Ending up the week with a session for La Sécurité, recorded live for Marc Riley at BBC 6 Music on August 25th of this year.
La Sécurité is a Canadian dance-punk group from Montreal, Quebec, whose debut album Stay Safe! was released in 2023.
The band, consisting of vocalist Éliane Viens-Synnott, guitarists Melissa Di Menna and Laurence-Anne Charest-Gagné, bassist Félix Bélisle (Choses Sauvages) and Kenny Smith, was launched in 2020 as a side project during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when the members could not play in their primary bands.
To get you up to speed, the French speaking Canadian service Radio-Canada Info’s Charles Rioux wrote a piece about them in 2022 which is illuminating:
The new Montreal band La Sécurité quietly emerged last spring with the release of two first songs, Try Again and Suspens . Over the months, the veil began to lift on this supergroup composed of Laurence-Anne, Félix Bélisle (singer of Choses Sauvages), Éliane Viens-Synnott, Melissa Di Menna and Kenny Smith.
The term supergroup , which refers to a group whose members have already achieved some notoriety either solo or with other groups, can conjure up the best and the worst. For every Cream or Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, there is a less successful union like Chickenfoot, a strange hard rock marriage between Sammy Hagar and Michael Anthony (both ex-Van Halen), guitarist Joe Satriani, and Chad Smith, drummer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Although the Mothland label describes its new recruit as a proverbial supergroup , Félix Bélisle doesn’t want to use this term to describe La Sécurité, especially since it’s a bit overused. A supergroup doesn’t exist here, in my opinion, because it’s so small, Quebec is a microcosm , explains Félix Bélisle, met on a rainy autumn day with his partner (in life and in the group) Éliane Viens-Synnott.
Although it comes as a breath of fresh air, La Sécurité didn’t invent the sound heard on its first two singles from scratch. The band’s influences are palpable, with its chiseled bass, staccato rhythm, and strobe patterns à la Devo, Gang of Four, and other bands for whom punk rhymes with dance.
With its 60% female lineup, the group also falls into the same category as female-led groups like ESG, Delta 5, Bikini Kill, and Le Tigre. “La Sécurité is primarily art punk, a kind of synth-driven punk that draws on all sorts of influences and lacks the pure punk structure ,” summarizes Félix Bélisle.
Although its members have mastered the stage, La Sécurité is still a young band, with only a few concerts under its belt, including a notable appearance at the Emerging Music Festival (FME) this summer. More songs are in the works, but we’ll have to wait.
We’ll start recording in December, so we’ll probably be able to release a song at the beginning of next summer , says Félix Bélisle. The band will record their album at Gamma Recording Studio with Samuel Gemme, who was at the consoles for Try Again and Suspens, with the help of Félix, who is very active in the studio and who will sign the album as producer.
Until then, La Sécurité will focus on its upcoming concerts, including a night that promises to be spicy on Friday, December 2 at the Montreal bar Le Ritz PDB, with the group PyPy, another Montreal supergroup that includes members of Duchess Says and Red Mass.
Okay, you’re all set – now dive in.
