Named after Montreal's now disappeared "Faubourg à M'lasse" neighbourhood, Montreal trio M'lasse came about when Amer El-Balaa (guitar/vocals) answered an online ad by childhood friends Antony Plante (vocals/bass) and Steve Clairmont (drums) in search of a guitarist. A longtime fixture in the Montreal music scene, Amer (veteran of Montreal bands such as Stop Thief!, Ghosts Before Breakfast, Arbor Glades and Les Moops) brought his knack for dynamic and versatile songwriting to Antony and Steve's near telepathic musical interplay. Packing in 7 songs in 22 minutes, the band's self-produced and self-titled debut EP, invites listeners on a musical journey from hazy, narcotic psych to full-bore shoegaze roar with detours through undulating, middle-eastern flavored surf, thunderous 70's style riffing, fuzzed-out downer pop and noise rock freakouts.
By Kamil Bobin
Discovered via Musosoup
Hey M'lasse, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What first got you into music?
We’re a band so each of us has a different answer to that question. Antony (Bass/Vox) and Steve (Drums) are both Quebecois, so they are both influenced by Quebec’s rich musical tradition. Amer (Guitar) is Lebanese/Canadian, so Arabic music was always present when he was growing up.
How do you balance your time in the studio with other commitments such as a part-time job, family, admin?
It can be tough to find that balance, but it’s important to remember that we’re all trying our best to navigate life’s challenges and to be understanding when things go out of balance. While we all believe that playing music is a serious endeavor, it should still be fun.
Your latest release is 'M'lasse'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?
There’s a municipal parking structure right next to our practice space and one day we were walking by and someone had spray painted a pair of eyes on one of its walls about 20 feet above street level. The first song and unofficial title track on our EP is “Les Yeux” which means “Eyes” in French, so we took a picture that ended up being the cover art for the EP.
Where did you get the inspiration for this EP?
That’s a tough one because it isn’t a concept album, so there isn’t a single theme or idea behind the EP. We just wanted to make a recording that, more or less, accurately documented our live set and that sounds like the band is in the same room as the listener. We hope that comes through in the final mix. Let us know!
How long did you work on the 'M'lasse'? Was it an easy process for you?
We tracked the EP in November 2022 and the final mix was ready at the end of December. We really wanted it to have an analog element, so we tracked on to an 8-track cassette recorder and then transferred to digital for mixing. With the nearly infinite options available nowadays when it comes to sound processing, an artist or band can spend forever working on a mix and we didn’t want to fall into that trap, so we tried to keep digital editing to a minimum (basically some EQ, compression and reverb).
How do you know when a work is finished?
Good question. There’s a saying that works of art are never finished; only abandoned. In our case, we declared victory when we got to a point where everyone was happy with the mix.
Can you write what was your best performance in your career? How do you remember it?
We’re a pretty new band so we’ve only done a handful of shows to date. Live performance is a very visceral experience for us, however, and funny enough, we find that it’s easier to remember the moments immediately before and after playing, rather than the set itself.
How do you find yourself in the music business? When you started out in music, did you know it would be like this?
The internet has democratized music to the point where we’re not sure if there’s much of a music business left. And even if things were different, we don’t think it would have any impact on the music we make. The important thing for us is just to follow our muse.
Who is your favourite musician?
Antony: Paul McCartney
Amer: Stephen Malkmus
Steve: Iggy Pop
What are your plans for the future?
At the moment, we’re really focused on promoting this EP and setting up shows in Montreal.