Ice Storm
In early January 1998, from Jan 5 to Jan 10 there were successive waves of freezing rain in Quebec that came to be known as the “Ice Storm”. It knocked power out in some regions for as much as 6 weeks and it left 34 people dead in it’s wake. Relief efforts were all over the place and the music industry was all in. I was asked by André Dicesare of STAR RECORDS and Pierre of LES DISQUES DOUBLE if I would be part of a “SUPER GROUP” of well known Quebecois musicians a la “TRAVELING WILLBURY’S” to do a single to be sold with profits going for the relief of the ice storm victims. I was happy to be part of it. It was to be Patrick Norman on guitars and vocals, Bourbon Gautier on drums and vocals, me on guitars and vocals and a Belgian bass player/singer named William Dunker. He was very well known in Belgium and was recently signed to LES DISQUES DOUBLE here in Quebec. I had to laugh because “super group” isn’t the word i would use to describe these guys. I had played on their albums and we were all friends and while we were all aware and respectful of each others talents and accomplishments, we were more friends than “super”! We didn’t know William at all but he fit right in and seemed to be cut from the same cloth.
Summer’s Here!
Summer’s here…I’m for that! Seems we were a little too slow delivering the single and it was sunny and warm by the time it was ready for sale. Oops. Ok, the record companies asked if we would do an entire album in the same format. So we all said “why not”. The record companies didn’t have a very big budget for the project as their initial intention was to only produce one single…and none of us could really spare the time to invest in a long recording process so we came up with an idea. With four lead singers who also played all the instruments for a complete band and not much time to do a record in, we decided we would write, record, and mix the entire album within a week. Unheard of in the industry around here…”hasn’t been done since the 60’s” we heard. So we did it anyway…each guy wrote three tunes and sang two of them himself and then divied up some lead vocals with another guy. The album was so much fun to do and the results were smashing. We just called our selves DUNKER GAUTIER NORMAN SMALLWOOD…long but precise.
Somebody say tour?
Once the album was done we all went on our merry ways back to our own bands and projects and left it with the record companies. We had no intention of touring. Then I got a call from Daniel Belanger the in-house booker at STAR asking me if the band would like to tour as he had some concert promoters expressing an interest. Well I wasn’t too keen but I said I’d call the guys. They all said “nope…uh uh….not interested”. I conveyed the message and off handedly asked how many shows could he get to which he replied “at least 50 by week’s end”. My eyebrows raised and I called the guys. Their eyebrows raised and with a quick discussion about what to call ourselves the newly formed FABULEUX ELEGANTS were ready to tour.
We toured like we recorded. Everything was efficient, light hearted and accompanied by some kind of joke. As a matter of fact, the band was so unpretentious and fun loving that one of the songs on the album was actually a rehearsal…a cover song featuring us singing in our three languages and originally destined to be erased…but when we listened to it we all laughed so hard that we decided it stays…and we wanted it to be FIRST!
We’re gonna need a bigger truck
We carried very little gear and it all fit in the back of my pickup truck and the guys would follow in a small van. We’d get laughed at by local crews when I would pull up to the concert hall loading docks with this little truck and we’d have to lift the gear UP to get it in the door! They laughed until they heard us play… then they laughed no more. The band was entertaining, outrageously funny and seriously great sounding. Every show was sold out. Pretty soon we were playing much bigger concert venues and we needed a bigger truck! In a short time we managed to win a FELIX for COUNTRY ALBUM OF THE YEAR and we toured Quebec and Belgium for a total of about 85 shows. We would finish shows with our sides hurting from laughing so much and planning our next shenanigans. We were friends and having fun like teenagers. About two thirds of the way through the touring William Dunker suffered a heart attack while in Belgium and was replaced by singer/bassist Pierre Bertrand formerly of the Quebecois group BEAU DOMMAGE. He was a very good fit and complimented the band in every way.