After an hour of playful conversation during which it was question among others of AC/DC, Alanis Morrissette andmansplainingsinger and guitarist Raphaëlle Chouinard offered this reflection summarizing the spirit of More Is More, second album by Montreal rock band Les Shirley: “What people like about music is authenticity, and the only way to do that is to do what you want to do, when you do. »
More Is More was recorded last May, at the end of two long years of pandemic. Everything happened there, the beautiful emotions as well as the ugliest ones, under the attentive guidance of director Marie-Pierre Arthur, the “pair of ears” the trio needed to steer their classic rock onto new tracks, such as heady power pop song with new wave tones entitled Get a Grip (also a favorite of bassist Sarah Dion) or the almost shoegaze ballad Hands on the Wheelon which the linear, but strong playing of the drummer Lisandre Bourdages plunges us into a trance.
On american boyat the beginning of the album, and Nothing Compares further on, we tend to recognize something of the alternative pop-rock of Alanis Morrissette. “100%,” confirms Raphaëlle Chouinard. At the time I composed this song, a documentary had just come out about it [Jagged, sur HBO]. Inside, we told in particular about his first big tour, with Taylor Hawkins [regretté batteur des Foo Fighters]. It messed me up. What proof of affirmation that was! At the time, everyone labeled her as the angry singer. Sarah cuts her off: “Whereas when Metallica released a record, no one was going to say James Hetfield was mad!” Raphaëlle then listened to the album again Jagged Little Pill (1995), who “impregnated” it.
She hears herself, she feels, the remarkable evolution of the trio since the release of their first album,forever Is Nowin March 2021.” Thunderstruck[d’AC/DC], it’s sure that we listened to it a lot”, says Sarah Dion about the affection of Shirley for the classic rock, always admirably present through the eleven new compositions of the trio. “We also flirt with pop,” she adds.
Basically, we are three friends who like to play music together. We started giving concerts, then we made an album. Except that there, we were asked: “Ah, but you are a feminist punk trio?” Wait a minute… Is that what we have to be?
“The first album, we recorded it with [les réalisateurs] Simon Kearney and Marc Chartrain, a great experience cool, says Raphaëlle. But for this one, we said to ourselves: in Quebec, apart from electronic music, there are so few women who advertise themselves as directors, it would be cool to have one. Marie-Pierre had never done that in her life, but they told her she would be good. »
“In fact, replies Marie-Pierre Arthur, it’s a question of hat: director, it’s the less clear title of the trade. I participated in the recording of many albums: there is not a director who does the same job. In fact, choosing a director means finding someone who complements what already exists”, a vision that is similar to that of the Shirleys, emphasizes Raphaëlle Chouinard. “We, given the way we work, our demo recordings are more than just demos. Almost everything is there: the atmosphere, the layers of instruments, the feeling. The song exists. What we then need is an outside opinion: what is it, the feeling of Marie-Pierre, at first listen? »
“In my opinion, adds Marie-Pierre Arthur, the reason why there aren’t many girls who appear as directors is because we don’t need the title. My last album [Des feux pour voir, 2020], I ended up saying that I had co-directed it, because otherwise it was as if my work was not considered. »
Managers
“Basically, says Lisandre Bourdages, we are three friends who like to play music together. We started giving concerts, then we made an album. Except that there, we were asked: “Ah, but you are a feminist punk trio?” Wait a minute… Is that what we have to be? »
Could we talk about this excellent new album without addressing this question? It arose naturally as the conversation progressed. “As far as the place of women on the music scene is concerned, there is still work to be done, and as long as we are on the scene, we will defend it. But we don’t do “women’s rock”. »
Marie-Pierre Arthur: “It’s rock, then it’s raw. Having “edge” is not just for men. Raphaëlle adds: “The day we will arrive on the traineeship and where it will no longer be a gesture of affirmation, we will have gained something. Our album is good, that’s all that matters. »
“All the same, we realized that we embodied something for many girls, and we have no choice but to endorse that,” notes Sarah Dion. And Raphaëlle Chouinard adds: “When you play in front of young girls and you see the click in their eyes, they who say to themselves: ‘Oh hash, I can do that too!”, it’s important. This summer, [au festival] La Noce, young people told us that they were thinking of creating a band. Yes ! Do it, go ! When we were young, there weren’t many role models. “You know, adds the bass player, Sarah Dion, two or three years ago, the boys said to themselves: “OK, we will force ourselves to hire girls.” Today, we are the ones who work the most! »
Gathered in the Shirley studio in the heart of the Centre-Sud district, Raphaëlle, Lisandre, Sarah and Marie-Pierre take the conversation behind the scenes of the profession. Raphaëlle Chouinard testifies: “When I was 15 and I imagined myself becoming a musician in life, I imagined that I would sign with a record company and that they would give me money to write songs and record an album. Oh, tabarnouche, that’s really not how it happens! »
The Shirleys are self-produced and self-managed, but they do business with a show agency for their tours, which requires a good sense of management. “We’re in the thick of things,” says Lisandre Bourdages who, outside of the Shirleys, is part of the groups Comment Debord and, of course, NOBRO, in which Sarah Dion also plays (but on drums, this time).
Raphaëlle Chouinard, a freelance musician in her spare time (Zoo Baby, Emma Beko), assumes the role of manager of the Shirleys. “That’s how we roll: we always come up with new ideas and new projects while we’re riding the wave of another project. Being a musician in 2022 isn’t just about writing tunes – that’s maybe 4% of the job. The rest is management. »
“I also remember having been in four or five projects at the same time while starting my solo career… My tongue was on the floor,” recalls Marie-Pierre Arthur.
The moment when all this accumulates, it is stock, but Les Shirley have it, energy, they are completely devoted to their art.