String of orange cones in Saint-Denis. It digs. Deep. To hell ? Gaps prevent access to the venerable building which still bears in stone its mission from the 1920s: studio of the Canadian Operetta Society. This is our meeting point for the interview, talk to the devil. The place has housed the record offices of La Tribu and producer Larivée Cabot Champagne for a good decade. It’s closed, masonry in danger. Where are Michel Faubert and Bernard Falaise to tell us about their first album in tandem, The fiery chapel ?
Paper on the door, little treasure hunt. We find ourselves on a terrace, more or less facing the abyss. Say, guys, a whole set-up for The burning chapel! Laughs. Falaise looks up to the sky, sighs, fatalistic. “It’s the same everywhere!” » exclaims Faubert. No, it’s not arranged with the guy from the stories. Even if the last piece of the album is entitled: The end of the world by an eyewitness. Occasional and topical text… from 1895. “For me,” notes Faubert, “it’s very recent. When you’re used to delving into the laments of the Middle Ages… Besides, I cheated, this text by Pierre-Paul Paradis was originally much longer, a small book. I only kept what could concern us at all times. » Falaise adds: “Sophocles spoke of the environment which was threatened, already in Antiquity… Catastrophes, massacres, wars… the end of the world has been written in History from the beginning. »
Recent past for imminent future
However, the pieces chosen or collected for this project, on purpose, are closer to our time. “It’s the least traditional folklore record I’ve made,” notes Faubert. Some texts are mine, there is a story entitled 20/8/1949 which comes from a period testimony, there is an extract from the Manual of small literature of Quebecpublished by Victor-Lévy Beaulieu in 1974. There are The strange story of Madame Brault, which is signed by Alexandre Belliard. It’s mostly 20th century material.e century, and even the 21ste. And it’s held together by Bernard’s music. »
Disasters, massacres, wars… The end of the world has been written in History from the beginning.
The question arises for Michel Faubert, more than thirty years later Damn memory and the collaboration with contemporary music guitarist André Duchesne. Does he come full circle with Bernard Falaise, contemporary music guitarist? ” Yes and no. My outlook has changed, probably because I have gotten older. Age brings hindsight. I worked and created a lot with the little boy I was, let’s say from the age of five, up to the man I was at thirty. That’s where I met the old people, that I did some collecting, that’s where I had my dreams, my nightmares, my fears, my daring, and I have the impression that I collect it all in The ardent chapel. Musical experiences too, everything I have listened to in my life and which still lives within me. I am built as much from Alice Cooper as from medieval laments. » Falaise adds: “I’m the same. I was exposed to so many genres of music. As a listener, before being a musician. We, our gang, when we entered a record store, L’Alternatif, let’s say, we wanted to listen to everything. »
Indefinable and exciting
Faubert turns to Falaise: “Would you say that what we do is rock? » No immediate response. Cliff thinks. In his music, we hear the extreme reverberated rock’n’roll of Link Wray in 1958 as well as the arpeggios of 1970s prog, among other integrated references. Falaise finally responds: “Yes, it’s rock in the broad sense. I am all that and more. And I am what I make of it. Although I may be categorized as contemporary, current, concrete music, that doesn’t define me. » Faubert takes up the spittoon again, inspired by his accomplice: “On my grave, it could be written: ‘I took everything I loved and I made of it everything I could’”.
Falaise, one thing is certain, composed most of the music: one could say that he provided the binder, accelerating it on the fire. Faubert found the right fuel for all his materials: “There are sung parts, other spoken parts, there are stories told and fantastic tales. It’s like all my albums in one. All my ways of communicating. Bernard made the listening experience possible. Better than that: exciting, I would say! » They have this criterion in common, between people of the generation of adventurous albums: the sense of ritual that the vinyl discs allowed, side A, side B, then we start again. “There are very simple sections, and others very chaotic, it unfolds like life,” summarizes Falaise. “But it holds up, no matter what. That’s what an album should be like for me. »
This is how it appears The fiery chapel. The fire we light, the blaze, the great calm once everything is consumed. Faubert agrees: “It was done during the pandemic, it follows the same curve. » The source of the virus, the dazzling contagion, death everywhere, and then a certain normality regained. And then the end of the world? ” We do not know. » Under the ashes of the chapels, there are still embers.