Looking to broaden their already burgeoning and enthusiastic audience, Quebec City-based Celtic rock band Bodh’aktan recently released their first album featuring English lyrics in the U.S.A., a couple of months after releasing the record, Ride Out the Storm, in Canada.
It’s a rollicking collection of Celtic-inspired rock, mixed with more traditional tunes. Original compositions sit perfectly together cheek by jowl with some familiar traditional tunes, to make for an energetic, dynamic and emotionally uplifting collection of 14 songs that are sure to elevate the seven-piece outfit to the kind of international status another Canadian Celtic Rock band achieved a couple of decades back – Great Big Sea.
Comprised of Alex Richard (lead vocals, guitar, bouzouki, whistles), Alain Barriault (electric guitar, vocals), Eric Tanguay (accordion, vocals), Marc Angers (violin, vocals), Eric Gousy (drums, vocals), Luc Bourgeois (bagpipes, whistles, electric guitar, vocals) and bassist/vocalist Benoit Claveau, Bodh’aktan formed earlier this decade, bringing together some of the top Quebecois musicians, all of whom share a passion for both original, punk and rock inspired music, as well as the traditional tunes that have permeated Quebec and eastern Canadian culture for centuries.
There is a simple reason why the members of Bodh’Aktan wanted to release an all-English album, and that’s because so much of the Celtic and rock music they fell in love with as young musicians was written and sung in English.
“Even in France, 99 per cent of the bands over there sing in English. We wanted to do a couple of albums in French first, but it’s always been the main idea to do English too. So, the reason why we did it was because we wanted to. And at the moment we were writing we had lots of songs that we had written that wouldn’t work that well in French. We wanted these songs to be done in English and we had some traditional songs like Black Velvet Band and Mike McGuire that we wanted to do. We just realized that we had enough songs, so it was time to do the English album,” said Richard.
“And most of the places we go outside of Quebec and France, they mainly speak English so when we were doing our shows they didn’t understand 80 per cent of the lyrics for the whole show. And you want everyone to get into the music, because Celtic music is so much fun. When you hear that music you just want to tap your feet and get a drink. And we have such fun playing the songs live, the audience gets into it too. They see us having fun and they want to be part of it.”
The process of composing the music didn’t change all that much with the language switch, although Richard said he reached out to a long-time former band member to help with the English lyrics on the original tunes.
“It’s not that we changed anything, we just let ourselves really dig deep into the influences, which are like Flogging Molly, The Pogues and a little bit of the Dropkick Murphys, but lots of other bands too. We’re all rockers and our bagpipe player he is in a stoner rock band too. We listen to some pretty hard music sometimes. When we do French albums, it’s a little more mainstream than the usual Celtic punk band. So, for this album these are rougher songs that we normally don’t do. In English we feel more free to do it. It’s easier. There’s songs on Ride Out the Storm that we couldn’t have written in French at all, but in English it came so naturally,” he said.
“Lyrics wise we worked with Jonathan Moorman who is our original fiddle player and he is such a great lyricist. So, I just called him with some ideas and it was done pretty quickly that way. We wrote all the lyrics for this album over a two-week period using Skype.”
The cover of Black Velvet Band was an inspired choice, not only because it is a rollicking, familiar song, first made internationally famous by the Irish Rovers, but the Bodh’aktan interpretation of it was so impressive it earned the approval of legendary musician Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains, who also agreed to perform on the track.
“When I was a kid, my father had this album of The Irish Rovers, The Unicorn. Black Velvet Band was on it and that was my father’s song. Every time he got a guitar in his hand, he would sing it. I am from the Isle de Madeleine over on the Atlantic Ocean and back in the 1970s there was no way to be in touch with any Irish music at all. But my father got this LP when he was studying in college in Sherbrooke and brought it back with him and he played it all the time and Black Velvet Band became known as Jean-Paul’s song. Any time he had his guitar he would play it. And it was also the song I sang at his funeral when he passed away,” Richard said.
“Since we started the band, I have wanted to do it, but it was never the right timing. But now with this English album we did it and oh my God Paddy Moloney did some pipes and some whistles on the song, so it’s pretty magical. We know people that work with him and we just sent the tracks and he liked the song a lot, so he just decided to do it. He is such a fine gentleman. I have always been a fan of The Chieftains and just to be in my kitchen speaking over the phone for a few minutes with Mr. Malone was surreal.”
All three of the band’s previous French albums were nominated for Quebec Rock Album of the Year, and the band is at near legendary status in their home province, with their authentic and innovative combination of Quebecois and Celtic music, combined with punk and rock influences.
Releasing an English-only album is always tinged with controversy in a the historically politically charged linguistic politics of La Belle Province, but Richard said there has been very little negativity and overwhelming adulation for the album from their Quebecoise fan base.
“Those who already like the band and know the band know that we will be back in French for the next album. They don’t mind. Of course, there’s always a couple of people saying it’s treason or whatever, but we wanted to do this for ourselves but also for fans all over the world. We often tour in the U.S. and Europe and people say that they songs are amazing, but they don’t understand a friggin’ word. So, we wanted to give them songs then can understand. In Quebec City, where we’re sort of based, most of the people just go with it. We might sing not too bad in English, but when we speak it’s obvious we’re Quebecois. It just flows out of us. It’s who we are,” he said.
Although only together for about eight years, Bodh’atkan have toured throughout North America and Europe, playing at some of the biggest rock and Celtic festivals, including even an appearance at the legendary Wacken Open Air heavy metal festival in Germany and Rockfest in Canada.
It’s also interesting to note that a Quebec-based Celtic rock band has had a standing gig for the past few years at the Epcot theme park at Walt Disney World in Orlando Florida, playing for thousands of tourists from all over the globe.
“We do two residences there a year, for three weeks at a time. It’s a way to get the English-speaking people from all over America and people from all over the world exposed to our music. We made contact with this guy who worked for Disney and he wanted to see us. He had seen videos of us and lived it and wanted to see us live. He got us to play a showcase in Las Vegas. We went in there and 15 minutes into the show he said he wanted to do something with us. There were talks back and forth for about three years and then we got this gig at Epcot playing in the Canadian pavilion.
“We do five days a week and we go out there and play our songs, but we also play some traditional songs from Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Quebec. We actually get the crowd to sing along with us to some traditional French songs. It’s a very fun gig to do, and we get to meet people from all over the world. We’re just having fun out there with them. So, these people take pictures and video and take them back home and share them and spread the word through social media.”
Much like another Quebec-based band, Montreal’s Grimskunk, Richard said he believes Bodh’aktan may eventually have both French and English songs on an album. Until then they will continue to please both their French speaking audience and their English-speaking fans with alternating albums in each language.
For more information on the band, on Ride Out the Storm and upcoming touring plans, visit www.bodh.ca.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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