Club Soda changes hands

The independent performance hall founded by Michel Sabourin and Rubin Fogel 40 years ago was sold to the LABE box — Let Artists be — owner of the Le Ministère hall, which will retain its vocation, i.e. to discover local and international artists.

LABE, which has also been a record company for twenty years (Belle Grande Fille, Brigitte Saint-Aubin, Alex Nevski, etc.) and owner of the Cultural Box and Studio B-12, has undertaken to maintain in place all current employees of Club Soda.

Its founding president, entrepreneur Louis-Armand Bombardier, who is the grandson of Joseph-Armand Bombardier, entrusted The Press having started discussions with Michel Sabourin who was until now the president of Club Soda, from 2018.

“After opening the Ministry in 2017, it took shape in me. We realized that it was going well, I had a superb team, including some of the employees of the former Cabaret du Mile End. I ran into Michel again after winning the Félix for performance hall of the year in 2018. I told him: you know Michel, I’ve always liked your hall, I feel at home there, so if you think about making a handover, think of me! »

The message did not fall on deaf ears. Talks resumed towards the end of the pandemic, an extremely difficult time for independent venues. About nine months ago, the deal was pretty much done. All that remained was the pre-check.

Michel Sabourin, who is also the spokesperson for the Association of Independent Performance Halls of Quebec (ASSIQ), said he was “relieved”, but also “sad”.

“I have a hard time talking about it without emotion, he begins by telling us. But we found that Louis-Armand was an interesting buyer, who promised to continue the mission of Club Soda. A Montreal company, which has another performance hall, which also has a creation studio, I like this horizontal approach which gives possibilities to artists. »

Louis-Armand Bombardier said he was honored to take over from Michel Sabourin and Rubin Fogel. “I experienced it when my parents had to dismantle the family business, it was their baby… So I understand Michel and Rubin very well, it’s their baby, it’s a big gesture that they make, but we want to do things right, to honor the builders of Club Soda. »

LABE did not reveal the amount of the transaction, but according to Louis-Armand Bombardier, he did not buy it for “a couple of hot dogs”. Despite what you might think, it was not a fire sale. “Of course the pandemic has hurt everyone, but Club Soda is a business that is doing very well,” he told us.

The acquisition of Club Soda will allow LABE to have an offer that complements that of the Ministry, a room for barely 250 people, which is mainly used for launches “Club Soda is the smallest of the large rooms with a capacity of 900 people, so we’ll definitely be able to produce bigger shows here. »

The fact remains that Michel Sabourin has publicly expressed concern about the survival of independent venues like Club Soda, repeatedly mentioning the shortage of labour, the lack of technicians and the poor attendance… How did the new buyer considering these new challenges?

“It’s part of our recovery plan, tells us the 47-year-old entrepreneur. Of our succession plan. I am committed to ADISQ where I will express my concerns about labels and venues, we have a creative incubator at the Ministry with several employees who will also be able to work at Club Soda. We work with the Musitechnic school to train future technicians, so we are ready to take up the challenges. »

Improvement works will be carried out in the longer term, but this is not LABE’s priority at the moment. “We’re in integration and stabilization mode, we’ve been dreaming about it for quite a long time, says Louis-Armand Bombardier, our challenge at the moment is not to escape it. To carry the torch to the best of our ability. »

A mythical room

Michel Sabourin could not help but evoke the beginnings of the performance hall first located on Parc Avenue in the 1980s.

“Right from the start, we established the concept of one nighters, that is to say artists who play for an evening or two, says Michel Sabourin. In the early 1980s, Claude Meunier and Serge Thériault [Ding et Dong] launched the Ha Mondays! Ha! It was an idea of ​​Louise Richer. That’s what put Club Soda on the maps. »

With Rubin Fogel, who handled the booking English-speaking artists, Michel Sabourin formed a team of fire. Several artists started their career in this room.

“Club Soda has really been a springboard for many artists,” says Michel Sabourin. Daniel Bélanger, Jean Leloup, Lhasa de Sela all did Club Soda before going to Spectrum. Le Groupe Sanguin was supposed to perform three or four evenings, finally he gave 80 shows ! »

The move of the hall in the year 2000 in a former cinema on boulevard Saint-Laurent – ​​its current location – allowed the owners to access an even larger hall in an area that has not always been well attended…

“My greatest accomplishment has been to have been faithful to our mission to introduce Quebec artists,” says Michel Sabourin. We welcomed shows Francos, Francouvertes, we gave rap a chance. But my greatest pride is to have been part of a small group of entrepreneurs from the arts community and to have proposed to the Economic Summit of Montreal in 2001 to create a Quartier des spectacles. A neighborhood where Club Soda found itself at the center. »