A musical surprise is being released tomorrow, Friday September 16, 2022, on all digital platforms. Well-known Acadian artist, Chris Belliveau, from Memramcook, New Brunswick, releases the first radio single from an upcoming album. The song is entitled “Peux-tu ouère la vie s’rait d’même”. The artist created a caricature of the discussions that ordinary people can have about the meaning of life. As he explains, “I’m dealing with the extremes of the world: people who are born into wealth and privilege, versus people born into poverty. The extremes are so great that, as the chorus says, it’s screwing with my head. The song started out as a joke, but turned into something a little more serious,” he explains.
It is with Mike Trask, his long-time friend and accomplice, that Chris Belliveau composed the solid musical framework of this track with psychedelic rock sounds amplified by the signature of a vintage recording made at Studio MRC in Memramcook.
A first album to be released on October 28
This single is taken from Chris Belliveau’s debut album which will be released on October 28, 2022, on the Moncton based label Le Grenier musique. The album will be available in digital format only and available on all listening platforms worldwide.
This project began in 2018 when the artist, who takes part in many Acadian musical projects, felt some sort of a creative frustration always as a side man, he says. Since he was 15 years old, he has been hired as a side musician by several well-known artists, in house bands and on television shows. He has worked with a wide range of artists but has rarely been heavily involved in the song writing process. The songwriter in him felt the time was right to let his creativity flow in writing and composing his own songs. Accompanied by Mike Trask at MRC Studio, the two seasoned artists managed to work on this album whenever they had some free time in their studio between recording for other artists. This is how this album was born, completely francophone, with a blues rock pop sound and a unique identity.
The album features nostalgic flashes of the rock-folk sound of JJ Cale or Link Wray, the energy of Eagle of Death Metal, Gros Mené or Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire and local stories like Thomé Young or Menoncle Jason told in the style of Serge Gainsbourg. The originality of the opus lies in the fact that there are only two musicians on the recording who did their own recording: Chris Belliveau is on lead vocals, guitar, bass, and lap steel, while Mike Trask is on drums.
A discreet but familiar presence
Chris Belliveau has participated as a musician on recordings by artists such as Caroline Savoie, Les Hay Babies, Cédric Vieno, Dominique Dupuis, Kevin McIntyre, The Backyard Devils, Daniel Léger, Phil Flowers, Tradition, Réveil, Mélanie Morgan and Raphaël Butler, among others. His fine expertise allowed him to become director or co-director of albums such as Jacques Surette II (2020), Groundé by Daniel Léger (2018), and Dans son prime by Menoncle Jason (2017).
Member of the former bands The Backyard Devils and Izzy and the Prohibition, he is still regularly seen on stage accompanying artists. He was part of the show “L”Acadie un pays qui se raconte” which played over 80 times in France. He was also a musician on the famous Radio-Canada television show “Méchante soirée” for 6 years, where he accompanied a different artist each week. Chris Belliveau is a very talented artist who has accumulated a lot of experience on stage and in the studio, in different musical genres and in front of a large and varied audience. A true musical chameleon, he now asserts himself for the first time in a solo career.
The production of this album was made possible in part by the financial support of Music New Brunswick and Le Grenier Musique.
