The mixture of soothing, atmospheric, uplifitng soundscapes and more dynamic, indie emo rockish patterns and tempos of second full length by Canadian moody post rockers LA QUERELLE are what has been on repeat in my music players for some time now. Presented on IDIOTEQ in early May, “Home, a Beautiful Place to Get Lost” is quite an adventure and I’d like to prolong this experience in some way. Please step into their unique space by launching this enthralling album and scroll down to read my interview with Montreal’s finest, LA QUERELLE!
Hey guys! How are you? How have you been since the premiere of “Home, a beautiful place to get lost”? How did this record help solidify you as a band?
It’s great to finally play new songs on stage, for a crowd. That is what drives us. The whole writing and recording process is part of the trail, and it is fun, but now really is where everything pays off.
Looking back, crafting this double album was a nightmare at times, which makes its release even more rewarding. When you look at how songs are sometimes being released lately, it seems like there is a trend in putting out individual songs instead of albums, and we understand that. An album is a lot of work, and it won’t necessarily pay off. We might be a little old fashioned here, but we love concept album, where each song brings something to the others. We had that in mind when crafting this album. And we take pride in that.
Is there one recurring theme or a recurring concept in your work?
If there is a recurring thing in our music, it’s the way we work. We always compose together and the songs are built from the ground up. Whenever possible, we try to move away from the traditional structure of verse / chorus / verse … so a lot of time we end up practicing the same song part for an hour, or we try to get our head around a single transition, but in the end, we feel the result is more authentic. These songs are really the result of the common effort of five musicians.
Ok guys, so let’s learn a bit more about your story. Were you all born and raised in Montreal? Please tell me a bit about your backgrounds, musical experience and paths that led you to form LA QUERELLE.
LA QUERELLE was born from the ashes of ISSUE SIXTEEN. Three out of the five LA QUERELLE members were in that band before it broke up in 2009. Issue Sixteen has released three albums and did over 400 shows across Canada and Europe. The other two members were in a punk band named SEVEN DAYS NOT A WEEK. We all grew up listening to punk music and we all really enjoyed the Montreal rock scene, so we ended up playing a few shows together. When both bands broke up, we decided to start a new project. At first we didn’t have a band name so we played 30 shows changing name every night. We settle for LA QUERELLE just in time for our first record Welcome to my Battleship.
Who were the main artists who inspired your creative vision executed with this band? Also, what ultimately draws you to this particular form of musical expression?
When you form a new band, you need to found common references so that everybody can work on the same page. For us, there was APPLESEED CAST, EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY, ARCADE FIRE and a few 90’s emo bands we all liked. At the same time, there’s always that hint of punk here and there, especially live. In the end, we’re huge music fans, so now that we know each other very well, inspiration can come from a large variety of groups and style. This passion for music is at the center of everything. We compose music we’d like to listen and we want to play as much shows as possible to share it with other music fans.
Compared to other emotive and post rockish music out there, how do you feel your art is unique from other offerings? Do you even look at it that way?
That’s a tough one. We do look at what other bands are doing and a lot of them are working hard, and they put out great records, put up amazing shows and tours, and it is easy to get inspired by what some indie bands are achieving right now. Looking at what is happening clearly pushes us to think outside of the box as well, but with our own distinctive voices.
Ok guys, so what are some projects you are currently working on? Share some secret plans for the future with us. Also, how about touring? What are the chances that we’ll see you live in Europe sometime soon?
Right now, it is all about shows and trying to reach people so that they can listen to this new album. We’ve put song writing on the side as for now and we concentrate on booking shows. We’re working really hard to go back in Europe this summer. The will is there!
Ok guys, thanks a lot for this quick introduction and your thoughts. Feel free to shoot us your final words and take care!
Thanks for reaching out to us!
