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When did you start getting into metal? When did you start getting into Technical metal? Who inspires you to sing? At 12 years old I was already into Pantera, Sepultura and Black Sabbath. When I turned 14, it was a student radio show called Sonic Disaster. This guy was playing music that gave me goose bumps! So I asked a few of my older friends to hook me up with some tapes. I ended up with Suffocation, Gorguts, Dying Fetus which, at the time, was probably the most extreme you could get, well that I was aware of. My tastes were becoming more and more aggressive for music that challenged my brain. I needed more riffs, faster drums and insane vocals... In 1996, a couple of my friends were starting a new band and asked me if I wanted to join. My first influences were definitely General Fools( local punk band with the most insane singer!!!), Macabre ( I needed to do that!) and other bands I was really into like Incantation, Dismember, etc.
What is it about Canada that spawns the majority of such technical music (Ion Dissonance, Despised Icon, Neuraxis, Beneath the Massacre, Atheretic, Fuck the Facts, The End, Augury, Cryptopsy ,Quo Vadis, etc)? I don’t know for the rest of Canada, but Québec has a lot of resources for musicians. First I think we have access to tones of concerts. All the bands play in Montreal. There are many influences of all kinds that always provide new styles of metal. There are also plenty of jam spaces available, which is not that easy to find in every city. More important, we swim into an ocean of great musicians, so you just need an idea and finding the talents comes right away. Also, metal is well respected now, I never had to struggle for people to take me seriously. I think there is a lot of respect within all the musicians here. There is no competition, every band tries to help each other to book tours or share a jam room, etc. Although a lot of great bands are still working in the dark, they totally deserve to get better known.
How do you feel about the portrayal and sexualization of modern female artists in metal such as vocalists Angela Gossow and Christina Scabbia? I really have no problem with that, if it’s the kind of career they want, it’s fine with me. They probably live from their music and that is an amazing thing. I don’t really find interesting either of those bands, but everyone does what he’s good at! Personally, I could never focus on my image or my looks to push my music and seriously, I don’t think it would work that well. Ha! ha! ha!...
Do you have any ties or friendships with other Canadian women vocalists such as Mel Mongeon or Jessica Desjardins? I think we have friends in common, but we never had the chance to get to know each other. Canada is a huge country, it is hard to know everyone. And since women are more and more present on the metal scene I don’t think there is a sense of belonging. It was different in 1995 when there were just a few girls in the shows and almost none playing. We thought, then, that we had to stick together and bla bla bla... Now we are musicians at the same level as anyone, we have nothing to prove. Of course I speak only for myself, I have no idea what the others think of that. So I don’t see a metal female Artist Union in the near future...
How did you become a vocalist in Despised Icon? What were the early days of Despised Icon like for you? Are you a fan of the direction that Despised Icon has gone? Why did you inevitably leave the band? I have known Eric Jarrin for a long time. When he was with Necrotic Mutation, I did a featuring for a song and I guess he wanted a full project with me. So when he started a new band with Alex Erian, they wanted me in there band. At first, it was more a friendly thing, we didn’t know it would cause that much of an explosion!!! Right from the beginning, Despised Icon became very popular and I realized how big this project was going to be. At that time I was travelling a lot. Sometimes, I was gone for 3 to 4 full months. So it was getting hard to plan gigs and as the demand for a tour was getting stronger, I could’nt follow. I had to make a choice and the new songs for the second album were going more into the hardcore stuff, so I decided to leave the band and let them go in the direction they wanted. Also with the change of drummer, I knew it would never be the same. But, I am really happy for them. Things are going pretty well and I never doubted their abilities and talents. I’m always glad to see them play and I will always support my friends!
It's been 5 years since 'Consumed By Your Poison' came out, did you have any predictions that it would have made the impact that it did? Absolutely not!!! For me it was just for fun, we were doing the music we liked, with the people we liked, awesome!!! When I saw that people were really enthusiastic about our music it was very encouraging! Due to this success they quickly got into a second album and at the peak of their career I don’t think people knew Consumed that much. I was very happy when they decided to re-release it! It is an album that I’m very proud of, I’m very glad that people like it!
What have you been doing these past 5 years? Tell me a little bit about Vociferation. Also, what bands are you currently involved with and will we be hearing your vocals on any future release? Vociferation was my first band, I had the chance to work with amazing musicians that let me full liberty for my lyrics and vocals. So I took that opportunity to experiment a lot, in a wide range of vocals to see what was the best for me. During the past years I was working and travelling a lot so I just did a couple of featuring with local bands. Then Vincent Rousseau and Sébastien Fortier, guitarist and bassist from Vociferation were working on a new project. I joined the band together with Bruno Bourret and Yohan Gagnon from 1.99. It is like a fusion of two bands from the 90’s. Since we were three members of Vociferation, we decided to call it Borborygme, which was the name of our demo in 1998. It is very technical old school death metal with great abundant riffs and crazy guitar solos!!! I was glad to finally find a band I feel like I belong in and the music inspires me so much. It’s great to play with Vincent again!!! I honestly think he is one of the best guitarist in Montreal, in metal and also in Jazz! Don’t get me wrong, playing in Despised was really a blast, but musically talking, Borborygme is exactly what I was expecting in a band. At first it was a project for fun, but things are going pretty well and we should be ready to record in the Spring 2008.
Are we going to hear you rapping in Alex and Gab's next Crimson Syndicate album? (Just Kidding) Ha! Ha! you’re laughing but the other singer in my band is doing rap as well. EGO-RIP, with the drummer of Vociferation!!! There seems to be a kinda mutation with rap since a few years. I mean we start to hear strong influences from rap into metal. Even though I always thought the rythm was similar, at least for the vocals... I like technical music in all its way, from Quawal to electro-acoustic, not only in metal!!! Thanks a lot, man, to have thought of me for your interview! Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)
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