Outside November, Colocs’ third album and Dédé Fortin’s swan song, will live again on stage. Not in the form of a tribute show, but in a piece of “musical documentary theatre” inspired by the memories of André Vanderbiest, known as Vander, the group’s last bass player. A way for Dédé’s immense voice to still resonate, even more than 20 years after his disappearance.
“This show, I really see it as a friend who introduces us to a friend”, summarizes the director Marilyn Bastien, who helped to “theatricalize” the story of Vander, who had already told the creation of outside november in the form of lectures.
The Belgian-born musician claims to want to highlight “the poetry and humanity” of Dédé Fortin by recounting the small and great moments of the creation of this flagship record of Quebec music and his intimate relationship with the leader of Les Colocs.
“The idea is not to play Outside November, but to put the texts forward. Each song has a story, I wanted to make them known, while giving my version of this very special moment. I was there for a year, I know all the commas of this album, “says the one who took up residence in the Gaspé ten years ago.
Comedian Hubert Proulx will be at his side on stage to talk about the presence of Dédé Fortin. The duo will be accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Jean-Denis Levasseur, the same one who played the clarinet on the haunting Beelzebuband drummer Jean-Sébastien Nicol, who will recall in a minimalist version the catchy melodies of the album, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary next May.
winding path
Begun in the fall of 1996 in a chalet in Saint-Étienne-de-Bolton, in the Eastern Townships, the creation of outside november spanned more than a year. The path has been tortuous to say the least.
Still in mourning for the harmonicist Patrick Esposito di Napoli, carried away by AIDS, the group, along the way, fired its lifelong drummer (Jimmy Bourgoing) in addition to being deprived for many months of its guitarist (Mike Sawatzky), victim of a serious car accident. Vander had just dropped everything in his native Belgium to replace Serge Robert, alias Mononc’ Serge, on bass, who had gone to try the solo experience.
The other Dédé des Colocs therefore found himself for many months thinking about the album one-on-one with Fortin, who was determined to break the image of a “group of party » which stuck to the skin since its appearance on the Quebec music scene in the early 1990s.
Each song has a story, I wanted to make them known, while giving my version of this very special moment.
Long months of research and experimentation have resulted in a galette with multiple influences, which, through its mixed textures, has left its mark on the evolution of the Quebec music scene. The record also achieved resounding critical and popular success: more than 100,000 copies sold, the Félix for rock album of the year in 1998, and the feat of having thousands of Quebecers sing in Wolof thanks to the chorus of Get away from there, ver d’oreille written by the Diouf brothers, Senegalese percussionists who joined the galaxy of Colocs during the recording.
“If there is something I want to convey with this show, is that creation is not magic, insists Vander. Even if we consider Dédé a genius, there is a lot of work behind a work like this and a lot of questions. And a lot of people too. For me, Les Colocs was a cultural meeting place where everyone contributed and got something out of it. The central pillar remained Dede, but Dede alone would not have succeeded either. »
Black is black
Anyone who has ever listened outside november was struck by the greyness that emanates from it. On the track that gives its name to the album, which recounts the death on his hospital bed of Patrick Esposito, or on the quasi-complaint The answering machine, we even come close to darkness. Even to the reggae tunes of Get out of there Where Worse if oh less, André Fortin’s pen is sharp and cynical. Death is omnipresent, but muffled by the burst rhythms that coat the nine songs.
Dédé’s suicide in May 2000, two years after the release of the album, suggests that outside november was perhaps a harbinger of the distress that led the songwriter to end his life. However, this is not what the craftsmen want us to remember from the record, and even less from the show that results from it.
“I believe that we are mistaken in seeing only the dark side of outside november, supports Marilyn Bastien. Friends and relatives of Dédé were able to make connections after the fact, but those who were there during the creative process told us that it was not a dark time for him, he was fine. We want to remove the darkness associated with the album and the way his life ended a little to make known different facets of Dédé. He was far from a dark person. »
“To have been there and to have spoken to the people who passed through Saint-Étienne, the general opinion was that it was thefun, adds Vander. We were in a creative space. The work testifies to a personal depth, but, afterwards, a song, even The answering machineit becomes an arrangement, a guitar chord, the placement of a microphone above a drum. And that was very trippy to do! »