Remembering... Krashtess
Because after all, what would electro be without industrial & EBM ?
Krashtess has long been a landmark in the Foufs' programming. Taking place on Thursday nights, and then on Wednesdays, it was the place to hang out if your heart was black, or if you liked EBM... and cute girls dressed in dark.
Krashtess has long been a landmark in the Foufs' programming. Taking place on Thursday nights, and then on Wednesdays, it was the place to hang out if your heart was black, or if you liked EBM... and cute girls dressed in dark.
On the second floor of Foufs, the terrasse was always packed with make-upped guys & girls in bustier, a bit like Saphir's second floor on Fridays, except that '97 was the right era to dress that way. Maybe not 2006 ? The pitchers weren't too expensive, and the music was nice : DJ Achtung, a.k.a. Sylvain, was controling the decks. The guy was an ex bouncer, no bullshit, and layed out the tracks with a hard hitting method that did not always involve mixing.
He was a pretty good booker; we hung out with the guys from Hate Dept, were able to drunkenly chat with Decoded Feedback, and witnessed industrial karaoke at its finest when Covenant were in town to "perform". We danced to the sound of sirens indeed ! You should have seen these black metal dudes with their painted faces... They thought that there was only one band named Covenant and didn't fact check before coming down from Rimouski or Sherbrooke, and they were pretty pissed to see some Dave Gahan clones onstage, let me tell you !
We barbecued with Spahn Ranch and I spent some colorful evenings with DJ Bent, a tattooed new yorker madman. Hittin' on big-breasted chicks was a way of life, and dancing next to goths - who still came even tho they didn't like industrial, and who always insisted on the fact that they "were not goth". We were able to see C-Tec, Cubanate, and a shitload of other great acts, most of the time without paying, because we were buddies with the DJ.
There were always intrigues going around, stolen girlfriends, and drunken stupor, but I have never seen any violence and I spent some solid time there. The dancefloor was a fine place to hang out but I was, back then, much more the type to sit down, drink pints, and try to get a glimpse of upskirt from the ladies.
I met lots of friends over there. Bruce Benson was a clubbing buddy, and Michel, from Mind Confusion, was fucking with our brains. Who still remembers Christian Pomerleau ? I saw him the other day at the PURE premiere, but he didn't recognise me, I think. Who remembers Xavier Caféïne having a few drinks with us every now and then ? Who remembers Marilou ? What about the people hangin' out on a mIRC chatroom called #industriel and having "get togethers" there from time to time ?
I realise that my memories from this night are rather personal, but you should all be concerned, because those were damn good times.
Where is Sylvain Saint-Jean these days ?! And Napoléon, where are you hiding ?!
He was a pretty good booker; we hung out with the guys from Hate Dept, were able to drunkenly chat with Decoded Feedback, and witnessed industrial karaoke at its finest when Covenant were in town to "perform". We danced to the sound of sirens indeed ! You should have seen these black metal dudes with their painted faces... They thought that there was only one band named Covenant and didn't fact check before coming down from Rimouski or Sherbrooke, and they were pretty pissed to see some Dave Gahan clones onstage, let me tell you !
We barbecued with Spahn Ranch and I spent some colorful evenings with DJ Bent, a tattooed new yorker madman. Hittin' on big-breasted chicks was a way of life, and dancing next to goths - who still came even tho they didn't like industrial, and who always insisted on the fact that they "were not goth". We were able to see C-Tec, Cubanate, and a shitload of other great acts, most of the time without paying, because we were buddies with the DJ.There were always intrigues going around, stolen girlfriends, and drunken stupor, but I have never seen any violence and I spent some solid time there. The dancefloor was a fine place to hang out but I was, back then, much more the type to sit down, drink pints, and try to get a glimpse of upskirt from the ladies.
I met lots of friends over there. Bruce Benson was a clubbing buddy, and Michel, from Mind Confusion, was fucking with our brains. Who still remembers Christian Pomerleau ? I saw him the other day at the PURE premiere, but he didn't recognise me, I think. Who remembers Xavier Caféïne having a few drinks with us every now and then ? Who remembers Marilou ? What about the people hangin' out on a mIRC chatroom called #industriel and having "get togethers" there from time to time ?
I realise that my memories from this night are rather personal, but you should all be concerned, because those were damn good times.
Where is Sylvain Saint-Jean these days ?! And Napoléon, where are you hiding ?!
posted by Clifford Brown at
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
4 Comments:
Ah... Krashtess, once known as "Les Mercredi Industriels"... I have the fondest recollections of that night, dating back to late '96 or early '97. Early on, I remember hearing guest "DJs" more or less every week at the beginning, including Christian from Insurgent, before Sylvain finally decided to take over the CD players.
What set Krashtess apart was that it was such a big night for such a small crowd, of which about 50% were scene regulars, who we also saw every week at Sphinx (or later at Ezra too). Foufs was a big club to have an Industrial night at, even back then, and thanks to the "goth boom" of the mid-'90s it worked. Thank you, Marilyn Manson (whom I met, along with his bandmates, at Foufs).
It always felt great coming into a room full of friends and acquaintances, with cheap beer (remember, they used to serve pitchers for $5 !), and good music (for the time). The crowd was young, and everybody knew everyone (and some were spending way to much time in chat rooms!), and sometimes that meant you got to know way too many people way too fast.
It wasn't all fun and games – a small scene meant you would inevitably end up pissing off some people, if you were involved at all with anything. Girls, gossip and the usual scene bullshit. I even got into an argument with Sylvain at some point and decided never to go back to Krashtess. We kind of squared things off over email, much later though, and I wasn't into industrial anymore at that point.
However you feel about it though the fact remains that Krashtess was truly a landmark night for Montréal's goth/industrial types and for Foufs too. As a matter of fact, it's probably one of their last good weeklies, along with Black Mondays. Both nights died a few years ago, burying the last of the '90s bar-scenesters with'em. It was a simpler time, a time when "goth", "industrial" and "metal" were still relevant. Bring on the flames, but you know it's the truth…
We always concluded our drunken Wednesday at Burger King across the street. I tried going there recently "for old times sakes" after coming out of Foufs on a Wednesday night and I nearly got sick because the food was so bad.
Things change, and if you don't change with them well… you're fucked!� It was fun while it lasted.
Hello to you, wherever you are: Baron, Catherine, Geneviève(s), Josiane, Marilou, Marc, Simon, Stéphan, Sylvain, Véro La Blonde, and everyone I might've forgotten that I've lost touch with.
Hemaesin
I don't know if these were the good ol' days but were sure fun.
we were a happy disfunctunal familly.
speaking of Naps, yesterday I was walking on mt-royal avenue and I saw him on the other sidewalk. been a long time I haven't talked with him. but the last time he mentioned he was still involved with michel's band.
I don't miss going out three times a week. hearing the same bullshit everytime. having this "groundhog day" feeling over and over again. seeing people, looking at you, wondering why you are still mixing colors when you are doing their laundry while they are looking for a detergent for blacker blacks...
but I do miss victorian corseterie, seeing this black balerina doing contorsions on Wumpscutt's Black Death. I do miss club Ezra (sometimes) the Studio, The Sphinx (which became The Sphinxter for me in the last year of it's second incarnation). and because I'm an old piece of shit, I miss, la Nausée (I remember their Ad in Voir sayin' " Les toilettes les plus sales en ville " which used to crack me up everytime), Alcatraz, I really miss club Mars, I miss all those alternative nights when we were just a bunch of 'alterns' who looked like they were mourning a dead pet.
One thing I don't miss is the the unsual gossips, coming from a small city I had my share of small communuties. but it was not our cup of tea, the people I was hanging with were pretty cool people and most of them remained the pearls they were the time the so called ' scene ' disintegrate itself. I recall Buddah sayin' to me when night he was really drunk (cé moé qui a amené l'industriel a montréal, bin cé moi qui va le faire mourrir). I tell you this guy had more in common than just the name of a prophet (I'm not talking about his size here, don't interpret too fast).
hanging in this so called " goth scene " or " altern scene " since the end of the 80's, I have to say I am grateful to Marilyn Manson for this "revival", I never been a fan of his... but I have to admit that, once he released his Antichrist Supershit album the goth scene became pretty active. we (the cockroaches) were calling them the Mansonites or Babygoths. Some of them just made a quick stoped I never talked with them, some others we were laughing at became our friends (mIRC and a few drinks helped a little in some cases).
Krashtess wasn't my favorite night in town, but I have to say in the begining it was pretty interesting (later on the music became a little more like in every other club in town but with some baritone monochromatic vocals). but I met there most of the people who became later on my best buddies.
Sure miss those days... but not we have to make place for the emo kids to express themselves, we're old man... we're old =P
This is Michel from Mind Confusion, reading this is kind of weird cause I was thinking about those days and where everybody had gone, what became of their life.
It sure brings back memories, those were good days, but at the time, my attitude was to negative and I did not enjoy them as much as I should of haved. Taking all the little drama stories to seriously. God knows there where a lot of them, just like in our families or at our jobs.
So much was going on, from around 1995 Krasstest to the Sphinx, the Studio, Saphir, and Le Passeport in 2003, where I pulled out of the club life due to health issues.
I sure miss those days. Glad to see they were not forgotten.
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