The name of the band elicits curiosity and intrigue. We decided to sit down with the boys from Chinatown and get some answers concerning their ambitious name and the success from the debut album, Cité d’or and Osheaga.
Le groupe Chinatown
“I admit it was bold of us to name the band Chinatown, too many people associate the name with the Roman Polanski movie or that place that exists in every city,” says the lead singer of Chinatown, Pierre-Alain Faucon. The guys admit that they like visiting Chinatown and in part it has inspired their band name through the spiritual theatre and different characters that you may encounter.
“We like the idea that Chinatown is sort of like an empty envelope where you can put your own significance in there, just like in every Chinatown, there are no two alike,” says Félix Dyotte, singer and lead guitarist of the band. The name has stuck in the minds of so many people in the media that according the band, half of their interviews in Montreal where held in Chinatown at the request of journalists.
In 2007, the band did something that seemed to go against all logic. Chinatown decided to put off a tour in Quebec and instead, they accepted a 12 show contract in China and Taiwan. According to the band members it was an opportunity that presented itself and they willingly accepted. “It was also an occasion for us to create a myth around the name of the band,” says Toby Cayouette, bassist for the band. From the moment they came back to Quebec soil, the band had established a marketing success story by being the francophone rock band which established a name in Asia before conquering la belle province.
L'album Cité D'or
Their debut album, Cité d’or, was released this summer and has been well received by critics and radio stations alike. The album is a nostalgic journey to the pop francophone sounds of the 1960`s. “We used specific instruments from the era on the album but we dubbed everything using today’s technology,” says Felix DyotteUsing real vintage instruments is right; the band used a real harpsichord in the album. Another old school technology the band used is a Fairchield Compressor to record the entire album. Pierre-Alain Faucon believes that using the legendary Fairchield Compressor gave the album an exciting clean sound that you can’t find in albums anymore.
The groovy pop single, Apprendre à danser, has been climbing the charts this summer but has also given the band a pop rock label which they want to stay away from. According to Félix Dyotte, Chinatown does not want to be associated as a pop band because too many people have an expectation that the band will sound like Justin Timberlake. “That’s not all who we are, we make rock, neo punk music,” says Pierre-Alain Faucon. The boys that form Chinatown have an appreciation for all kinds of music including: Enicio Morricone, Bernard Herrmann, Vladimir Cosma and Michael Jackson.
Not satisfied with composing music for the band itself, Pierre-Alain Faucon and Félix Dyotte also work with other artists on their albums. Most notably they helped their friends, The Stills, gain great success in the international markets with the song Retour A Vega, which Chinatown composed and was used in the motion pictureWicker Park.
Chinatown at Osheaga
Chinatown played the Osheaga festival on Saturday August 1st, 2009. They were among the few francophone acts at the festival which included a myriad of Anglophone acts. Chinatown was relegated to the smallest stage at the festival but that did not diminish the quality of their show. In fact it only made the show better. The boys gave a strong performance that left their hardcore fans happy and grabbed the attention of the casual spectator.
Osheaga is the first major festival that Chinatown is a part of and the boys are grateful to be on the bill. Their set was just before Coldplay and it even lapsed for about half and hour. According to Pierre-Alain Faucon, he’s not a fan but is interested in how the huge machine that is Coldplay puts on a show. “It’s interesting how it takes lots of people to put on a Coldplay show, we are just a small band at this point, I mean we still carry around our own instruments,” says Toby Cayouette. Félix Dyotte laughs at the last comment and says: “We are just happy to be playing our set before Coldplay goes on, because if we were playing afterwards, there would be very few people who would pay attention to us.”
Chinatown will be playing at the Francopholies festival on august 6th, 2009. You can also catch them on tour at the Festival de Musique Emergente en Abitibi-Témiscamingue on September the 2nd, 2009 and at the Cégep du Vieux-Montréal on November 24, 2009. Or hear them on http://www.myspace.com/chinatownfranco
Jose Espinoza - Hello, I am a journalist who specializes in sports, travel and the arts. I have done work in the boxing venues around Quebec and ...
