People in Vancouver will always try and tell you,"the East coast music scene can't compare to the sounds coming from the West coast... screw that, Vancouver's where it's at." But that's because they get all their information from places like the Fox who would rather play a copy of Chad Kroeger puking outside the Roxy than anything they can't own.

If they happened to take a look outside their Nickelbacked little world, they would find hundreds of small little scenes all over the country, especially if they'd travel to Montreal. Over the last few years, artists like The Dears and Sam Roberts have opened doors for the red-headed step children of Quebec; the Anglo bands. With both groups garnering success across the country, the door has been propped open for other groups to shine. Case in point, the newest of the Frenchy revolution... The Stills.

With their debut album Logic Will Break Your Heart, they have created an album some have called the most important post-911 album to be released. Not bad for four guys from Montreal. When I sat down to talk with drummer Dave Hamelin, he seemed a little bit in awe of the Commodore. He immediately pulled out his video recorder and started shooting. Guitarist Greg Paquet followed and said something to Hamelin in French. A bonus of being bilingual I guess, he then promptly asked everyone he could for a glass of juice. The rest of the band (singer Tim Fletcher and bassist Oliver Crowe) went straight to the hotel feeling the effects of the flu. Traveling across the country with Broken Social Scene seems to have taken its toll on them. Hamelin and I sat down and talked about the Montreal music scene.

What makes Montreal different musically than the rest of Canada?
I think there's lots of romance going on in Montreal cause of the French... because of us 'frenchies' and the cafes and the existentialism in the air, so you got us, Rufus Wainright, The Dears, and Leonard Cohen.

Those artists share a common mood with each other. What inspires it?
I think there's a certain romance to all those artists and I think... I guess we're part of that, that thing... the romancing of the city that we come from. It's pretty interesting, it's not like Canada... it's not Canada at all.

What do you mean?
In Montreal there's no Canadian vibe at all, zero. Nobody drinks Molson Canadian in Montreal and we're not all like 'Hey how you doing eh? Let's go to Tim Horton's.' There's none of that in Montreal. It's a different culture, it's a different entire thing and it has nothing to do with Canada. Culturally it's on a different level... not higher or lower... just different.

So, there's no scene then?
Well no we have lots of scenesters and kids in bands. There's a club called Casa Del Popolo that the guys from Godspeed You Black Emperor own... venue where indie bands play and hang out. But I don't think we really fit into a scene.

Who are you listening to right now for inspiration?
Oh god, Bright Eyes, Fleetwood Mac, um Ryan Adams' first album, Metallica... Master of Puppets, Bruce Springsteen, Broken Social Scene, and The Dears.

Do bands like these inspire your sound?
Yeah, oh yeah. I'm always trying to suck in new influences, expand my horizons, you know, trying to put more musical knowledge into my brain, more things, more conventions... more ideas.

So what was Logic Will Break Your Heart about?
It's all about politics and being in the state of helplessness in the face of what's going on around in the world growing up and feeling powerless in the context of this post millennial meltdown of war time.

Its gotten some crazy reviews...
Yeah, one review called it most important album about the post-911 era. Mostly because of the first song "Lola Stars and Stripes".

Who is Lola? Is she a real person?
Yeah she's real. She is an art restorator who works in Boston. She used to live with our producer Gus Van Go. Lola restores old theatres, an art "something" major from NYU. I was writing a song about what was going on and then it turned into a song to her. She loves it, thinks it's cool. It's her favorite song on the album, mine too.

With that Hamelin was away to find a café to buy cigarettes. Feeling like my moment with the Stills was brief but content I heard the clicking of Hamelin's camera as I walked down the back stairs of the Commodore. He was at the top of the stairs behind me with his video camera rolling. Apparently I'm the feature of the day in his home movie. Then he said something to me that gave me a better view of his band than anything I've seen from them or read in other interviews. "Hey, don't say anything bad about me okay, or the band. Make us look good." What you have to remember with the Stills is that they've been caught up in quite a year and they're all in their early twenties. "What?" I asked. "Don't make me sound stupid," he told me again. "We've gotten really bad reviews before and I hope you don't give us one too." It occurred to me that whether it's a small café in Montreal, The Commodore, or even the Lower Oakland Roller Derby for that matter, this is a relatively new band that is still cutting their teeth and has to read their own hype like everybody else. When faced with a heavy load like that, anyone our age would feel a little pressure or insecurity. What they've done though is create a mature, lovelorn album in Logic Will Break Your Heart that spans through genres from mope-rock to pop to new wave and back. They've captured the attention of critics and the ears of fans. With years of music ahead of them and a European tour coming up, their teeth should be razor sharp when they return to Montreal.

Elsewhere

By Jack Libby
Photos : Andy Scheffler
Published : April 22, 2004.