Posted at 7:15 a.m.
Marc Cassivi: I didn’t know you were in charge of Pierre Lapointe’s career. Is it a third career that begins for you? After journalist and programmer, artist agent?
Laurent Saulnier: If you put the word “artist” in the singular, yes.
CM: Like René Angélil!
LS: (Laughs) Not sure he would agree!
CM: Is it relatively recent that you take care of Pierre, or it was I who did not see the news?
LS: We haven’t made a big announcement. When Pierre’s former agent decided a few years ago to retire, I submitted my application.
CM: Your departure from Spectra, is it a way to reduce your activities to focus exclusively on Pierre’s career? Or are there other opportunities that come your way?
LS: Neither. I felt the time was right, for several reasons. The first is that I leave behind a great team. Besides, I’d rather retire now than wait until it’s too late.
CM: That’s to say ?
LS: There’s nothing worse than someone who stretches their stay for nothing and is there to be the festival mascot. It does not tempt me. I was lucky — it’s even more than luck, it’s a real privilege — to have always had fun in what I was doing. I just intend to continue.
CM: I kinda feel like it’s the last of the Mohicans leaving…
LS: (Laughs) Yes, there is a bit of that. We must not play the ostrich either. When I started at festivals, I was 37 years old. I agree with you: there is a chapter of the book that is about to end. But that doesn’t mean the next chapter is going to be any less interesting. On the contrary, I think that the more the adventure progresses, the more challenges there are, the more exciting it can be.
PHOTO BY RÉMI LEMÉE, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Laurent Saulnier at the Montreal International Jazz Festival in 2002.
CM: One of the challenges of the past few years, of course, has been the pandemic. You are leaving at a time when we have the feeling of a virtual return to normal. Will it be easier to leave at the end of this summer than if you left last year?
LS: I would never have left last year! As selfish as it may seem, I wanted to live at least once, one last time, the festivals in their true deployment.
I couldn’t conceive of leaving the boat while it was in a drifting sea. We know that this year, we are going to hold festivals as we did in the pre-pandemic period. And I will enjoy it!
Laurent Saulnier
CM: You’ve always had a role as a scout. This was the case when you were a journalist and as a festival programmer. Come back to me on the top of the headlines See dedicated to Bran Van 3000 or Jay-Jay Johanson in the 1990s…
LS: Or Groovy [Aardvark], GrimSkunk or BARF, back when they filled the Spectrum and the mainstream media didn’t talk about them. We decided at See to cover them. I find it important to give visibility to artists who have a real or potential audience. If I could help that, so much the better! When Ariane Moffatt’s first record came out, we were very late in the lineup, and we only had one spot on the big stage, like on a Tuesday at 6 p.m.…
CM: I remember it very well. I wonder if it wasn’t even earlier…
LS: It was the only one spot we had, but I’d rather give him that one than nothing at all. We did the same thing with Lisa LeBlanc. You have to take those chances.
M.C: About ten years ago, Spectra was acquired by the CH Group. Have you seen any drawbacks to working in a bigger entity?
LS: There are pros and cons, that’s for sure. But there is one thing that has not changed: in 23 years of programming, whether at the time of Spectra or for a few years with Groupe CH, there is never anyone who told me what TO DO. There is no one who has put their nose into programming in general.
CM: You’re leaving Spectra, but you’re not retiring…
LS: Oh no ! No way. I’d rather stop a little too early than a little too late, but I’m still a consultant. I will not work for the competition. I will work with Pierre and if I am needed, I will be available.