I was invited to the record launch party for The Brooks band’s latest album, As Soon As I Can, at Montreal’s infamous Café Cleopatra. And the night was full of surprises. If you’re not familiar with Café Cleopatra, it’s one of the oldest buildings left in the red-light district of Montreal, and it is still a strip club. I thought I was at the wrong place because there were no signs outside indicating the Brooks would be performing. All I could see were photos of scantily clad strippers. I asked a random dude in front of the door if there would be a band performing tonight, and he had no clue. He asked me what I was looking for and I said I was there to do a job and I was supposed to meet a man… That’s when the night got really interesting. This conversation was in French, by the way, so he kept asking me, “Vous êtes danseuse?“ I couldn’t stop laughing and I’m happy to say that there is no ageism in the adult entertainment industry.
I entered the club and was led to a dressing room full of feathers and sparkles and God knows what and waited for Alexandre Lapointe (bassist and leader of the band). I was told I had 10 minutes because they were running late, so, no pressure. When he finally showed up, ripped and covered with tats and gave me that big warm grin, I felt his positive energy and I knew that it was gonna be all right.
Montreal Rocks: I saw your band perform actually when you did the closing show with Dominique Fils Aimé and Hanorah at the Montreal Jazz Festival. How was that?
Alexandre Lapointe: It was amazing actually. First, we were supposed to play before Macy Gray, but at one point, I think the week before, Alonso called me and said Macy can’t make it, so can you guys play on the big stage at the end of the festival? There was like no problem at all. We were there and ready to do the show since we already had some guests (Dominique and Hanorah).
MR Yeah, I’ve seen them both and they’re so talented. Is that the largest crowd you’ve ever played for?
AL Actually no. We had the chance to play a lot of shows for the Jazz Festival but we did some great amazing tours in Europe.
MR I find in Europe, especially France they’re more receptive to jazz and funk, more than Canada.
AL Yeah that’s true.
MR Yeah, I wonder why. What do you think?
AL I don’t know because even when I’m listening to all those live albums that I have back home like my album of Aretha Franklin or The Roots or Motown it’s always coming from France or Paris.
MR YEAH.
AL I don’t know but those guys really like Afro beats, soul music and jazz.
MR So, this is your 5th studio album. Are you going to tour this album?
AL Yeah, we’re gonna start the tour next May actually. After today we have the launch and we have a couple of gigs but we’re going to start touring in Canada next summer. We’re just working hard for the Europe (and Eastern Europe) tour.
MR OK and you’re going to do a Montreal Jazz Festival show this year too.
AL Yeah we’re really happy because =we put out the date of the launch which is today and three days after the show was sold out so the jazz festival said maybe we could do an indoor show as well as outside.
MR Is the venue decided?
AL For now it’s Club Soda.
MR I really like the title track to your new album As Soon As I Can. It reminds me of the song Vehicle. Has anyone else told you that?
AL No, I don’t know it.
MR It’s the horns. You have that sound that’s very universal and it’s timeless because it’s Funk and it’s Motown and it’s Jazz. So people don’t realize that these are brand new songs because they kind of sound so much like other older songs. Do people tell you that?
AL Yeah they do. The only thing that we’re trying hard is just to not sound like other bands. Like Curtis Mayfield back in the day, because the technology is somewhere else now, with mics, instruments…
MR Yeah, I was listening to one of the tracks and I was wondering if it was drum machine.
AL Miss Molly.
MR You’ve got a Funkadelic Parliament beatbox sound.
AL Yeah. Like Sly and the Family Stone.
(I wish the interview was filmed because when Alex smiles, he lights up the whole room.)
MR You brought a lot of musicians in to help you out on this album.
AL Right.
MR You have 4 original members. (Alex Lapointe/bass, Alan Prater vocals/trombone, Phillipe Look/guitar and Phillippe Beaudin/percussion). I thought that Alan was head of the band because he’s the singer. Does he write all the lyrics?
AL Yeah well actually Brooks is a special band because most of the riffs are coming from my side or Look. And
When we’re working really hard, sometimes Beaudin will jump into the session just to play some drums so when we arrived to work with Alan we have something to propose.
Like the music, the bone of the song is already there.
MR OK
AL The tonality, the tempo everything is there, it’s structured. And then Alan is going to start writing the lyrics. And sometimes Phillippe Look is going to jump into that part.
MR So the music comes before the lyrics. And then he just adds his own flavour. So you’re thinking like it’s all him because it’s his voice as well and sometimes he talks. I like Coming From The Real where he’s just talking at the end. Basically telling people to mind your own business. So he has free rain to talk about whatever he wants to talk about.
AL Yeah, yeah so Alan always wants to talk about women. So when we go back in time to Pain and Bliss there’s a song called Mama which is talking about moms: actually about his mom and moms in general and how much we respect woman.
MR Yeah, like Sister Sister, that’s a beautiful song. I love that song.
AL At first we were just listening to Alan talking about those great singers but we forgot to listen to the lyrics first, so we’re like wow why are you talking about all these women: then we read it.
MR Yeah it’s a nice homage to women singers and he’s listing Aretha Franklin, Sarah Vaughn and even Janis Joplin which I was surprised. You’re not really a rock-oriented band, but you kind of dip into it a little bit.
AL Yeah especially because we came from all over, like we’re all listening to a lot of genres of music. Like I’m coming from punk rock and rock music. And Alan’s coming from more Funk, soul, R&B. And Dan was part of the band and then he quit because with the COVID thing everything was so weird. Then he came back to play with us and he’s a jazz guy. So all those great structures blending, that’s coming from Dan and even if he’s not part of the band, part of the core he’s still always around and part of the recording. So since we’re all listening to different kinds of music I think that’s the blend that makes The Brooks music that we’re doing right now.
MR Yeah, do people compare you to The Roots?
AL Yeah The Roots is the closest comparison that we get.
MR I’ll be honest I was surprised I thought the majority of the band were going to be people of colour. And you’re like 3 white guys and one black guy and I was like ohh…because your sound is really very soulful.
AL Yeah it’s interesting because a lot of people think when they are thinking about that kind of music it’s basically played by people of colour.
MR Right.
AL When you’re listening to Motown yes you have James Jamerson as a bass player but then you have Bob Babbitt, a white Italian.
When you’re listening to Stax records like Booker T Jones, half the band was white. Same thing with Sly and the Family Stone. Or you have the opposite with James Brown which was I’m black and I’m proud. I think that James Brown was one of the only ones that was playing with only black people.
MR I guess yeah. I really like the new album so it was just released in October 4th. And I’m looking forward to seeing you perform tonight…
I wish I had more time, but the band was running late so I only had 10 minutes. The show was fantastic though. The vibe was high and as soon as the band started playing, it was a party. Alan strolled through the crowd, opening with Sista (the first track on the new album) and we were all on our feet dancing and cheering.
There was a lot of love in that room. I was sitting alone but then I noticed two really cool artists walk in. I hadn’t seen these guys in exactly 5 years when we recorded a song together. Singer/songwriter Gianni Bodo and Fred Bouchard, who just happened to be the producer on As Soon As I Can.
As I said, the night was full of fantastic surprises. The Brooks performed as though it was a private party with very close friends. There was pure joy and affection between the musicians, and we all felt in in the intimate club. I can’t wait to see them perform next summer during Jazz Fest.
Annette Aghazarian
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