L’esco inferno

The cozy confines of l’Escogriffe reignite
with rock ’n’ roll

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

It’s been a day since my fateful interview with my lovely and quite soused hostesses/bookers of l’Escogriffe, Karine Isabel and Sarah Bourgeois. In keeping with the rock ’n’ roll surroundings of the club at 4467 St-Denis, my interview subjects were well sloshed way before I showed up at our appointed interview time, and they insisted I play a game of catch-up as trays of vodka shots start appearing in rapid succession.

Isabel’s and Bourgeois’s advanced inebriation during our interview is well earned, as they certainly have reason to celebrate. After taking over the booking duties of the one-time jazz club, over the past year they’ve transformed it into one of Montreal’s most successful, unpretentious and fun rock ’n’ roll clubs. The tiny confines of “l’Esco,” with its legal capacity of 69, has been consistently packed to the gills, and provided a stage for some of Montreal’s best up-and-coming bands.

The two are also in the booking business for the right reason, as they prove to be very passionate about what they do. Isabel is a member of les Psycho Riders as well as Comme un Homme Libre, and has poured her way into the Montreal music scene since moving here from Quebec City, while Bourgeios cut her teeth booking underground punk bands in anarchist-friendly clubs for years.

If it wasn’t for their fateful meeting a little over a year ago, chances of this tiny club making it past its sixth anniversary last month would’ve been slim. “I don’t want to sound big-headed but we definitely helped save l’Escogriffe,” slurs Isabel. “It was a great jazz bar and well-respected jazz musicians would choose to play here and bring in a good amount of people. The problem was that jazz fans don’t really drink that much, and rock ’n’ roll fans usually like to party and tend to drink a lot. Unfortunately, that is how a bar makes money and survives. It looked like the club might have gone under, but when we started booking punk-rock and garage bands, and got more rock-oriented DJs in, it brought in a more drinking audience.”

Now that the club is all elbows on most nights, Isabel and Bourgeios have already made plans to expand on their success and have formed a production company, les Productions Débrochez-Vous!, so they can now book bands that are beyond the reaches of a small-capacity club. “We love booking bands here, and I think there really is something special happening when a band plays here, but we really need to start booking at other venues as well. L’Esco can be too small for the audiences of some of the bands we want to bring in. The club has really done well on word of mouth alone, and that really means a lot. I don’t think we can take all of the credit for the club doing well, because I really think there is something special about l’Escogriffe that just registers with people. It’s really a place people can come into and just relax.”