(Saint-Lazare) You’ll have to arrive early in front of the Bell stage on Friday for the opening show of the Francos, because the Québec Redneck Bluegrass Project is coming to Montreal after selling out its three test shows of its Boom Bar Panthère tour last weekend. QRBP’s big return to the stage took place Friday at Chez Maurice in Saint-Lazare, and we can confirm that “the party hit a nasty storm”!
The Quebec Redneck Bluegrass Project is one of the most popular Quebec groups although it is unknown to a majority of the population. A reality which arises from the thoughtful choices of the group, fiercely independent since its beginnings, but also from a series of combinations of circumstances which contributed to its success, while creating a certain distrust among those who know nothing of the unique journey of this group Saguenay made in China.
In the joyful crowd awaiting the arrival of JP “Le Pad” Tremblay and his colleagues Nicolas Laflamme, Madeleine Bouchard and François Gaudreau, many are unaware that the group was formed in China in 2007 and that its name is inspired by a farce linked to the festive reputation of this group of young Quebec iconoclasts based in Kunming. “It hooked me because I like ski-doos,” immediately admits a fan of the group, Patrick De Bellefeuille. I knew a guy who played me the song Pantera Arctic Cat Triple 800; I played it with my friends and then one tune led to another. It’s good music, it moves, we like it. »
“To understand what he sings, you have to be introduced to it. The rest of us are that kind of guy, we have three-wheelers, we ride on them! The last images in my phone are my Big Red! », continues the strong fellow from Beauharnois, showing us his new purchase.
Many of Jean-Philippe Tremblay’s lyrics refer to motors, drunken evenings and hunting and fishing parties, with a colorful play that may seem obscure to some, but enjoyable for those who identify with it.
“This rural side is the poetry of the Pad,” explains mandolinist Nic “Captain Cool” Laflamme, reached by phone a few days after the Saint-Lazare show. I have also met several people over the years who have told me that the beauty of the text, the way in which he delivers it, sometimes brings a bygone era to life. It brings to life a vocabulary that tends to run out of steam over the years. I even met CEGEP and university literature teachers who told me that they studied JP’s texts! »
Talking about the challenges of a 15-inch “lay” in loose snow might seem futile to someone who has never “ridden” in a regional “trail”, but you have to make the effort to go to the beyond the first glance to discover what is hidden behind the group’s image.
“The lyrics, when you listen to them, yes, it can be comical, but it has a meaning,” says Guylaine Beaudette, from Saint-Rosaire, who arrived with her group of friends formed precisely by rubbing shoulders regularly in shows of QRBP. “The Pad is someone who is very educated, very cultured, but who conveys his message in colorful and often saucy language,” she continues.
The group has already briefly thought about changing its name, just to get rid of the redneck label which has nothing to do with them. But we decided to continue to ride the joke, preferring to write the opposite in several of their texts – there is even an appendix in their latest book-album J’ai bu, which definitely sets the record straight. “A musician friend with whom I collaborated admitted to me that he had difficulty meeting QRBP because of the name,” Nicolas Laflamme tells us. But he told me that when he listened carefully to the lyrics, he realized that it wasn’t redneck in the true sense of the word. Conversely, there are plenty of people to whom it really speaks, who are really proud of it. For some, it creates a bond of compatibility with us, without saying that the people who follow us are racist rednecks. »
There is indeed no sectarian feeling emanating from this joyful and welcoming crowd. In fact, everyone was happy to talk to the journalist for whom it was the first Quebec Redneck Bluegrass Project show ever.
Nicolas Laflamme does not hesitate to speak of the QRBP family in this way; in reference to this loyal crowd who follow the group in the numerous festivals which bring it to all regions of the province each summer, but also to the quartet’s entourage, who takes care of the technique or the promotional material – the group deals directly with the creators of its superb t-shirts, posters, but also the decorative elements found on stage for its new tour.
A bar, a warning siren, light boxes and a tripod topped with a rotating beacon now accompany the Pantera Triple 800 snowmobile which still sits in place of the battery that the group never had. “We’re talking about a scenography created in-house, in the garage at Le Pad, but we worked with people we didn’t know at all,” Nic Laflamme tells us with a laugh. They were recommended to us by mutual friends, they wrote to me via Facebook to tell me that they had returned to Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean a year ago, after spending 25 years in Montreal, partly in because of our song My girlfriend asked me, which speaks precisely of returning to the region, of returning where we come from. »
On stage, the group meets occasionally around this bar to toast the health of the public, which transmits a contagious energy. “We are still as crazy, as free in our art, and when we are on a stage, there is nothing that exists anymore,” insists the musician who also holds a master’s degree in international relations.
“That said, as our realities have changed naturally, the topics of the songs have also evolved with us. So it’s normal to tackle different subjects and if that allows you to talk to even more people, that’s great. I mean, every show, we have new people come up and tell me they just discovered us. »
We bet there will be thousands of new converts on Place des Festivals on Friday in downtown Montreal.