Biography

The New York contingent of the grand Francophone pop revitalization -- Les Sans Culottes, their offshoot Nous Non Plus, and, of course, scene godmother April March -- favor an overtly ironic, heavily kitschy updating of the great French pop music of the 1960s, as performed by Françoise Hardy, France Gall, and the like. Though Les Breastfeeders are occasionally lumped into that scene thanks to their monolingual Francophone lyrics and heavy '60s influences, they're considerably less cutesy. Perhaps it's because hailing from the genuinely bicultural city of Montreal, Quebec, Les Breastfeeders don't find French culture so enchantingly Other as American Francophiles do; and given a natural-born ease with the language (a legendarily difficult tongue to rock out in effectively), they have more attention to devote to the snappy garage rock bounce and bratty punk edge to their music. A six-piece band in casually rumpled mod-ish outfits, Les Breastfeeders formed around the nucleus of its two singers and guitarists, Luc Brien and Suzie McLelove, in December 1999. Over the course of the next several years, the pair added lead guitarist Sunny Duval, mono-named bassist Joe, and a full-time tambourine player, the skeletal and rather creepy looking Johnny Maldoror, along with a revolving cast of drummers. The band signed to the Blow the Fuse label and made their full length debut with 2004's Dejeuner Sur l'Herbe, named after the once-scandalous painting by Edouard Manet controversially re-enacted by Bow Wow Wow for the cover of 1982's Last of the Mohicans EP. With new drummer Fred Fortin joining in 2005, the group released their second album, Les Matins de Grand Soirs, in summer 2006. Though the band continued touring and playing shows, including a memorable gig at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, they didn't release another album until 2011's Dans la Gueule des Jours. ~ Stewart Mason, Rovi