Les Batinses
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Les Batinses

Québec, Quebec, Canada | MAJOR

Québec, Quebec, Canada | MAJOR
Band Folk Rock

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

Music

Press


"Folk Forum"

Formidable music making company from Quebec. « Is this still folk? » we heard someone sighing next to us. Yes, this is modern folk. Traditional texts provided with a modern arrangement. In doing this they draw from ska, rock, jazz but also traditional music. Rhythmically inimitable and unpredictable in their musical approach.
(Holland, august 21st 2005)
- Paul Van de Wel


"The Leader Post"

Les Batinses were absolutely insane. In their whirlwind set closer they managed to touch on nearly every type of music that people dance to, from traditional Quebec folk, to its Maritimes cousin, to mambo, ska and polka with touches of Led Zeppelin along the way.
(Regina, august 21st 2005)
- The Leader Post


"Voir Québec"

Examplary skilful and flawlessly sonorized(…), Les Batinses reveals themselves even more versatile. Festive and luxurious.
(Quebec City, november 3rd 2005)
- Patrick Ouellet


"La Presse"

These musicians, we have to claim it loud, have acquired an extraordinairy cohesion. In fact, Les Batinses reached maturity. Their basic aproach is folkoric but the result is world wide. Multicultural(...), their journey in the underground trad scene is over. We saw it yesterday, Les Batinses are ready for national consecration. Thousands of people craved on these musicians.
(Montreal, july 30th 2003)
- Alain Brunet


"La Presse"

From a creative point of view, Les Batinses wins hands down. Their third record L’Autre Monde,(...) makes a giant step for the music from here and for this talented formation. (...) Thirteen songs are enough for Les Batinses to weave a sound mosaïc that gives the idea of what Québec is in our dreams, without forgetting what lives in our memories.
(Montreal, july 29th 2003)
- Alexandre Vigneault


Discography

EAUX-DE-VIES (2005)
L’AUTRE MONDE (2002)
TRIPOTAGE (2002)
CHARIVARI (1997)
MINUIT TROIS (1996)

Photos

Bio

And so it began…
Back to where it all began…

Quebec City, 1994. Four Laval University students roamed bars and faculty parties with their tin whistles, mandolins, guitars and shoes… However, it was not until Yvon Legendre joined forces with Christophe Garenc, Francois Morrissette, Matheiu Girard and Todd Picard that the band became a serious project. Les Batinses started visiting Traditional Music festivals such as Memoires et Racines, Le Festival International des Arts et Traditions de Quebec (FIAT), La Grande Rencontre and La Grande Viree, and even hosted events here and there around La Belle Province.

There are memories of the hot nights at Le Café Theatre Les Fourberies…and it still remains a mystery how the floors of Le D’Auteuil survived the pounding of hundreds of feet to the music of Les Batinses. Today Le D’Auteuil remains closed because part of the foundation collapsed… It was during this period that the group made their first recording in response to an invitation to Europe. They brought the cheerily titled cassette ‘Minuit Trois’ to France, where to their immense surprise, they did the opening gig for the Dubliners in Plozevet, Bretagne! And there were more great things to come…

Summer 1997. Saint-Jean Baptiste National Day is a celebration you cannot miss. As Les Batinses prepares to hit the giant stage, Fred Lebrasseur dares to join in and kick it seriously. Christian Noel takes charge of the band, convincing them it is time to make a real record, and at this time Andree Bilodeau arrives to grace Les Batinses with her incredible voice and fiddling talents. Winter 1998 sees Les Batinses’ first independent release, an acoustic recording that breaks the traditional barriers of folklore. Charivari proves that their vision of music has widened considerably.

1998-1999. Les Batinses appear more and more around the province, now without Yvon. They continue to compose, traveling from Gaspesie to Lac Saint-Jean, and visiting the Laurentides. The work is taken more seriously and practice sessions are tighter, bringing the band to realize the pre-production of a future album.

2000. Breaking boundaries! A new baby named Tripotages came this year. Les Batinses are signed by Mille-Pattes Productions, a new company created by the one and only La Bottine Souriante! Pieces form this opus were performed over sixty times in Quebec, and the band flew to Winnipeg’s Festival du Voyageur, where they freaked out to see elementary school kids slamming around and trying to bodysurf… Months later, a calmer but drunker audience awaited them in Saint-Pierre on Miquelon’s French island, near Newfoundland.

2001 was a generous year. In January Les Batinses performs in Scotland at Glasgow’s famous Celtic Connections festival, one of the biggest celtic festivals in the world. This same year, Christophe leaves the band. Jocelyn Guilmette replaces him, trading uillian pipes for violin and saxophones. They then go back to France as special guests for Bordeaux’s Fete du Fleuve. Big success! Someone even told Todd that Johnny was shit compared to him. Hmm… They come home for the summer’s great festivals – Le Festival International D’Ete de Quebec and Les Francofolies de Montreal, and then it is back to Europe for that famous September of 2001… Playing in Spain for the first time, Les Batinses meet an agent that will organize many tours to come.

With the passing time, the music changes. Les Batinses research more traditional Quebecois songs and airs, and include folkloric pieces form other parts of the world. Continually inspired by their numerous musical influences and tastes, they spread even wider to obtain what some call ‘trashditional’ and ‘funkloric’ pieces.

In the air and on the road, 2002 is exigent. From the studio to tour, Les Batinses have the wind in their sails. They play about 75 concerts on two continents and four countries while preparing their third record. In January they have their second tour in Scotland and England. In February they are off to Florida, followed by Louisiana and then Texas in April. Then they make their first real tour of Spain, and arrive home just in time for another celebration of Quebec’s National Day. The summer is completed with a first visit to folk festivals in Ontario and British Columbia, one being the famous Vancouver Folk Festival. Fall follows with another tour in Spain and a return home to put the finishing touches on their third opus, L’Autre Monde. Launched in October, in receives dithyrambic reviews that propel the band to play over 15 shows in December.

Les Batinses keep on traveling around Quebec during 2003. The main event is the summer’s Sonic Weave Tour, organized by the Arts Council of Canada. Les Batinses traveled to Europe with five other Canadian formations, where each presented their works in front of German, Italian, Polish, Chzeck, and Austrian audiences. During these numerous trips, the sextet discovers that by communicating to the audienc