Interview with Christian Mongrain Theriault – Singer/guitarist for Backstabber and Pete Devine of Pete’s Rock News and Views (https://petesrocknewsandviews.com)
PD: How would you describe yourself or your band as an artist?
CM: It took me a long time to consider myself an artist! At first, I considered myself a musician, even though I wrote and played my own creations. I started to consider myself as an artist when peers recognized me as one and heard people talking about how they were inspired by me.
PD: Can you tell us briefly about your background – i.e. where you’re from, how you came to make music, etc.
CM: It all started when I was 11 or 12 at a Christmas family reunion where my cousins would relay themselves on the guitar playing Megadeth and Metallica riffs. I then entered High school and joined the school band as trumpetist and percussionist. Our teacher back then was creative and wrote 3 songs for the school band. They weren’t as complex or complete as movie orchestras and stuff, but they were ours! That’s where I got the drive to write my own music and I got the chance to meet that teacher again years later to thank him for everything he did.
PD: Who and what inspires you to make music, both in terms of musical and other influences? What do you like to write about in your songs?
CM: One of the things I always say is that we never know where inspiration can come from. I try to keep an open mind. I don’t want my music to be a generic copy of the niche genre that I prefer, so I try to expand my musical horizons. The same goes for lyrical inspiration, I try as much as possible to step out of my comfort zone and seek discoveries that could trigger a spark!
PD: What are your aspirations as an artist?
CM: Of course, I wanted to tour the world as a teenager and be a rockstar! Now that I grew up a bit and got confronted with opportunities and sacrifices, my aspirations changed too. I now have a family to care for and didn’t get the chance to go big early in life, so I have a day job as well. My focus is more on continuing to create so I can have an outlet to express myself, have fun with my bandmates, help kids form new bands in the local scene and maybe leave a mark as an example of perseverance and dedication in my community.
PD: What is the proudest moment in your music career so far?
CM: There were a lot of small victories and delightful moments, whether it was working in the shadows that paid off or being in the spotlight! It’s hard to pick only one, but I’d say the FGMAT show in 2018 was quite a blast! FGMAT is a guitar-focused festival in our hometown and they’ve grown really big throughout the years, they have welcomed guitarists such as Tommy Emmanuel or Steve Vai! In 2018 they decided to have a metal night in participation with our local promoter. It ended up being a celebration of the local scene with 9 bands from the region, some actives as well as some reunions for the event. We had a sold-out show filled with nostalgia from the glory of the old days as well as hope for the future of the local scene!
PD: Promoting one’s music is such a challenge these days, especially with so many new
artists emerging from bedrooms in the day of the home studio. How is that going?
CM: To be fair, we have quite a huge support from our friends and the local scene, they are the grassroots of our fanbase. From there, it’s hard to get noticed because there are so many bands out there, and a lot of them are really good too! That’s when people like Jon Asher come into play. If you want to up your game a notch, you must work with professionals. You can’t rely on paid ads on social media either because most of it is junk views. You have to work with the people in the scene doing these essential jobs.
PD: And how do you book and promote your live shows and tours? Any performances coming up?
CM: Right now, we’re still handling booking on our own, but we’d love to find a booker with whom we could work! We have a couple shows coming up to promote the new EP, we’ll be in Quebec City and Montreal in May, then we’ll get back home for a local release in June, and we are working on a couple more dates during the summer and fall of 24.
PD: What do you think about downloading music online? What about streaming sites like Spotify?
CM: As an independent artist garnering only a small amount of plays online, what matters to us is to get out there, so we are all in favour of numerical “tape trading”. I also get why artists who rely only on music revenue would rather sell their music. The advent of streaming sites where you can buy and listen to music is a good achievement of course. The problem has more to do with how the revenues are shared among the beneficiaries.
PD: What song do you wish you’d written and why?
CM: That is a fun question! There are many ways to look at it. I could say I wish I had written yesterday so that I would be remembered. On a more personal level, I really enjoy listening to Katatonia and I wish I could write such amazing songs! To me they are flawless. Take a song like Lethean, off their 2012 album Dead End Kings. The lyrics are just amazing, the overall arrangements of the song and the guitar solo! There is not a single note I would do differently, it just sounds perfect to me
PD: Is there anything you don’t like about the music industry, which you would change if you could?
CM: Well, there are irritants, but to assume it has to change would probably be short-sighted or emotionally driven rather than a thoughtful assertion about the industry.
PD: So, what are you working on at the moment?
CM: We are currently working on a full-length, in fact, the skeleton is starting to look like a full-length, we only need to put some meat around these bones. We are approaching this in a different way than our previous releases so I’m eager to see where it goes! We have a lyrical theme to work around as well. I don’t want to get stuck with too many boundaries, so a small theme to lead the way is just enough so we don’t start from a blank.
PD: Where can we learn more about you and buy your music/merch online?
CM: We are quite active on Facebook if you want to have a chat, YouTube to watch our videos, and bandcamp if you want to get some merch! Our handle is Backstabbermetal on Meta and Bandcamp, and Backstabberqc on youtube.
Backstabber links:
Band/Artist location – Rouyn Noranda, Québec
Facebook – You Tube – Soundcloud – Bandcamp – Merch –
Instagram – Apple – Spotify – Deezer – Last Fm –
Check our page for Backstabber
