Existence

Existence emerged in Quebec as an ambitious progressive rock outfit when guitarist, vocalist, and keyboardist Alan Charles gathered musicians around the ambitious concept album he had been shaping for years in an earlier group. In 1991 he brought bassist Serge Delisle and the members of Delisle’s band into the project. Although Charles had long envisioned an anonymous ensemble identified solely by its ongoing work, the other musicians rejected that notion, so the ensemble adopted the working title of its current undertaking and became Existence. Lineup changes marked the following years, yet the musicians finished the remaining half of Charles’ narrative. Before long the band was presenting the complete ninety-minute concept on stage. The first portion appeared on disc in 1994 as the expansive Fragile Whisperings of Innocence. Despite sessions marked by repeated difficulties and a final mix that fell short of Charles’ ideal, college radio gave the album favorable airplay. A tour followed, but fatigue from the studio prompted both Delisle and drummer François Labelle to depart. The group carried on, filling the vacancies with Bruno Tessier and Alain Quesnel. In 1996 Existence dissolved amid diverging artistic goals. Charles nevertheless began composing fresh material and, joined by different players, issued the EP Another Fine Day Of… (1998) to test audience reaction. Strong radio interest led him to reassemble Existence as a collective of session musicians operating under his leadership; together they completed the band’s second album, Small People, Short Story, Little Crime (1999).