From backstage to stage | Bon Enfant: rock’n’roll pride

With Special requestits third album in five years, Bon Enfant asserts itself as one of the best groups in Quebec. It is also one of the most rock, each of its five members having the incandescence of a soloist. We followed them during their return to Montreal at Club Soda.

Pre-production

In the dressing room of the hall on Boulevard Saint-Laurent, the atmosphere is calm. The sound check ended earlier than expected, and there was a several-hour wait before going on stage at 9:30 p.m.

“We’re a little nervous,” admits the singer and leader of the group, Daphné Brissette. We haven’t perfected this show! It’s a pain in the ass, that’s for sure. »

“But we work well with pressure,” underlines keyboardist Mélissa Fortin.

“For me, the worst is over. We did several days of pre-production, and that’s really what stresses me out the most,” says Guillaume Chiasson, who forms the group’s creative duo with Daphné.

Guillaume, drummer Étienne Côté and bassist Alex Burger are sitting on the couch, but the bassist quickly leaves. He participated in the sound check, but he’s been feverish for a few days. We put him in a small room with a bed, so he could rest until the show. Also with them, the director of their album, Emmanuel Éthier, who accompanies them during the show.

Personal projects

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the release of their first album in 2019. What has changed: with two notable albums, the career of Étienne Côté, aka Lumière, has flourished. Alex Burger released a first album in 2021, for which he won the Félix for Country Album, and a second in 2024. Mélissa Fortin, for her part, launched an instrumental album this year. “There wasn’t that when we started,” emphasizes Daphné.

“As Bon Enfant is doing well, we have really tightened up our activities on our respective projects, and the group,” explains Étienne Côté.

In Quebec, musicians often do not have the choice of having several projects to earn a good living. Difficult, financially, group life? “Yes and no,” Daphne said. We’re doing really well. But we worked! I was in Canailles at 22, Guillaume also started very young. We’ve all been doing this for over 10 years. We hit our trail. We deserve it! »

The tour

The idea of ​​going back on the road, in Quebec, but also in Europe, delights them. “I like it, being in a van…” says Daphné. I love the people I work with, I love my band! »

The Quebec tour is starting to take shape. Bon Enfant will also spend three weeks in Europe during the winter, in France and Belgium, but also in non-French-speaking countries, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

“This is the third real time we’ve been going there,” Guillaume calculates. We have teams, turners. The only way to start something there is to go there repeatedly: it’s not just once in a while that you’re going to have a career. »

Group life

Before going to dinner together, a little souvenir photo in front of the Club Soda marquee with part of the team. Bon Enfant is a tight-knit group and its members are happy to see each other again… even if in reality, they haven’t really left each other. “We are great friends in life,” says Daphné.

It’s not always perfect and sometimes they argue very loudly. “There are a lot of extroverts in this band! », underlines Guillaume. We can say that it shows! “It can cause sparks, but that’s what makes us who we are as musicians,” believes Mélissa. We are strong personalities. » The keyboardist compares the group to a “big couple”. A troop? Everyone laughs. “No, but you understand! A relationship with two people is already complicated, so with five people… sometimes, for real, you’d need a psychologist on the spot! »

On tour, it’s the general atmosphere that matters most, emphasizes Daphné. “We have to keep the world together, in good spirits, we have to work for that. But we are starting to have experience: when our fuse is too short, everyone will do their own thing. »

And when they find themselves on stage, it’s always joyful. “We’re having fun!” specifies Étienne. A big part of our job is that. »

Irreplaceable

Return to the dressing room after supper. There are more and more people passing by: people from their record company, singer Paige Barlow and her musicians, who will be the opening act, technicians. Daphné, Mélissa and Étienne put on makeup and change, Alex Burger appears for a few moments… then disappears again. Normally he would be at home in bed, but he has no choice: the songs are so new that no one can replace him.

If Guillaume and Daphné are the creative core of Bon Enfant, the three other musicians are “100% necessary”, underlines the guitarist. Both in the form of the songs and on stage. “Sometimes we have to replace them, and even if they are really good musicians, it seems like it’s not them,” explains Daphné. We really are a band… I don’t know how else to say it! »

The show

Even though they seem calm, you can feel the energy changing as the hour approaches. For this launch show, Bon Enfant decided to sing all the songs from the new album.

“We embrace it, we want to play it, we love it. We’re not embarrassed to play it! », says Guillaume. “We are angry, and we have our heads held high,” adds Daphné.

Alex arrives, looking weak. We wonder how he will manage to last an hour and a half on stage. Proof that adrenaline has an effect: he will manage to put on the entire show with such energy that we saw nothing but fire.

In performance, Bon Enfant is even more rock, and each member shines. Many eyes are on Daphné, a singer with an explosive presence reminiscent of greats like Marjo and Diane Dufresne. But there are also Guillaume’s buzzing guitars, Étienne who is hypnotic on drums, Mélissa who is a spectacle in her own right on keyboards, and Alex’s solid bass lines which carry the group.

In front of a packed Club Soda, Bon Enfant first played all his new songs, which remains a gamble. The reception was warm, but it will take a little time before they enter people’s imagination.

The title piece Special request still gets the room up, but it’s in the home stretch, with the old ones like Magic, Today et Porcelainthat enthusiasm is felt. Bon Enfant delivers a full-throttle show: Daphné’s interventions are rare and short, and the songs follow one another.

All the band members exit the stage after briefly greeting the crowd. Proud, and heads held high.

Visit the group’s website