Le Net Blues travelled "further on down the road" to join Blues lovers gathered in downtown Victoriaville for the Week-end en Blues, Thursday, July 25 to Sunday, July 28,2002. "We had over 6,000 people here yesterday (Friday)," said Yanik Gaudreau, festival organizer.
Some of Quebec's finest Blues performers, Victoriaville's own, Roxanne Genest, Carole Vincelette and The Chris Chown Band shared the bill with Montreal's JF & The Junkyard Dogs and Smokin' Groove and out-of-province guests, Jeff Healey and his Jazz Wizards and Fathead from Toronto and Glamour Puss from New Brunswick. Following the festival shows, all the performers, except Jeff Healey and his Jazz Wizards and Glamour Puss, played several more sets every evening in various local bars. Jonas Tomalty of Montreal along with other invited guest musicians also had a gig each night of the festival.
Out of all the performers, Le Net Blues took the opportunity to interview two of the scene's newest bands, Smokin' Groove and Frede Freedom & Triple Soul. Smokin' Groove, a new band formed only three months ago, pleased the Saturday night crowd with covers of our Blues favourites. But the group really shone when they played five original songs from their recently launched first CD, including the title cut, Evil is on my sid. Jean-Sebastien Chouinard (guitar and vocals), Fred Loebel (vocals), Julien Blais (drums), and Jean-Christophe Lebreux (bass) are from Rimouski and Steve Rousseau (harmonica) is from Montreal. As a performance finale, Jean-Sebastien delighted fans by throwing a handful of CDs into the crowd.
During a brief interview following the band's performance, Jean-Sebastien explained, "Our CD is a hand-made product. It was made in my basement using my father's recording equipment." Band member, Fred Loebel (vocals) also takes credit for writing nine of the 10 songs performed on their album.
Check out the weekly gig list found on Le Net Blues and make your way to see this exciting new band soon.
Always a highlight at Blues festivals is the band contest. Friday and Saturday afternoons, five bands, Meantown Blues Band (Chicoutimi), Les Chiens Bleus (Victo), Fabien Anderhub Blues Band (Victo) and Frede Freedom & Triple Soul (Montreal), strutted their stuff to appreciative fans and judges, Bruno Allard, Pierre Pothier and Jean-Pierre Lambert.
On Sunday night, Pierre Vernille, festival president, proudly announced the winning band, Frede Freedom & Triple Soul. Band members, Fréderic Laliberté (lead guitarist and vocals), Daniel Vezina (drums), Sylvain Laliberté (guitar) and Daniel Bernier (bass) won the honour of opening up the festival's final show, Jeff Healey's Jazz Wizards, $500. in prize money and 20 hours of recording time in a Victoriaville studio.
The band, together for a little more than six months, delivered up a super set of well-known and loved Blues covers, Manic Depression, Mary Had A Little Lamb, Couldn't Stand The Weather and Tightrope by Stevie Ray Vaughan; Born With A Broken Heart by Kenny Wayne Shepard, Have You Ever Loved A Woman by Eric Clapton and Hoochie Coochie Man by Jeff Healey.
After the show, Fréderic spoke proudly about their win. "We were very happy to win, especially the chance to open for Jeff Healey. We are planning to record three of my original songs with the studio time and use the demo to promote the band for next year's festival circuit," he said. They hope to have the demo CD ready for release this November.
Catch Frede Freedom & Triple Soul in Brossard at O'Blues Billard on September 20 and 21, at Café Campus' Petit Campus after show on October 30 and Bistro A Jojo on December 2, 3 and 4.
Copyright © Barbara Lavoie, 2002