By Jim Barber
Are you able to hear the chug, chug, chugging of the large iron wheels, the rumbling of the engine, the shuddering floor, the clackety-clack because it passes sooner and sooner over the tracks. A giant laborious rockin’ locomotive has set off from its dwelling station within the province of Quebec, intent on bringing its cargo of highly effective songs and face-melting dwell exhibits to audiences throughout Canada and past.
Atomik Practice brings a dose of modernity to the traditional rock, traditional metallic sounds of bands like AC/DC and Weapons ‘N Roses, with components of Avenged Sevenfold and the up to date metallic bands of the 21st century thrown in for good measure. The band has already issued its bombastic debut single, ‘Supersonik Speedway’ with a follow-up monitor, ‘Again on Earth’ coming quickly in anticipation of the launch of their self-titled inaugural album, set for each bodily and digital launch within the early autumn.
The gifted quartet got here collectively when a pair of musicians from the Quebec laborious rock/metallic scene, Junior Bourcier and Francois Babin, determined to collaborate with the intent of creating metallic music for the plenty – straight forward bangers, lyrics that related with the hearts and minds of everybody, and songs that may translate much more powerfully when carried out dwell.
“We had been each taking part in gigs across the space, and it was round 2015. Francois had his solo band as a result of he was already fairly well-known, and he was seeking to have one other band play with him on the invoice. I used to be a lead singer in one other band in addition to the lead guitarist and I wished my band to open for somebody that was recognized. We additionally occurred to have the identical bass participant, so we met and there was a spark proper there,” Bourcier mentioned from his dwelling in Victoriaville.
“So, we did that present after which after that we began doing a bunch of exhibits the place it was simply him and me – acoustic and electrical. Ultimately we integrated different musicians and one time we did a gig for a pal of ours on this small city up north in Quebec – truly we did two gigs in the identical day up there, with Alex Guilbault on drums and after that we thought, ‘man we gotta so one thing large.’ And that’s when Atomik Practice was born.”
Babin has the most important public profile of the 4 members of Atomik Practice. Again in 2003 he was a finalist on the favored Quebec expertise/singing present Star Academie and went on to grow to be a proficient and prodigiously busy touring musician all through Quebec and jap Canada, in addition to making some forays into the U.S. together with a present on the legendary Whiskey A Go Go in Hollywood.
“We turned buddies with the primary handshake, actually. I all the time dreamed of getting a frontman like Francois in my band. He has that frontman power and he’s good wanting and he strikes nicely onstage. And I cherished his voice. He sings slightly like Brian Johnson [AC/DC] typically. He sings together with his balls and he’s a gutsy man and that’s what I used to be searching for. Additionally, we have now a extremely, actually profound friendship collectively – we’re extra than simply bandmates and enterprise companions. We help one another and assist one another with something and every little thing,” he mentioned, including that his pal has performed and sung a whole lot of types over his almost 25 years within the music business, however that Babin’s coronary heart is rooted in pure rock and metallic.
“Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters is his greatest affect. However he additionally talks quite a bit about AC/DC like me. Onerous rock and metallic are a very powerful musical influences for him. Like Dave Grohl, Francois is an efficient chief and a enjoyable man to be round. We’re companions on this mission and have been because the starting. We’ve got the identical craziness but in addition the identical want to go very far with this band.”
The aforementioned Guilbault has been a drummer since his early groups, and in line with the bio on the band’s web site, was influenced by a mix of the soul and funk stylings of the Sixties and early Nineteen Seventies, but in addition by Led Zeppelin’s brutishly good John Bonham.
“Alex is wonderful, and he hits laborious and that’s one of many issues I really like about him. He’s obtained a extremely good driving beat and nice method – he’s like John Bonham slightly bit. The best way he joined the band is fairly cool. Francois went right into a music retailer and Alex was instructing within the basement and Francois heard him rehearsing earlier than his subsequent pupil and waited round to satisfy him afterwards, and that’s how he obtained into the band,” Bourcier mentioned.
“He’s a extremely very disciplined man. He performed hockey at a reasonably excessive stage, AAA when he was youthful and was superb, so he’s obtained that very same type of self-discipline and work ethic of a high athlete. And naturally, he’s sturdy too due to that, and has stamina. He being so disciplined helps us quite a bit as a result of Francois and me, we’re slightly bit much less disciplined at occasions. So, Alex introduced the thunder, the loudness that we had been searching for.”
Atomik Practice is a household affair too, not simply because Babin and Bourcier are as shut as brothers on and off the stage, however as a result of there’s truly a second Babin within the band – Francois’ son Nolan, who not solely performs bass with appropriate rumbling badassery, however contributes an incredible deal to the band’s visible picture and branding.
“He’s a extremely good artist in addition to a extremely good musician. He’s into arts full time. In the intervening time he’s engaged on his second comedian e book. And he did all of the logos and design and drawings for the album. And he’s carried out it because the starting; he did the primary Atomik Practice emblem with the prepare popping out of an enormous gap or tunnel there. So, we’re very lucky to have him with us. He’s a extremely good bass participant, has nice ears and nice instincts, even when he’s quite a bit youthful. He’s a reasonably first rate child and will get together with us and together with his dad, so it’s been a really, very cool trip thus far,” Bourcier mentioned.
The guitarist is the band’s main songwriter, however he works intently with vocalist Babin to make sure that the band’s vibe and tone is constant.
“I do it largely myself, however typically there are songs that I write the lyrics partially and Francois helps me as a result of we have now such an incredible chemistry. After I’m with that man, it’s all the time a whole lot of enjoyable, however I additionally know we have now the identical imaginative and prescient for the band. ‘By no means Once more’ was the primary music that we wrote collectively. I had a riff for the music, so I introduced it to him, and we had a few beers and began rocking out and the music got here quick. He was saying and singing a whole lot of issues into the microphone as I used to be taking part in alongside, attempting to get to the lyrics. At one level he mentioned, ‘by no means once more’ and it was like, ‘that’s it. That’s the refrain.’ In order that’s how that music labored out after which every little thing got here collectively after that,” he defined, including that many of the concepts come to him whereas he’s noodling on the guitar.
“Actually, it’s nearly all the time riffs first. Each time I’m taking part in the guitar I strive stuff. I’m all the time exploring and attempting totally different sorts of sounds. And when it sounds good, I preserve transforming it and repeating it and make it sound higher. And infrequently I’ll have photographs that come into my head once I play which helps outline the music, however typically I don’t have these photographs straight away. After I wrote ‘Again on Earth’ it was a Sunday morning. I used to be having my espresso sitting on the kitchen desk with my acoustic guitar. And there was a five-dollar invoice on the desk. I put it there once I emptied my pocket the night time earlier than. And in case you bear in mind what’s on the again of the brand new five-dollar invoice, it’s an astronaut. So, I used to be taking part in, and I seemed on the invoice and I noticed the astronaut and it gave me an immediate thought. I began writing stuff about an astronaut that’s misplaced in area, looking for his method again, and the way he by no means surrenders and by no means loses hope and all that stuff.”
Some concepts are extra private and nearer to the center than the sci-fi adventures of a misplaced astronaut, as evidenced by the autobiographical ‘Vacation spot.’
“It’s the primary music that I confirmed Francois after we began taking part in collectively. Vacation spot is just about slightly little bit of the story of my life. It’s about wanting and dealing to perform my dream of creating music as a dwelling and taking part in in all places in entrance of hundreds of individuals and provoking others to additionally accomplish their desires. It’s about taking your nutritional vitamins and doing all of your push-ups and getting up daily and giving all of it you’ve obtained till you get to the place you need to be. I need it to be one thing that when individuals are annoyed, they’ll go sit of their automotive and crank it to the very best stage. For me, I placed on [classic AC/DC banger] ‘For These About to Rock (We Salute You),” Bourcier defined, including that the lead-off single from the album, ‘Supersonik Speedway’ can be about going hell bent for leather-based in your desires.
“I first wrote the riff, then added the intro and I introduced this with a primary verse and a few type of a refrain to the blokes, however at first, they weren’t that ; they didn’t need to play it that a lot. I’ve laughed quite a bit about this as a result of I needed to come again to them a few occasions, and ultimately they actually began to dig it. And once I obtained to ending the lyrics, I used to be with Francois, and I already had a few phrases written. However for the refrain, we had been searching for one thing that was rhyming with the ‘A’ sound, and at one level he mentioned, ‘speedway.’ And the sunshine went on in my head, and shortly I had the remainder of the story of the ‘Supersonik Speedway.’ It’s about whenever you’re on track and whenever you’re selecting your self. It’s a music about attaining one thing, being self-accomplished and whenever you’re rolling down the freeway of life and issues are good, it turns into a supersonic speedway. The obstacles filter of your method, and you’ll go full tile. Whenever you get locked into your confidence and your perception in your self, you grow to be highly effective like a race automotive.”
Atomik Practice additionally selected to place a tough rock spin on a traditional Canadian music from the early Eighties – Purple Rider’s ‘Lunatic Fringe’ – an thought introduced to them by former Purple Rider band member, and the band’s producer, John Webster.
“We wished to do a canopy, as a result of there’s a whole lot of songs that we prefer to play dwell and John proposed ‘Lunatic Fringe’ as a result of he was the keyboard participant for Purple Rider when that music got here out and was an enormous hit,” Bourcier mentioned.
“And I’ve all the time cherished the music. I heard it quite a bit on CHOM FM, our large radio station in Montreal. So, when he proposed that we do it I mentioned to the blokes, ‘man, we gotta do that.’ In order that’s what we did, and it was a whole lot of enjoyable.”
Webster realized his commerce on the ft of two of Canada’s most prolific and profitable report producers; the late, nice Bruce Fairbairn, and Bob Rock. He’s had the possibility to work within the studio with the likes of Aerosmith, Motley Crue and Alice Cooper, amongst others, and introduced not solely his spectacular catalogue of hit albums, however a way of professionalism and encouragement for the members of Atomik Practice through the recording of the debut album.
“We had been very lucky to work with him. Apart from being an incredible producer and engineer, he’s a extremely, actually wonderful musician. He’s obtained an incredible imaginative and prescient for every mission and is a good chief within the studio. And it’s humorous as a result of folks had been telling us earlier than going into the studio to simply do every little thing John says, and it’ll prove wonderful. And we did, however he was actually good about listening to our concepts. He undoubtedly obtained the perfect out of us. I bear in mind after we listened to the stuff after he labored on it and in contrast it to what we had been doing earlier than I mentioned, ‘okay, now we’re getting someplace,’” Bourcier mentioned.
With the self-titled debut album set to come back out in late September or early October, plans are afoot to not solely tour extensively all through Quebec and the Maritimes, however get into Ontario and, hopefully, additional afield.
“We need to go in all places. We need to go to the States. We need to go in all places in Canada and Europe. South America, in fact, could be a great place for us to go. Hear, we’re prepared for this. We’ll go wherever we have to, to get our music on the market for folks to listen to. And I do know as soon as they see us dwell, they’ll grow to be followers. We’re already fairly well-known for our dwell present,” Bourcier mentioned.
“It’s been a very long time coming. All of us have day jobs that we need to stop. We’ve invested quite a bit on this mission – time, cash and power. We really feel very fortunate to be the place we’re at proper now, nevertheless it’s solely the start. Taking part in dwell everywhere in the world is what we need to do. We love taking part in dwell. We love having the reference to the group. Apart from the enjoyable we have now from writing the songs, taking part in for folks is what we love probably the most.”
For extra info on Atomik Practice, together with launch date for the album and upcoming exhibits, go to the band’s socials or www.atomiktrain.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and creator based mostly in Napanee, Ontario, Canada, who has been writing about music and musicians for greater than 30 years. Apart from his journalistic endeavors, he works as a communications and advertising and marketing specialist and is an avid volunteer in his group. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
