Featured at L’Alizé last night were seven Quebec
bands contending for the opportunity to move on to the quarter
finals in the Emergenza Festival. Although competing, any nerves
seemed to be cast aside as all seven bands put on a fabulous
show.
Emergenza is a large music competition that runs
throughout North America and Europe. Musicians of all genres compete
at the local and regional levels before the winners of each regional
go on to compete at the International Finals in Germany. This
year, in Canada, the festival is taking place in Toronto, Ottawa and
Montreal. one winner from each of the regions will move on
to compete in Germany.
The festival has caught the interest of
many bands here in Quebec and last night’s show marked the 15th group
of 7-9 bands to compete for their chance to move on. Last night
alone the audience was provided with samplings of punk alternative,
rock francophone, metal, blues and freak core all wrapped up into
one 4 hour package. Each band was given 25 minutes to play either
covers or original works. After each set the audience was openly
polled and then the votes were tallied. At the end of the evening the
top four bands would move on.
Playing seven popular covers,
the band ‘Last Call’, set the night off right. With strong
command of their instruments, good crowd involvement and excellent
variation of songs from throughout the punk rock genre, performed in
both French and English, this band was a fabulous way to start the
evening.
‘Bouffons du Roi’ were up next with an entertaining and
musically intense set of francophone rock. The bassist, masked
as an old man, hopped off stage to interact with the crowd on
more than one occasion, only adding to the great musical
performances, most notably a very strong guitar solo in the second
song by guitarist Sylvain. There was notably good crowd response to
the strong rhythms and beats of the music, that only built as
their set went on.
Third in the line up was the metal band
‘Roger Got It’. This band offered up a very focused and powerful
set of metal, filled with strong vocals and intense instrumentals. The
band played a good range of songs, from those filled with melodic
breaks to highly upbeat and energetic pieces. The energy built
visibly throughout the performance and evoked great crowd response. By
the end of the set the first moshing of the night could be spotted up
front.
A small woman with a big voice, the lead singer Rachel,
of the band of the same name, blew the audience away. Starting with
her acoustic guitar in hand Rachel began with two songs filled with
lyrical vocals on top of strong instrumental beats. The great
rhythms continued throughout the set and vocally the performance just
got bigger and bigger. With good tempo and style range, singing in
both French and English, this predominantly francophone rock group
added greatly to the mix of the evening.
Variety is the
spice of life and the fifth band of the night ‘Zoo Loo’ certainly
spiced things up with their strong, attitude filled, blues-rock style.
The chemistry between singer Sylvette Briere and guitarist Louis Côté
was awesome. Smooth vocals and instrumentals permeated the set. All in
all this was a fiery performance that got the crowd involved and
excited song after song.
Nearing the end of the four hour show
‘Freakency’ came along to make sure everyone was still awake and
having a great time. With a highly developed stage show including a
vacuum wielding, beer drinking nurse, topless dancer and inflatable
penis wielding masked avenger in a thong, ‘Freakency’ threw the
audience for a sexually charged loop. With a great blend of very
well put together techno, punk, and hardcore this band knows how to
perform! Highly energetic and interactive with each other and the
crowd ‘Freakency’ played it up and sang it loud for all.
‘Andromède’ closed out the night with a strong performance of
francophone alternative rock. With their great mix of vocal
harmony and powerful instrumentals as well as the only mixer of
the night, this band really got the crowd going and was yet another
fine addition to the line up. The energy built throughout the
performance in both the band and crowd until they finished the night
out with an upbeat, mosh pit filled, high energy bang!
At
the end of the night the energy came to a head as the votes were
tallied and the results announced. With a surprise tie for fourth the
bands moving on to the quarter finals, to be held in March at
Kola Note, are: tied for fourth Andromède and Freakency, in third
Rogers Got It, in second Zoo Loo and the winner of the 15th group
Rachel.
The next eliminatory round will take place this
Thursday at L’Alizé, 900 ontario St. E. at 8 pm. Tickets are 12$
in advance, 18$ at the door.
For more information check out http://www.emergenza.net
Last Call
Jerome – guitar / vocals
Sebastien –
drums
Mathieu- vocals / guitar
Sebastien –
Bass
Set List:
Hate to Say ( The
Hives)
Santeria
Open Your Eyes
Bombtrack ( Rage Against
the Machine )
Time Bomb ( Rancid )
Groovy ( Boisson d’Avril
)
Enter Sandman ( Metallica )
Bouffons du Roi
Sylvain
– guitar
Anthony – drums
Marc-André –
bass
Philippe – vocals / guitar
Set
List:
Chaton
TMB
Plateau
Même Affaire
Gros
Kâlisse
Roger Got It
Patrick Meimari-
drums
Alex Ng –
vocals
Alex Langevin-
bass
Daniel Bordeleau –
guitar
Set
List:
Ignorance
Junkhead
Snow
Trip
to Nowhere
Call to
Arms
Insane
Rachel
Serge-
guitar
Daniel-
drums
Marc-
bass
Rachel – vocals / acoustic
guitar
Set
List:
Oisive
Sangria
Sans
Âme
Hey
Zoo Loo
Sylvette Briere –
vocals
Sylvain Bertrand –
bass
Alain Rioux –
drums
Louis Côté –
guitar
Set
List:
Devil in
Disguise
Walking the
Backstreet
Lie 4 You
Lawless
Everything for
You
Freakency
Freakynat –
vocals
Gilles Douaire – guitar +
programming
Frak – electronic drums +
programming
Dave Ledo –
bass
Set
List:
Horror
Show!
Room
66
Zipper
Spy
Boy
Toy
Reset
Orgasmatron
Jesus Slut
Super
Butcher
Andromède
J.F. –
vocals
Miguel – mixer +
vocals
David –
drums
Claude –
bass
Mathieu –
guitar
Set
List:
The
Edge
Nébuleuse
Perdu
A l’ombre
Seul au Monde
Drum n’
Bass
