Je me souviens

>> Local metal mavericks les Ékorchés
memorialize the victims of the
Polytechnique massacre

Lest we forget: les Ékorchés

by JOHNSON CUMMINS

On Dec. 6, 1989, the walls of Montreal’s École Polytechnique walls rang out with the rapid fire of Marc Lepine’s legally acquired semi-automatic rifle. Lepine, 25 years old, separated the men and the women and, as a skewed battle cry, told his victims he was “fighting feminism.” He killed 14 women in cold blood and wounded 14 others before turning his rifle on himself.

Last fall, local metal merchants les Ékorchés commemorated those innocent lives lost in their song “La Poly,” off the eponymous debut album, and more recently have released a video for the song. The band have also set up a show gathering donations of non-perishable food and a portion of the proceeds to a group still to be confirmed as of presstime.

“Like everybody, I was really shocked when it initially happened 18 years ago,” says singer Mark Vaillankourt. “But last summer, I read this 20-page article on one of the surviving witnesses to the tragedy. When I read about all the details of the scene, and how she has had to live with this memory, it really touched me. I know it’s painful, but I think it’s important that people don’t forget what happened that day.”

To the uninitiated, it may seem that les Ékorchés shroud themselves in darkness, and although there are dark lyrical themes, Vaillankourt insists that playing music with his longtime close friends is a rare joy. Vaillankourt cut his teeth with hardcore heavies B.A.R.F., and les Ékorchés also feature Voivod’s Michel “Away” Langevin, Ghoulunatics’ Pat Gordon and Maruka’s Philippe Mius d’Entremont.

Although their pedigree would point to an intense metal sound, this supergroup of sorts slow things down and aren’t afraid to musically sail out into uncharted waters—the highly unusual inclusion of d’Entremont’s classical violoncello as a central instrument is key to that.

“I actually look forward to practising all week because I still really feel like a teenager when I’m playing music,” says Vaillankourt. “After every show, I get neck aches now from headbanging, and after taking years off after B.A.R.F., I feel lucky to be able to make music again. We did start as kind of a side project at first but now it really does feel like a real band.”

With OK Volca and Mad King
Ludwig at Café Campus on
Saturday, Dec. 15, 9 p.m., $12