Quebec’s Les Respectables is on the cusp of a major comeback with a brand new album slated to drop this fall after a five-year hiatus since the band’s last full-length recording.
To support the new album—which has yet to be named—the band is gearing up for a short western Canadian tour, including a stop in Jasper at the Royal Canadian Legion on Sept. 29.
Gordie Johnson, the Canadian frontman of reggae-rock band Big Sugar, helped produce what could be considered the band’s comeback record.
“It’s a nice blend of our English and French influences,” said Sébastien Plante, lead singer of the band.
“You can feel the influence of our culture and what we listened to when we were kids, but on the other hand, although it’s in French, you’ll recognize influences from the southern rock scene and the classic rock that we listen to.”
With the release of its new album, the band is hoping to return to its former glory.
The band hit a high-water mark in 2009 after the release of its highly successful album Sweet Mama, which blew up the English music charts.
The album included the single “Sugar”, which was a top 10 hit on classic rock stations across the country.
“Many people have been asking us what happened, because it was a great record and the single ‘Sugar’ that featured Gordie got a lot of air play in English Canada,” said Plante.
Despite the album’s success, the band didn’t tour with it because of a tumultuous period with its former record label.
Following the success of Sweet Mama, the band released a Francophone album called Guacamole in 2010, before things went from bad to worse with their record company.
“The album didn’t get a whole lot of promotion because of the atmosphere at the time between us and the record company, but we still put out a couple of singles,” said Plante, adding their song “Life c’t’une job” was one of the 10 most played francophone songs in Canada in 2011.
“Had it not been for this unfortunate series of events with our former record label and manager we would have been touring Canada and probably already had a nice thing going for ourselves in English Canada,” said Plante.
Instead the band decided to cut its ties with their record label and turned to Johnson who was an integral part of the band’s initial success in 2009.
Since then, Les Respectables has signed with Groupe Entourage, a label near Montreal.
“These guys really get us and they’re very dynamic and realistic at the same time,” said Plante.
“I think it’s going to be a great, powerful and constructive relationship.”
Prior to producing their newest album, the band released a single called “Cette Fille” or “This Girl” in 2014, which was well received by fans and will be on their forthcoming album.
In anticipation of the band’s return, Plante said he is looking forward to playing some new songs, as well as several songs from their hit album Sweet Mama.
“I’d like to invite people to come out to the show because they’re going to hear songs that they’ve heard over the past 15 or 20 years on the radio and we’re going to play a couple of new ones, which should be interesting, and we’re definitely going to take the opportunity to finally get to play some Sweet Mama songs,” said Plante.
“It’s definitely not over for The Respectables.”
The show's sponsors are Patrimoine canadien (Canadian Heritage), the Alberta Foundation for the Arts (AFA), the Jasper Sawridge Inn and Conference Centre and Jasper's ACFA.
