Les Breastfeeders (left to right): Luc Brien, Johnny Maldoror, Suzie McLelove
A few weeks ago, I was introduced to a genre I had never heard before: Francophone Canadian mod pop. LES BREASTFEEDERS is one of those bands where it actually makes sense to say their riffs and harmonies are *shudder* "infectious." It's hard to use any other adjective with a group with such a classic sound but such an engaging presence. Before Les Breastfeeders closed out the night on Friday at Osheaga, I hung out with Luc, Johnny, Suzie, and Johnny's adorable kid so I could learn some stuff about what it's like to be a mod band in Francophone Montreal.
How long have you
been a band?
J: 12 years.
Is this your first
Osheaga?
L: Yep.
How does it feel to
have the closing slot on one of the nights?
J: It’s good. It’s a better spot to play because we love to
play at night. I don’t really like to play in the daytime, the sun is really
hot.
L: I heard there was going to be a not rock and roll band
playing at the same time so I guess it’s good for us.
You just performed
for War Child. Fill me in on the details of that.
L: The cause is to raise money for children that are hurt by
the wars in any ways, I don’t know exactly if its because they’re armed, they
lost a lot of things so it’s money for kids who have been hurt by the war, [War
Child] is a good thing because the kids don’t want to be involved with the war.
What are your views
on war and peace?
L: We’re against peace. No… we’re against war. We don’t like
it, we think it’s the biggest wrong in the world. And why? Because everybody
follows the leader and [the leaders] don’t care about their people. I don’t
know why a man should take a gun just because their leader told them to, just
because they say their enemy is wrong.
J: Maybe it used to be something, a basic thing to survive,
to find a place to live, but nowadays, when a big country goes to war, it’s
just to have more power, and even when it’s to help, there’s always something
untold just to get more power.
L: We go to war for the wrong reasons every time. They say
“oh, we’re gonna free the people” when really… it’s for petrol. Or in Iraq
because of Saddam, in the September 11th events, we have to free
their country from Saddam Hussein, Saddam didn’t have any WMDs , didn’t have
any contact with Al Qaeda after all.
Where’s your favorite
club around here?
L: We’re into L’Escogriffe. It’s where we work, it’s where
we hang out. We’re francophone, so that’s our neighborhood. Our bands play,
different bands play every night from everywhere. If you want to dance, just go
to the place upstairs, the Rockette. It’s really cool in the sense that everyone’s
welcome, it’s not a poser place, not a lot of attitude, it’s young and not
young, and it’s an open-minded place.
What are the benefits
and/or healing powers of a tambourine?
J: (laughs) Healing powers of a tambourine… for me, it’s
kind of the only thing I could do to be good at, and it’s the dancing part in
songs, the dancing instrument, in all kinds of music, it’s always there. Maybe
not in jazz, but it’s always there. It always brings the dancing. And since I
play tambourine, when I listen to the songs I used to really like when I was
younger, I always hear the tambourine, and I always realized that was the
dancing part of the song. I love to dance.
Who’s the best
dressed?
J: Luc. He’s the dress code model of the band. 60s garage
influenced, a little bit of mod, but not tourist, I just play with different
style. The main influence for the band is 60s garage, so we play with the
codes, we know the codes. He doesn’t lose his hair.
video cred: teenagelove23
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