by JOHNSON CUMMINS

Montreal’s François “Sunny” Duval is a man with many hats. There is of course the no-frills garage pop of his solo band (whose debut CD Achigan was released last year), but he’s also lent his six-string stylings to the garage stomp of les Breastfeeders, clocked in hours with St-Sipoplette, a country band that plays nothing but lumberjack and trucker songs, and most recently served as a stunt-double guitarist for les Cowboys Fringants. The Mirror tracked this busy beaver down on the phone after he’d finished an exhausting double rehearsal with two of his bands.

Mirror: Is it a hard balancing act, juggling three bands?

Sunny Duval: Not really. My country band only plays as a spur-of-the-moment thing, and the solo band and les Breastfeeders are really different, so it doesn’t get tiring. The real difference is, with my band, it really is my band, and with les Breastfeeders, I contribute on the music but I mainly just play guitar.

M: Did you feel a need to branch away from les Breastfeeders and do a solo project?

SD: Not really. I’ve had the solo band going since 1996. With this new record, I just had all of these songs, and with les Breastfeeders, I don’t write lyrics for the band, so I just had all of these songs with completed lyrics. I wanted to do something with them. Right now we are just working on the songs for the next les Breastfeeders record.

M: Why the decision to play all of the instruments yourself on the record?

SD: It gave me a sense of freedom because I didn’t have to answer to anybody other than myself. I took about a year to learn how to play drums. By doing everything yourself, it creates a challenge that I really enjoyed. It really makes you concentrate on what you want precisely on each instrument, to serve the song.

M: How was your temporary position in les Cowboys Fringants?

SD: It was really cool. We just got back from a tour of Europe and it went over really well. I was kind of brought along in case the guitarist [Jean-François Pauzé] wouldn’t last the whole tour, because he really suffers from homesickness. After two shows, he went home to Quebec and I had to finish the tour. They are going back in April and they want me to come along just in case he leaves again. It’s fun to play with them, but my main bands are the solo thing and les Breastfeeders.

M: A lot of francophone bands, like le Nombre, les Georges Leningrad and Malajube, are doing well outside of Quebec. Do you think it’s important for francophone bands to get out of the province?

SD: Definitely. Les Breastfeeders toured the States and did really well. When we would play places like New Jersey, people didn’t care what language we sang in. They’re just like people here, who just want to drink and dance. We have been getting e-mails from all over the States, so there’s definitely an audience out there, and a lot more francophone bands are touring outside of Quebec with success. Hopefully, that sends a message. I don’t know why people think it’s difficult for francophone bands to be touring worldwide. It’s a false notion. If you are a good band, people are going to like it, no matter what language you are singing.

With Jimi Hunt at le Divan Orange
on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 9:30 p.m., $6

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