Halloween Treat #3: Montreal’s Condition

Here’s a band that is so fantastically creepy, they made one of my high school girlfriends cry tears of horror when I played it for her one dark and stormy night. Back to her safety net of Richard Marx, she went, but not before telling everyone I was a Satan worshipper.

The band in question was Condition, Montreal masters of ghoulish psychobilly, horror hops and creepy dance jives. Montreal in the 90s and especially the 80s was well known for its garage and psychobilly scenes, and for some reason Condition never really stood out, at least not to my knowledge, something I fail to understand given their amazing material and, of course, singer. To this day, I have rarely met anyone in Montreal who has heard of them. They recorded three albums throughout their career, all very hard to find, and the album featured here is “Swamp Walk”, their 3rd and last one.

There is no doubt that Julia Gilmore, lead singer, was the main force behind the band. Her voice was unique and her vocal techniques hinted towards Jazz more than pop. She moved to Montreal in the 80s from New Hampshire to study art at Concordia University, and today is an accomplished painter. Other band members were Slim Lanthier and Vinny Vezina.

I first saw Condition on television at the age of 15 or 16, when I lived with my parents in St-Clin-Clin des Moeux-Moeux, PQ. My very impressionable young self was suddenly glued to my television set as I saw a creepy but beautiful Julia Gilmore sing the dramatic and, let’s face it, scary as fuck Beat my Daddy to the Grave on primetime Quebec TV, a surreal moment if there ever was one. If I remember correctly, she wore a thorned vintage dress and had fake blood dripping from her mouth as she sang.

Condition were my first taste of Montreal’s bubbling underground scene and later when I got my first radio show on CISM, I played the living daylights out of this record (which I’m sure you can tell from the very used record cover in the above photo). The album even appealed to my mother, who enjoyed their covers of “Runaway” and “Caravan”. Despite the dark undertones, some of these tracks are simply gorgeous, such as Ghost Train or the title track Swamp Walk. The album was recorded at Beat Studio, in Berlin.

For those of you who would like to discover more forgotten Montréal/Québec underground music, I would urge you to visit my friend Sébastien’s wonderful blog “Patrimoine PQ” for his series on forgotten Québec underground music.

Happy Halloween, kiddies!

Condition – Beat my Daddy to the Grave
Condition – Ghost Train
Condition – Swamp Walk
Condition – Bop or Drop

Halloween treat #1: Wilfrid Du Pont de la Carpe

In an effort to be original, I decided to offer a few Halloween treats to the world, every day until this Saturday! Cue applause!

I love every freak singer that Halloween has ever produced! From John Zacherley to everyone’s hero Screaming Lord Sutch, it seems that putting on a cape and causing hilarious mayhem has become a lost art.

Our first weirdo du jour hails from France. I bet you didn’t know France had it’s very own caped freak, huh? Fear not, neither did anyone else!

My many efforts to find out who this Wilfrid Du Pont de la Carpe is have been fruitless. The only hint the record gives us is that both songs have been written and adapted by Frank Gérald, who famously wrote songs with Pierre Delanoë, including a lot of stuff from Les Parisiennes, Françoise Hardy (Le premier bonheur du jour) and countless French classics. Could it be that Wilfrid is Frank, and vice-versa? Is life really that simple?

Another enigma that I hope someone will be able to help with concerns the song I am featuring today: “L’arrière petit-fils de Frankenstein” (Frankenstein’s great grandson). The record suggests that this is a French adaptation. Does anyone know what the original is and who sang it? The single is from 1975.

As someone who grew up watching French TV and cartoons, Wilfrid’s voice sounds very familiar, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn he was a voice actor, like Monique Thubert.

Wilfrid’s ultimate tactics to scare the beejeezus out of you, besides the fact that he’s Frankenstein’s great grandson, are exagerated, outlandish uses of “Moooaaa-aaa-aaa-aaa” and “Eee-eee-haaa-aaaaaa”.

Sleep tight!

Wilfrid Du Pont de la Carpe – L’arrière petit-fils de Frankenstein

Shockingly…

This persists to be one of the most popular items on my blog.

Whatever you say, world!

All I want for X-Mas is ear plugs

Alright, so I know I told you I would have nothing but the best in child singing stars on this blog, with this new “Kiddie a Go-Go” theme of mine. However because this is a special day, I thought I would give you all a little something equally, um…”special”. Ok, not as special as my Victoire Scott Christmas offering from last year, but still, I hope some of you will uh…enjoy…

Adapted from German girl group Die Sweetles’ “Ich wünsch’ mir zum Geburtstag einen Beatle” and from Quebec singer Tonia’s French version “Pour mon anniversaire je voudrais un Beatle” (“For my birthday I would like a Beatle”), here is little Manon Labrie, a young school girl from Québec who for some unknown reason, got a record contract. Perhaps whoever signed her had a hearing problem.

Joyeux Noël!

Manon Labrie – Pour mon anniversaire je voudrais un Beatle

Shameless post

As the better half of one member of those crazy, silly, fun-loving audio collage polka circus freaks The Bran Flakes, I urge you to visit their new & improved web site! And while you are there give them a cyber high five as they have just been signed to Illegal Art records! The same label that brought you Girl Talk and Steinski! Oh, happy day! The Bran Flakes have been doing audio collage since 1992!

The web site is filled with audio goodness, videos (including some random ones found on Youtube) and photos from past shows. Don’t forget to visit SCRUMPDILLYISHUS LAND!

Have a listen to “Learning About Love” and “The Hello Show“, and if you’re crazy enough, “A Suzie Moppet Sing Time Sing-a-Long Song“.

New album out in early 2009!

À bientôt!