On stage, five musicians form Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire, but in the studio a sixth is added, the arranger and director Pierre-Guy Blanchard. Think of him a bit like the band’s musical compass: Pierre-Guy finds the right angle.
At the time of composing the new album No time to fool around, he made this recommendation, says singer Serge Brideau: “He said to me: ‘Don’t be political, don’t be heavy. The times are quite heavy as well.” He wasn’t saying that necessarily to neglect thinking and just make fun of it.entertainment, except that for me, it’s a tour de force to write happy songs. It doesn’t come naturally to me. »
We wouldn’t have guessed if he hadn’t told us. Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire, after all, is reputed to be a party machine. With its songs about drinking and eating mushrooms, the Acadian orchestra revisits the psychedelic rock heritage of the 1970s with a lot of rock guitars and retro organs.
A very piña colada song
His performances are legendary: “At the Pantoum yesterday, I think it was the show where I had the warmest, Brideau still breathes. I drank wine during the show, but not enough water: after the show, I got leg cramps… I think I’m going to drink water for the rest of the tour. » Around the coffee table where the group is gathered to chat with The duty, it chuckles. “We’re getting old, huh? says Serge Brideau, looking at his colleagues. “We are a washed up rock band ! he adds, referring to the first song of this fifth studio album, which is released today.
As Pierre-Guy suggested, it starts very light. “This song represents us well, says Mico Roy, guitarist. We’re getting old, we’re a little afraid of becoming that, a washed up band. »
The song is very “piña colada” in tone, notes drummer Maxence Cormier, a nod to Escape (The Pina Colada Song), the only success of Briton Rupert Holmes, reappeared in the collective imagination thanks to a Marvel film and a TV ad. ” Very fatherrock — we don’t take ourselves too seriously,” he adds.
Body image and sexualization
And yet, this disc not heavy at all does not avoid the more delicate subjects. We can laugh at the “hairy nipples” that Serge Brideau sings on the boogie Uncomfortablethe fact remains that the guys have reread this text a hundred times about body image and the sexualization of breasts for fear of offending someone.
“I can talk about my hairy breasts to me, we were afraid to go too far”, admits Brideau, who had the idea for this song on the edge of the swimming pool, at a friend’s house, while the breeze caressed her man boobs. “I weigh 300 pounds, I’m obese, I have small breasts, the idea came to me: what if I were a woman, topless? Hypersexualization is disputed, but it is still a delicate subject. Does that sound like we don’t care? »
A similar dilemma arises when discovering the song grandma, the story of an incredible day of funerals. The text is hilarious, “but the story is fucking sad ! says Mico.
Hilary to Joe Brideau
It’s a story told by a friend of Serge’s, Éric Thibodeau — let’s mention him since the group attributes the authorship of the text to him. “Eric is a friend of mine, we work together. This guy deserves a film about his life; he got it great rough and comes from a family with super colorful characters. “Everything happened as it was during Mémére’s funeral, “these are even real replicas” launched by Éric, underlines Maxence.
The band’s fifth studio album, No time to fool around certainly does not have the vision or the ambition to Come with me (2018), the rock opera focusing (notably) on the opposition between art and entertainment that the group presented on many stages in Eastern Canada.
The adventure however left traces in the sound of the group, paradoxically softer (the arrival of Rémi Arsenault, on bass and backing vocals, pushed the guys to work better on the vocal harmonies) and more experimental than before — there is something of the madness of L’Infonie on this fascinating album. Witness these quasi-instrumental songs built with the voice messages that Serge left to the members of the group.
However, the album ends on a particularly touching note. Hilary to Joe Brideau, in homage to “Hilaire”, father of Serge and muse of the Hostesses. Died on May 14, 2021, according to his own wishes. “He asked for medical assistance in dying, we got together for him, it was super nice, says Serge. He had made his decision two days earlier. »
a beautiful moment
Maxence cuts him off: “It was a great moment, and he was beautiful until the end. Mico testifies: “It’s not common; we knew that was the last time we would see him. “Maxence and Mico also recently lost their father, emphasizes Serge. He speaks of his as “larger than life, which also had a bit of a dark side. I had never talked about him like that in a song before, everything I sang about him was positive. But I was able to make peace with my father a long time ago, and I consider myself lucky to have been able to do so”.
“We are four brothers in the family, we played music for him, continues Serge. We had bought champagne. At one point he got up saying, “It’s time, I’m tired. The Pope is not good at making speeches, Father Brideau is no better.” He took his shot of champagne and went to his room. It felt good to write this song. »