by RAF KATIGBAK

It was Halloween, 1999, when a mysterious, shadowy figure appeared on the Montreal music scene. Known simply as the Mole of Soul (but sometimes adopting the monikers Hans Molar, Los Moles, Dr. Hans Fast and El Molito), he’d hitchhiked from the West Coast (his records, of course, took the plane), eager to show Montrealers how to rock a party Victoria style. Soon after arriving, he began blowing away loft party attendees citywide with a series of high-profile gigs with his live tech-house trio Mole Pop ’n’ Dhula.

In April that year, the Mole got busy as a resident DJ at the then-recently-opened but soon-to-be-established-minimal-tech-house-Mecca known as Laïka on the Main. Now, three years later, with several 12-inch releases (on Itiswhatitis, Nextdoor, and Starbass) and live solo performances (including Mutek) under his belt, the Mole is also on the verge of surfacing as one of Montreal’s most promising underground minimal-techno producers. The Mirror recently went deep undercover to ask the Mole what exactly is in a name?

Mirror: Tell me the about the origins of “the Mole of Soul.”

The Mole of Soul: I was record shopping one day in a Seattle suburb and found this amazing seven-inch by this huge chinless guy with a pencil-thin moustache, who called himself Enrique, the Mole of Soul. Y’know when guys get so fat that they just sweat constantly - like it’s an insane effort just to be that fat - but at the same time, somehow they look so cool? That was him - sweaty but composed.

M: Aside from the obvious connotation of a burrowing insectivore, a mole could also mean a small congenital growth on the human skin, usually slightly raised and dark and sometimes hairy. Are you a congenital skin growth of soul?

TMOS: What I really like is when Chinese dudes let the hair on theirs grow forever. That takes a lot of guts. I would change my name to “the Mole of Soul With Three Six-Inch Hairs on it,” but it’s tough to fit all of that on a flyer.

M: What about a mole being a double agent who establishes a cover long before beginning espionage? Are you some kind of double agent of soul, or “soul spy” if you will?

TMOS: I don’t think so. Soul Spy sounds more like a bad acid jazz band.

M: Well then, let me ask you this - are you or have you ever been a member of an acid jazz band? You can plead the fifth on this one…

TMOS: God no, never. Though there were times with one band where I had to stop playing or walk off stage in protest. I figured if they were going to get all gay and play some lame “funky shit for the ladies,” I was going to have to attack them or leave. Since most of them were tougher than me, I just went to get more beer instead. There is nothing more unpredictable than a saxophone player with a bad soulpatch and a penchant for Jamiroquai. :

At the Micro_7 event, with Matthew Jonson, EGG,
Crack Haus, Mike Shannon and Champion at
le Zest on Saturday, March 7, 9pm, $10

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