by JACK OATMON

“I would never be able to tell my co-workers what I do at night,” hollers Jonathan Maurice over the pulsing bass beats of the second bar our interview brought us to. By day he works in the stock market. By night, he’s one of the founding members, along with Zélia LeFebvre and Paul Morissette, of one of Montreal’s hottest emerging party promotion groups, A Fly Is on the Wall.

The name of the collective partly comes down to Maurice’s job, an ironic reference to the investment Web site flyonthewall.com. It’s also a description of their vision of “a black fly on a clean, white wall. You want to take that fly off the wall. The fly is the thing that shouldn’t be there. It’s the thing you don’t do,” says Maurice. Unlike many promoters in Montreal, the trio all have day jobs, which makes their lives as scene-savvy party hounds seem a bit of Fight Club-ish escapism. Hence the wrestling ring at many of their parties, I suppose.

I refer of course, to the infectiously popular iPod Battles that A Fly Is on the Wall single-handedly imported to Canada from its Parisian creators of TTC fame (one of whom, Teki Latex, appeared at the Pop Montreal edition of iPod Battle). Other than the Battles, however, A Fly is on the Wall has been responsible for numerous shows and DJ sets in Montreal and Quebec. They’ve also organized gigs with Off Festival in Quebec City in 2005, which featured members of Montreal’s electroclash A-list, including Lesbians on Ecstasy, We Are Wolves and Duchess Says.

Their goal is to break down the “separation in Montreal’s clubs. We want to merge all the scenes in the city—all the cliques, all the styles, all the artists,” says Maurice. Once these people get in the ring at a Fly party, “they’re obligated to talk to each other.”

What’s next from A Fly Is on the Wall? Stay tuned for a March 31 return of the Ed Bangers crew, with Justice, Sebastien, Medhi and Busy P at Club Soda, not to mention a few other surprises in the coming months. What’s more fly than A Fly Is on the Wall? “Dit-moi, hostie!”