The Lost Fingers Have a Grip on Music
Your debut album, “Lost in the 80s” is a selection of 80s tunes from many genres done in a gypsy style. Why did you choose 80s songs for the album?
We started out as a duo doing other things in restaurants and corporate events and were doing lots of cover tunes. We did lots of jazz and classical at that point. It happened at a gas station where I was filling up the truck and Christian was listening to Samantha Fox on the radio and he pulled out his guitar and started jamming along with the tunes. When I went back into the truck, he had showed me his little version of the Samantha Fox song. We laughed and then took it from there. The 80s was such a funny era, where huge iconic heroes came around and the beginning of music videos where people were looked at as larger than life. Music in the 80s had great musicians behind and the tunes are catchy.
As a follow up to that, how did your band come up with the specific songs for the album? Were they personal favorites or songs you felt could best be expressed through your style?
Some of them we’re ashamed to say were personal favorites. Others that we chose we just liked the tunes. Certain songs had special meanings for the band, in ways that touched us when we were kids or brought back memories. We had about twenty versions and from there we narrowed it down to the ones on the album. We also chose songs that not many musicians do a cover for, like Pump up the Jam, where most musicians wouldn’t dare to cover the tune. Also, songs such as Billy Jean, we thought complimented our style well. We chose songs that could be very surprising.
Could you tell us some of your personal influences?
Alex just cleared his jazz studies and he is very much into Charles Mingus and John Coltrain. Alex also really likes funk and alternative rock. Christian as well, likes ethnic music and plays Arab and Indian instruments. Myself [Byron], I’m really into funk and pop and DJ electronic. The three of us are all over the place,so together we pretty much have the entire basis covered.
Did you imagine your album would be this well received? How did you react when it did so well?
We thought we had something from the get go, but to the point where we were the best selling Quebec and Canadian artists was quite surprising. We are honoured, but we’ve worked hard and I think we deserve it. We played over 200 shows since May so we have certainly been busy boys.
Do you believe your music bridges the gap between jazz and mainstream music?
I really believe that we are doing something culturally important. We will go into schools and give seminars talking about jazz. Usually kids are not that interested, they want pop culture and pop figures. We are able to touch on that and take kids through the different eras and talk about the essentials. We are making people talk about jazz and pop music.
What is your personal view on the Canadian music scene and more specifically, the music scene in Quebec?
I’m a huge fan of a lot of Canadian artists. My favorite Canadian band by far is the band called Chromeo. I’m good friends with them and I love A Track, who is a Kanye West DJ who is also from Montreal. Canada has great music, and I like everything from the Bare Naked Ladies to Tragically Hip to Rush and everything else. I think Canada has a strong music scene producing influential acts. On the second album we would actually like to do covers from more Canadian artists.
Did you find it hard to get recognition when you first started the band, or were most people open to your sound?
Originally we were doing a lot of Django Reinhart tunes, but as soon as we started doing a pop element people started turning around and asking for demos. That’s when it all started. We started selling demos after every show and even after small concerts on ski hills, we would be selling out of albums. I’m not sure why, but we love what we do and I think it’s the fusion of all the elements together that made people turn around. Even though we are doing cover songs we arranged them so well that we are able to give such a fresh new take on the song. Usually cover bands will just redo a song the way it is, but we are very creative and bring humor and great musicianship, which is maybe why we have a lot of contestants.
I understand your music is of a “Gypsy-Style-Jazz.” Could you explain this sound to our readers?
It all started with Django Reinhart from the late 30s. He is a legendary Belgian guitarist that basically had an international career, but mostly in France. Especially in the 30s, 40s, and during the Second World War, he founded this style. He had a profound love for American jazz and used that with a gypsy sound. There are no drums and its pretty much an all-instrumental type of music often with a violin or clarinet as a soloist. We decided to replace the soloist violin and clarinet with vocals and Christian has an amazing voice and does a great job creating a signature sound for the group.
What do you do when you’re not playing music?
That is pretty much all we are doing these days. We play six or seven days a week. Other than that, we try to read or fool around with our iPhones. We love to cook but we don’t have much free time because we are always on the road. I was into a lot of sports such as volleyball. Christian is really into languages and science, and actually just defended his doctoral thesis in biology. Alex likes computer studies and he is actually a jazz professor.
Why the name, The Lost Fingers?
It comes from Django Reinhart, as I was telling you, the legendary jazz guitarist who was a gypsy. He would always be playing his guitar and rolling around in their caravans. He was in an accident in the caravan and lost the use of his third and fourth fingers so that is why we are called the lost fingers. Originally we started as a duo representing each of Reinheart’s lost fingers.
Can you tell us about any plans that you have for future albums?
We are working on a French album now, just for Quebec. I would love to finish up the 80s, but we haven’t really confirmed anything yet. We have a bunch of concepts up our sleeve but only time will tell.
Since DjangoReinhart inspired you as a band, I’m wondering if you have seen the Woody Allan film, Sweet and Low Down, and what your thoughts on it were?
Of course I’ve seen it and I love that movie! I’ve watched it numerous times and I really love the take on it. I thought the actors delivered an excellent performance. I love that movie.
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