Biography
Fred Fortin first surfaced from Quebec’s underground scene in 1996. Since that time he has maintained a deliberate pace, issuing an album every couple of years while maintaining an unbroken schedule of live performances. Commercial radio and television offered scant airplay, yet his material energized the province’s rock underground, producing an upheaval whose scale recalls only the shift Robert Charlebois underwent in 1968 when the erstwhile folk singer embraced psychedelic rock.
Born May 5, 1971 in the rural community of Dolbeau, Fortin took up electric bass during adolescence and earned a music diploma from Cégep Saint-Laurent in 1991. He refined his songwriting approach by deliberately coarsening it, crafting lyrics that are raw yet unexpectedly lyrical and thereby aligning himself with iconoclasts such as Plume Latraverse and Richard Desjardins. His compositions move rapidly among idioms, fusing bluegrass with hardcore, psychedelic folk with acid rock, and both with grunge. After circulating his material for two years he secured a deal with Musi-Art and cut his first album, Joseph Antoine Frédéric Fortin Perron—the artist’s complete legal name—on which Dédé Fortin of Les Colocs, widely credited with discovering him, and avant-garde guitarist René Lussier both appeared as guests.
Broadcast outlets largely overlooked the record, but relentless touring gradually assembled a loyal following. Live, however, Fortin generated substantially greater volume and projected a markedly grittier persona than the studio version suggested. In 1998 he assembled the Melvins-inspired power trio Gros Mené alongside Les Colocs drummer Martin Bureau and guitarist Olivier Langevin, a frequent collaborator of Mara Tremblay. The group’s debut, Tue Ce Drum Pierre Bouchard, appeared in 1999 on the fledgling label La Tribu, whose roster soon included like-minded acts such as WD-40, Urbain Desbois and Martin Lapalme, thereby reshaping Montreal’s alternative-rock landscape. That garage-and-hardcore statement struck a confrontational note for listeners who had responded to the gentler tone of Fortin’s initial solo outing. His next solo album, Le Plancher des Vaches, returned in 2000 to a somewhat calmer yet still abrasive sound; it received the Mirror prize at the 2000 Festival d’Été de Québec and a MIMI award the following year.
Born May 5, 1971 in the rural community of Dolbeau, Fortin took up electric bass during adolescence and earned a music diploma from Cégep Saint-Laurent in 1991. He refined his songwriting approach by deliberately coarsening it, crafting lyrics that are raw yet unexpectedly lyrical and thereby aligning himself with iconoclasts such as Plume Latraverse and Richard Desjardins. His compositions move rapidly among idioms, fusing bluegrass with hardcore, psychedelic folk with acid rock, and both with grunge. After circulating his material for two years he secured a deal with Musi-Art and cut his first album, Joseph Antoine Frédéric Fortin Perron—the artist’s complete legal name—on which Dédé Fortin of Les Colocs, widely credited with discovering him, and avant-garde guitarist René Lussier both appeared as guests.
Broadcast outlets largely overlooked the record, but relentless touring gradually assembled a loyal following. Live, however, Fortin generated substantially greater volume and projected a markedly grittier persona than the studio version suggested. In 1998 he assembled the Melvins-inspired power trio Gros Mené alongside Les Colocs drummer Martin Bureau and guitarist Olivier Langevin, a frequent collaborator of Mara Tremblay. The group’s debut, Tue Ce Drum Pierre Bouchard, appeared in 1999 on the fledgling label La Tribu, whose roster soon included like-minded acts such as WD-40, Urbain Desbois and Martin Lapalme, thereby reshaping Montreal’s alternative-rock landscape. That garage-and-hardcore statement struck a confrontational note for listeners who had responded to the gentler tone of Fortin’s initial solo outing. His next solo album, Le Plancher des Vaches, returned in 2000 to a somewhat calmer yet still abrasive sound; it received the Mirror prize at the 2000 Festival d’Été de Québec and a MIMI award the following year.
Albums
