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“ One of the unique qualities of [ Montreal bands ] was they weren ’ t a bunch of kids who grew up in the same city . They came from different parts of the world and all had different influences .”
-Dan Seligman , Pop Montreal
somebody told me and they were blowing up .”
At its core , there was a certain amount of hype that was inflating what was really going on . As Versteeg explains , it ’ s not like you would pop into a bar every night and see Arcade Fire playing to nobody . But there was a truth that was central to all of the breathless rhetoric .
“ The hype is always bigger than what the thing is in reality ,” he says , “ but I think what the hype captured is that feeling of people being young and creative and feeling like they can do whatever they want , chasing that romantic , creative feeling that a lot of really great scenes have at the centre of them .”
Every rock scene will produce one band that goes further than their peers . What ’ s more , their popularity will mean their aesthetic will become the defining one for a scene that ’ s usually more diverse than it ’ s given credit for . Guns N ’ Roses will always be the sound of Los Angeles metal despite sounding nothing like Tesla . Nirvana and Alice in Chains have almost nothing in common except a shared home city . Think of a rock band from New York City from the turn of the millennium and you ’ ll probably bring up The Strokes way before Interpol .
For Montreal , that defining
Dan Seligman
band is unquestionably Arcade Fire , but even then , their accomplishments have been relatively modest . Funeral went gold in the United States , selling 500,000 copies – a big number for most bands , but hardly earth shattering numbers , even at the height of illegal downloads and file sharing .
Which raises the question – if Win and friends are the city ’ s Nirvana , did the shifts in the music industry keep there from being an equivalent to Soundgarden or Pearl Jam ?
For Lightburn , the answer is something he ’ s spent years considering as one of the few people of colour fronting a popular rock band in Canada . Canadian music specifically , and the music industry in general , doesn ’ t know what to do with dark skinned people outside of a narrow conception .
“ The challenge we still face in 2018 is , when you ’ re the only voice of colour in the Canadian rock music landscape , it ’ s really tough . You want to talk support system ? You have no support system ,” he says . “ You can never have everyone in the same room together . It ’ s kinda sad because then you can ’ t create a real community of people of colour in rock and roll .”
Hollerado were poised to break out big after the release of their 2010 album , Record in a Bag .
The band , with its knack for classic Cheap Trickian hooks and punk pop energy , seemed like the safest bet to come out of a scene more known for quirkiness and enigmatism . But the group never quite graduated to the superstardom level . After touring non-stop for years and putting out a sophomore release in 2013 , the group has since slowed its roll . Today , Versteeg is more focused on running Royal Mountain Records , home to Mac DeMarco , PUP , and other up-and-coming tastemakers . ( Despite almost sharing a name with Montreal ’ s landmark Mount Royal , the label is based in Toronto .)
“ Not everyone is trying be the next Arcade Fire ,” says Versteeg . “ You ’ re trying to have a great time and be young and make some art you ’ re really proud of and have fun with your friends . We have that attitude that it would be great to become international superstars , but I can speak for myself when I say that was never the reason Hollerado was doing it .”
Montreal is still catching international attention with some exciting sounds . It ’ s hard to shake a stick at a music blog that isn ’ t writing about Grimes these days , for instance . A lot of the factors that led to the explosion in the 2000s are still there .
“ It ’ s really economics . Who can afford to move to Brooklyn and start a band ? You have to be from a certain class , you have to have inherited wealth in one sense or another ,” says Boeckner . “ Here , it ’ s cheap enough that even if you ’ re from a lower middle class or poor family , you can move here and work a job and start a band .”
Still , Grimes and Mac DeMarco seem more like individual artists getting their due attention rather than being part of a great whole . Since the mid-2000s scene , it ’ s hard to think of another musical movement anywhere so connected with a single geographic location .
Too much has changed . Musical partnerships and kinships are more likely to be shared via Soundcloud than opening slots . Music itself has fractured into a million different subgenres , each of which is entirely accessible online . In a lot of ways , that ’ s a good thing . Music fans and musicians are less prone to identify with a single type , leading to creative mashups and spurring sonic innovation . But the lack of cohesion means it ’ s hard to say if there will ever be another true scene . That ’ s especially true of rock , as Lightburn points out . “ When Gibson is talking about bankruptcy ? Come on ! You know rock and roll music is in trouble when the maker of electric guitars is having trouble .”
Can it happen again ? Can that magical mix of economics and hype and culture and comraderie and geography coalesce again , around a new group of hungry kids looking to make some noise ?
Boeckner , for one , is still optimistic . Times change , but the urge to pick up an instrument , or even just a laptop , and make something strange and new with your pals isn ’ t going away anytime soon .
“ I think it can definitely happen again ,” he says “ There will always be breakthrough acts . There will always be someone who crystallizes the moment they ’ re in and turns it into songs that resonate with a whole lot of people outside their group of friends they started playing music for .”
Adam Kovac is a freelance journalist based out of Montreal .
46 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN