Right before doors open, the punchy art punk song “Try Again” by Montreal rock band La Sécurité carries throughout Chicago’s Lincoln Hall. It’s odd that a concert venue would blast the band’s tracks over its loud speakers on the night they’re scheduled to perform, but it turns out this pristine version of the track is actually La Sécurité’s sound check. This talented five-piece is crunched up on a tiny stage blaring a noise that mirrors the studio sound of their underground darling of a record, 2023’s Stay Safe! When the doors of this legendary venue open tonight, the leather jacket wearing fan mob who paid good money to be here will earn a real treat. This is the first night of La Sécurité’s first official US tour.
“I requested plain old cheap American beer,” said La Sécurité’s singer, songwriter and synth player Éliane Viens-Synnott. She’s observing the can of Old Style in her hand. “Even back home we prefer to drink the cheap pilsners. You know we’ve played SXSW the last two years. We also did The New Colossus last year in New York. But those are all showcases, not tours. That was the only way we were able to come to America.” “It’s quite complicated with visas,” guitarist Melissa Di Menna chimed in. “We have to prove that we’re not getting paid to come to the States, which is very costly for us. But now we’re here and we’re excited.”
La Sécurité deserves that excited feeling, it’s a thrilling time for the act. They just announced this October that they’ve signed a record deal with Bella Union for releases outside of Canada and the US. The band is also maintaining a great relationship with their Canadian label Mothland. To mark this new chapter, the group released a loud, chimey new single called “Detour.”
“Our name means ‘security,’ said Viens-Synnott. We do this whole ‘safety first!’ thing as a joke. I thought it would be funny to go on the nose, you see, because Montreal is known for construction, with roads always being blocked and never-ending detours. But I also like to have multiple layers in our song’s messages and in the writing. Life has challenges. There are roadblocks in your life. It’s like ‘keep your eyes on the road.’ But I wanted it to be sort of cheesy, too. The song has a line in French, ‘essaie de pas stresser, passe l’autre côté quand c’est barré.’ It means, ‘try not to stress, just go around the roadblock.’ I also was listening to a psychedelic pop radio show, and that inspired the loudness in the sound and repeating words.”
Di Menna even felt inspired by Montreal’s neverending construction while designing La Sécurité’s tour merch (she’s multitalented. In addition to tour merch, she designed the Stay Safe! album cover).
“They’re based on road signs in Montreal,” Di Menna said. “The yellow shirt is based on a sign with a little child and says ‘watch out, slow down, this could be your kid!’ Also, we saw some fucking weird ass signs on the way here.”
Di Menna is referring to political ads and yard signs posted throughout America. Election Day is next week.
“Yeah…we’re playing in Washington just a few days before your election,” said Viens-Synnott. “But we’ll be back in Canada by the actual day.”
In a rapidly diversifying country like the US, children are showing up to Kindergarten classes knowing English or Spanish, sometimes other languages too. La Sécurité’ comes from a multicultural world. Fans can hear it in their songs. The band sings some tracks in English and others in French. As heard on the new single “Detour,” sometimes they sing in both.
“I’m fully bilingual,” said Di Menna. “I grew up francophone and anglophone. Lots of people did. I had Italian and French and then English. There were always lots of languages going around. Some acts from Quebec sing in English with the idea that they’ll have a bigger reach in the States. There are just as many people who are usually francophone, and speak more comfortably in French. Some will try to sing in English because they think it’s more international. That is a bit bizarre and a bit interesting.”
“It’s kind of hard to write in French because it’s poetic, said Viens-Synnott. It’s a Latin language. If you say ‘your eyes are cute and I want to kiss you,’ you can say that in English and it sounds cool. It sounds too proper and weird in French. That was a horrible example, please don’t use that (sorry Éliane)!”
Here’s a better example: on the screeching breakdown track “Dis-moi” from Stay Safe! Viens-Synnott uses a psychedelic recipe and repeats “dis-moi, dis-moi, dis-moi, dis-moi” over and over again. The phrase is French for “tell me.”
“When people come up to you and want to talk to you, they just kind of assume that you want to talk to them just because they want to talk to you,” said Viens-Synnott. It’s mostly people that are romantically interested in you, like in a bar when they go out in the evening. That unwanted conversation usually is someone asking you, ‘tell me about your life’ or ‘I have something for you.’ I don’t care. But sometimes a guy goes ‘tell me, tell me, tell me’ and’ I don’t feel like talking to them. That’s why I sound bratty in that song. Fuck off.”
It’s about showtime now. Leather jacket wearing fans are here to witness a milestone moment for La Sécurité. This show kicks off a week of performances supporting English indie rock band The Go Team!, who are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their influential self-titled record.
“I’m really here for them,” a concertgoer said. “I love so many Montreal bands,” replied another fan. “But La Sécurité is my favorite.”
When the five-piece act takes the stage, they are stuffed up on it. It’s a tiny little floor in a large room. There are four members lined up in the front, a billion mic stands and a lonely drummer in a corner. Obviously, what happened next was awesome.
Besides crazy cool lighting and their crystal clear sound, La Sécurité also knows how to dance. Di Menna jumps around the stage, walking from side to side. Viens-Synnott shakes a tambourine while slamming down psycho-repetition on her synthesizer. Bassist Félix Bélisle (who also performs with Montreal act Choses Sauvages) bops from side to side. Each member contributes to backing vocals.
The band captivated a packed room for more than 45 minutes, playing tracks from Stay Safe!, including “Waiting for Kenny,” which as Di Menna points out to the crowd, is about drummer Kenny Smith, who is apparently always late for rehearsal. The band also plays “Detour,” and closed their Chicago set with a surprise unreleased track called “Ketchup.”
There’s plenty in store for this booming Montreal rock band. Signing to Bella Union will help La Sécurité reach audiences outside of Canada. Continuing to tour around the world will bring their stage spirit to crowds everywhere. The act also confirmed this week that they’re returning to SXSW as an official artist for 2025.
There’s a clear path for La Sécurité to continuously find success. Even if there were a roadblock, they’d just find a way to go around it.
Remaining La Sécurité US tour dates w/ The Go! Team
Oct 30 Boston, MA @ The Sinclair
Nov 1 NYC, NY @ Irving Plaza
Nov 2 Philadelphia, PA @ The Foundry
Nov 3 Washington D.C. @ Black Cat
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