Les Trois Accords
* Genres: Rock
* Representative Albums: "Gros Mammouth Album Turba," "Grand Champion International de Course"
Biography
A Canadian rock band that got its start in 1997 when founding members Olivier Benoit and Simon Proulx got together, Les Trois Accords released their first album, Gros Mammouth Album in 2003. A deluxe edition of that album, Gros Mammouth Album Turbo hit shelves in 2004, which contained two bonus tracks not on the original release. In 2005, the band hit a high when they were an opening act for the Rolling Stones. Although membership has changed during their career, the leadership of Benoit has kept the band going, and in 2006, the band released their second successful album, Grand Champion International de Course. ~ Chris True, All Music Guide
Les Trois Accords is a rock/pop band from Drummondville, Quebec. The band launched its first album Gros Mammouth Album in 2003. Some of the notable songs, taken from that album, include "Hawa?enne", "Saskatchewan" and "Lucille". Along with their videos, these songs received heavy exposure in Quebec. In 2004, Gros Mammouth Album Turbo was released with two extra tracks, "Loin d'ici" and "Turbo sympathique". In 2006, they released their second album, entitled Grand Champion International de Course.
"Lucille" was included in an enhanced podcast ?pisode #1 - Rouyn-Noranda that was released by bandeapart.fm in 2005. In 2006, bandeapart.fm featured the band in a video podcast Les Trois Accords au camping - Baladovid?o.
The band's most prominent show to date was in September 2005, when they were an opening act for The Rolling Stones in Moncton, New Brunswick. The concert drew an estimated 85,000 spectators.
Originally formed in 1997 by Olivier Benoit and Simon Proulx, the band's current membership is:
* Olivier Benoit (composer, vocalist)
* Pierre-Luc Boisvert (bass; joined in 2001)
* Charles Dubreuil (drums and percussion; joined in 2001)
* Alexandre Parr (guitars, vocals; joined in 1999)
* Simon Proulx (vocalist, guitars)
Musical style of Les Trois Accords and Grand champion
The second album from Les Trois Accords was released September 5, 2006. This album did not break with the rock-pop style of Gros Mammouth and was more outrageous in its lyrics. The music video for Grand Champion can be viewed at Bande ? part. The second music video is "Tout nu sur la plage". The album rose to the top of the charts after its first week.
Many of their newer songs can be classified as "surr?aliste" because of the frequent presence of puns, wordplay, and unusual images. In concert, Les Trois Accords are known for doing burlesque covers of songs by Bryan Adams and Weezer.
They also like to embellish their concerts with little pieces of humour. The sense of humour is also evident in their music videos where the images being shown have nothing do to with the song. We see, for example, in the music video for "Saskatchewan", the band members practising karate moves for the whole video. The same goes for the music video for "Turbo sympathique" where the group becomes firemen and puts out a barn fire.
Genre classification
Free from logic, rationality, and politics, the lyrics of Les Trois Accords are a throwback to the punk qu?b?cois genre of the nineties (like Banlieue Rouge, BARF, Les Krostons, Les Unknownes).
Les Trois Accords can be classified along the same lines as French punk bands like B?rurier Noir, Parabellum, Les Cadavres or Wampas (all well known in Qu?bec), but with a more California-pop sound. We can compare them more to Ludwig von 88 because of their obnoxious interviews—most notably, their interviews for Tout le monde en parle, Bon baisers de France, and Musique Plus.
Discography and music videos
Demos and albums
Demos:
* Demo de la Commune (1999)
* Demo Live at Drummondville (2001)
* Demo Jaune-Brun (2002)
Official Discography:
* Gros Mammouth Album (2003)
* Gros Mammouth Album Turbo (2004) (updated version)
* Grand Champion International de Course (2006)
* En Beau Country (2008)
Music videos
* "Hawaiienne"
* "Loin d'ici"
* "Saskatchewan"
* "Turbo Sympathique"
* "Vraiment beau"
* "Grand champion"
* "Tout nu sur la plage"
* "Ton avion" (In the video the song is a symphonic cover of the original)
* "Youri"
* "Nicole"
