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Madcaps at the Boot

Madcaps take their newest album on a western Canada tour
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Who: Madcaps

When: Monday, March 20

Where: Boot Pub

Out of Quebec’s otherwise pop-folk-driven music scene emerges Montreal-based rockers Madcaps, and as the name suggests the six-piece band seeks the less sane route, bringing their rock and roll west with a stop over Monday, March 20 at the Boot Pub.

"Western Canada has more rock than Quebec," said Frederic Pellerin of the Madcaps. "Quebec has a lot more folk, new traditional music, more ambient pop music – a bit more European than American. I’m not saying we are outcasts, but it’s not really the kind of music that gets played in Quebec that much."

Despite the odds, Madcaps have still rallied together a strong Quebecois fan base, one the group hopes to extend to Canada’s West Coast.

Contagious grooves fueled by brass and keyboards characterize Madcaps’ electric shows. Led by Pellerin, the band includes saxophonist Rene Domontigny, bassist Marie Nanne Arsenault, drummer Jerome Chenard and keyboardist Benjamin Bergeron.

Madcaps also venture outside of the rock genre, with blues, funk, soul, jazz and experimental influences working their way into the mix: listeners never get the same show twice.

"This cooking young touring band’s boiling enthusiasm for the genre and steaming hot repertoire is a treat to all fans that enjoy their blues straight from the oven and piping hot," wrote a Blues Scene critique.

The band’s newly-released album, High , rocks out Madcaps’ sound in a different direction from the band’s funkier and jazzier first album Whole World .

"I think the progression was natural," Pellerin explained. "We are still exploring. We wanted to make more straightforward songs. The last one was about groove, riffs and jazz improvisations. This one is more focused."

High

debuted last month, setting off the western-Canada tour.

"MuchMusic is playing our new video, No Way Out, right now," he said. "We see things are changing for us. It’s starting to happen. We’ve been working hard and things are beginning to pay off."

When not recording and touring, Pellerin keeps busy running his own record label, Voxtone Records, which produces French singers and bands.

Check out sound bites of Madcaps’ eclectic mix at www.themadcaps.com.