Octobre

With a first album released in 1973, Octobre (the name comes from the episode of terrorism Quebec lived through in October 1970) preceded by a few months the arrival of Beau Dommage and Harmonium on the Quebec music scene, becoming one of the first francophone groups of the province (with Offenbach) to leave its mark. More intellectual than any of these bands, they didn't reach the same popular success, but still remain an essential part of Quebec '70s rock. In 1969, singer/keyboardist Pierre Flynn, his cousin guitarist Jean Dorais, and his friend bassist Mario Légaré were teenagers playing songs by the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and Bob Dylan in an undocumented band called Gladstone, which lasted over a year. Légaré, Flynn, and local drummer Pierre Hébert formed Maelstrom (also undocumented) in 1971, a group focusing on francophone rock. In 1972, Dorais quit the group Jude 3 (a prototype of the prog rock outfit Pollen) to join them, and Octobre quickly records a demo tape, followed by a first LP, eponymous, released in June of the next year. The leader was 18 years old. Flynn's seductive voice, intense lyrics, and dashing-young-man-with-a-somber-air looks won them immediate media coverage. Their music was influenced by British progressive rock (they opened twice for King Crimson in 1973), but also by the French singer/songwriters, especially Jacques Brel. Unlike Harmonium and Beau Dommage, the most popular Quebec groups of the '70s, Octobre never used acoustic guitars; their sound was electric, rooted in city life. The song "La Maudite Machine" ("The Damn Machine") was quickly hailed as a rebellious anthem by a generation of Montrealers. From 1973 to 1976, the group played an increasing number of shows and released two other studio albums, Les Nouvelles Terres (1974)...