Artist / Band

Les Megatones

Origin Québec City, Québec, 🇨🇦

Websites

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Biography

The band originally consisted of: Ralph Angelillo: drums, percussion (1962-1965); Denis Champoux: guitar, vocals, compositions (1962-1965); Claude Patry: guitar, vocals (1962-1963); Jean Poiré: bass, saxophone (1962-1965). The group also counted in its ranks: Michel Roy: guitar (1963); Réjean Careau: drums (1964-65); Guy Martineau: piano, organ, bass (1964-65); Gilles Pouliot: bass (1965); Michel Verreault: saxophone, vocals (1964-65); Michel Patry: guitar, vocals (1965)

Among the many groups that Quebec experienced in the 1960s, the Mégatones remain, in more ways than one, the pioneer group. It was the Mégatones that brought the famous sound of echoing guitars from the dance hall to the recording studio. First radio stars (Le Cabaret des jeunes, at CHRC), they were baptized with this atomic name by the host Jacques Boulanger, impressed by the energy that the group released on stage.

Hired for a weekend at the Boîte aux chansons in Old Quebec, next to the famous La Porte St-Jean cabaret, they performed there from the end of July until Christmas 1962. In the meantime, Yvan Dufresne, the famous impresario of the Apex company noticed them and had them cut not a simple 45 rpm, as was the custom at the time, but an entire album filled with the rhythm and sound of youth. The compositions of the group Mégatwist, Diane, Monsieur Solitaire and especially Rideau S.V.P. rub shoulders with the famous Ebb Tide and the classic Nut Cracker (Casse-noisette).

The year 1963 saw them all over the Belle Province, on stage and on television screens. The slightly hasty recording of a second LP cannot repeat the initial feat but still gives some tunes to hum including the original Chalala and the cover of Bob Moore's hit, Mexico.

An epic period follows during which the group tries its luck across borders. From the summer of 1964 to the following February, the Mégatones criss-crossed several American states, determined to make their mark there. Here, a new album Vive les buddies and a Scopitone film by Guitar limbo allow fans to remember their favorite group. From this third cuvée come Altitude 3000 and Jeunesse jump. The group now has six musicians including two drummers: Réjean and Ralph, the latter adding more exotic percussion (congas) to their sound on occasion.

Unfortunately, on their return, they find that there has been a revolution in the house and that dozens of multicolored groups occupy the strategic positions of the charts. A final mutation allows them to survive for a while as the Ook-Piks. At the end of the decade, brief returns to the studio allowed them to record a few more titles, including their swan song, on texts by Denis: Monsieur Armstrong and Vivre intensement.
-Richard Baillargeon, Merit Records

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