Sleeping on the floor of the dodgy friend of the guy’s brother-in-law who put on the show? ” All the bands have done it, it’s almost a rite of passage”, observes Michelle Ayoub, co-owner of Turbo Haüs, an essential place forunderground Montreal musical, for whom taking care of the artists on its poster is a priority. “To say to a group: ‘You’re not a real punk because you like taking a shower’, that’s nonsense. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do your laundry. »
Sergio Da Silva distinctly remembers the generosity with which his late band Trigger Effect was received when touring across the puddle. “When you arrive in Europe, anywhere, you have a place to sleep, it’s a given”, explains the founder of Turbo Haüs, an expert in resourcefulness who, at the height of his 39 years, has already in the body 20 years of margin experience. Enough to measure what food and a place to crib can represent for young penniless musicians.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Sergio Da Silva
After several years of touring theaters in North America, we found that we were treated better in a squat in the Czech Republic, where we were offered a meal and a bed, than in a bar in Buffalo.
Sergio Da Silva
First set up in the rehearsal room of Trigger Effect, near the Bell Center, then in Saint-Henri, the Turbo Haüs inaugurated its current incarnation in the Latin Quarter, in 2018. The ambition of its founders? Make it a place of inclusiveness, where metal, punk and hardcore could resonate strongly, without the aficionados of jazz or hip-hop, or anything else, feeling there persona non grata.
And, above all, to welcome bands with the minimal consideration they deserve, which really isn’t always the case on the bumpy roads of small-stage touring, when you’ve got a lot of asphalt to swallow, but little money to eat.
Like at the spa (or almost)
A salutary mission which, given the major effects of the pandemic and inflation on the possibility of hitting the rock road without hassle, has only gained in relevance in recent months. In order to make the stay of the guys and girls on a stopover at home as reassuring as possible, the owners of the Turbo Haüs have designed a stopover in Montreal as a kind of day at the spa, version punk rock.
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
Michelle Ayoub
Since last November, all the groups passing through the bar on rue Saint-Denis have been able to enjoy the comfort of a real bed, rather than the hardness of a stranger’s linoleum, in an apartment made available to them above. above the room.
“We have all seen bands take naps under tables merchandise, because they’re exhausted from driving for hours,” says Michelle, 36, who produced her first show at 14 and for whom, undeniably, a well-received band is a band that plays better at night. His comrade nods.
If it gets too hard for bands to tour, places like ours won’t exist. The pleasure of seeing groups in a small room has nothing to do with the possibility that this group will become big afterwards, as some say. Seeing a band in a small venue is the best way to experience music. And it must continue to exist!
Sergio Da Silva
Starting in March, visiting artists will also be offered dinner and breakfast at the Big Trouble café, the little brother of Turbo Haüs, adjoining its main address. The 175-seat entertainment bar also allows bands to store their gear for the night – guitars in a van parked on a busy thoroughfare being as attractive to thieves as a long-sleeved black shirt to a music-lover. stoner rock.
Basic equipment (drums, amplifiers) is also available to local groups who prefer not to wear themselves out lugging their gear. Last elegance of which the Turbo Haüs is proud: not to take a percentage on the sale of derivative products of its guests, as is the tradition in other places of the genre.
something alive
“We even have toilets with doors! laughs Sergio. “Cellars have already landed here saying: ‘Come on, so it’s good clean, I thought you were punks”, but all the bands, they are happy to be able to relieve themselves without feeling weird. »
Last October, when tickets for the Blink-182 stop at the Bell Center went on sale at prices that weren’t punk rock at all, the Turbo Haüs announced that they would be bringing together the same evening, free of charge, three bands performing the childish refrains of Mark, Tom and Travis.
Subscribers to the bar’s Twitter or Instagram accounts were quick to recognize Sergio’s troublemaker instincts. “But this evening, it’s not just a joke! It’s a way of saying that culture is something alive: you can’t just help yourself, like at a buffet. You also have to give back. »