An Interview with Population II
Words by Sarah Morrison
Photo by Laurence De Mars
Back in the late fall of 2020, Population II (Montreal, QC-based trio) debuted their first full-length body of work “À la Ô Terre” via Castle Face Records. This blazing catastrophic swirl of psych swept us off our feet and gave us the energy we needed to end off a draining year. We chat to Sebastien (bass) to discuss first gatherings, language, working with Emmanuel Ethier, and joining the Castle Face Records roster.
When were you all first introduced to the psychedelia genre? Was this something you grew up listening to or was it something you came across while growing?
It was definitely through our parents, we were exposed to it when we were in our early teens but we weren’t aware it was a genre. I remember being fourteen, listening through the Hendrix records and I heard “If 6 Was 9” and just thought “What the hell is this?”
After your introduction to psychedelia, did you stray closer to other musicians and genres with similar stylistic elements? Or have you moved in and out of the idea of enjoying it?
It’s definitely a thing of hating your parent's music to have your own personality! My dad had a lot of records, he was a DJ in the 70s, and he’d always played stuff like Talk Talk. At first, I thought “What the hell is that crap?,” then later on I felt so bad after discovering how good it is!
Psychedelic music always felt like a mystery. There are just so many different ways to do it, there’s no formula.
What artists really stuck you in terms of inspiring you to jam and experiment as a group?
We all went to the same high school together and met through there. Seb and I bonded over the Hendrix records and Funkadelic. At the time I was also really into Punk and showed him Black Flag, Bad Brains - high energy stuff of the eighties. When we met Pierre, a band that made a huge impression on us was Hawkwind, as well as a lot of German bands from the 70s.
When did the group of you first meet and take that first step of writing music together?
Pierre-Luc, our singer/drummer of the band, was in a separate band prior to joining Population II. They opened up at a gig of ours and when we saw him play we were amazed at how talented he was. Our band at the time was strictly instrumental and we wanted to add vocals. We mixed what we were all working and it’s turned out amazing.
I know Pierre-Luc joined later and that’s when vocals were incorporated, were the vocals always something you wanted to consider adding, or did it happen by chance?
It just happened, Pierre is a very spontaneous person! We had the songs and showed him a handful of instrumental tracks - he did what he did best and gave his expression in the moment. We were really happy it felt organic rather than forced. It was him being himself which is the best part of making music.
Did you have any reservations about deciding to write the lyrics in French over English?
Similar to the last question, it all just happened. It wasn’t an option for us, we just wanted it to be authentic. We didn’t think much about language at first because we were just instrumental. When we decided to record a vocal track over a riff, it felt natural.
All of the songs were written prior to recording, how many years worth of martial art does the album consist of?
The material we had was around a year old. We met Pierre in 2017 and played four days a week, every week of the year. We spent as much time as possible together to create those songs. We loved the idea of a power trio and decided to keep it that way with a few additional add-ons. A lot of it happened on the spot, a lot of improvisation on the recording.
You decided to work with Emmanuel Ethier from Chocolat on this record. How did the experience of working with a producer change/shape the album?
No, never. It’s really a friend who worked with us on our first two EPs, who introduced us to Emmanuel as they had previously worked on albums and projects together. I reached out to Emmanuel and he was really interested in working with us. We explained our ideas of other instruments we planned to include on some of the tracks and he thought it all made sense. We love him a lot and owe him a lot! He had a supervisor's eye on us and got us to focus to get the album to come together.
Were there things you tried that you wouldn’t have without his involvement?
He showed us a couple of different new effects that we were aware of but never thought about including in our pallet. He was always recommending things and trying to open our eyes up a bit, we were stoked on everything!
Your debut album was released on Castle Face Records. When and how did John Dywer get involved?
It was all Emmanuel - he knew John from a past show. Chocolat opened for Oh Sees in 2017 and John was a big fan of the band. It’s funny, Emmanuel never kept in touch but reached out on our behalf to introduce us. An hour later John had emailed back while he was on tour and wanted to work together with us. Castle Face feels like home, the best place we could be!
With all that’s going on in the world, the label actually offered to release the album later. What made you decide to go through with the initial release date?
Dates were changing because of the pandemic and none of us were really sure what would happen. We had worked on a bunch of new material and didn’t want to shelve anything, and decided it made sense to move forward and put it out. It’s not a usual release, but it’s done really well. We’re stoked about future plans!
With touring and release parties off of the table, what have you done/are planning to do in order to celebrate the release?
It all moved so quickly but we decided to play a live-stream gig. It felt like a survival gig because we just weren’t sure what the options for live sets would be like in the future. We also participated in M pour Montreal and performed for l’Esco’s online festival L’Autel.