Sylvie Paquette and Térez Montcalm | Thirty years of fire

Sylvie Paquette and Térez Montcalm are two long-term singer-songwriters who are celebrating their 30th career this year. We took advantage of the release of their respective albums to bring them together and talk with them about the profession that is changing, and the fire of music that still burns.

Have you known each other for a long time?

Térez Montcalm: Yes! We knew each other, we had done a showcase together, we must have been in our mid-twenties.

Sylvie Paquette: We were on the same set, to allow emerging artists to make themselves known. That’s where we got to know each other. She came with her voice, I didn’t have one damn show, she had them all! When was your first album?

T: In 1994.

S: Me, in 1993.

T: It’s been 30 years since our first recording, but in fact, we were there before, we had already been playing for several years.

How do we survive?

T: I was lucky. After the third album, I moved more towards jazz. I signed with a record company in Toronto, then with Dreyfuss jazz in Europe, a big independent major. It’s allowed me to have a career there since 2006. For the first time in a long time, I’m going to tour here and in Europe simultaneously. We’ll see what happens… we’re not getting any younger! But I lasted because of the market there, otherwise I would have failed.

S: I rowed butt. But I had the chance to always make records, to meet an audience. It is also a vocation, it is our passion. The song, the meetings with authors and great directors, the musical adventures, that’s what keeps you going, finding pleasure again.

Have you ever wanted to stop?

S: Yes, it could have happened. When you reach 60, you ask yourself: “I still love this life? » At the same time, I still have the chance to make another album. This time, I am revisiting my repertoire with young collaborators like Salomé Leclerc or Antoine Corriveau. They rearranged my repertoire, but it’s me who sings. It’s like they’re new songs. The album is called So farthat’s where I am.

Térez, has it been a while since you released an album?

T: Everyone told me it had been almost a decade… I said no! But I looked at my previous album, When we love each otherit was in 2015. Step Out, I started it at the end of 2019 in France. I had six songs done, I came back here in February 2020, I had to return in March for other shows and finish the album, and then the pandemic hit. So I stayed here, I continued to work at home. It took a long time to be able to finish it, then there was the mastering, the cover… So yes, it’s been almost 10 years.

In your 30-year career, you must have often encountered obstacles?

T: Not like the pandemic! I made an album every three or four years, that was it. I wouldn’t get out of it every year either, I don’t know how the others do it.

S: We release an album when we have something to say. Music has to come from within. But if you want to earn a living, if you want to go back on tour, you have to present a record!

Still now ?

T: No choice. To tour, you need an album. Otherwise, it does absolutely nothing.

Do you earn your living mainly from shows?

T: All artists earn more from playing shows than from selling albums, although there are exceptions to the rule.

S: Music has become dematerialized, but the stage cannot become dematerialized. You watch a show on video, it’s not like being there. This is something that has not changed, in the whole revolution of the industry. That’s living art.

T: But in Europe and the United States, they buy more albums, because there are more of them. And they go see shows big time ! Not just Thursday, Friday and Saturday, every evening! Here, we have the biggest jazz festival in the world, but afterwards, the musicians are starving.

But is this new album less jazz?

T: It’s more “modern Motown.” Motown revisited, rejuvenated, in terms of instrumentation, sound, arrangements.

Did you feel like doing that?

T: Yes, and for the first time, because of the pandemic, I worked out all the arrangements. I made the drums, the basses, the guitars, and I sent the models to Paris, to my director Régis Ceccarelli. When I returned, we revisited the arrangements and went back into the studio with the musicians. It was a two-person accomplishment.

Is that how you last, by trying things?

S: The advantage, if you don’t become a huge star, is that you have artistic tranquility. I can change, I’m not pigeonholed.

Is it more important to be true to yourself or to renew yourself?

T: It’s important to renew yourself. It doesn’t do much good to always do the same thing. It’s not pleasant either.

S: But we both have an essence. Térez, we feel your voice, your soul. You shouldn’t change just to get money, but to make it exciting for yourself.

T: I love singing other people’s songs too. I consider myself a performer. I like all styles of music, rock, French songs. I listened to all this as a kid at home.

But there are original songs on the album, right?

T: Yes, six or seven. But performing, I really like it. I put them on my paw, turned them around. I love it as much as writing songs.

With all the changes happening in the industry, could you see yourself starting today?

T: No. And I have a lot of admiration for young people who are starting out in this industry. I came from the right place butt and good times. It was so much fun…

S: Time has changed. The new generations cannot compare, they are in their time. It’s certain that if you do a comparison… I’ll look Star Academy, For example. If someone had said to me: “Hey, Sylvie, you have to go there, you’re going to go down the stairs in a little dress,” I would have broken down. I wouldn’t have been able to. But the young people say: “we are correct!” » They don’t experience it the same way. If we were 20 years old now, with music in us, we would find a way.

If you could talk to the young artist you were at the time, what would you tell her?

T: Calm your nerves!

S: For me, it’s fun. I didn’t have enough fun. I was too anxious. I would also say: “I am proud of you”. For always continuing your journey in your own way. Terez, it’s the same. We made our music our way. I would welcome that.

Térez, why “calm your nerves”?

T: I have adjusted my voice well over time. 30 years ago I was in the pit ! I was pushing… I had been boiling on the stove for years. When this came out, I was spitting this at you for a while. Over the years, it passed quietly. I calmed down, I calmed down.

Do you still have fire?

T: For sure! It doesn’t turn off.

Folk

So far

Sylvie Paquette

Audiogram

Drunk

Step Out

Térez Montcalm

Spectra Musique (Offered Friday)