Avec pas de casque

Back with their long-awaited fifth album, Avec pas d'casque continue to refine their "homemade folk" in their own way and at their own pace. Inviting us to slow down and be grateful for the time allotted to us, the album's pictorial lyrics unfold in a hushed musical ambience of guitars, lapsteel and keyboards. An intimate, soaring show.

Avec pas d'casque has been carving out its intimate folk sound on record and on stage for 20 years now. Born of the encounter between Stéphane Lafleur (guitar and vocals) and Joël Vaudreuil (drums), the duo slowly became a quartet, with the arrival of Nicolas Moussette (bass, lapsteel) and Mathieu Charbonneau (euphonium, keyboards). Influenced in the early days by lo-fi folk and country music, the band has over time developed a sound all its own, backed by imaginative, sensitive lyrics.

Avec pas d'casque performed publicly for the first time in 2003. An entirely homemade CD-R was sold at shows, and quickly earned a place on student radio charts. The duo played a few support acts, and were already thinking about what to do next.

In 2006, Avec pas d'casque presents its first official album: Trois chaudières de sang. Nicolas Moussette joins the band to defend the album live on stage. Trois chaudières de sang garnered critical acclaim and two nominations at the 2006 ADISQ gala, including "Country Album of the Year". That same year, the Festival d'été de Québec awarded the group the "Prix Miroir de l'artiste d'ici".

Now a trio, Avec pas d'casque released an album in 2008 entitled Dans la nature jusqu'au cou. The album was hailed by the critics and shone on several year-end charts. The following year, the band received two nominations at the ADISQ Gala, including "Songwriter of the Year", as well as Best Country/Folk Album at the GAMIQ awards gala.

In 2012, setting aside more lo-fi sounds, the band returns with Astronomie, an atmospheric and intimate folk album inspired by the colors of the night. Mathieu Charbonneau joins the band. Astronomie wins numerous awards, including "Album of the Year - Critics' Choice" and "Songwriter of the Year" at the Gala de l'ADISQ, as well as trophies for "Songwriter of the Year" and "Folk Album of the Year" at the Gala des prix GAMIQ. To these honors is added their presence on the long list of the 2012 Polaris Prize. The band plays all over Quebec, and their audience expands significantly. An EP entitled Dommage que tu sois pris is released the following year.

In 2016, the band released the critically acclaimed album Effets spéciaux, which earned them the Félix for "Folk Album of the Year" and a third nomination for Songwriter of the Year at the ADISQ gala. After an 8-year hiatus, during which the members devoted themselves to various parallel projects (film and music), the band is back in the studio to prepare for what's to come.