11-24-2004, 12:21 AM
Picked up my local rag, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel(and I do mean rag
) and was surprised by this well written article about Montreal and its music scene. Sam Roberts makes a guest appearance! :thumb:
Bright creativity spins out of dark past
Montreal rises from hard times to vibrant new cultural life
By CARY DARLING
Knight Ridder News Service
Posted: Nov. 22, 2004
Sam Roberts remembers a time a decade ago when Montreal wavered on the edge of collapse. A recession as deep as the nearby St. Lawrence River, French-English language wars and a movement for the province of Quebec to secede from Canada had turned his hometown into hostile territory.
Things got so bad that the singer's parents - who had escaped the upheaval in South Africa in the late '60s - fled from Montreal to North Texas in 1994, settling in Mansfield. His brothers attended high school in Fort Worth, while Roberts, who had stayed behind to continue college, visited during summers and worked at a La Madeleine restaurant in Arlington.
Montreal, he recalls, "was really a dark place for a few years."
But then a light clicked on: Secession failed, the economy sparked to life, the fires of linguistic rage died down from a rapid boil to a slow simmer, and a retooled cultural life took shape.
"In the wake of that kind of trauma, the rebound is often stronger," says Roberts, whose family returned to Montreal in 1999.
Now, the polyglot, multi-culti city of 3 million is home to a diverse rock and dance-music scene that's making inroads in the United States.
"Still Not Getting Any," pop-punkers Simple Plan's follow-up to "No Pad, No Helmet . . . ," which sold 2 million copies in the United States, arrived in stores recently.
Also just released are "No Cities Left," the U.S. debut disc from the Dears, whose emotional, orchestral rock is earning critical acclaim in the States and in Britain; and "Funeral" by Arcade Fire, whose Flaming Lips-style eclecticism is getting lots of critical kudos and college-radio play.
These acts aren't alone; some of the faces coming out of Montreal include: DJs Kid Koala, Jojo Flores and A-Trak; alt-rockers, including Roberts, the Stills, the Unicorns, Stars, Wolf Parade and Belle Orchestre; retro dance-funk band Chromeo; experimental ambient outfits God Speed You Black Emperor! and Fly Pan Am; Smashing Pumpkins / Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur; and kitschy Bran Van 3000. The city is even attracting some emigres: Electronica artist Amon Tobin moved to Montreal from Brighton, England, two years ago.
Throw in the Cirque du Soleil entertainment juggernaut and the pop-culture empire spawned by Vice magazine - it's now into book publishing, a record label, film/TV production, marketing and retail clothing outlets - and the world is finding out that Quebec's largest city is much more than separatism and snow.
"I call it the city that never sleeps. Next to Vegas, we're pretty much always active," says Steven Lex, founder of the site <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.montrealmusicscene.com">www.montrealmusicscene.com</a><!-- w -->. "Bars close at 3 a.m. The party scene is always happening here, especially in summer. . . . And everybody's into side projects. . . . Here, people are always busy, with their own business or something artistic."
"It's a really vibrant place," echoes Sandra Sperounes, pop-music critic at the Edmonton Journal in western Canada and a frequent Montreal visitor. "It's like Europe in Canada. Even though there has been talk about Quebec separating, I just find that anything goes here, and it's a very welcoming place culturally. . . . People aren't scared to try something new."
"The winters are so long that people stay inside and write songs," says Simple Plan guitarist Jeff Stinco.
The city's painful political problems are credited with fostering creativity. Much like other cities - such as Miami or Johannesburg - that experienced a flight of English-language white residents in the past two decades, those who decided to stay had to adapt to a new cultural reality.
"The majority of Toronto's growth was due to the English diaspora. Toronto became this hugely populated, bland city," says Nick Chen-Yin, a production assistant at Vice magazine who moved in the opposite direction, from Toronto to Montreal. "People who decided to stay had a different attitude from Toronto or Ottawa. It's reflected in the art and the overall scene that's prevalent in the city."
"That (period) ended up galvanizing a lot of us," says Roberts, whose hooky "We Were Born in a Flame" CD is a highlight of the current Montreal wave. "I think it changed us - we're not the happy-go-lucky Canadians anymore. You're confronted with literally having your country torn apart."
'An artists' town'
The departure of people and capital from Montreal also meant a scene could blossom outside of the media spotlight.
"Toronto has more of a grip on the whole marketing and music industry aspect of it," Lex says. "Montreal is an artists' town. . . . Artists do what they want."
The down side, of course, is that Montrealers have to leave town to attract attention. The Stills and the Vice media umbrella, for example, moved to New York City, and Simple Plan's Stinco complains that there aren't many places to play.
"There's no industry for the English bands, to speak of, so a lot of the bands feel they have to go to Toronto, Los Angeles and New York," says Too Tall, a Montreal rock DJ.
What's happening in Quebec is part of a broader Canadian modern-rock upsurge.
But Montreal appears especially vital. Roberts finds the city is a relief after he spent several months on the Los Angeles treadmill. And the guys in Simple Plan could live anywhere these days, but they choose to stay close to home.
) and was surprised by this well written article about Montreal and its music scene. Sam Roberts makes a guest appearance! :thumb: Bright creativity spins out of dark past
Montreal rises from hard times to vibrant new cultural life
By CARY DARLING
Knight Ridder News Service
Posted: Nov. 22, 2004
Sam Roberts remembers a time a decade ago when Montreal wavered on the edge of collapse. A recession as deep as the nearby St. Lawrence River, French-English language wars and a movement for the province of Quebec to secede from Canada had turned his hometown into hostile territory.
Things got so bad that the singer's parents - who had escaped the upheaval in South Africa in the late '60s - fled from Montreal to North Texas in 1994, settling in Mansfield. His brothers attended high school in Fort Worth, while Roberts, who had stayed behind to continue college, visited during summers and worked at a La Madeleine restaurant in Arlington.
Montreal, he recalls, "was really a dark place for a few years."
But then a light clicked on: Secession failed, the economy sparked to life, the fires of linguistic rage died down from a rapid boil to a slow simmer, and a retooled cultural life took shape.
"In the wake of that kind of trauma, the rebound is often stronger," says Roberts, whose family returned to Montreal in 1999.
Now, the polyglot, multi-culti city of 3 million is home to a diverse rock and dance-music scene that's making inroads in the United States.
"Still Not Getting Any," pop-punkers Simple Plan's follow-up to "No Pad, No Helmet . . . ," which sold 2 million copies in the United States, arrived in stores recently.
Also just released are "No Cities Left," the U.S. debut disc from the Dears, whose emotional, orchestral rock is earning critical acclaim in the States and in Britain; and "Funeral" by Arcade Fire, whose Flaming Lips-style eclecticism is getting lots of critical kudos and college-radio play.
These acts aren't alone; some of the faces coming out of Montreal include: DJs Kid Koala, Jojo Flores and A-Trak; alt-rockers, including Roberts, the Stills, the Unicorns, Stars, Wolf Parade and Belle Orchestre; retro dance-funk band Chromeo; experimental ambient outfits God Speed You Black Emperor! and Fly Pan Am; Smashing Pumpkins / Hole bassist Melissa Auf der Maur; and kitschy Bran Van 3000. The city is even attracting some emigres: Electronica artist Amon Tobin moved to Montreal from Brighton, England, two years ago.
Throw in the Cirque du Soleil entertainment juggernaut and the pop-culture empire spawned by Vice magazine - it's now into book publishing, a record label, film/TV production, marketing and retail clothing outlets - and the world is finding out that Quebec's largest city is much more than separatism and snow.
"I call it the city that never sleeps. Next to Vegas, we're pretty much always active," says Steven Lex, founder of the site <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.montrealmusicscene.com">www.montrealmusicscene.com</a><!-- w -->. "Bars close at 3 a.m. The party scene is always happening here, especially in summer. . . . And everybody's into side projects. . . . Here, people are always busy, with their own business or something artistic."
"It's a really vibrant place," echoes Sandra Sperounes, pop-music critic at the Edmonton Journal in western Canada and a frequent Montreal visitor. "It's like Europe in Canada. Even though there has been talk about Quebec separating, I just find that anything goes here, and it's a very welcoming place culturally. . . . People aren't scared to try something new."
"The winters are so long that people stay inside and write songs," says Simple Plan guitarist Jeff Stinco.
The city's painful political problems are credited with fostering creativity. Much like other cities - such as Miami or Johannesburg - that experienced a flight of English-language white residents in the past two decades, those who decided to stay had to adapt to a new cultural reality.
"The majority of Toronto's growth was due to the English diaspora. Toronto became this hugely populated, bland city," says Nick Chen-Yin, a production assistant at Vice magazine who moved in the opposite direction, from Toronto to Montreal. "People who decided to stay had a different attitude from Toronto or Ottawa. It's reflected in the art and the overall scene that's prevalent in the city."
"That (period) ended up galvanizing a lot of us," says Roberts, whose hooky "We Were Born in a Flame" CD is a highlight of the current Montreal wave. "I think it changed us - we're not the happy-go-lucky Canadians anymore. You're confronted with literally having your country torn apart."
'An artists' town'
The departure of people and capital from Montreal also meant a scene could blossom outside of the media spotlight.
"Toronto has more of a grip on the whole marketing and music industry aspect of it," Lex says. "Montreal is an artists' town. . . . Artists do what they want."
The down side, of course, is that Montrealers have to leave town to attract attention. The Stills and the Vice media umbrella, for example, moved to New York City, and Simple Plan's Stinco complains that there aren't many places to play.
"There's no industry for the English bands, to speak of, so a lot of the bands feel they have to go to Toronto, Los Angeles and New York," says Too Tall, a Montreal rock DJ.
What's happening in Quebec is part of a broader Canadian modern-rock upsurge.
But Montreal appears especially vital. Roberts finds the city is a relief after he spent several months on the Los Angeles treadmill. And the guys in Simple Plan could live anywhere these days, but they choose to stay close to home.
8)