners. In the past, we’ve had the opportunity to compose for several international artists. We’re very proud of that, of course, but it was always behind the scenes. This new visibility allows us to showcase our personalities in a new way.

PAN M 360: What would the ultimate goal be? Is it possible to reach it?

ZACHARIE RAYMOND: I don’t think we ever get there. We often say that we base ourselves on the model of Sweden’s Max Martin, or even DJ Snake, whom we respect enormously. The career models of these two men are very inspiring for us. We want to reach an international level and become a kind of reference in music. We’d love to see Banx & Ranx type beats on YouTube one day!

YANNICK RASTOGI: I couldn’t agree more. The Neptunes, Timbaland and Diplo are also good examples of what we want to achieve. These artists have all left their mark on the music industry, and that’s kind of our ultimate goal.

ZACHARIE RAYMOND: If we ever get to that level, we’d also like to take young directors under our wing and train them. We’d almost like to create a school of thought for music creators.

YANNICK RASTOGI: We’d like to be able to show young people that it’s possible to start out by creating in your own bedroom, and make it to the highest level. All it takes is determination and perseverance.

PAN M 360: What would the ultimate goal be? Is it possible to reach it?

ZACHARIE RAYMOND: If we ever get to that level, we’d also like to take young directors under our wing and train them. We’d almost like to create a school of thought for music creators.

YANNICK RASTOGI: We’d like to be able to show young people that it’s possible to start out by creating in your own bedroom, and make it to the highest level. All it takes is determination and perseverance.

PAN M 360: You recently released The Birds, a track with Quebec’s Zach Zoya. How did this collaboration come about?

YANNICK RASTOGI: The beginning of this track goes back to 2018 when we were in the studio in London. Zacharie came up with the idea of a track called The Birds, intended to represent the moment when you come home after a big night out until the sun comes up and you hear the birds singing. It’s a certain return to reality and, in a way, the big slap in the face that hurts at five or six in the morning.

ZACHARIE RAYMOND: We had this track lying around, and we submitted it to several artists in the hope that they would like the song and decide to record and release it. We even showed it to Maroon 5’s artistic director in Los Angeles. At one point, our A&R at Universel told us we should keep the song to ourselves. At first, we weren’t convinced, but that’s what we did. We modified and remixed the track into reggae and funk, because we like to explore and mix musical genres.

At the time, we didn’t have an artist to sing it, and we only had Ian James, who is one of the songwriters. We said it didn’t matter and we’d release it as is, without crediting Ian, because he didn’t want to be credited. He’s more of a songwriter, so he didn’t want to be credited. We almost opted for that option, but we had a certain amount of doubt in our heads. We thought it would be nice to have an artist to help us promote the track and perform it live.

That’s when Zach Zoya was suggested. He’s been a friend for a few years and we’ve worked with him on a few projects. The match was perfect for The Birds. We’re super happy to be able to share this track with a local artist, and it’s obviously in line with the mission of our record label 31 East. Zach did an incredible job and took the song to another level.

PAN M 360: You mention that this latest release is part of your mission with your record label. Tell me more about this quest you’re on.

YANNICK RASTOGI: Our manager always told us that the day we found our own artists and developed them, that’s when we’d make our mark on the music world. It’s a dream we’ve had for a long time, and that’s why we embarked on the 31 East adventure. We started by signing JujuBoy, then Rêve and Preston Pablo. JujuBoy is out of Canada, but the goal is to bring him here soon.

Over the last few years, we’ve been lucky enough to travel the world and gain a lot of experience in writing, structure, production and mixing. In short, everything that goes into making a track. For us, it was time to come back here and make it from Montreal to the world. The aim is to make music from Montreal, Quebec and Canada for the rest of the world.

Take Preston Pablo, for example. He’s from Ontario, but Montreal is sort of his second home. He loves it here, and is even thinking of moving there in the future. He often comes to Montreal, and that’s when we create. We try as much as possible to use Quebec resources, but we don’t stop ourselves from looking elsewhere if necessary.

We want to show Quebec that collaboration is extremely important in music. Quebec is teeming with creators, and they’re connecting more and more. Different scenes are collaborating more and more, and that’s the future. You can see it at the Francos in a show like Loud’s, where he plays a song with Charlotte Cardin and a little later you have Muzion on stage. There’s a superb fusion of genres going on.

We want to amplify this movement as much as possible and show that international connections with Quebec are feasible.

ZACHARIE RAYMOND: There’s a certain formula that you find in the United States or England, for example, that optimizes musical quality at every stage of creation, and that you don’t necessarily find in Quebec. In Quebec, it’s a closed market because of our particular brand of French. We like to defend the French language, and that has a lot of positive sides, but sometimes it can close doors internationally. So we like to mix cultures to optimize results.

YANNICK RASTOGI: I’d say that’s exactly the Banx & Ranx effect. It’s about mixing cultures and making them our own. If someone asked me what dish would identify me the most, I’d say butter chicken poutine. We’re all in favor of mixing cultures to broaden Quebec’s musical landscape.

PAN M 360: Your many years in the music industry have enabled you to observe the way things are done in several countries. Is there something we’re missing in Quebec in order to shine more brightly musically? If so, what is it?

ZACHARIE RAYMOND: I think we have everything in place to excel. We already have a lot of subsidies that remove financial barriers, so we don’t really have any excuses. I think we simply have to collaborate more. You have to get out of Quebec and come back with a baggage of different experiences. Also, setting up more writing camps would help a lot.

YANNICK RASTOGI: The more collaborations there are with other cultures, the more the level of music in Quebec will improve. It’s a collaborative effort. If there’s one piece of advice we can give Quebecers, it’s that we shouldn’t keep the “bread” to ourselves, we should share it so that it can grow and improve.

ZACHARIE RAYMOND: Don’t be afraid to ask for help too. There are a lot of artists who are songwriters, but sometimes it’s fun to get out of your comfort zone and have one or even two writers in the room to help you. It allows you to discuss things and say, “Ah, maybe if you said it like that, it would be even better. Or your chorus, it’s good, but I’ve got a better idea”. Often, it’s details like that that make a song more successful.

YANNICK RASTOGI: Then the biggest writers we’ve worked with in the world, for the most part, I’d say 95% of the time, do this. In other words, they could write solo, but they’ll end up with four or five people writing a piece. It’s a collaborative atmosphere, and everyone comes up with ideas. They’re not even attached to what he’s creating, and do everything for the good of the song. That’s something we push everyone to explore.

PAN M 360: Last time we spoke, you mentioned your dream of creating a Banx & Ranx album. How far along are you?

ZACHARIE RAYMOND: We’re getting closer and we talk about it a lot. We’d really like to make an album that’s closer to what we do live. Something more energetic, more electronic and less pop. Of course, there are going to be some pop tracks, but we’d like to have a different proposition around that. It’s going to be a pop and electronic music album that really reflects us. Maybe we’ll do two projects as well. One that’s more pop and one that’s really festival. We don’t know yet.

YANNICK RASTOGI: We talk about it every day. It would also be interesting to apply the concept of yin and yang. Even then, we may have just come up with another idea. We don’t like to put up barriers. I think the moment we both look at each other and say “We got it”, it’ll be time to release the album. We don’t have a specific date or time yet, but we’d like it to be in 2024.

PAN M 360: Finally, let’s talk about your summer 2023. You’ll be at the Gatineau Hot Air Balloon Festival at the end of August. How are your next few months shaping up?

YANNICK RASTOGI: We’ll also be at the Festival d’été Québec on July 7. We also have dates in British Columbia and Quebec. It’s mostly early July and August. We must have seven or eight shows confirmed and more to come. We’re very excited and looking forward to this summer.

ZACHARIE RAYMOND: On top of that, there’s definitely going to be a lot of creative work on the menu, either with our artists or for other projects we’re working on. We’re also going back to London, because we’ve been there for a long time. We may also go to South Korea in July. We’ve had an invitation, but nothing’s been confirmed yet. It’s going to be an incredible summer.

This month, Montreal garage-punk champions Priors offered the world their fourth full-length, Daffodil, via local psych-rock specialist label Mothland. An album that showcases the quintet’s ability to blend neo-psychedelia with short and sharp-edged punk bangers. I had the pleasure to discuss with Priors’ main man, Chance Hutchison, the band’s past, present, and future ahead of their upcoming album launch show.

Pan M 360: Daffodil is your first album on Mothland, how did this collaboration come about?

CH: I’ve been friends with JP (Jean-Philippe Bourgeois, Mothland) for a long time. We met on the road, actually, with my old band Sonic Avenues. We were doing a tour up north and in Québec and JP was playing with Cafféine, so that’s how we met. And we’ve just been buds since. He’s booked a few shows for the band over the years. And then I wanted to work with a label closer to home, right? I worked with an American label before and I worked with a European label, but never really a Canadian label. So I asked him if he was into it. And they seem stoked. So that was basically it.

Pan M 360: I noticed there’s a lot of organ and saxophone on the new record. How was your experience in the studio this time?

CH: We recorded everything at our jamspace at Marsonic. All the drums were recorded there, the guitar, the bass, but my friend in Australia did the horns. So it was one of those situations where we were kind of sending things around for people to play on. So it was kind of weird because I’ve never done it like that before, but I’m stoked with how it turned out. The guy who played sax is also a recording engineer, so he really knew what he was doing and it was fairly easy.

Pan M 360: Some of the songs on Daffodil seem to have more of a post-punk approach – I’m thinking of songs like “Optimizer” in particular – Are there certain bands or albums that influenced you while you were in the songwriting process?

CH: For sure. I would always come back to Total Control as a major influence for Priors from the beginning. They were kind of the reason why the band started to be honest with you. But obviously, older stuff has come into play too. Like, I was listening to the first couple of Cure records. Echo and the Bunnymen are always in rotation. Stuff like that. Specifically though, if there was anything I was listening to that directly influenced the song? I don’t think so. But I knew I wanted to do a post-punk song. And I knew I wanted a chorus-y bassline and that was what put me in the headspace of just trying to find something cool, you know?

Pan M 360: You also have a new project now, Private Lives. When you write a song, how do you know ‘Oh, this one is for Priors’ or ‘This one is for Private Lives’?

CH: Usually, it’s ‘Is this song angry enough to be a Priors song, or not?’ You know? The thing is also lately I’ve been writing for Private Lives. So the (Private Lives) tape came out and I was like ‘Okay, well, now I can start writing again.’ That’s usually how I write. And then more songs came and it just came to be ‘Well these are Private Lives songs’ in my head. It was sort of announced today that Feel It is gonna release the LP and the first single comes out next week, so I feel like I’m influenced again to continue to write. But now, finally, Daffodil is out, so fuck, maybe I’m gonna have to start writing some angry songs again! (Laughs). I’m also gonna do a solo record at the end of the month, I’m going into the studio, just because I’ve had so many songs that didn’t fit Priors when I was writing them over the years, and they really didn’t fit Private Lives either. Something a little more glam.

Pan M 360: You’ve been active in the Canadian punk scene for several years now. What do you think has changed for the better?

CH: Well, there are more bands. I mean, it could be good, could be bad, but usually it’s good. For the better? I don’t know… I’m such a jaded old prick! (Laughs)

Pan M 360: Well my next question is ‘And for the worse?,’ if that helps you!

CH: A lot more bands. It almost feels like when I was growing up, like when I started to tour back in 2003, 2004, everybody was in a band. And it was like ‘How is this possible?’ There’s just so much out there. But back then I feel like it was a lot easier to weed through the shit. And now it’s like there’s so much good stuff it can be kind of overwhelming, as a listener and as a music lover.

Pan M 360: It’s hard to keep up.

CH: God! Like those YouTube channels. It drives me nuts. If you love something you bookmark it, but then you don’t even hardly go back to it because there’s already something else. It’s just so wild how much great music is coming out, especially if you like guitar music. You know, it’s out of the mainstream now, but it’s like all of the underground.

Pan M 360: You’re playing your album launch show at l’Esco on June 30. What should the crowd expect?

CH: A lot of sweat. Maybe some blood. Some cowboy hats. We just did shows in Alberta and the boys got set up. So yeah, a lot of energy! I think maybe we’ll throw in some new stuff that we haven’t played before just because it’s been on the back burner for so long. We’ve kind of been playing the same set for about a year now, just because it’s taken so long to get the record out and kind of move along, you know? So, yeah, a good time for sure!

Pan M 360: And what’s the rest of 2023 gonna look like for Priors? Do you have any plans to tour?

CH: It’s difficult now because three of the five dudes have had kids over the pandemic. So it’s a little less easy to fucking get up and go. That being said, I think we’ll probably go to Europe in 2024, maybe in the spring. Because it’s a little late now to be planning that. For the rest of the year, though, I would love to release at least another 7” or something. But as far as shows, it’ll probably just be in Canada, supporting the record.

You can catch Priors on June 30^th at l’Esco with support from local band Laughing.

Quebec fans of electronic music will know Odile Myrtil for her fiery DJ sets all over the underground scene and her long-standing collaboration with the Moonshine collective. A discreet presence on social networks, you won’t find much information about her, and yet there’s a lot going on in the life of this producer, lyricist and multidisciplinary artist. Whether it’s collaborating with local musicians, launching Paradis Artificiel, an experimental music group, or composing music for film and television – there seems to be no stopping the Montrealer.

A few days before her appearance at Piknic Electronik 2023, PAN M 360 spoke to this multi-talented artist, as she prepares to heat up the Sunday Scène du Boisé audience with a carefully selected set, blending timeless influences with contemporary discoveries.

PAN M 360 : What is the musical heritage you grew up with and cherish today?

Odile Myrtil : I grew up in a multicultural family with many different styles of music. My mother comes from Cambodia and my father from Haïti. We played a lot of traditional music from their countries, but these are also territories that were colonized by France, so I also have a big heritage of French music from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. I’ve got two brothers who are older than me, one of whom listened to a lot of ’90s rock, while my other brother and I listened to a lot more hip-hop and R&B. There was always music playing in our house. I feel really lucky to have grown up with such a wide range of musical styles.

PAN M 360 : Do you think it was being immersed in so much music that led you to a career as an artist?

Odile Myrtil : I think so, because for me, it’s also having grown up at a time when my parents brought their brothers and sisters from their respective countries, and there were important family gatherings. For me, music is a representation of that feeling of celebration, of being surrounded by family. I really associate it with time spent together and sharing.

PAN M 360 : What other memories do you associate with music?

Odile Myrtil : When I was very young, I developed a taste for researching music, for archiving, really for collecting music. My brothers and I used to record the music we liked on the radio and play it back in the car, and we did the same with the VHS connected to the television. When I was a teenager, we used to burn CDs, and then there were the piracy platforms, thanks to which I discovered a lot of mus

PAN M 360 : Did you also collect vinyl?

Odile Myrtil : After CDs, I started collecting vinyl, but at first it was thanks to the money I received from my parents, because, well, it’s an expensive hobby. It’s interesting because it was this interest in vinyl collecting that led me to DJ culture. That’s how I learned to mix. It came at a time of transition when things were becoming more accessible, burning CDs, playing in clubs… I think that’s what allowed me to move forward in my DJ career, because there was this specific moment.

PAN M 360 : You’ve also been involved with the Moonshine collective for several years.

Odile Myrtil : I think it was about 8 years ago. It came about after I’d been working as a party organizer and felt less attracted by the business and administrative side of things. I was in a moment of transition where I had to choose between setting up a company to continue organizing parties or going down the artist route. I really wanted more to be an artist, to play music. I met the people at Moonshine and really realized that I’d rather be part of a collective.

PAN M 360 : We’re familiar with the DJ side of your career, but perhaps a little less so with your work as a lyricist and multimedia artist. Can you tell us more about that?

Odile Myrtil : Through DJing, I’ve met several music producers with whom I’ve collaborated, and these work experiences allow me to say today that I compose music for advertising, cinema and television. I kind of fell into DJing by chance, at a time when there weren’t many girls DJing, especially not women or non-white people. I’d reached a plateau as a DJ, and above all I wanted to write and compose. That’s what I’m doing right now. I’m currently doing music for a friend’s film, and I really love the world of cinema.

PAN M 360 : How do you approach the exercise of composing music for film?

Odile Myrtil : I really like ambient and experimental music. Personally, when I compose instrumental music, I go for those sounds, not a lot of percussion or minimal. It’s what I do naturally, what I want to create, and it’s in line with TV and cinema. I’ve started working with an agency in Toronto to create music for TV shows that haven’t been released yet. In the last year there’s been a real sense of validation. Before that, I didn’t really feel in control. But now, getting recognition from a company outside Montreal, and at the same time having a little more stability in my creative projects, changes my state of mind and I’m able to project myself into the future.

PAN M 360 : In the very near future, you’ll be appearing at Piknic Electronik this year, alongside Ouri and Frankie Teardrop. Does the event have any particular significance for you, and musically, what can we expect on Sunday?

Odile Myrtil : Ouri and Frankie and I have worked together on different projects, so it’s really cool that we’re together. It’s also important to have a local girl headlining. When I was younger, I used to wonder why Piknic didn’t have this kind of “agenda”, and now that I’m a bit older, I understand that these are processes that take a bit longer, like the underground to reach the mainstream. Piknic is a really important platform for me. It was my first big opportunity and I really admire what they’ve done for the local scene. To have this angle that’s still very mainstream, but also to really make a reference to the underground every year, which is getting closer and closer to current events, I find that really inspiring.

I’m going to open the day, so I’m sure I’ll be playing appropriate music for the moment. I’ve already had my little collection of music specially for this purpose for a few months now. That’s why I love DJing, to be able to do that research, to touch things, to pick up CDs at Renaissance, listen to Mix Party CDs, go to Death of Vinyl to see what’s there. I also like being able to share this research with the public afterwards. Piknic is the kind of opportunity that gives me the freedom to do a set that’s really edgy, but also to do a lot of research to come up with a timeless set.

PIKNIC ÉLECTRONIK MTL #6: PLANET GIZA (DJ SET) / OURI (DJ SET)

Ratpiss is still quite new to Montreal’s power violence/grindcore scene. The music found on their debut EP, Misanthropy Now! sounds bloodthirsty with heavy riffs, banshee-like screams, and a drum section that feels like it’s on the warpath. This is the Suoni show to let your mosh flag fly. We chatted with the band a bit before their Suoni Per Il Popolo performance with Samurai and Plaga.

PAN M 360: For someone who has never heard of you, what can they expect?

Ratpiss: They can expect dumbfuck riffs in power violence and death metal-influenced variety.

PAN M 360: Can you make a Haiku for the band or the latest album, Misanthropy Now!

Ratpiss: Things keep going wrong, But my scene has riffs for days, Melt your face off die.

PAN M 360: How did you guys form?

Ratpiss: Erin and Greg conceptualized the project back in 2020, and released a rough demo called Do Not Return. Throughout the lifting and imposing of COVID restrictions, we jammed with several guitarists and spent a lot of time waiting around, and played two shows in late 2021 with our previous guitarist, Sami, before things locked down again. In early 2022 we started jamming with Tyler who Greg had jammed with another project, and things officially got on the go in March that year.

PAN M 360: Any influences within the scene?

Ratpiss: Plenty! Hakapik, Seum, S.F.D, Jetsam, Obelisk, Gutser, Hobo Death Cult, Xplicit Noize, Infeccion, Serpent Corpse, Collapsed, Doomsday Dementia, Maxxpower. There’s a lot of talent in Montreal that we are absolutely influenced by.

PAN M 360: I feel like moshing is kind of required at your shows?

Ratpiss: 100%. If we wanted to write music to stand around to, we could start an atmospheric black metal band or something.

PAN M 360: This music sounds cathartic as hell to play live. Are you guys unleashing some demons live?

Ratpiss: We are the demons.

PAN M 360: What do you know about Suoni Fest?

Ratpiss: To be honest, not much. This is the first time we’ve been made aware of it but it does seem to be a pretty expansive festival with a lot of different shows in a huge variety of genres. It’s cool to see live music so alive and well in Montreal.

PAN M 360: What about the bands you are playing with?

Ratpiss: Samurai are new so we don’t really know anything about them. We’ve been led to believe they’re sort of an old-school heavy metal band which our drummer Greg is thrilled about so he’s excited to see them. Plaga doesn’t seem to have much music online but we did come across a video of them on YouTube and from the one song we heard it sounds like some seriously ripping, riffy old school death metal of the variety that we are all influenced by in Ratpiss.

Ratpiss Live

PAN M 360: What’s the story behind Big T for being “the Jeffrey Dahmer-looking motherfucker?”

Ratpiss: That’s for us, the drunk guy who we got the recording of, and the Jeffrey Dahmer-looking motherfucker himself to know.

PAN M 360: Erin, do you have any vocal training for the growls? Those sound utterly and physically painful? Especially on “Acetylene Drunk.“

Erin: I have no proper vocal training, it’s been a long process of trial and error to find what I can do consistently without pain. It’s a lot of goofy-looking faces.

PAN M 360: Erin, the album cover for Misanthropy Now! was developed by you. Where did the collage idea come from?

Erin: I like the aesthetics of vaguely gory imagery in general. We’ve been known to use a lot of pictures of roadkill, and I think the cigarette packs that most of the images on the Misanthropy Now! cover relay the same feeling with the health warnings. Whenever I meet Americans it’s one of the first things they seem to notice. I thought it’d be nice to also have a specific way to reflect on where we’re from as well. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really go much deeper than I thought it would look cool, but I do think there is also something to be said about the socially acceptable slow suicide of smoking and a grimey music scene that doesn’t care to look too far ahead regarding our current state of the world, and how they relate to the themes on the EP.

PAN M 360: Is Montreal a supportive place for “grimecore” or just Ratpiss as a whole?

Ratpiss: Absolutely. We play amongst some of the most talented artists and wildest crowds and absolute top-tier homies. Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

Opening photo by Rose Cormier (https://velourssouterrain.squarespace.com)

Ratpiss plays at La Sotterenea w/ Samurai, and Plaga on June 22 for Suono Per Il Popolo Tickets Here

Released in 2021, her bilingual album, Ma délire / Songs of love, lost & found“, was a real hit on the folk circuit and in the music media far beyond Canadian shores. The quality of her writing and the melodic singularity of her voice led this bookseller, proofreader, and mother to embark on a new career as a prolific songwriter, touring with prestigious names.

Hailing from the Ottawa / Gatineau region, the Montreal artist gives us a glimpse of her recent creative activities and what’s to come: a new album in the spring, tours between now and then and, in our case, a Suoni concert this Thursday at the Sala Rossa.

Clearly, Myriam Gendron has carved out a place on the Montreal independent scene. Which more than justifies this conversation with PAN M 360.

PAN M 360: Your background is obviously folk, your love of literature is also obvious, and you have a deep knowledge of both English and French, which is quite rare. Was it a decision to express yourself in both French and English in your songs?

MYRIAM GENDRON: I don’t know how much of a decision it was on my part. I think it came about quite naturally because my first album was a musical setting of poems by Dorothy Parker, so it was necessary in English. But when I did this project, I didn’t really know I was going to make an album. I had no musical career, not even as a beginner. I was just playing for fun at home with friends. But when I started making these songs, I had no idea that I was heading for a musical career. It wasn’t really a career choice, not at all.

PAN M 360: And finally…

MYRIAM GENDRON: Eventually, I ended up with a set of songs. It became an album. And then after that, I had two children, and there was the family. And when I came back with Ma délire, seven years later, I knew I wanted to work with traditional music. Originally, I thought I’d do my songs mainly around traditional Quebec music. Eventually, I opened up to my multiple influences. Inevitably, they’re more to be found in the English-speaking world, Bob Dylan whom I listened to a lot when I was younger, and all that. Traditional Anglo music is very much alive, whereas traditional Francophone Quebec music is more nested and less present in today’s popular culture.

PAN M 360: Do you feel that traditional music has been abandoned by popular culture?

MYRIAM GENDRON: In Quebec? It’s still very much in the margin compared to what we see in the English-speaking world, where it runs through all the styles inspired by traditional and folk music, from jazz to experimental music and even pop. Maybe I’m wrong, but I still get the impression that in Quebec, trad music is considered a separate genre. There aren’t enough artists outside trad music who draw on this repertoire.

PAN M 360: So what you’re saying is that the folk tradition is more deeply rooted in Anglo-American popular culture than in the French-speaking culture of America?

MYRIAM GENDRON: I think it’s approached with less suspicion.

PAN M 360: It can indeed be perceived as a withdrawal into one’s own identity, hence the disapproval of some.

MYRIAM GENDRON: Yes, exactly, it’s not forward-looking. What I mean is that there is a way of creating while talking about ourselves, talking about today, looking to the future, while drawing on this repertoire, which is what I’m trying to do. And that’s something we do a lot in the Anglo-Saxon world, but very little in the French-speaking world.

PAN M 360: So there must be some artists you really like in today’s folk scene, like Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy?

MYRIAM GENDRON: Yes, I love him. I’ll be touring South Texas with him soon.

PAN M 360: I fell right on the spot without knowing it haha!

MYRIAM GENDRON: Yes, artists like Bonnie Prince Billy or Bill Callahan, another one I really like in today’s folk scene.

PAN M 360: Now, of course, you’re playing… You’re no longer on the momentum of Ma délire, the second album you released in 2021 with the success we all know. We imagine you’ll have some new songs to offer.

MYRIAM GENDRON: Yes, I’m currently working on a new album, the writing is pretty much finished, and I’m starting to think about production. With the current deadlines for record production, however, it’s going to be a while before it comes out, hopefully, next spring.

PAN M 360: How do you work?

MYRIAM GENDRON: What I’ve done so far is record everything at home. And then afterward, I’ll see if I go into the studio to add other tracks by other musicians. It’s also possible that I’ll decide to re-record everything in the studio. We’ll be doing a few tests soon to see if I feel like it or if I’ll keep my homemade tracks. It’s not decided yet.

PAN M 360: You have young children, so we imagine that’s part of the reason for recording everything at home, isn’t it?

MYRIAM GENDRON: My children are five and nice. Yes, everything was done at home, a little less so today.

PAN M 360: On stage, do you perform alone?

MYRIAM GENDRON: Not always. Sometimes I ask one or two musicians to come and accompany me for a few songs, but it’s still a solo project, it’s not a band. For the moment, at least, that’s not where I’m heading. But sometimes, there are certain songs that would benefit from an extra melodic line, percussion, etc. So, when I can, I do it. On tour, however, it’s not easy. People have their diaries, and you also have to pay them. So for the time being, I’m touring solo. In Montreal, I sometimes invite artists.

PAN M 360: What about the Suoni?

MYRIAM GENDRON: At the Suoni it’ll just be me, but there will be artists from the same program with whom I could sing. Drummer Chris Corsano is playing the same night, and he’s playing on Ma délire, so … it’ll be the first time we can really play together on stage. There’s also Mamie Minch, a guitarist from New York who’s part of the same program. We’ll also be trying to do a song or two together.

PAN M 360: Will you be playing any of your new material?

MYRIAM GENDRON: Yes. I’ll be doing some songs from my next album and some from the previous two. It’ll be a mix of all three projects.

PAN M 360: Are there any recurring themes in your songs?

MYRIAM GENDRON: I’d say that if I had to pick a theme so far, it’s mostly love songs. In fact, it’s written in the subtitle of Ma délire: Songs of Love. Dorothy Parker’s poems, set to music, are also love songs. Desire and love are very much at the heart of Ma délire. I’d also say that loss and mourning have taken on more prominence.

PAN M 360: Have you lost a loved one?

MYRIAM GENDRON: Yes.

PAN M 360: Sad. We won’t go any further and listen to you instead.

AT THE SUONI, MYRIAM GENDRON PERFORMS THIS THURSDAY, 8PM, AT THE SALA ROSSA. THE PROGRAM IS SHARED BY MAMIE MINCH, CHRIS CORSANO AND ZOH AMBA. TICKETS HERE

A staple of the Montreal music scene, singer-songwriter Joe Grass has just released his third album, Falcon’s Heart, via Simone Records. I sat with Joe to learn more about the artistry behind this record and to discuss his performance at this year’s Montreal Jazz Festival.

PAN M 360: Thanks for taking the time Joe! Congratulations on the new record. Not to start on too pessimistic a note, but the album tradition seems to be more and more in decline. I’m wondering has it become somewhat underwhelming to release an album these days?

Joe: Well right now is sort of a good time. I haven’t released one of my own records in, you know, seven years, but at the same time I’ve been a part of many releases. It’s kind of the fun part for me since there’s shows coming up and we’re talking about it and everything. But, you know, it’s a different moment right now for sure, where everything is more about quantity and not necessarily quality, it seems like you always have to be releasing something, videos, EP’s, shorter singles, everything like that. But I like the tradition of records, because it is its own challenge to have to put a whole piece together. Even though they’re individual songs, they have to live and work as one, like different movements of a larger piece, and conceptually or just sonically or there has to be a thread linking them up. It’s rewarding being able to do that.

PAN M 360: Perhaps we could talk about the threads running in Falcon’s Heart then. I know you mentioned country music as a big inspiration for this record.

Joe: Hopefully it’s not misleading, because I do talk about country music a lot in the press release, because these songs were kind of born from that place, but it doesn’t feel like I’ve made country music. It would be quite courageous of me to make an actual straight on country record, you know, because I really love that music but I’m interested by a lot of different sounds at the same time. I find it interesting to try and bring textures from jazz or other more contemporary genres, synths or like electroacoustic sounds into that world and see what happens.

I can talk a bit about how the songs were written too. They were conceived sort of quickly, each one like in three hour periods of just sitting down to write. And if the song wasn’t complete in three hours, it was not going to be completed, you know. There were changes made after, but they basically lived as three or four chord songs that you could sing the melody with. Once I had this collection of tunes that stood on their own just like that, you know, which, they pretty much were country songs. Not in terms of singing about pickup trucks and whatnot but I like the directness, the simple language, and the honesty to express complex, large emotions with very simple tools.

From there, the songs were stripped of those simple accompaniments and reharmonized, found either an atmosphere, a colour, a new set of chords, a new mood, a new ostinato, and then superimposed the melodies over them. The rest was just like a balancing act to make them sort of conceptually work together. But at the root, they were very simple songs. They’re not anymore, you know? And I know that because I’ve, you know, been learning to play them live these days and they’re not necessarily easy to play!

PAN M 360: Well I wanted to ask about how you’re preparing for your show at the Montreal Jazz Festival this year.

Joe: For that show there’s going to be a lot of the band that played on the record. Robbie Kuster is going to be there, the drummer, François Lafontaine, the keyboard and synth player. My friend Morgan Moore is going to be there. Mishka Stein and Erika Angell who plays in a really great band called Thus Owls, she’s going to be singing and doing some other stuff too. So we’re going to have a nice palette at that show.

But you know for other shows it’ll have to be more stripped down. We’ve been doing trio or I’ve been doing some solo performances too, which have been probably the scariest ones to do. Especially when you’re used to being able to pull all this energy out of the songs, it takes some courage to let the songs live simply and not feel like I have to do anything to them. But fortunately, the couple of times that I’ve done them, it’s gone really well.

So it seems these songs are still evolving, the forms have even changed a little bit and like we’re always rediscovering them, seeing where we can open up the energy and where we can, you know, make them even quieter, where we can go deeper into the dynamics. It would be fun to do a record after playing the songs live for like half a year and then record.

PAN M 360: Where were you coming from when you wrote these songs?

Joe: There were certain things that were happening in my life, during a certain major world event, that made you contemplate your sense of security. That security is not necessarily as easily sustained as we might think, you know, it’s like as a species, we’re pretty vulnerable sometimes, and we’re vulnerable all together in these crazy societal systems that we’ve created, be it, you know, banking, government, all this stuff. These kinds of thoughts were definitely running through my mind at the time, but I tried to take it song by song.

After that, you see what you’ve got and you see the lines going through it and then it’s pasting the artwork, the title, and putting it all together. Hopefully the things I was feeling, or even if it isn’t exactly the things I was feeling, is a coherent trip for someone else. But who am I to dictate what that trip is?

PAN M 360: I found the album artwork really evocative. It fits the vibe of the album really well. It’s interesting to hear you say you chose it after the music had all been written.

Joe: I’ve been a part of projects where we’ve had the artwork kind of early on but this record was finished before I found that image. I was just looking through some different galleries in Canada and I was going to Winnipeg and it was in a gallery there that I discovered this work by Sean William Randall. I invited him to the show that I was playing and we met and actually it was a bit intimidating approaching an artist who has a work that already, you know, stands on its own. But he was really cool and totally down for it. I found it worked really well, the juxtaposition of like an idyllic landscape with this burning machine going to the sky. It felt like it was made the way the record was made, it kind of had a sense of humour and that balance between old forms and new forms together in a sort of funny way.

PAN M 360: And so what’s next Joe?

Joe: That’s the great thing about music, you know, it never stops. I want to make a solo pedal steel record. I think that’s one of the next things on the list to do, I’ve been talking about doing it for like seven years now. It might be about time to do it. François and I are going to do another project in the Klaus name. I’m a part of a bunch of other records coming out so there’s a lot going on. But I’m looking forward to having the time just to like, you know, get back to, focussed learning and practising because I love that. I love working on my instrument and getting better as an improviser, expanding my language as a musician. I really think that’s my favourite thing to do.

At the Francos, French rapper Jok’Air set Club Soda alight on Friday night. A few minutes before he took to the stage, Pan M 360 spoke to the Parisian star about his visit to Montreal and his latest album, Melvin de Paris.

Born in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, Melvin Félix Aka aka Jok’Air is far from being a rookie in the rap world. For the record, the rapper spent several years in the MZ collective alongside Hache-P, Dehmo and Loka. In 2017, he went solo and unveiled his artistic identity with his first project Big Daddy Jok. Jok’Air’s music is melodic, honeyed and incorporates some r&b elements with a rap base. But make no mistake, the eternal romantic shines with his versatility and is also capable of delivering hard-hitting tracks.

Last May, the 31-year-old released Melvin de Paris, the most coherent and accomplished project of his career. The 18-track album features contributions from Damso, Laylow, So La Lune, Soprano and others. One of the best tracks on this opus, Tu m’as eu avec Linema, pays tribute to the hit You got me by the legendary hip-hop group The Roots and Erykah Badu.

photo copyright : Frédérique Ménard-Aubin

PAN M 360 : First of all, welcome to Montreal. How long have you been in town?

JOK’AIR : I’ve been in the city for about a week now. I have friends who live in Montreal. They show me around the city every time I come.

PAN M 360 : What do you know about the Quebec rap scene?

JOK’AIR : I know a bit about Quebec rap. I’m mostly familiar with Montreal beatmakers. I was lucky enough to go and see Loud’s show and meet him at the Festival. I also know Enima and Lost. I come to Quebec quite often.

PAN M 360 : How would you describe your music?

JOK’AIR : It’s simply Jok’Air. It doesn’t necessarily fit into any particular musical style. It’s different from anything else on the French rap scene at the moment.

PAN M 360 : Last May, you released Melvin de Paris. Tell me about the creation of this project.

JOK’AIR : It’s the album I’ve been working on the longest in my career. In general, I release one or two projects a year, and this time I took a year off to put the finishing touches to the album. I really had to work in depth on each track. What’s more, I recorded several of Melvin’s tracks from Paris to Montreal. For people who want to discover me, this is definitely the perfect album to do so.

PAN M 360 : Looking back over your career, it’s clear that the pace at which you create is breathtaking. What is the key to your work ethic?

JOK’AIR : It’s definitely being passionate. Passion pushes you to always give more. It makes you always want to give your best. It allows you to progress every day. Without that, I’d never have been able to get there and keep up the pace.

PAN M 360 : The album features “Quoi de neuf bébé”, a collaboration with Belgian rapper Damso. How did this track come about?

JOK’AIR : One day I was in the studio with Damso in Brussels and we were listening to some tracks I’d recorded. As soon as “Quoi de neuf bébé” came on, he listened to it several times and he really got hooked on the track. It was he who decided to add his verse to the song and I was really flattered that he liked it so much. I’m really proud to have such a renowned artist on my project. It’s crazy to be able to share one of these tracks with such a talented person. It’s a real honour to have him on my project.

PAN M 360 : Let’s talk about a project that’s close to your heart, your comic book and its distribution in many schools in France. What is the aim of this project?

JOK’AIR : It’s a collaborative project we’ve been running for two years with the association La Mélodie des Quartiers to combat illiteracy and encourage young people to read. It’s quite simple, the aim is to distribute comic strips I’ve made to schools in disadvantaged areas of France. It’s a project I’ve wanted to do for a long time, I’ve always wanted to do a comic strip à la Titeuf. So we created a book called Melvin de Paris, like my last album. It’s a great human adventure, we’re putting smiles on children’s faces and that’s great.

PAN M 360 : Clearly, comic strips were very important in your childhood. Do you have any other projects of this kind in the pipeline?

JOK’AIR : Absolutely, they had a huge impact on me when I was younger. In fact, I’ve got a tattoo of Titeuf on my left arm. It just goes to show how deeply it’s ingrained in me. I’d definitely like to explore this avenue further, either by doing another comic strip or even a cartoon. There are no plans for the moment, but I’d certainly like to.

PAN M 360 : With a ten-year career as part of a collective and seven years as a solo artist, you’re definitely one of the big names in French rap. What’s next for Jok’Air?

JOK’AIR : It’s simple: we want to do even better. It’s impossible to reach the top, but it’s always possible to surpass yourself. At the moment, I’m doing the festival tour and a number of shows in Europe. Then I’ll be back in the studio to do even better and offer my fans even more.

Nearly three years after its most recent release, Montreal rap-jazz collective Original Gros Bonnet is more ready than ever to unveil the fruits of its new creations. For the occasion, the septet will close the Tous les jours printemps era and open a new one, this Saturday 17 June at 8pm, on the Scène Desjardins des Francos.

PAM M 360 caught up with François Marceau aka Franky Fade and Vincent Favreau to find out more about OGB’s future projects, their creative process, their time at the festival and more.

Winners of Les Francouvertes showcase competition in 2019, Original Gros Bonnet is made up of Louis René, Vincent B. Boulianne, John Henry Angrignon Atkins, Samuel Brais-Germain (production, sound design), Franky Fade, Vincent Favreau and Arnaud Castonguay. In August 2020, the seven men released their excellent Tous les jours printemps, a project that caught the attention of Quebec hip-hop fans. From the outset, the band stood out thanks to their unique sound identity and carefully crafted lyrics. Even today, it’s hard to find a similar, high-quality offering like the septet’s in Quebec.

Over the past three years, the men have been busy concocting what they describe as their “best material to date”. So rest assured, Original Gros Bonnet is still alive and kicking!

PAN M 360 : Your last release was in 2020 with your project Tous les jours printemps. How has Original Gros Bonnet fared over the last three years?

FRANKY FADE & VINCENT FAVREAU : In the summer of 2021, we started making music again and we haven’t stopped since. We were looking for new sounds and we created a lot of songs. The last few years have really been a development phase for us. Now we’ve got a huge amount of material and we’re getting ready to release it soon. We’ve also done a few shows together. We’ve always tried to get together once or twice a week to create together. In short, we haven’t really taken a break!

PAN M 360 : What’s your new sound like? Is it in the same vein as your first album?

FRANKY FADE & VINCENT FAVREAU : Clearly, Original Gros Bonnet’s signature sound is going to be there. We’ve always floated in hip-hop, whether it’s boom-bap or trap, so that’s definitely going to continue to manifest itself in our music. We don’t put any limits on ourselves and we like to explore different avenues. We love jazz as much as progressive rock. You could hear that on Tous les jours printemps, where some tracks were hard-hitting and others softer. Over the last three years, we’ve really let ourselves go and let our creativity express itself. There’s a maturity that you can hear in this project and it’s really dark. We really want our fans to discover it. They really are the best tracks we’ve done to date. We could have done it quicker, but we’d never have got the result we’ve got today.

PAN M 360 : Has your creative process changed over time? It can’t always be easy to create with seven people.

FRANKY FADE & VINCENT FAVREAU : Over the years, we’ve realised that there can’t always be seven of us composing at the same time. So we’ve learned to trust each other. Often, one of us will come up with a song that’s almost finished and we’ll put it together as a band. When we’re creating, each person brings his or her grain of salt to the songs. It certainly makes the process take longer because there’s a lot of discussion between us and small changes that one day lead to a finished track. On the other hand, we think the final sound is very interesting and offers something new. Now our workflow works really well. Before, quite a lot of our material ended up in our projects, even if some tracks weren’t very popular. For the next project, we’ve created so much that only a third of it will make it into the project. We’ve really practised creating. Creativity is a bit like a muscle and you have to practise it.

PAN M 360 : You’ll be performing at the Francos on Saturday 17 June. What does this evening mean to you?

FRANKY FADE & VINCENT FAVREAU : We see this show as a bit of a redemption. When the pandemic started, there was a big gap in our calendar. The year before, we’d won a bunch of awards and played a lot of festivals like the Francos. Everything was going well and then overnight we had none of that. Playing at the Francos again, it’s a huge showcase to put us back on the map in a way. We want to give a show bursting with energy to show that Original Gros Bonnet is there. We’re convinced that we’re putting on one of the best shows in Quebec right now and that we’ve got something special. This show marks the end of one era and the start of another. In our minds, it’s the last show of Tous les jours printemps. After that, we’ll be putting together a new set. It’s perfect to finish it off at home. Our biggest show ever was the Francos in 2019, so we’re really looking forward to being back.

PAN M 360 : Do you feel that the pandemic has slowed your progress?

FRANKY FADE & VINCENT FAVREAU : In a way, yes. We’re not going to lie, our second album was a bit of a flop. We’d invested an enormous amount of time in the creation of Tous les jours printemps, and that was certainly discouraging. But we kept our heads up and concentrated on our own mental health. It was important to keep our band healthy. During the pandemic, we still made sure we had creative sessions via Zoom. We stuck together and believed in the value of our project. We continued to work hard and we really improved.

PAN M 360 : Do you think being in a group helped you get through the pandemic better?

FRANKY FADE & VINCENT FAVREAU : It’s true that being a septet complicated things, because we couldn’t see each other as a group. So it’s hard to progress and move forward. As we said, we organised ourselves as best we could to create from a distance. We consider ourselves to be a live performance band, and at that level it was hard, because there were no more shows. It was also difficult to release music as a group compared to solo artists. If you look at it another way, knowing that we were all going to get together after the pandemic gave us hope. Above all, we’re a very close group of friends and we supported each other.

PAN M 360 : You’re up for the Prix Félix-Leclerc this year. What does this nomination mean to you?

FRANKY FADE & VINCENT FAVREAU : It feels fucking good. It’s a great honour to be shortlisted, whether you win or not. We have a lot of respect for the other artists who are up for the award. This nomination just goes to show that our project is worthwhile, despite the lull we went through with the pandemic. It’s a real pat on the back and it’s a huge motivation for us to come up with new songs. We’re living in an ultra-fast consumer music context and it’s incredible to see the name of our collective on the list of nominees, three years after our last release. For people, three years is an eternity and it’s crazy that Original Gros Bonnet should be considered for such an award. We’re extremely grateful.

AS PART OF THE FRANCOS, ORIGINAL GROS BONNET PERFORMS ON THE DESJARDINS STAGE, 8PM, SATURDAY 17 JUNE