English transcript of the episode with Danny and Vincent Peake Groovy Aardvark : Eater's digest (Part 1)

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Please note : This is an English translation of an automated (yet perfected) AI transcript. It is provided for informational purposes only. While we did our best to capture the vibe, automated tools can sometimes twist spoken words—especially with our local Quebec slang! For official or accurate reference, please consult the original audio episode.

Hugo Lachance: We are here on April 14, 2026, broadcasting from the Salle des Tortues in Montreal, and today I'm welcoming a sibling duo, but truly not just any sibling duo. These are two brothers who've had us eating ants for more than 40 years, and we are here to celebrate their first album. I welcome Dany Peake and Vincent Peake to L'Album Podcast.

Danny Peake: Good evening.

Vincent Peake: Hello.

Hugo Lachance: And hello everyone. Before properly introducing my guests, I want to thank our new subscribers. For those who haven't done it yet, come join us on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook; we need that to build buzz for the podcast, it's important. So, it's a small gesture that takes two seconds. Go do it right now, we're waiting for you. Go subscribe, it's always appreciated.

Also, I want to thank Véro who is lending us the Salle des Tortues. If you need a fantastic location, incredible service, a beautiful green screen room to shoot music videos, comedy sketches for TV or for podcasts, contact Véro. Search on social media, you'll find the Salle des Tortues, a fully equipped room with incredible service. We thank Véro for lending us her room.

Also, this episode is sponsored by the Hopera microbrewery in Jonquière. Obviously, we have great connections with Hopera Jonquière. First of all, it's a restaurant-bar on Saint-Dominique Street, but they also opened a factory right in the heart of the industrial park in Jonquière. It's a place where they brew their beer, of course, but there's also a small pub that's really welcoming. You can also go see fermenters that have been christened under the names of WD-40, Anonymous, and Groovy. Thanks to Vlad and his team. Dany Peake and Vincent Peake, welcome to L'Album Podcast!

Danny Peake: Salut Hugo.

Vincent Peake: Thank you.

Hugo Lachance: Finally! We've been talking about this for a couple of years.

Vincent Peake: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Hugo Lachance: But I'm truly happy because Dany is here today.

Danny Peake: It won't just be Vincent doing the talking, but I'll try to jump in a couple of times, though it's not easy with him. He was already raring to go. I'm gonna leave plenty of space because Dany has a mind-blowing radio voice.

Danny Peake: Yeah, that's true, I'll admit.

Hugo Lachance: It really makes you want to buy headphones. We are here to talk about the 40th anniversary of the band's formation.

Vincent Peake: Exactly. Groovy had its very first jam at Émile's space, in the Centre-Sud, on November 10, 1986. We calculate that's where it all started.

Hugo Lachance: OK, perfect. So this year is your 40th anniversary.

Vincent Peake: Yes.

Hugo Lachance: Super. Before talking about that, I always ask all my guests the same questions just to put everyone on the same baseline. So we'll start with you, Dany. It'll probably be the same answer: Dany, where is a local boy like you from?

Danny Peake: We were born in Beloeil, at 261 Beloeil Street in Beloeil. The unique thing about that street was that it was very, very short and we were the only house on Beloeil Street.

Vincent Peake: On that specific section of Beloeil Street, because Beloeil Street continued a bit further down. But whatever, keep going because the civil engineer messed up. He offset it by about 50 meters. There are two small Beloeil streets and each one has an address.

Danny Peake: We grew up there, we were born there, we shared the same bedroom in bunk beds from age 0 to 17. I think I can say with certainty that not many people know my brother better than I do.

Vincent Peake: Plus, we went to boarding school together starting in our second year of high school.

Hugo Lachance: Oh yeah? Wow! That much! And what's your childhood album? The earliest one you can remember?

Danny Peake: Oh my god, I'm old, that's Vincent. We are 16 months apart.

Hugo Lachance: OK, 16 months, if I'm not mistaken.

Vincent Peake: June and November, we gained two months. It's true, you're right that I'm a tiny bit older by a few months.

Danny Peake: The earliest one I can remember, my childhood album, I'd say two come to mind. The first is a Christmas album, a Dr. Seuss album, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. That one was the story of the Grinch narrated on the album with the songs by Boris Karloff. The second one that comes to mind is a Quebec record by Jim and Bertrand titled La tête en gigue.

Vincent Peake: It's truly with that album that we discovered music and vocal harmonies. I remember when we took long road trips by car; my mother, Normande, would put that on, she had it on cassette. She'd put that in the car and we'd practice singing the harmonies. It's truly the earliest thing I can remember, that's where my love for music started.

Vincent and Danny Peake (in harmony): "J'ai la tête en gigue, le cœur en septembre, me voilà enfin au large, au radeau chaviré, la marée est haute, perdu dans ton regard." We still remember it.

Hugo Lachance: Wow! Cool. That's crazy. Moving on: your teenage album, the one that shaped you?

Danny Peake: My teenage album, it's probably the one on which I learned to play my first beat: it's AC/DC's Back in Black.

Hugo Lachance: Ah well, talk about a beat!

Danny Peake: It's the track on which I learned to do my first beat, it starts with the drums, if I remember correctly: it's "You Shook Me All Night Long." That one, it's the first time where there's a rhythm that's constantly there, with a kick sound and a snare sound. That's where I learned to break it down.

Hugo Lachance: The next question is for both of whom. What played in your parents' car or at home?

Vincent Peake: Apart from Jim and Bertrand, our parents didn't listen to that much music, both worked a lot. My dad tripped on Big Bands, he was heavily into jazz. But that was at home.

Danny Peake: I remember he bought us a CCR record, CCR's Greatest Hits. We were too young at the time to appreciate it, we appreciated the record a bit later on.

Vincent Peake: My dad had a Pontiac Parisienne, that's a car that can hold three people upfront. There was no cassette player, there was the radio with the push-buttons. But I remember we listened to Grease, the Grease soundtrack. It's really good. And Night Fever too. That was a huge record for the summer of '77. It was huge because Star Wars came out, Night Fever, Grease, then the year after, the Montreal Canadiens kept winning Stanley Cups. We were happy.

Hugo Lachance: It was soundtracks taking center stage. OK, cool. And then Danny, at what moment did you realize that music was gonna be fundamental for you?

Danny Peake: I'd say when I discovered metal. The first metal band was Iron Maiden, I think.

Vincent Peake: Well, metal strictly speaking, yes. Because before that, you had Van Halen, but Black Sabbath came later. It came a tiny bit later because we were subscribed to Columbia House. We got Judas Priest, Sin After Sin and Sad Wings of Destiny. The second Judas Priest was a huge influence for us.

Danny Peake: In fact, in our bedroom that we shared in our bunk beds, we had a sound system. Every night when going to bed, we'd put on a record.

Hugo Lachance: Oh yeah, cool?

Danny Peake: The one we put on the most often was Rush's 2112. Personally, I fell asleep to that every time because I visualized the story told on the first side: the guy who discovers the guitar, tunes it, then goes to present it to the priests, but they want nothing to do with music. They don't understand the magic he has in his hands. I drifted off into my sleep dreaming about that. Rush, 2112, that's a massive piece too.

Hugo Lachance: Your own childhood album, Vincent?

Vincent Peake: My mother told me this story. I must have been just starting to walk. My mother is sleeping and she hears the Beatles 45 rpm, "Come Together," with the spinning apple. I called it the spinning apple. I had managed to climb onto the ottoman, reach the system—those were big wooden stereo systems—then put the plastic adapter right in the middle of the 45 rpm to hear "Come Together." I found it magical. There was something in the sound that totally blew my mind, it didn't sound like the jazz we listened to more often or the radio. On the flip side, it was "Something," which was the second song on Abbey Road. I couldn't believe it was the same band making two tracks so brilliant and so different from one another. I became a fan of the Beatles before even knowing the Beatles. My mother gave us a live Beatles record, The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, from the '64 and '65 shows. She bought us that and for me, that's when I knew I wanted to make music in life. The live energy of that band and the fury of the girls, it was the ultimate apotheosis, the start of the fandom. After that, you just want to make music. I tripped on pop melodies and on Ringo Starr's powerful drumming; all of that put together was a trigger to want to pursue this path.

Hugo Lachance: Your first instrument?

Vincent Peake: My first instrument was the piano. Like Danny.

Hugo Lachance: There was a piano at home?

Vincent Peake: My mother had made a guest room with green and yellow wallpaper, it was very 60s and 70s, and she had painted the piano green so that it would match.

Danny Peake: It's still at our place, out of tune now.

Vincent Peake: She made us take piano lessons on Saturdays, but we were already boarders at that point. Spending our Saturday morning practicing to go to the lesson at 3 p.m. was hard because we heard all our friends playing outside during that time. They couldn't wait to see the Peake brothers arrive because we weren't there all week. Danny had an innate talent for the piano that I didn't have. Danny learned to read music quite quickly. Even though he was younger, I told myself my little brother was better than me.

Danny Peake: You had never told me that!

Vincent Peake: Personally, I cheated: I pretended to read the sheet music but I had learned it by heart. I wasn't interested in reading, but I was capable of playing it by heart. The teacher had said: "Your little one cheats, but he has an ear because he learned the tune by heart." She had recognized that I had memory and an ear. It was the piano, but Danny pursued it and he wrote compositions on the piano when he was like 6 years old. Those were beautiful tunes à la Jean-Michel Jarre with movements. I remember his little feet didn't even touch the ground in his pink and white overalls, and he was creating beautiful music. We were truly fascinated. Until our teens, we threw parties at home and inevitably, Danny would get at the piano, we'd all gather around him and he'd play his compositions.

Hugo Lachance: How did you fall into drums, Danny?

Danny Peake: In fact, the music school belonged to Madame Boisvert, her name was Ginette. She saw the talent in me because she had me play in the shopping mall. There was a piano there, in the middle of the mall, at the same spot where Santa Claus comes for Christmas. She asked me to play there; I was stressed out, man! I was young, I was 8 or 10 years old. I played big pieces like "La Galopade." During the week, I couldn't practice because we were boarders, so I practiced like an hour before going to the lesson.

Hugo Lachance: Music was coming out of your ears already.

Vincent Peake: In reaction to that, I asked to play guitar because I wanted to change instruments and develop my talent another way. I found the guitar fairly easy to learn. Danny always played guitar on his lap, a bit like slide; our grandfather played slide. I took guitar lessons much later in cégep, but I always accompanied myself on guitar and I learned all the tracks, I was capable of playing 2112 by heart. I practiced tremendously and I became good enough to do chord sequences and sing at the same time.

Hugo Lachance: And you switched to bass for what reason?

Vincent Peake: Ah that, it's because I got my thumb chopped up. I was cutting wood with my stepfather, I was 15. His axe caught a knot and hit my thumb. The tip fell off, I saw the bone. My mother had a stroke of genius and soaked me with a shot of gin. That’s the first time I drank hard liquor. We went to the hospital and they sewed my thumb back on. I was devastated because I was the guitar player. It took two years before I could press down a chord, I had no strength left in the thumb because it was cut halfway through. When Groovy arrived later, Stéphane Vigeant was already the guitarist and he went to get Marc-André Thibert from the group Bad Results. Marc-André had a head start on us because he was already doing shows at the Rising Sun back then. We were left with two guitarists and Marc-André had a Gibson SG converted into a bass. I told myself the four strings were the same as on a guitar. I had never touched a bass in my life, but we recruited Danny and we started Groovy like that.

Hugo Lachance: Exactly, we're gonna dive right into that. The next block is Groovy Aardvark Wikipedia: Fact-Checking. It's a big block because I gathered your discography in relation to what can be found on Wikipedia to see if the facts are accurate. Groovy Aardvark is an alternative rock group originally from Longueuil, Quebec. The group formed in 1986, split in 2005, and restarted in 2011.

Vincent Peake: Yes, that's correct. So far so good.

Hugo Lachance: The group, initially called Schizophrenic Muff Divers, was composed of five students from Cégep Édouard-Montpetit originally from Longueuil, Quebec. The members were Vincent and Dany Peake, Stéphane Vigeant, Éric Lajambe, and Marc-André Thibert. In 1987, the group changed its name to Groovy Aardvark. Why did you switch names?

Danny Peake: Because the singer left. The first name of the band was Éric Lajambe's idea. We had chosen him as singer because he had a stage presence; he was a good-looking guy, he had long hair, he worked out, he was built, and he made the perfect frontman.

Vincent Peake: Except that...

Danny Peake: Except that then, he started writing lyrics...

Hugo Lachance: [Laughs]

Danny Peake: Except we realized his lyrics didn't really fit with us.

Vincent Peake: He didn't know how to sing, he was atonal. He wasn't in time either. I remember, he was capable of doing a handstand on one hand and he did acrobatic moves to impress people. Éric Lajambe is a mathematician today. I haven't seen him since that time. He's the one who had found the name Schizophrenic Muff Divers. At the start, the group was called Schizophrenic Muff Divers, which translates crudely as "mangeur de plotte schizophrène" [schizophrenic pussy eater]! Apart from that, it wasn't our style. It’s true the lyrics were scatological as hell, that. Yeah, it was trashy.

Vincent Peake: Chapter 7: The Story of the Name Groovy Aardvark. When we were young, me and Dany, precisely before practicing piano, we were allowed to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings. In The Pink Panther, there was a segment we loved which was The Ant and the Aardvark.

Hugo Lachance: Pink Panther! Exactly.

Vincent Peake: It's the Pink Panther show. There was a segment where the ant is like the conformist guy who is constantly screaming and running away. It was John Byner doing the voice and we loved the accent, it's a play on words. We hooked onto that character. At the start, I wanted to call the band Aardvark Academy because with the two "A's," I figured we would always be at the top of the list.

Hugo Lachance: Yeah! Well yes, well yes.

Vincent Peake: Then Marc-André had "Groovy Petunias" in mind. I found that a bit hippie. So we mixed that together to make Groovy Aardvark. Writing it out on one line, it was fine, but writing "Groovy" on one side and "Aardvark" underneath, we immediately saw the two "O's" and the "V" make a face instantly. Simon Dupuis, who was our graphic designer and who made the logo, ran with that and created the logo the next day. OK. So we had a beautiful logo, a branding you could say was quite strong. We became Groovy Aardvark, even if it was unpronounceable for 98% of Quebecers! So we became "Groovy" pretty fast. The number of times that name was misspelled... we couldn't get a t-shirt right because it was wild, they never knew where to place the two "A's," they put "A's" everywhere.

Hugo Lachance: Yeah, because at the start it was "A Groovy Aardvark," did that come up often?

Vincent Peake: Yeah, but it's because of the "A," people got mixed up. But at the start, GrimSkunk was "The Grim Skuns." It became Groovy Aardvark through the association of Aardvark Academy and Groovy Petunias, right before releasing our first demo that we did at Studio Harmonie in Longueuil in July 1987.

Hugo Lachance: Wow.

Vincent Peake: We called ourselves "The New SMD" before that, because we were already quite known as SMD in our clique, our gang.

Hugo Lachance: Yeah.

Vincent Peake: So right there, I changed the name after eight months of us being together.

Hugo Lachance: You were already an old band! Though the members speak French natively, the major part of the songs on the album are in English. After this first release, the group toured for two months in Quebec.

Vincent Peake: Two months among so many others! In fact, we started organizing shows outside of Montreal. It had to be done because there was no path cleared at that time for this kind of music.

Hugo Lachance: OK.

Vincent Peake: So you had to find the people who were ready to take a risk on producing a show of this kind. It was in church basements, community halls. Obviously, it wasn't "18 and over" yet; we didn't play that much in bars because we were of age, but our audience wasn't really. We played as much as possible in all-ages venues, but we made it to Sept-Îles, we made it to Gatineau. We basically created a network.

Hugo Lachance: Yeah. Well, your generation, fundamentally, you did a lot of trailblazing. I was speaking about it with B.A.R.F. and many other groups from that era.

Danny Peake: Yes, it's because there were no social networks, the internet didn't exist.

Hugo Lachance: There was no touring circuit.

Vincent Peake: We didn't have phones... well, we had a phone at home obviously, but we found information wherever we could. And you call one guy, you call another: "Yes, I know a buddy here who can put on a show." In fact, it was often guys who already had a band and wanted to play themselves, so they invited us, they organized their own shows.

Danny Peake: We blazed the trail by doing shows rather than with an recording. At the start, that's clear.

Hugo Lachance: Chapter 8: The Kitsch'En Squatt Compilation and the Beginnings. Is that your first appearance?

Vincent Peake: No, that happened between the first and second demo, I think. Our first demo, One Fine Day, dates from 1987. Next, we were invited by Alain Bergeron from the Maison des jeunes de Laval to do a compilation called Kitsch'En Squatt, which became quite legendary over the years. And that's where you met Blacky from Voivod. Yeah, he's the one who organized it. He's the first member of Voivod we met. And he was dressed all in black, he was intimidating as hell! He spoke with his Kénogami accent. I think it was the first time I heard the Lac-Saint-Jean accent.

Hugo Lachance: Ah yeah? OK.

Vincent Peake: I've always loved the Lac accent, I've always loved the energy of the people in that corner. I think he's one of the first we met who had that energy. Things weren't going well within Voivod already back then. He was in the middle of making... after Nothingface... and he was complaining about the industry, he wasn't very positive, he didn't encourage us all that much.

Hugo Lachance: No? I think it sums it up, from the little I know of him.

Vincent Peake: We didn't call him "Blacky" for nothing, he was a black cloud! But he was super nice with us. We worked together to do the pre-production for Eater’s Digest in Eastman in 1993. We spent a month in a cottage with Jean-Yves Thériault refining that album.

Hugo Lachance: I bring it up because in '87, I was 12 years old. That's when, arriving in Saint-Hubert, I discovered Groovy Aardvark at the Maison des jeunes. You did a show, that's where I stumbled upon your demos. I had the first demo, the Kitsch'En Squatt compilation, then I got the CD of The Late Race to Zero. Specifically, the logo you have, I drew it so many times!

Vincent Peake: Yeah! I remember that show, we had played with Renaud's band, Jester. We didn't play often in Saint-Hubert. I remember also a show in '88 at the École nationale d’aérotechnique, on the airport base. That’s the time Stéphane Vigeant never woke up and we did the show as a trio! Wow!

Danny Peake: He was sleeping at his place.

Vincent Peake: That’s the only time one of our members didn't show up. It was a noon show, he never got up.

Hugo Lachance: We almost played together because when I was in Saint-Hubert, I had my first band, Critical Mass. We had organized a show in Longueuil. I remember the poster made on the computer, very basic. Groovy was on it, but ultimately you guys weren't there for X reason. We didn't play together that time, but I remember our name was on the poster. I played with Pascal Vaillancourt, it was my first kid band. We were young.

Vincent Peake: We started later than that. Personally I was 19, Danny was 18.

Danny Peake: We started at 15 or 16 with bands. Personally I was with Hellraid, you were with Ablaze.

Hugo Lachance: That goes back a long way! I was in my second year of high school at André-Laurendeau and I didn't know many people when Pascal came to get me because I arrived from the Saguenay and I had long hair!

Vincent Peake: Hair counted for a lot back then! Pascal became a regular at our Friday night jams above the Delight Donuts, on Chambly Road in Longueuil.

Hugo Lachance: Ah yes! Yeah, it’s a beautiful era.

Vincent Peake: That's where you met your friends of today. Our golden years.

Hugo Lachance: We continue. Chapter 9: Vacuum. In 1996, the group published its second studio album. The group found success thanks to this album which notably contains the radio hit "Dérangeant," the cover of "Le petit bonheur" by Félix Leclerc, as well as "Boisson d’avril" with Yves Lambert and Michel Bordeleau from La Bottine Souriante. Was that your peak career-wise, without wanting to make bad puns?

Vincent Peake: Yeah, we hear it often! You have to know that Martin Dupuis, who replaced Stéphane Vigeant, arrived with the idea of doing a call-and-response song. I was the first one who had to be convinced because I wasn't sure at all it was a good idea. I told myself we weren't heading in that direction, but he arrived with the riff. It was like Iron Maiden! His riff was strong. Martin is the one who had the idea to invite Yves and Michel. I told him: "Good luck, it's unreachable to go get the guy from La Bottine, it's too big!" Then 300 dollars later, Yves Lambert and Michel Bordeleau were at the Plante Verte studio cutting "Boisson d’avril" with us. Three hours later, it was done!

Hugo Lachance: Wow!

Vincent Peake: Martin was right, his vision, he held onto it from one end to the other. I no longer needed to be convinced. The track was well built step by step. It played at the Bleu est Noir club, people danced to it, it was hot to see!

Hugo Lachance: Your voice is so good on that track!

Vincent Peake: Thanks! The mix with Yves is trippy, it creates a dynamic. It's a beautiful riff, even today wedding singers do back-playing trying to play it with the guitar harmonies. It was perfect for Groovy, we were always huge fans of Maiden. Martin, who was a couple of years younger than us, made a remarkable entrance.

Hugo Lachance: And "Dérangeant" passing on the radio, what a surprise!

Danny Peake: Normand Brathwaite tripped on that track and he played it often on his morning show, from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. on CKOI. It was considered pretty rock and he put it on at wake-up time. He tripped on the lyrics, it probably made him think of someone. Without knowing it, he gave us a solid helping hand.

Vincent Peake: What few people know is that this riff was originally written by Stéphane Vigeant, but I made it much faster.

Hugo Lachance: OK.

Vincent Peake: It's a song dedicated to a guy named Jean Langlois, who lied to us and robbed us without a shred of common sense. One of the numerous horror stories Groovy had in its career. We are monster magnets, it seems! We are good people, we didn't deserve that. But for all the harm he did us, I'll thank him forever because it's the tune that makes the most cash in my life! With every SOCAN check I receive, I say thank you Jean Langlois. Thirty years later, it's still the track that gives me 80% of my royalties (SOCAN) because it plays a lot on the internet.

Hugo Lachance: It ages well!

Vincent Peake: And it looks like nothing else. It's not an obvious track to play, it goes fast! MusiquePlus had a show, Rock n' Road, where they hired bands to do covers. In one segment, there were two bands in competition: one did a cover of "Puit sans fond" by Vulgaires Machins, the other did "Dérangeant." They had a week to learn it... they completely crashed, man! It's not easy. Groovy, we're always on the ups! The other thing is in "Boisson d’avril," it's the paradiddle he does in the middle.

Chapter 10: The Groovy Aardvark Sound

Hugo Lachance: The Groovy Aardvark sound, where does it come from? I know Frank Zappa comes up often. It shows that you have a vast musical knowledge.

Vincent Peake: At the start, with Stéphane Vigeant and Dany, we had a trio and we practiced Suicidal Tendencies stuff. We discovered D.R.I. and speed metal. We were the exact age for the "crossover" wave. We were 15 or 16 when Slayer and Mercyful Fate came out; it was a race to see which band was gonna outdo the other in speed! That was our number one influence at the beginning, along with Iron Maiden, Motörhead, and then prog.

Hugo Lachance: That's exactly where I was heading.

Vincent Peake: My first apartment was with Sylvain Bouchard, who became our manager. He was the cégep dealer, so the richest guy I knew! He was a few years older than me and when I moved into his place, I discovered Genesis, Yes, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Gentle Giant, Harmonium, and Charlebois. It opened up my universe completely. Suddenly, our speedcore took on a more progressive tangent. You can hear it a lot on The Late Race to Zero.

Chapter 11: Kitsch’En Squatt (Again)

Hugo Lachance: You guys were technically advanced if we look at the Kitsch'En Squatt compilation; it was mostly based on punk, except for Possession Simple.

Vincent and Hugo: "T’es dans un parc avec tes chums / Pis tu fumes un joint / La police t’arrête / Ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta t’arrête!"

Vincent Peake: I met Éric Goulet around that time.

Danny Peake: The track we recorded for that compilation, was it "Ants have no chance?"

Vincent Peake: Yes, with Blacky! And you see, it's a track with a lot of movements, 12-string guitar intros.

Hugo Lachance: Were those tracks recorded in a studio or was it a compilation of demos?

Vincent Peake: We did a special recording for Kitsch'En Squatt, Jean-Yves organized it. That was the first time I went to Laval in my life! It had a major impact because in Quebec, it was one of the best compilations of its kind.

Hugo Lachance: It left a deep impression on me.

Chapter 12: Oryctérope

Hugo Lachance: Your third album published in '98 is in French, except for one song. Which was a first for Groovy Aardvark. I imagine that at the beginning, like the B.A.R.F.s of this world, the golden rule was to sing in English to break through?

Danny Peake: The only song that isn't in French isn't in English either, it's in "Jorane."

Vincent Peake: It's an invented language based on chants that Nadine Laurin brought back from Burkina Faso. It's my invented language, a bit like the band Magma.

Chapter 13: Gaining Global Recognition via Tape Trading

Hugo Lachance: Chapter 13: Gaining global recognition via "tape trading."

Vincent Peake: We did international tape trading. There were hardcore fanzines everywhere...

Hugo Lachance: Just like Voivod!

Danny Peake: Yes, fanzines are like artisanal magazines specialized in extreme music. You sent your demo, they did a demo review, we got a beautiful review, and then we sold our cassettes all over the world through the mail. Every Tuesday, Dany went to pick up the mail downtown. We were paid in money orders. We got known all over the world but very underground. We thought we'd break through in that world. And that was way before we started touring in Quebec.

Hugo Lachance: Which countries were interested in you?

Vincent Peake: It went from Sri Lanka to Gatineau! About forty countries.

Hugo Lachance: Was there a concentration in certain countries like England, for example?

Vincent Peake: Mostly in Latin America, mostly American. I kept all those letters. We sold dozens and dozens of cassettes. We replied by hand, we sent packages of flyers. That was my winter job. Otherwise, in the summer I did landscaping and in the winter I was on welfare. When I was on unemployment, I lived on 396 dollars a month and I managed by putting bread in my spaghetti sauce so it would swell up! It was fun communicating with people. I made pen pals, like Moss in Australia whom I finally met in 2012.

Danny Peake: We didn't have social networks back then.

Hugo Lachance: When I hosted Away from Voivod, it was the exact same thing. He told me the same story. It was Wayne Archibald sending that all over the world.

Vincent Peake: Exactly! It's the same principle. We had international sights because we had a good response. And the demos sounded good because we put in 1,000 dollars each, so 4,000 dollars for our first demo, which was massive in '87! Our summer jobs were used to invest in the project.

Hugo Lachance: But still! 4,000 dollars is huge for kids in the 80s.

Vincent Peake: We always did it that way. Same thing for the second demo and The Late Race to Zero; in fact, we got free studio time for that one. We took it to heart big time. The only thing that annoyed me was that goddamn it, I hated my voice. Inside my skull, it sounded fine, but on the recording it was thin, there was no low end. I was discouraged, I didn't want to be a singer anymore!

Hugo Lachance: Yet, you have one of the best voices!

Vincent Peake: Thanks. But the voice develops over time. I had to get used to listening to myself.

Danny Peake: We often got the comment that your voice sounded like the singer from D.R.I.

Chapter 14: The Anecdote of Kurt Brecht, Singer for D.R.I.

Vincent Peake: Back in the D.R.I. days, we did covers, we did "Reaganomics." We did them regularly at the Rising Sun, and that's where I met Kurt Brecht, the singer. He's the one who sold me the D.R.I. pin. There was a guy upstairs who had half his beard shaved, the other half not shaved, who hung out by the toilets selling pins in a Ziploc bag for a buck. It was the singer! I had never seen photos of the band before that.

Hugo Lachance: There were no photos?

Vincent Peake: Yeah, there was just half a face on the artwork. And he had slightly crazy eyes. He was also selling a book he had written during the summer of 1987, when he lived in a tree in San Francisco. He lived in a big pine tree because he had hauled a mattress up there. He lived there all summer and only came down to go to the soup kitchen. I was fascinated by that guy. Then people spotted his tree; he'd hide in the bushes and wait for people to leave to go back up his tree like a squirrel. That's the real deal!

Hugo Lachance: That's crazy! And they are still rolling! They have their own circuit.

Vincent Peake: Heck yeah. We did a show at Foufounes Électriques where I played drums and we played the entire album. We did 12 tunes in 15 minutes! Then after that, Pierre Koch took over on drums. It was Jane's Addiction... that was organized around D.R.I.'s first album. Not Crossover, but the one before, I think it was Dealing With It.

Danny Peake: We learned that in four or five days.

Vincent Peake: We practiced on our thighs in front of Chantal Arroyo who worked at the Foufs at the time. She watched us go and said, "Look at the Peake brothers go!" We made it happen because we didn't have time to jam. Pierre Koch knew less about it, he didn't feel like it that much. We had half an hour: we did 15 minutes of D.R.I. and then 15 minutes of Jane's Addiction. It was 12 tunes versus 4 tunes! I was a massive fan of Jane's Addiction at the time. It was Denis Lepage from B.A.R.F. who was working the bar back then. I have the recording of that, for real.

Hugo Lachance: What about you, what were you doing?

Danny Peake: I was on drums.

Hugo Lachance: But you said you weren't playing drums anymore?

Vincent Peake: No, because that was in 1999. It's back when Foufounes Électriques put on a show downstairs and upstairs. WD-40 was there, maybe they were doing Misfits stuff. Julien was still there too.

Hugo Lachance: I arrived in 2008.

Vincent Peake: Each band's mission was to do covers of their favorite bands. We did Slayer, Sabbath Café... We did Sabbath Café for the first show, RAID did Red Hot Chili Peppers, it was really raw and heavy. We took the trouble to learn that, and I remember we practiced right before heading on stage.

Chapter 15: A Difficult Choice, Dany Leaves the Band

Hugo Lachance: In 1999, the band released the live compilation Exit Stage Dive, and subsequently, the band went on hiatus.

Danny Peake: I wasn't there anymore! In fact, after recording Vacuum, we did a show for the album launch at the Spectrum in Montreal. The next day, the band left for Europe for two months.

Vincent Peake: We played on April 12 and left on April 13. That's almost 30 years ago.

Dany Peake: Personally, I had a good job at the time in the stock market world, and I had a young child. Jérémy was about a year and a half or two years old. Plus the group was in debt; we were in serious debt. I asked my boss for an unpaid leave of absence to go away for two months with the guarantee of getting my job back upon my return, but she said no. After ten years in this band, I asked myself: "What do I do?". It was the big dilemma, a big stress. Finally, I made the decision to be a responsible father. I left the band. I started a family and I'm a grandfather twice over now! Besides, my youngest, Zach, what band is he tripping on right now? Mahavishnu Orchestra. He's 19. My son is crazy about it, I'm so proud of him. So, I left the band. I announced it to the group two weeks before they left for Europe, the day after the launch show.

Hugo Lachance: It's often in those moments that decisions happen. The band had to land back on its feet quickly.

Dany Peake: They left with Pierre Koch. Pierre hadn't had the time to learn Groovy's 20 tunes? The first shows in Europe must have been difficult.

Vincent Peake: I was losing Dany, I was losing my brother, but above all I was losing Groovy's drummer. As I say, it's pretty complicated music, there's nothing improvised in there, nothing easy. Pierre, I knew he was a good drummer, he was referred by Thierry Lacombe who was our soundman with whom we went to Europe too. Pierre arrived at the first gig in Erfurt, Germany, and he wasn't able to make it through a whole tune! Lucky break there were only 14 people in the crowd who didn't know the band. I never walked off the stage. After the show, we said: "We start again from scratch." "Y’a tu kelkun ?", OK, the punches are there. Pierre had the advantage of being able to note it down. He noted everything, night after night. By the second gig, there were six he was able to do. We played every night. After a week or ten days, he knew the titles. We would sing the tunes to him in onomatopoeias so he would remember them. That's a lot of information going into the brain for someone whose original musical style this isn't. Pierre is an old-school guy who tripped on Deep Purple and Van Halen, but he didn't listen to punk or hardcore. I told him his beat had to go like that all the time, but he cheated a bit. I told him: "No, you can't cheat, like the Ramones and Clive Burr, that's what creates the drive." He had to learn that at the same time. Up until then, we didn't know if Dany was gonna come back or not. We spoke after three weeks on the phone—phones were rare and it was expensive, it was still marks in those days. After three weeks, we said to Pierre: "If Dany doesn't come back, do you feel like staying?" Then we called Dany who told us that it suited him fine. Pierre therefore officially entered the band after three or four weeks right in the middle of the tour in East Germany. And that was 30 years ago.

Hugo Lachance: Wow! We continue.

Chapter 16: Fast Times at Longueuil High

Hugo Lachance: The group returned in 2000 with the release of a fourth opus: Fast Times at Longueuil High. Guitarist and lyricist Martin Dupuis explained that between the change of guitarist and the recording of the live album, they didn't have time to write new songs. There are other reasons but I won't expand on that.

Vincent Peake: Fast Times at Longueuil High, those are the re-recordings of our first demos, downright recorded over at the Plante Verte studio with Stéphane Vigeant, M.A. (Marc-André), and Martin. There are three guitars on that. Dany is on drums. It's an album that I have a hard time listening to again, I don't think it sounds super good. But it allowed us to set the record straight for people who didn't know Groovy's beginnings. It was a shock for a lot of people to go from "Boisson d’avril" to "Ball Pain In Brudenell"!

Dany Peake: It was Stéphane Vigeant who had financed that project because he wanted the first demos on which he played to be recorded on CD.

Vincent Peake: It was his personal project so that it would officially exist. We had done a 50s photoshoot together which was very cool. It's a beautiful cover. So it was a summary of Groovy's first years.

Chapter 17: Masothérapie

Hugo Lachance: In 2002, Groovy Aardvark published Masothérapie and its first DVD titled Aasphalte, meusique et crucifixion ! Which includes 14 music videos for 120 minutes.

Vincent Peake: Yes. The videos are generally on YouTube. Since we've been with Slam Disques, we can maybe re-release it, but certain videos still belong to MPV with whom we cut ties. We haven't found everything, and maybe even the masters don't exist anymore. It was the era when MusiquePlus helped us tremendously; they played practically all our videos. We had recorded a medley show during the Vacuum tour where I put myself in blue, which is very cool. It can be found on YouTube. There are also the tour clips in the truck, it's trippy to be able to stamp that era. It's an enjoyable visual best-of for the fans.

Hugo Lachance: It was the DVD era, if you were an important band, you just had to have a DVD.

Chapter 18: Farewell Tour, a Solution for a Band in Debt!

Hugo Lachance: The group did a final show on August 6, 2005, during the Francofolies.

Vincent Peake: Since we had major financial problems and big hassles with our record company MPV, we sort of imploded. We weren't able to keep up anymore and we weren't happy. We were starting to have internal problems too; after 19 years, all the sores resurface. At a certain point, it exploded. We organized a farewell tour to finance and pay our debts to everyone. We were talking about close to 75,000 dollars. We did 32 dates and it worked like crazy. I found it a bit cheap to play that card, but we had no choice, we were in deep shit. I was personally in debt for 30,000 dollars. We didn't have a cent in those days. The only way to generate that much money was to do a farewell show to go get people.

Dany Peake: I had the same thought when I left after Vacuum. My portion of the personal debt was not far from 10,000 dollars. While they were in Europe, sales of Vacuum started to take off in Quebec. Finally, my debt was wiped out by the album sales.

Vincent Peake: In Europe, we had no phone and we were cut off from Quebec, we had no idea that the video was rolling that much in Quebec or that we were selling 500 albums a week. MusiquePlus was calling everyone, and it was Dany doing the interviews. Dany was the representative. He would arrive from work in a tie and he did MusiquePlus in a tie! He's a good speaker and he represented us in Quebec.

Hugo Lachance: That's hot, you were in Europe and you had an antenna in Quebec!

Vincent Peake: We came back on June 19 and we played on June 21 at the Foufs. It was packed to the rafters! Everyone knew the tunes by heart. We saw that everything had changed. all that work was finally paying off. But the money from the farewell tour was used to pay the debts, we weren't paying ourselves yet. It took time before we even gave ourselves 50 dollars each. I'll always remember having a red bill in my hands; it was my first pay. I felt almost bad. We re-invested everything. We all had jobs.

Hugo Lachance: That's still the reality now.

Vincent Peake: Back then, we didn't have grants, we were way too alternative for that. We were dealing with shylocks who sold smokes and dope! Under the table, you know!

Voici la traduction de la DEUXIÈME MOITIÉ du document (débutant au Chapitre 19 avec l’intégration de Vincent dans GrimSkunk et se poursuivant jusqu’à la fin de la retranscription), avec toutes les recommandations appliquées.

Chapter 19: After Groovy, GrimSkunk!

Hugo Lachance: Following the dissolution of the lineup, Vincent Peake would go on to play in several bands, including Floating Widget, Sabbath Café, Karmadoza, Galaxie 500, Aut'Chose, and GrimSkunk. Peake would also explain that after the group split, "we didn't really hang out for five years."

Vincent Peake: We gave ourselves a year for the farewell tour. We put out Sévices rendus, which was a compilation with three new tunes to wrap things up nicely. Then Joe from GrimSkunk called me. Tod, the former guitarist who had replaced Boris on bass, had left, and Joe asked me to fill in for a gig at Cégep de Maisonneuve in February. I said, "Joe, you won't believe this, but I just called my band off." I had time on my hands since my band was done after 19 years. They were my favorite band, we were good friends, and we used to hang out at Black Monday every single Monday.

Dany Peake: We used to play softball together.

Vincent Peake: I was a massive fan of the band. I thought GrimSkunk was brilliant in every style: punk, reggae, ska, hardcore... I raised my hand, and I've been in the band ever since.

Dany Peake: Alain Vadeboncoeur used to piss people off because he was so good!

Vincent Peake: For a lefty! And Alain really tripped on you. There was a lot of respect between the two bands.

Hugo Lachance: Speaking of respect, was there any competition between the two bands? Back in the day, there must have been some competition, like it was one or the other. I asked Franz the exact same question when I hosted GrimSkunk right here on the podcast, and he gave me the exact same answer.

Vincent Peake: Never! That came from people on the outside.

Hugo Lachance: I asked Franz the exact same question when I hosted GrimSkunk right here on the podcast, and he gave me the exact same answer. We played softball together! It's just people who like to stir up stories.

Vincent Peake: It got people talking like crazy! Were you a Groovy fan or a GrimSkunk fan?

Hugo Lachance: So you're a defector, a turncoat?!

Vincent Peake: It was a coincidence: Joe called me the exact same week I finished up with Groovy. It was easy to learn the tunes, I knew them by heart. It took me a month and it was sorted. It was a natural union.

Hugo Lachance: Same generation, same background.

Vincent Peake: Yes! I knew GrimSkunk toured a lot in Europe; they had a serious head start on that. Something we hadn't done all that much with Groovy. They had a massive head start. That's where they met Mass Hysteria. It's thanks to GrimSkunk that a lot of European metal bands got known in Quebec. They are the ones who introduced the big French metal bands to Quebec.

Chapter 20: Laurent Saulnier and the Groovy Aardvark Reunion at the Francos

Hugo Lachance: After several years of inactivity, the group reunites occasionally for concerts. On June 9, 2012, the group performed a show at the FrancoFolies de Montréal in front of more than 30,000 spectators who came specifically for the occasion, marking what would have been their 25th anniversary. The singer declared that there could be other shows to come in 2013. And there were more!

Vincent Peake: That was at the invitation of Laurent Saulnier, who was writing for Voir at the time. He always supported us tremendously, just like MusiquePlus, Alain Brunet from La Presse, or Sylvain Cormier from Le Devoir. We truly represented the 90s, the Quebec side of the alternative rock tidal wave. The alternative scene in Montreal, that's where it was happening! Black Monday at the Foufs was packed every Monday. It was magical. We often talk about re-organizing festivals like Polliwog for the nostalgic folks, but also to introduce that music to the youth. That was the grunge era; Kurt and I are only a few days apart, we would have been buddies! We had the grunge style. Me with my wool sweater!

Dany Peake: The alternative scene in Montreal was happening, there were tons of good bands. I don't know if it's still like that today. Black Mondays at the Foufs were packed to the rafters. It was pure grunge music and the kind of stuff we did. It was magical.

Vincent Peake: It's even better now!

Dany Peake: I hope so!

Hugo Lachance: It always goes in waves. I'm thinking of the early 2000s in Montreal, it was mind-blowing.

Vincent Peake: There was the Polliwog festival, that's a good example, sending ten bands out on the road...

Hugo Lachance: That wouldn't happen today!

Vincent Peake: We talk about it often but nobody wants to organize it!

Hugo Lachance: It would be for the nostalgic crowd.

Vincent Peake: It could be done with current artists like Mononc’ Serge and Anonymus, and younger ones too!

Hugo Lachance: Along with Conflit Majeur and General Chaos.

Vincent Peake: Half and half.

Hugo Lachance: Let's take a quick break.

Chapter 21: The Oldest Press Articles

Hugo Lachance: The oldest article I could find regarding you guys was written by Alain de Repentigny in La Presse on January 19, 1990. That's what's in the national archives of Quebec. The article reads: "The older crowd will go hear Shawn Phillips at the Club Soda tomorrow and Sunday to reminisce. The younger crowd, fans of hardcore and speed metal, will instead choose to go to the Foufounes Électriques tomorrow afternoon starting at 1 p.m. Those under 18 will be able to hear Montreal groups Glad Nuts, Obvious Problems, Moral Minority, The Birth Defects, and A Groovy Aardvark. At 8 p.m., those over 18 will get to hear The Unknowns, B.A.R.F., Massive Confusion, The Local Rebels, and The Grim Skuns. The ticket costs 9 dollars and as a bonus, you get the Kitsch'en Squatt Volume 1 compilation cassette. A second cassette of its kind will be recorded using the proceeds from the day."

Vincent Peake: That's exact. Plus a cassette, and it was all the bands that were on the compilation. Yeah, exact! I didn't have that article. I archive pretty much everything in life, so it's cool to have this.

Hugo Lachance: That goes way back. It's on the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ).

Hugo Lachance: Yes, it's truly a beautiful gift.

Vincent Peake: I had sort of forgotten that we did a show for that, and an afternoon show on top of it!

Hugo Lachance: Well yeah, those were the all-ages shows.

Vincent Peake: They were important to us at the time.

Hugo Lachance: Another article, from Le Quotidien on April 15, 1995, a little bit later. The article is titled: "And the Mimi goes to..." Following the presentations of the American Music Awards, the Grammys, and the Brit Awards, it was the turn of the MIMIs (Montreal Independent Music Industry Awards) to find takers last week at Café Campus. The first edition of what is hoped to become an institution crowned the two groups that made the most noise over the last 12 months, both on the local scene and at festivals outside Quebec. GrimSkunk was the big winner with four trophies: album, performance, stage production, and album cover of the year. Groovy Aardvark picked up three, namely: single, song for "Y’a tu kelkun ?" in both cases, and hardcore artist.

Chapter 22: Why Vincent Doesn't Wear a Kilt Anymore!

Vincent Peake: Yes, yes, I remember that very well because I had worn a kilt for the first time. No underwear: "the wind gushing through your nuts." Good times!

There was the after-party at Petit Campus, downstairs. Then a girl I didn't know at all grabbed my junk right under the kilt!

Hugo Lachance: Oh!

Vincent Peake: I loved it like crazy! She frenched me and she... no, what a tease! She was super beautiful. She managed to get right under the skirt, she knew what she was doing.

Hugo Lachance: Right in the middle of a show?

Vincent Peake: It was after the awards ceremony. But afterward, my girlfriends didn't want me wearing a kilt anymore if it meant getting my junk grabbed and getting frenched!

Hugo Lachance: So, if you recognize yourself, write your name in the comments!

Vincent Peake: Indeed. The MIMIs became the GAMIQ, an important institution in Quebec. I was with Pat at the Gros Mené, Enfant Sauvage, and M show the other day. Patrice Caron is a guy who has worked very hard for the local scene forever. Yes, absolutely, we shout him out and we love him. It was the Cabaret Juste pour rire at the time, or the Spectrum. He gave everyone a chance. It's true.

Dany Peake: That's where you guys did a special version of "Y'a tu kelkun ?"

Vincent Peake: That was at Cabaret Kérosène, I sang it with Arseniq 33.

Dany Peake: You won an honorary GAMIQ award in 2015, Vincent Peake?

Vincent Peake: It was an honorary GAMIQ award in 2015.

Dany Peake: Yeah, there you go. That's it. And it was my oldest son, Jérémy, playing drums. We had done a completely different version of "Y'a tu kelkun ?", sort of Collectivo-style, with horns and everything. We were like 14 people on stage. It was my son who played drums at that moment.

Vincent Peake: Personally, I hadn't seen it coming at all! What a surprise!

Chapter 24: SEGMENT: Album Presentation

Hugo Lachance: We're gonna continue the album presentation segment because now we've done the history, but we have to dive into the album. Question: what makes this album a classic?

Vincent Peake: I think there was nothing like it being done in Quebec in French at the time. "Y’a tu kelkun ?" changed everything for Groovy because, finally, people could understand the lyrics.

Hugo Lachance: Although...

Dany Peake: "Néo-sorcière-maskarage-tondeuse."

Vincent Peake: "Néo-sorcière-maskarage-tondeuse." That was inspired by a girl who worked behind the bar at Foufounes Électriques. She had a goddamn beautiful mohawk and eyeliner, I found her so beautiful. She made me think of a neo-witch. The weed was good back then! But in fact, yes, that's when I made a francophone shift into joual, it must be said. The other band that served as an example was Banlieue Rouge with Safoine, but they were very close to Bérurier Noir, they sang more in international French. We were in joual.

Hugo Lachance: Ah yeah, OK. I thought that was a bit later.

Vincent Peake: No, I met Safoine at Cégep just before, when he was starting out. But there's the fact that it was Quebec alternative rock. We made a music video for 3,000 dollars in Old Montreal that was pretty low-budget, let's face it. It was handmade and all our friends are in it. The video played quite a bit on MusiquePlus. And also, we had already existed for 7 years and we were selling demo cassettes like One Fine Day, the Promo Démo 89 with "Pull the rope," 181 Degrees Triangle, "Ants have no chance"...

Dany Peake: There are still tracks in English on this album because they were tracks that were already on demos and we wanted to put them on the first album. The first album is always your first stock. We took many riffs that we had elsewhere. In fact, we used to make super long tracks, and "Y’a tu kelkun ?" was part of a super long block of music, a full prog thing that also included "Plasma Bells" and "Ike/Grimaces." The original track lasted like 16 minutes! The longer it is, the better it is, but I knew that specific riff had value. It was also a style exercise to make a short track of 2 minutes 30.

Hugo Lachance: And it paid off.

Vincent Peake: "Y’a tu kelkun qui a un problème ?", the crowd recognizes the track for that. When you go play in the deep depths of Gaspésie or in Sept-Îles, people know the lyrics.

Hugo Lachance: That's what you call a "hook."

Hugo Lachance: Finally, Groovy was putting out an album, because it took a long time! We were always being asked when the record would come out. It took 8 years.

Hugo Lachance: We continue with Michel Bilodeau in Le Soleil from December 4, 1994: "Groovy Aardvark distills hard groove. The Montreal alternative scene is in full boil. After GrimSkunk, it's now Groovy Aardvark's turn to present its first record titled Eater’s Digest. Just like their peers and friends from GrimSkunk, the musicians of Groovy Aardvark concoct a music that fuses elements of hardcore, psychedelia, hard rock, and progressive. This unique cocktail could only emerge from Montreal, recounts bassist Vincent Peake. Progressive was more popular in Quebec than elsewhere. It's part of our heritage. We discovered this music after playing hardcore and ultra-speed. That's what this special mix yields. It's an original sound and it's not grunge." Labels are annoying, but you have to use them to guide listeners. Where does Eater’s Digest stand in the world of labels?

Vincent Peake: I like to say that the term "alternative rock" comes from us because they didn't know what category to put us in. It wasn't metal, even though the Black Monday festival at the Foufounes was the celebration of Quebec metal because there was no other way to look at it. It wasn't punk either... well it was fast, so a bit hardcore, but it was a mix of all that. The term "alternative" comes heavily from GrimSkunk and Groovy Aardvark. You had to categorize things; record companies like to have a clear branding.

Hugo Lachance: It's a question I like to ask artists because sometimes it's like a trap.

Vincent Peake: So they lumped all of that into the Alternative category.

Hugo Lachance: At the same time, there's a funk side without being funk. It's the "groovy" side in Groovy Aardvark that makes its uniqueness.

Vincent Peake: Jenny Ross from the Mirror was the first to do a review of us. She compared us like this: « Motorheaded Buzz-saw Rhythm Guitar, Bluesy, bass Breaking semi-Psychedelic, Metal Yard Birds ». I used that phrase for our posters in Germany! The Germans were interested, and plus it finishes with "For Your Love." Jenny Ross got it.

Dany Peake: What I also find is that it's "happy" rock. It's not dark.

Hugo Lachance: There's both, I think.

Vincent Peake: The name Groovy Aardvark announces something a bit comical and positive. We play in major keys. "Summertime again" is the happiest, I think.

Hugo Lachance: But at the same time, there are tracks that are a lot darker like "Ants have no chance."

Vincent Peake: What a riff by Marc-André Thibert! Groovy's entire imagery is anti-post-nuclear, but we went to the other side, the festive side of the thing.

Chapter 25: Album Credits

Hugo Lachance: There are a lot of people who worked on this. Title: Eater’s Digest, year 1994. Record company: MPV.

Vincent Peake: It started with YMX with Louis Courchesne. They sold to Martine Prévost afterward. That was our first record company. Fortunately, they did good business at the start; Martine is the one who created the Polliwog festival that brought us to New York. At the beginning everything was fine, but they fell into wild capitalism when they signed Noir Silence. They realized there was cash to be made and they became very money-oriented. The contracts weren't clear regarding money and neither were the sales reports. We were always in the negative, there was something that wasn't working. There was a guy who was a lawyer with her, so they were ironclad. A record contract lasted 75 pages. The contract with Slam Disques today has three pages!

Hugo Lachance: It's truly another era.

Vincent Peake: I hired lawyers to go through the contracts. Éric Goyette, our friend from cégep who was a lawyer, was still studying but he had his office and he said he didn't understand a thing! They were sentences that never ended with "notwithstanding the foregoing scope." We were desperate to sign, we wanted it to come out, and nobody else wanted to touch it.

Hugo Lachance: Back then, a record contract was an accomplishment.

Vincent Peake: We had contracted a tremendous amount of debt with shylocks; the company took over that debt and paid the creditors, so we owed them the money. But when you owe money to a company, we're talking about seven albums! A full career! That was the minimum. There was a paragraph saying we couldn't get out of it by doing a feedback album, for example, or live albums. It had to be real tunes. We signed, it started off well but it ended badly. It tarnished our motivation.

Hugo Lachance: We continue with the credits. Production, mixing, and sound engineering: Thierry Lacombe and M.A. Thibert. Mixing: Claude Paré on "The Whole Gang." Studio Plante Verte in Saint-Mathieu-de-Beloeil.

Chapter 26: Studio Plante Verte

Vincent Peake: The studio is still there. Claude Paré was a comedian in Les Carcasses, a group we listened to when we were young.

Hugo Lachance: Before the English band (Carcass).

Vincent Peake: He became one of the blue brothers in the Labatt Bleue commercials, the "Blue Brothers"; he's the one who wrote that concept. He made quite a bit of money with that.

Dany Peake: He's the one we see in the video for "For Your Love," by the way.

Vincent Peake: With that money, he opened a studio. Claude is a sound professional. He used to go into clubs and out-of-phase the sound systems, including the one at Bleu est Noir, so they would sound better. He opened his studio and since he was friends with Thierry Lacombe and M.A.—who was doing his sound course in Drummondville—we were the first band to take over Studio Plante Verte. The advantage was that we had access to the studio 24 hours a day. We slept there. When we had a deadline for Vacuum, we finished the tunes by day and I finished the lyrics at night. On the day of the deadline for printing, I finished the last track half an hour before. It was motivating, I work a lot by deadlines. There was that urgency. The last track was finished half an hour before!

Dany Peake: We had composed the instrumental tracks and we had no idea of the melody or lyrics Vincent was gonna put on them. We gave him free rein, we trusted him, but we didn't know how it was gonna turn out. We practiced them strictly instrumentally. It must have been stressful for you, Vincent, with the second hand ticking away.

Vincent Peake: I needed that, otherwise I'm too slack. It brought out the best in me and created significant lyrics. Studio Plante Verte became the go-to studio for the entire alternative scene of the 90s. It was less expensive, 25 minutes from Montreal in a very cool environment, in a field. It was beneficial.

Chapter 27: Credits (Continued)

Hugo Lachance: Musicians: Vincent Peake (bass, vocals), M.A. Thibert and Martin Dupuis (guitars), Dany Peake (drums). There is also Claude Lamothe on cello, Martin Pelletier on guitar, and Louis Bélanger on percussion. Recording period?

Vincent Peake: The whole pre-prod was done in Eastman in a cottage that belonged to Thierry Lacombe's father, with Jean-Yves Thériault from Voivod. Afterward, we went into Studio Plante Verte. We started with Martin Pelletier who was in The Affected, but his brother David Pelletier—a genius bassist—decided to restart their band, so we lost Martin. So it's like a third-third-third split between Martin Dupuis, Marc-André Thibert, and Martin Pelletier. That's why the guitar sound on "Plasma Bells" isn't the same sound as on "Y’a tu kelkun ?" The recording took place from the beginning of '93 until the spring of '94, it was done in down-time between other clients. Dany tracked his drum parts like a champion, all alone with the click without the band because we had practiced the tunes so much he knew everything by heart.

Hugo Lachance: He tracked his tunes alone first and he wasn't at the studio for a year.

Dany Peake: It's tape reel recording. When we mess up, we start all over.

Vincent Peake: Those are "one-takes." We couldn't really punch in because of the sound of the cymbals that couldn't be cleaned up back then. There was no Pro Tools. It had to be in one shot.

Dany Peake: You couldn't do 16 bars, take a break, 16 bars, take a break. You can't punch in because of the cymbals resonating. It has to be a one-shot deal.

Vincent Peake: Back then, mixes weren't automated either, we did it by hand. Everyone had a specific role on the console. It was a fun group activity, like a long take in cinema. If someone messed up, we started over until we got it.

Hugo Lachance: It was more organic. Because you work together. It was less of a solitary project in a basement!

Vincent Peake: We often exceeded 24 tracks, so we bounced stuff onto other tracks. You had to know all of that so the frequencies wouldn't interfere.

Chapter 28: The Cover

Vincent Peake: The original cover art is by Simon Dupuis. The model for the aardvark was made by Éric Braün. Éric Braün is a guy from Saint-Bruno I met back in the day, he played in Misconduct. We've known each other forever.

Hugo Lachance: The cover is made on the computer, right?

Vincent Peake: The cover isn't made on a computer, it's a photo! At the start, we had done a staging, but because of the heat from the lights, the model kept melting! The photos were too dark, Simon was disappointed with the clarity. So we cut out the aardvark and put it on a white background. Simon's concept was to have the image three times to create a 3D effect without glasses, but it was more or less successful. The original model represented the end of the world, the aardvark against the ant army with tanks, cotton-wool clouds, and a red curtain. It was super beautiful and I was disappointed it didn't turn out as well, but in the end, the blue and red on a white background really popped in stores. It became iconic. It's fun to be able to enlarge it for the vinyl version.

Hugo Lachance: I always thought it was done on a computer.

Vincent Peake: When you look closely you see the fingerprints on the character.

Hugo Lachance: On CDs and cassettes it was smaller too.

Chapter 29: Credits (Continued)

Hugo Lachance: That's it, we continue with photography by Daniel Robillard and Patrick Houde. For the reissue, basically, you teamed up with Slam Disques.

Vincent Peake: Yes, finally, finally yeah. Exactly. Personally I've known Jessy Fuchs for a long time, back in Exterio and all that, and I've always been a fan of Slam Disques because he passed the puck to bands that, normally, wouldn't have been signed by others. I found that courageous and done with great goodwill toward the music, because Jessy is a musician himself. In fact, all the new companies, starting with Indica, then Bonsound, were led by musicians who knew the reality of the scene. There was no longer a dichotomy between those smoking cigars in their office on the third floor and the bands. It changed the game entirely.

Hugo Lachance: It's a transfer of culture. It's all people who have already been ripped off and decided to start a label.

Vincent Peake: Exactly. Hats off to Indica for being the first to bring DIY into fashion in Quebec. It remains to this day the model to follow.

Hugo Lachance: We thank Jessy and the whole team.

Vincent Peake: Yes, they did a super beautiful job on the reissue. There's a sticker, press files, a guitar pick, a CD, etc. We made a perfect product. Since the profit margin is zero on this, we take care of everything ourselves.

Dany Peake: Just like we used to do by mail back in the day.

Vincent Peake: Yes, it's true.

Dany Peake: We put things in envelopes... It comes from there.

Chapter 30: Audience Questions

Hugo Lachance: I asked questions to the audience and there were some good responses. There were questions, but also comments. Audience question from Martin Desgroseilliers, whom we mentioned earlier. He'd like to know which songs Dany composed or participated in a bit more with Groovy before Eater’s.

Dany Peake: Before Eater's, that's the question. I remember composing the final fast section of "Ants Have No Chance" with Stéphane Vigeant. We were all alone in the rehearsal space on Taschereau Boulevard.

Vincent Peake: At the Doric! It was a strip club. We were in the space right next door.

Dany Peake: The wall was adjacent to the toilets of the dancers' dressing rooms. The toilet overflowed so often that mushrooms grew on the wall. We thought there was a new one every day.

Hugo Lachance: Personally I thought you were gonna tell me you had made a hole in the wall!

Dany Peake: Ah no, too busy with the music! I remember we were alone, Stef and I, and we had the mandate to finish composing "Ants Have No Chance." We came up with the fast part at the end.

Vincent Peake: The one that isn't on the original recording?

Dany Peake: Exactly. Back then, the tune ended with a fast section. Him and I put it together alone in the jam space. I didn't know if I remembered it, but now it's coming back. I'm the drummer, so Groovy's tunes were mainly based on a skeleton guitar riff. It was either one of the guitarists or Vincent coming in with a riff. The tune always started from a guitar riff, never from a vocal hook.

Hugo Lachance: A riff band!

Dany Peake: Exactly!! I rarely came in with a composition, even though I composed on the piano. With Groovy, I never came in with a complete track. But once the tune was underway, I'd bring in ideas. I remember this specific one, but it's on Vacuum: the riff for "Dormitory" turned inside out because it wasn't long enough. I told them to lengthen it at the beginning to make it work.

Hugo Lachance: Plus, you have what it takes to argue with a guitarist because you actually know music; you aren't just a drummer.

Dany Peake: Exactly, I have an ear. We were born with that, Vincent and I. I can easily suggest a harmony for the other guitarist.

Vincent Peake: At one point, Dany had a mic and he sang. When we started doing more melodic material after our hardcore D.R.I. period and we wanted to hit the right notes, we sang in harmony all the time. There are plenty of tunes where Dany sang from behind the drums. Stéphane Vigeant didn't sing, and M.A. was capable, but he has a rougher voice. The melodic voice was the drummer.

Hugo Lachance: Two brothers, at the vocal level, the harmonies. The vocal timbre is very similar.

Vincent Peake: It blended perfectly. The other day, we celebrated Martin Dupuis' girlfriend's 50th birthday at the Saint-Laurent country club. Franz was telling us that the Peake brothers sound amazing together. We listened to a lot of the Everly Brothers, and the Beatles too.

Dany Peake: Yeah, "Bye Bye Love."

Vincent Peake: It was natural for Dany. He has the talent to be able to play drums and sing at the same time, like on "Déraille."

Hugo Lachance: Thanks to Martin, owner of Planète Claire. We shout him out. Go check that place out. We continue with Mijanou Lavoie: "Groovy will stay a cult favorite on my list forever. I was 14 when this album spoke to me real loud. Big impact on my life, as well as several other albums from the group. My top 5 is hard to choose: 'Ants Have No Chance', 'Y'a tu kelkun ?', 'The Whole Gang', 'Ear Throb' and 'Ike'. Groovy is my little Easter Jesus, resurrected stronger than ever. Can't wait to hear the new stock."

Vincent Peake: Thanks, Mijanou! Groovy has been around long enough that our fans have become our friends. We grew up together.

Hugo Lachance: You know her?

Vincent Peake: Yes. It's trippy to see that after the 90s, we took a break and it took time before regenerating our audience. Several had kids and now, they come back as a family to festivals. The kids who were 5 years old back then are now 19 and they are moshing among friends.

Hugo Lachance: It's beautiful to see that the young crowd respects you.

Vincent Peake: Parental transmission in Quebec is very important. Since MusiquePlus is gone and we don't pass as much on the radio as before, the information passes from one generation to the next through the parents.

Chapter 31: Vincent Peake, Ambassador of the Underground Scene in Quebec

Hugo Lachance: You are the ambassador, the godfather of the underground in Quebec.

Vincent Peake: I have 320 t-shirts that prove that! I bought my Guhn Twei t-shirt the other day. I love that role and I love seeing the new generation kick ass like that. It's important in the AI era we've reached. When you see a band like Guhn Twei or Angine de Poitrine, it proves that nothing is gonna beat the human side of things.

Hugo Lachance: I think it suits you well and you wear it well. You are a source of pride for music in Quebec.

Vincent Peake: I'm proud of the music in Quebec. After touring a lot worldwide, we have nothing to envy from any city. In Montreal, there's something in the water. Our geographic location means we have a lot of American and European influences. We are a fertile ground of musical information. You can hear it!

Chapter 32: Saguenay Power

Hugo Lachance: Especially the people coming from the Saguenay!

Dany Peake: Absolutely, man! You are so right. There's something happening in the Saguenay.

Vincent Peake: When I got to know the guys from Voivod after Jean-Yves, I met down-to-earth, nice, and generous guys. They are the perfect example to follow on how to behave in this business.

Hugo Lachance: They are super sweet and open. Quebec needs ambassadors, people to rely on.

Dany Peake: Guys like Fred Fortin, Olivier Langevin, Les Dales, or Gab Bouchard, Pierre Bouchard's son.

Hugo Lachance: Édouard Tremblay-Grenier, who was here earlier and whom I hosted on the podcast.

Vincent Peake: It always fascinated me that this region had a head start on the rest of Quebec. I learned so much music in the bars over there after playing. It's the first time I heard P.I.L., The Cure, or post-punk bands. Record stores in Quebec City were also very important in the 70s for introducing prog. I think Quebec City fed the Saguenay a lot.

Hugo Lachance: In the regions, either you fit into normal life or you develop a rebellious attitude. With the madness it generates, that's where creativity sets people apart. You have nothing to lose, so you do it like a maniac.

Vincent Peake: The other day, Fred Fortin told me he had asked Olivier Langevin's parents for permission for Olivier to move to Montreal with him because Olivier was 16 and Fred was 26. What a great decision! We brought him up to Montreal at 16. Trust is a beautiful thing.

Chapter 33: Audience Questions (Continued)

Hugo Lachance: We continue with Fred Guay: "Are you Angine de Poitrine?"

Vincent Peake: No, we are "Back Pain" or "Shoulder Pain."

Hugo Lachance: We also have a question from Fanny Lussier: "Hey Hugo, what a year 2026 has been so far for your podcast, we listeners are spoiled. Bravo and thank you. For the interview with Groovy, I went to take a peek at what's already been done as interviews in the past. A lot has been said. I haven't seen interviews with the Peake brothers together. It's gonna be super interesting!! What question must absolutely be asked to the Peake brothers when hosting them for an interview?"

Dany Peake: The first question that comes to my mind is: "Did you guys get into fights often in the jam space?" There was bickering sometimes.

Vincent Peake: Dany was so good that when he messed up, I'd lose my temper at him.

Dany Peake: Since the drummer is in the back, Vincent turned around towards me every time I made a mistake. The error would have just slipped by, but then, he told everyone that his brother had just made one. At the jam space in Longueuil, we practiced three times a week. On Fridays, we invited our buddies; there were between 30 and 50 people. We presented our new tunes composed during the week. Since we had just finished them, there were mistakes. Vincent turned around all the time, it got on my nerves. At one point, I turned blue. I stopped playing, stood up, and chucked a drumstick with all my strength right at his head!

Hugo Lachance: And you play baseball!

Dany Peake: In three leagues. He barely had time to duck and the stick went right through the window.

Vincent Peake: That could have been my head! I froze. I went, "Hey Dan, I'm sorry." I demanded perfection from my brother because he was capable of reaching it.

Hugo Lachance: It's sort of dramatic but cute at the same time.

Vincent Peake: It was about time I got a drumstick thrown at my head to understand that I needed to let go.

Chapter 34: SEGMENT: Shoutout to You!

Hugo Lachance: The goal is to highlight the work of independent podcasters. Today, I want to salute the podcast La paire d'écouteeurs, hosted by Jertrude Battue and Alexandra Houle. They won two Gamiqs in a row. Go check that out, they are a really fun crew.

Chapter 35: SEGMENT: Messages

Hugo Lachance: Before moving on to the album, people left messages for you.

Chapter 36: Message from Charles Laplante (Chou)

Charles Laplante: Salut Dany and Vincent, it's Charles Laplante, singer for the group Chou speaking to you. I'd like to start first by saying how Groovy Aardvark came into my life. When I was 15, my mother dropped me off at the Polliwog festival which was taking place in Jonquière at the time. That must have been in 1997, if I'm not mistaken. I was going to see Voivod; in fact, I was already a Voivod fan because of my uncle's records. I discovered... in fact, I knew Groovy because it played on the radio, but I wasn't a massive fan. But when I came out of the Polliwog that night, I was newly a fan because I saw Vincent with his mask that looked like a kind of white octopus mask. In my mind, it made me think of an octopus, but in fact, it was white tubes coming out of his face. He was halfway masked and his entire stage presence had a very big impact on me. Plenty of anecdotes happened at that festival. We were right behind Piggy's mom the whole show. In any case, it was truly a brilliant evening and that was my introduction to Vincent. After that, I always followed what he did. At one point, he had even landed in Voivod. He was someone I looked up to; I told myself: "Wow, Vincent Peake is truly someone who kicks ass!". I also had the opportunity to see Dany in Groovy a tremendous number of times since that era. In short, people always say you shouldn't meet your idols in life, but since I know Vincent and can now say he's a friend, I can guarantee you that old proverb is completely false in certain cases. Afterward, I had the opportunity to share the stage with Vincent to pay tribute to Lucien Francoeur, and not only with Vincent, but with Away from Voivod too. Those are moments I will cherish all my life. Thank you, Vincent, for being in my life and thank you for singing on our album. Thank you for being so present for all the musicians of the new generation, all the time. You are a friend to everyone. Everyone loves you, we see you all the time at shows and you show no sign of slowing down. We love it that way. Thank you guys for all the music you made.

Hugo Lachance: Thanks, Charles! Oh, that guy is so cool.

Vincent Peake: We love him, Charles, we love him to pieces. I adore Chou. I love how dedicated to music that guy is. He never told me that in person, so I'm getting a little emotional here.

Hugo Lachance: Charles, we shout him out! It’s not over, we continue.

Voici la traduction de la DEUXIÈME MOITIÉ du document (débutant au Chapitre 37 avec le message de Claude Rajotte et se poursuivant jusqu'à la toute fin de la retranscription), complétant ainsi l'épisode.

Chapter 37: Message from Claude Rajotte

Claude Rajotte: Well Hugo, thanks for having me on your podcast once again, but this time it's to talk to Vincent. How's it going, Vincent? It's been a long time since we've seen each other. We've known each other for a long time though, it's been several years. Listen, for me, and for the listeners, Vincent has always been one of the most important rockers in Quebec. Groovy Aardvark is one of our best rock bands. I supported the group right from the start when I did my show on CHOM-FM. I always played Groovy Aardvark. When I was at MusiquePlus too, I did the record reviews, which were good, and I hosted Vincent. And with Vincent, I always felt like I had a passionate guy next to me who proves it to us still today, right? Vincent, when you have the passion, it's hard to shake it off, I know a thing or two about that. So, likeable, a down-to-earth guy, just a music enthusiast. Personally, I have nothing but respect for Vincent, greetings to your brother, and well, that's what I had to say about Vincent, someone important. Are you happy? Perfect. Thanks, Hugo.

Vincent Peake: I am happy. Before knowing it was Claude, I would have said God! Well, you see, Claude was an important cog at MusiquePlus. He did my top 5 albums segment. MusiquePlus had such a strong reach in Quebec back in the day. Yes, well, he was at CHOM at the beginning, he did "What's New," he's the one who played Kill ‘em all for the first time on CHOM, and that had never played before, even "Seek and destroy" wasn't playing. But Claude Rajotte was there, he went for it, him and Too Tall. He did a special feature on Eater's Digest on CHOM, he had even invited me.

Dany Peake: I did an interview with Too Tall while you guys were in Europe!

Vincent Peake: Thank you, Claude. What a beautiful testimony.

Hugo Lachance: Listen, personally I thank Claude, I hosted him on the podcast. For me, I had two people who made me truly nervous on the podcast, it was Claude and Mara. With Claude, it went well and I am really happy. Right when I asked, he replied immediately. Which is awesome, it's very cool.

Dany Peake: Personally, I have immense respect for Claude Rajotte, his musical knowledge. I remember when he did the review of Eater's Digest on Le Cimetière des CD [The CD Cemetery], that's what it was called. I remember a sentence he said after listening to "Ike." He said: "Guys, you don't have to overdo it. We know, it shows that you are good musicians, but you put in too much." That stayed with me my whole life!

Hugo Lachance: We continue, it’s not finished!

Chapter 38: Message from Pat Gauthier (Raid)

Pat Gauthier: Hey, salut guys, it's Pat. Listen, it looks like I have the privilege of being able to barge into your podcast to ask you a couple of questions and talk about you guys. Listen, when I was asked, the first thing that came to my mind is that over the years we've known each other, guys, we've had the chance to practice plenty of hobbies together, whether it's on Dany's softball team, playing ping-pong in my kitchen, or playing pétanque in the back of my yard. One of the first things I noticed about you two is that holy smokes, you are fierce competitors. I wanted to know where you think that sense of competition comes from. Is it Normande who is pretty competitive or does it come from... anyway, I'll let you deliberate on that. And secondly, to make the link with the Eater’s Digest years, do you think that being competitive in life applies to the music world? In the sense that we are all aware that in the hardcore scene, there was still a beautiful competition, a healthy competition. Do you think it served you to be competitive the way you are? And to finish, this part is truly for my personal pleasure, but I'd like each of you in turn to say in what area the other is better than him. So apart from music, let's say, so that Dany doesn't say his brother is better than him on bass and Vince says he's better on drums. In what field, in what expertise is your brother better than you? I'll leave you with that. Salut guys!

Dany Peake: OK. Salut Pat! I'll answer the first part of these three questions: competitiveness. We are two brothers who are almost the same age, as we were saying earlier, we are 16 months apart, so we've always been competitive with one another, whether at softball or in anything at ping-pong. When Pat challenges me at ping-pong... we played ping-pong downstairs in the basement all the time, and at school too. It's funny because Vincent, you beat me at home, but I beat you at school. That pissed him off, right there! We shared the same activities, the same hobbies, and in certain hobbies he was better than me, in others I was better than him. Today, I realize how lucky we were to be the same age because we did tons of things together. We challenged each other... at softball, so I think that competitiveness...

Vincent Peake: Shut up! That's exactly it. What luck we had to grow up together and to have a brother so close where we shared so much of the same passions. Especially in sports, and after that, music. Yes, it was competitive, but it pushed us to pull each other up. You can say that too about GrimSkunk, they are formidable enemies. It's not a competition against us, but it's rather: how can we improve our show compared to what we just saw at the Metropolis? Franz would go, damn guys, your show is tight! We helped each other out in that.

Hugo Lachance: Yeah, that's hot! But the question was: in what area is Vincent better than you, apart from music?

Dany Peake: Let's say we are at school, in high school. Personally, I was strong in math, you were strong in French. Yes, you were better than me in French. I remember my math teacher saying: "Go help your brother with his mathematics, then," and the French one said the same thing to my subject regarding French. We had our stronger subjects.

Vincent Peake: Personally, I'm gonna say in a general way that I've always admired the fact that Dany has courage and that he is like fearless, much more than me. Personally, I doubt myself a lot and I am more nervous in life. I've always admired that Dany charges right in. He has a kind of self-confidence that I've always admired and that I try to pursue. It helped me let go on certain things. Dany helped me a lot with that.

Hugo Lachance: Very cool! I have one for you guys that is maybe prompted a bit by the consumption of alcohol we have: you shared bunk beds for so many years, so which of the two farts the loudest?

Vincent Peake: The one who farted from the top bunk, I smelled it less. Probably the one who received everything from above...

Hugo Lachance: Ah there you go, it's physics!

Vincent Peake: But no, we slept well there. We slept well because we listened to music to fall asleep, because Normande let us listen to one vinyl album side per night. Sometimes we cheated, and we had to choose properly for half an hour, so we didn't say a word and we listened to the music together. We'd say: "Ah, that part is good!" We lived that in silence, in the dark, even though it was past our bedtime. Music was precious to us in those days. We stored up all that information in silence, just admiring the music we were listening to.

Chapter 39: Message from Jessy Fuchs

Hugo Lachance: We continue, we aren't finished with this. The next intervention is the message from Jessy Fuchs.

Jessy Fuchs: Personally, I was a little kid from the West Island with parents who trusted me. I went downtown, I went to see my first show at the Spectrum; it was Banlieue Rouge, I was 14 or 15 years old. At that time, making the round trip by train, except to go see White Zombie at the Verdun Auditorium, was a bit tough. It wasn't until the start of Cégep for me, in the fall of 1996, that I fell into Groovy's world because they had just released Vacuum. They had become known, and then, I go see them at the Medley for "Noël dans la rue" in December 1996. I saw that, and it was Pierre on drums, Pierre with his bandana. For me, Vacuum is the band with Pierre and the bandana. I can swear to you I was completely mixed up afterward when I found out the other drummer from before also wore a bandana, seriously! But after that, Jeanne-Mance Park, I remember the Polliwog, then it's all the same year where I saw Lofofora at Émilie-Gamelin Park with Les Tuniques, then GrimSkunk at the Metropolis. It's all at the same time: Anonymus, Overbass, that whole gang the same year, in 12 months. It was a bit intense for my little sponge brain, but it marked me, it marked me a lot. So much so that, fast forward, we are in 2026 and sometimes, I have to handle invoices from Dany Peake; I have that in my week. Sometimes, I cross paths with Vincent at a show at L'Esco where we tell each other: "Yeah, this band is good, it makes us want to write." Then 48 hours later, I run into Martin at Fred Booster in a private show, and then I tell myself: "How on earth did I end up hanging out with these guys!" These guys, they are my gang, they are my bros, and I still pinch myself. There was a moment where I almost lost my bros, I think, when we received 1,000 covers of Vacuum for the first vinyl pressing and they weren't the right color. I found that tough, I wanted to make a good impression, it was very tough.

Vincent Peake: No pun intended on the printing impression!

Jessy Fuchs: So far, we aren't in a parallel universe where there would be an Evil Groovy Aardvark and an Evil Jessy Fuchs, but that must exist in another universe. If there is an Evil Martine Prévost in our universe right now, there's another universe somewhere where she is nice and where we are the ones who aren't nice. I am glad to be in the universe we are currently in. I've always been very impressed and impressionable by these guys, even today. I don't know how I managed to become buddies with them, but that's the case; it makes me very happy, it touches me a lot. Bye!

Dany Peake: That's it. Thanks for handling my invoices, Jessy! And I'm glad to hear you say you liked Fred Booster. We did a private show last weekend for a 45th birthday surprise party for a good friend of Martin's. Fred Booster is the solo group, Martin Dupuis' project in which I don't play drums, I just sing. I adore doing that. Jessy was there because he knows the guy in question who was celebrating, and he didn't give me his impressions after the show. I left a bit quickly, but I'm happy to hear that he appreciates it.

Chapter 40: The Anecdote Where Dany Ruined the Surprise of a Private Show

Vincent Peake: Is that the private show where you blew the surprise at Julie's 5-à-7 because Martin, the guy, was right next to you? You didn't know who it was! It was Jérôme?

Dany Peake: I was saying goodbye and I get to Martin and say to him: "Bye Martin, see you next week!". Martin looks a bit uncomfortable right there. Personally, I pull out my cell phone: "Yeah, yeah, next week, it's written right there, the private show in Longueuil," right in front of the guy, you know! I don't know how his partner handled it, but it looks like he more or less suspected it despite...

Vincent Peake: Damage control!

Chapter 41: Jessy Fuchs and the Relaunch of Groovy Aardvark

Hugo Lachance: Jessy is a super important player in the punk, hardcore, and alternative scene in Quebec.

Vincent Peake: Absolutely. Jessy put it to me this way: he says he doesn't score at the beginning, but he passes the puck. He is good at passing the puck and he isn't gonna meddle with your composition or your artistic path; he's gonna be there to help you and he understood that from the start. It's thanks to guys like him that this scene is healthy and that it makes you want to keep going. With all the debacles we experienced with our previous companies, we were discouraged from signing with anyone whatsoever. I had told myself: never again a contract for anyone, we're gonna do things ourselves. But when Jessy arrived with a three-page contract with a few legible paragraphs,

Hugo Lachance: it wasn't written "notwithstanding" anywhere.

Vincent Peake: It's not written "notwithstanding," it's not even written "withstanding"! I knew it was a match that was gonna work. We re-released Eater’s and Vacuum on vinyl together, and the whole entire crew always responded super fast. We see how passionate they are about what they do and they are benevolent. It's a word I use often to describe Slam Disques. The whole crew works hard.

Hugo Lachance: Personally, I hosted Rouge Pompier at my place. I am truly not an Exterio fan, I am not a Rouge Pompier fan, but talking with those three guys—because I include Fred in that—was one of my favorite interviews. All the depth they brought to the Michael Caine album, I find it's a bit of the same drive.

Vincent Peake: You are so right. I became a Rouge Pompier fan since. We did shows together and what's trippy with them is that they understood one damn thing: they play right down on the floor, your time belongs to you, there's no changeover to do there. They toured with Mononc’ Serge and Anonymus, it's perfect. They have a lot of fans. They give people the chance to play drums, in Joliette or Alex Pompier. What an interesting concept! It fits perfectly well into a lineup where you have the fewest constraints possible, they give the stage to the band. Jessy understood that, he knows what he's doing and every time you talk to him, you learn something. He is there for the right reasons. For me, it's like Steve Shutt, he's the best passer. It's Steve Shutt and he wants the number 10 to be you.

Hugo Lachance: All the better! I'm very happy for you guys and for Jessy, Slam Disques, and Hell for Breakfast.

Vincent Peake: We have our defenses up because we got screwed over so much that we hold onto our things tightly. They understand that. It makes you want to give back. I owe them an album somewhere, but I'm gonna make new music with them.

Dany Peake: We can't wait for that to happen.

Chapter 42: Message from Mama Groovy

Hugo Lachance: The person who left the last message, it's long, but I think it's full of substance. Are we ready? Here we go.

Maman Groovy: My little contribution begins today with two words: "we'll see." I was sitting with Vincent and we were chatting about his future, about what he wanted to study, and he said to me: "Mom, what I want to do in life is music." I said, since I was in the business field: "Well you know, it won't be easy because I don't have connections, I can't open doors for you, I don't really know anything in that field." He replied: "It doesn't matter, mom, what I want to do in life is music." Well, I said listen, we'll see. He told me a couple of years ago, we were chatting and he says to me: "Do you remember, mom, when you told me we'll see, when I told you I wanted to make music?" Oh, and I was so happy. It's as if you took a weight off my shoulders and you said: "Yes yes, I accept, I accept. Go ahead, go ahead." So, since two words yielded the group Groovy Aardvark, to tell you today that I am very happy with my two words. That year, I bought an electric guitar at Vincent's request, and for Dany, a drum kit. Oh, I was surprised, a drum kit! Yes, because at college he was studying, he had discovered he had an aptitude for drums and he liked it. So the group set up in my basement and for me, it was the discovery of starting to listen to rock music which was surely not the music I usually listened to, but it went well. They practiced. It was pleasant because there was rhythm and it wasn't disruptive, it was pleasant. The only thing that was less pleasant was when their friends came over and on the drums... the drums bang bang bang bang bang bang bang! Since there was no rhythm, it was a little bit more disruptive, but it didn't matter. The first Groovy Aardvark show, we took all the instruments out of the basement, put them in my Rabbit, and then we went, I think it was to Laval. We unload the instruments, the kids unload the instruments, set them up on stage, and then Vincent says to me: "I'd like to have some bandanas because we had long hair back then, and to maybe find us some bandanas to tie our hair back." Well ok, alright. So I went on a search for bandanas. I stopped at a shoemaker's and bought some beautiful leather strips, and that worked well as a bandana. I come back to the show and Vincent was on stage. The show is about to start. I say: "Hey Vincent, something for you!" I toss the strips. "Oh wow! My mom bought me beautiful leather strips!" Then he takes the mic: "Long live moms!" I was surrounded by rockers there who were like "wow, what is the mom doing here?" I still remember it, but I remember that day, it was a beautiful show and when I saw Vincent on stage, holy cow, I didn't know him like that! It's as if he had just been plugged in. He takes off and he was at ease and he talks to everyone. Right then I realized he was truly in his element. That was for sure and certain. Well anyway, that's a first show. There were others that come to mind too. A very, very important one, the one at the Spectrum on Good Friday. Groovy Aardvark for a Good Friday, holy moly! Rock on a Good Friday, it seems to me that maybe it doesn't mix well, but in any case it was so well organized with the mourners coming in slowly and the cross there, it was a show of total beauty. In the meantime, I had bought a video camera with cassettes and I filmed that show, I filmed several of them afterward. To tell you, it was a pleasure, I think Vincent gathered up all the cassettes. And also another show that is memorable is the one at the MTELUS, back then it was wow!, there were a tremendous amount of people and then Vincent walked around, singing inside a bubble. The bubble floated and he was inside it singing, another beautiful show, there are a tremendous amount of them. I can tell you that I've never regretted and I've never thought that two words "we'll see" would yield such beautiful results. I am very happy. I was nicknamed Mama Groovy. Mama Groovy with her musical family there is so happy. It's as if she sowed seeds and today reaps tremendously a hundredfold. So Mama Groovy says a beautiful hello to you and she loves you very big, my boys!

Vincent Peake: Well, now I have a tear in my eye, holy cow! But I remember exactly...

Hugo Lachance: Vincent, wait a tiny bit, I'm interrupting you because I want to thank Véro and especially Morena who was my accomplice in all of this. I contacted your mother, we spoke together. The message took a little while to arrive because she wanted to prepare. She took the time to write it well, she recorded it on her own and sent it to me. I just want to greet Mama Groovy, it's truly very sweet.

Vincent Peake: Listen, my mother is 85 years old. Technology, she knows it a bit, but it's the first time she does something of the sort. The bandana story, I remember very well. She had told me: "It's a shame you have hair so long in your face, we can't see your beautiful face," but with the bandana we could see my face. It's true I always had hair in my eyes. Coming out of boarding school, I couldn't wait to have long hair and I was happy to let it grow as long as possible. The bandana made it so I could put my hair behind my ears. I have a good story about that. The group The Damned, you know the cover where the guy has cream all over his face? His mother was angry because you couldn't see her boy! I've always included my mother in all the interviews I've done and I've always thanked her for the trust she had in us. It's a risk because all parents want what's best for you. She gave us our first jobs. I worked on the floor of the Stock Exchange, I had a safe job for life. But for me, my summer job was just to pay for my amp, a bass, pay for my demo. She trusted me and I remember very well when I asked her for permission. I have musician friends who didn't get that permission from their parents and who always fought to get their approval. There are some who never had it and it hurt. I thank her so much for opening the door.

Dany Peake: She helped us a lot financially too.

Vincent Peake: Mama Groovy financed the first t-shirts for "Ants Have No Chance." When we finished paying everyone back for our debt of 75,000 dollars, the last person I paid back was my mother. It was 750 dollars she had invested. She said I didn't have to. No, I didn't have to, but I'm happy to give it back to you. It's the pride of being able to reset the accounts to zero. Wow!

Chapter 43: Conclusion

Hugo Lachance: We took the decision to cut the episode for now. We're gonna meet up again soon for a second part and that's when we're gonna tackle the Eater’s Digest album in full. Thank you for your participation.

Vincent Peake: Thanks for organizing all this, Hugo. The messages we received and all the beautiful testimonies, it really touches an emotion. It's trippy to get feedback. It's fun to have messages from the people we love. We need love. That they can formulate it in their own way feels good to hear.

Hugo Lachance: We'll meet again soon for a second episode. We'll go through the album in full, re-energized. Thanks to Hopera for sponsoring this episode. Head over to lalbumpodcast.ca to support the podcast. Thanks to Véro for hosting us at the Salle des Tortues. Until next time!