Liva, ten years already

by Sébastien Breton

What a pleasure it is to be writing about the ten-year anniversary of a band that is as much a part of my life as its members are. I had the chance to be a band member and to catch the first concert my friend Pier Carlo Liva gave for this new project he still didn’t know how to name not so long before. The adventure began ten years ago already and now comes the time to look back and unveil the salient events of ten wonderful years of music. 

Chapter 1

LIVA came about in 1997. Then band members Pier Carlo Liva (guitar and lead vocals), David Elias (saxophone), Sébastien Côté (drums), and Yves Labonté (bass) gave their first performance in March. The quartet opened for Sherbrooke based Minuit 34 for the launching of their album at Graffiti." That concert left a profound mark on me. Back then, LIVA delivered a highly experimental progressive rock in French. Music and lyrics were the work of Pier Carlo who found inspiration in everyday life and on things he’d seen on TV. These striking melodies and lyrics shall stay with me for a long time. Fatigué, Dans l’attente, Dalaï-lama are just a few of the titles, which spring spontaneously to mind.

Chapter 2

1998 was marked by the arrival of Catherine Elvira Chartier in the band. She gave her first performance with LIVA, singing Fatiguée at Théâtre du Parc Jacques-Cartier, in Sherbrooke.I remember telling myself, “I’d love to be part of this band but… What a challenge!!” Back in those days, François-Olivier Fortin was the saxophonist and Sébastien Côté was still banging the drums. And boy, could he bang! I’ve always admired this soulful musician whom, I believe, preferred jazz and Afro-Cuban rhythms to rock but knew how to deliver rock with impressive colour and ponderousness. This would however be Côté’s last performance with the band as he took off to knock about almost everywhere in the world as a musician on cruising ships. This is when I entered the stage. Interesting anecdote: the first two venues where LIVA performed – Graffiti and Théâtre du Parc Jacques-Cartier – went up in flames a few weeks following the shows. Graffiti still stands today but Théâtre du Parc Jacques-Cartier closed its doors. I remember discussing it with Pier Carlo who wondered, “Come on! Am I a bad luck charm?!”
           
I gave my first performance with LIVA in November 1998, as we were opening for Grabuge at Café du Palais in Sherbrooke. The band was then made of Pier Carlo Liva, Catherine Elvira Chartier, Jacques Laurin (bass), François-Olivier Fortin and me. We performed together a month later at Centre de détention de Sherbrooke. That was quite an experience… A high security event. If I recall it well, it took place around December 22nd.  We felt much appreciation from these men who were about to spend Christmas in jail and thought they would at least enjoy a nice evening. A positive energy emerged from that night. Sometimes I think about many of these men who are now out of jail and perhaps telling themselves that the worst thing they had to endure “inside” was a show from LIVA. On that occasion, LIVA was actually affectionately renamed “Pier Carlo and his gang” by event organizer Donald Thompson. What an unforgettable night!

Chapter 3

During 1999, Catherine Elvira took a whole new position in the band with the introduction of the electric viola. Songs like Hostias, Dies Irae, Tuba Mirum, and Kyrie were created over that period. And that’s when the band’s musical direction became clear. That’s also when Pier Carlo resolved to do it, once and for all: “the first album will be a Requiem”. To be followed in 2002...

In 2000, LIVA was treated to a great event – to be the opening act for the legendary band Voivod at Café du Palais, in Sherbrooke. That evening marked Jacques Laurin’s last performance with the band to pursue his university studies.

An EP was recorded before Jacques’ departure, including four pieces from the Requiem – Dies Irae, Tuba mirum, Kyrie, and Hostias. The EP was released at the public’s demand. More than 700 copies were sold, without any kind of promotion or the help of a wonderful tool called Internet. LIVA saw its full potential in light of the fans’ craze, and decided to go fishing for a record deal. Thinking about this EP evokes a few fine nights spent cutting and pasting album covers and stickers on CDs… Those were the first evenings spent with the band’s newest member Simon Roy-Boucher. Unforgettable! How did Simon end up with the band? I’m coming to it.

Pier called me up one day in the fall of 2000; “Forever Black (tribute to Black Sabbath) is performing tonight at Graff. Want to go?” Pier Carlo recognized the bassist as soon as the band hit the first notes. They had met a few days back in a store and Pier Carlo thought he was a nice guy. The bassist in question was good and had the proper “look”, but oh, lord! He played a four-string bass. Between Christmas and New Year, the infamous bassist visited the store where Pier Carlo worked. In the course of conversation, Pier Carlo found out the musician already owned a five-string bass. Simon thus became a band member in the winter of 2001. We were meeting up at his place a few weeks later, planning a rehearsal. The EP release converges with Simon’s arrival.

Simon gave his first show with LIVA in March 2001 as part of the La Relève Black Hard contest, at Graffiti, in Sherbrooke where the band took first place. The show is also linked to the addition of new pieces to our repertoire: Agnus Dei and Confutatis were inserted a while before but we performed Domine Jesu for the first time on stage for this contest.

Chapter 4

During the summer of 2001, Bande-à-Part’s Hughes Sweeney got interested in our EP and contacted us to see if we’d like to be the topic of a television report as part of Bande-à-Part. We spent the greater part of a Saturday chatting with him and his then girlfriend. It was an ideal day for a shoot in the open-air. We sat down to dinner afterwards and Hughes told us, “I’ve been looking for a band to perform with classical musicians and I believe I’ve just found it. Classical music played by LIVA and LIVA’s music played by classical musicians.” Since we had already thought of giving a special concert that would integrate a chamber music orchestra, we were in agreement. Hugues Sweeney gave us free hand and that was the only push Pier Carlo needed to carry through his project. The concert was to take place on March 8th, 2002 at la Maison de la culture Frontenac, in Montréal. Pier Carlo began working on arrangements in December 2001 and Catherine Elvira brought the score together. A five-voice chorus, four violins, three cellos and percussions, rendered the composition with great distinction. So everything went swimmingly when we all got together for the rehearsals. We had the chance to work with extremely talented musicians who got onboard at full speed and had just as much fun as we did putting on this show. On the programme:  an extract from Prokofiev’s Romeo & Juliet, Tanz der Ritter (Dance of the Knights), performed by LIVA and LIVA’s Requiem, accompanied by 13 chamber-music players. This project was a great success from beginning to end.  

To be continued…

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