Dual to the death

>> Two tongues and two taskmasters
make the most of Montreal reggae
revisionists One Night Band

SINGLES GOING STEADY: One Night Band

by RUPERT BOTTENBERG

One night simply wasn’t enough for One Night Band, a motley batch of Montrealers whose classicist approach to Jamaican ska and reggae—they cut their teeth on covers of Toots & the Maytals and Ken Boothe—is leavened with nods to American soul (they also tackle “Rescue Me” by Fontella Bass) and country & western, and delivered in both official languages. With Stomp Records stalwart Mitch “King Kong” Girio and Lorraine Muller of Lo & the Magnetics splitting production tasks, the band’s sweet and solid live sound translated perfectly to their debut disc, Way Back Home. The Mirror reached singer/guitarist Alex Giguère on the road for a

quick chat.

Mirror: I understand that One Night Band was initially supposed to be just that—a one-night band.

Alex Giguère: Exactly. It was a bunch of friends who started a band to play a benefit concert for a friend of ours. We started playing reggae music, we liked it so much that we kept going, and now we’re here.

M: In a parking lot in New London, Connecticut!

AG: Exactly! (laughs) Actually not, but yes. We’re playing shows everywhere and touring a lot.

M: You guys have as good a grasp as anyone on the roots of reggae and the ska revival, yet you’re a very young band. What were you doing, musically, before One Night Band?

AG: We’re all from different backgrounds—I was playing in les Mod’s, which was a garage band. But we started listening to reggae music all together—we started with Bob Marley, like everyone, but we really wanted to push further into the roots of the music.

M: You worked with two producers, Mitch Girio and Lorraine Muller. How did that work, and what did each bring to the table?

AG: We met Lorraine at one of our shows—she didn’t know us, but I’d talked with her over MySpace. She liked the stuff and said she’d like to work with us, and came to a rehearsal, and very naturally, we started working together on the songs and lyrics. Mitch and Lorraine had worked together before, so they work well together. Mitch is a very good producer, he knows how to make ska and reggae music sound good, and Lorraine took care of the writing aspect.

With the Toasters and the Briggs at
Petit Campus tonight, Thursday,
May 10, 9 p.m., $12