Though the name AXLAUSTADE evokes Guns N’ Roses’ riot-spurring 1992 concert at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, it was an entire era—the days of grunge and the indie-rock explosion—that inspired the instrumental trio of composer Jonathan Dauphinais (Ariane Moffatt, Milk & Bone), drummer Francis Mineau (Malajube, Pierre Lapointe), and singer/guitarist Steve Dumas to form. “What we wanted to retain from grunge was a certain simplicity,” Dauphinais tells Apple Music. “We wanted emotion, not a virtuoso project.” The group had even recruited legendary Nirvana and Jesus Lizard engineer Steve Albini and were supposed to head to his studio in Chicago before the pandemic disrupted their plans. “When the recording with Albini fell through, we weren’t sure what we’d do,” Dumas says. “We started doing narrative jams,” adds Dauphinais. “We’d tell stories about our youth, and we’d laugh like crazy. Steve [Dumas] then made videos to support the story and I used them as inspiration to add details, exactly as if I was creating music for the image.” The end result is a concept album about a young musician who attended that fateful gig—a nostalgic journey through a modern lens. Or, as the band calls it, “grunge of the future.” Here, they follow that character through their eponymous debut album, track by track “respiration” Steve Dumas: “It’s another great example of our creative process for this project. We already had the song, but the vocals came later. I pictured the song’s subject falling head over heels for the first time for this cool girl who, in my mind, looks like Nicole Kidman in BMX Bandits. The slightly angelic voices are like a musical representation of Nicole.” “axl au stade” SD: “I was too young to see Guns N’ Roses at the Stadium, but it was a dramatic event we all experienced through [TV channel] MusiquePlus. After the shock wave caused by the show, which shook the entire province, I ditched Guns even though I was a fan, and turned instead to Nirvana and the Pixies, which were more in keeping with my values. You can easily picture our character leaving his village in the Centre-du-Québec region to attend the show that would change his life.” Jonathan Dauphinais: “We already had the noisiest part at the end of the song, but when we added the story over it, it perfectly illustrated the time of the riot, so we put on another layer and played even louder.” “ouverture” SD: “This came from a jam we’d done without any preconceived ideas whatsoever. The title has two meanings: It’s the opening of our project, but later on we thought it would be the perfect track to open a show at a festival in broad daylight. As it turns out, it was a premonition!” JD: “I’ve always been fascinated by Santana’s performance when they play ‘Soul Sacrifice’ at Woodstock, and that’s the image that inspired us. The guys were supposed to perform at 2 o’clock in the morning, but they ended up being hustled onto the stage in the middle of the afternoon, and they were totally stoned. Everybody was in a trance; Carlos Santana was hallucinating that the neck of his guitar was a snake!” “oui no na” JD: “I like the fact that the title can be understood by those in the know, but that it can also stand alone. Our character meets the girl of his dreams and, of course for us, she has Winona Ryder’s features.” SD: “We all loved the heavy and loud aspect of ’90s music, but there was also a very gentle side to it. Siamese Dream is one of my favourite albums, and I wanted to evoke the Smashing Pumpkins’ quieter moments.” “visiblectronic” JD: “The title comes from the geolocation on my phone. When we recorded this track in the studio, my iPhone gave as the location the name of an electronics company, so we’d always say, ‘Let’s play that ectronic thing...’ Here, our character’s relationship with Winona isn’t going well, and things are also going badly with his band. All he wanted was to rock, and he’s the one who ends up having to drive the truck from one place to the next. Let’s just say he feels a little disillusioned.” “paruline” SD: “When looking for names, we wanted a little hats-off to the world of baseball. In fact, AXLAUSTADE was inspired almost as much by sport as by Guns N’ Roses. Several teams are named after birds, and we liked the sound of ‘paruline,’ which could have been the name of the band.” JD: “It’s a more introspective track, almost an interlude, which we did in one take. Our character has had kids with Winona. He’s questioning his life; he’s wondering where he’s headed. He’s now just a mere shadow of his former self.” Francis Mineau: “The very essence of the band lies in this song. When we’re jamming, every time Jonathan and I change rhythms, Steve is almost always one beat behind us. Ultimately, it’s become part of our musical identity.” “beethoven (seattle bongos)” SD: “In our story, at a time when our character’s not doing very well, he’s invited to play at a festival in Seattle, his dream!” FM: “Except it’s a misunderstanding: The promoter thought he’d booked another group and our band ends up playing at a dog show.” “tingwick” JD: “We’d been trying to play for some time, but we weren’t getting anywhere, and we were starting to get angry. Our engineer, Éric Lamothe, let the recording continue to roll and we started banging on our instruments for 10 minutes. Francis put together a sort of ‘best of’ with the best parts.” SD: “After their show in Seattle, they find themselves performing at the Rodéo Mécanic [motorcycle gathering] in Tingwick [Quebec]. I like the idea of the band being a bit drunk and deciding to give the audience a real earful with their heaviest tune.” “feu de joie” JD: “It’s a sort of conclusion. Our character returns to his village after being away for several years and gets back together with friends he had at the time. His life hasn’t been a total success, but he’s lived his dream to the fullest. He’s followed his heart.” SD: “In the melody, I can hear the influence of one of my favorite bands, the Pixies, and the bridge is an allusion to Elastica.” “nuages” JD: “An ending, yes, but an open ending. With the drums that kick in halfway through, you get the impression that our character is ready to take off again and do something else.”