Montreal’s musical scene, and everything else…

I have met Teena Apeles yesterday, a freelance writer for Helio, a «new phone-friendly, pop culture webzine». Her assignement was to do an overview of the exciting things coming out of /going on in Montreal. Fortunately, she already met people in the know (Mutek and Elektra’s managers) on the subject, which helped me to release the stress that answering her questions got me into.

Fortunately, our conversation did not take the form of an interview; it can better be described as two persons talking about foreigner’s perception of Montreal’s artists. Of course, we have lots of festivals (Pop Montreal and Osheaga being held last month), which probably helps contributing a positive image of our musical scene. However, I must admit that successful bands more often described as being from Montreal (Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade and The Dears) don’t end up being shown as important here as they should be.

Anyway, even thought the conversation seemed pessimistic from time to time, I couldn’t really pretend that Montreal was living up to expectations. We concluded that Montreal, with all its festivals, seemed to be a good place for foreign bands to evolve, to progress and try new things…

What do you think?