Les Foufounes Électriques is a club and concert venue located at 87

Saint Catherine Street Sainte-Catherine Street (french: rue Sainte-Catherine) () is the primary commercial artery of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It crosses the central business district from west to east, beginning at the corner of Claremont Avenue and de ...

East in the city of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, Canada in a neighbourhood known as the

Quartier Latin The Latin Quarter of Paris (french: Quartier latin, ) is an area in the 5th and the 6th arrondissements of Paris. It is situated on the left bank of the Seine, around the Sorbonne. Known for its student life, lively atmosphere, and bistros ...

(Latin Quarter).Legaspi, Andre, ''Frommer's Montreal Day by Day'', Frommer's, 2007, p 107.
Last retrieved June 17, 2010Bowden, Arabella, ''The Rough Guide to Montréal'', Rough Guides, 2004, p. 175.
Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010 It is a multi-level establishment with two concert spaces and a dance floor.Davidson, Hilary, ''Frommer's Canada'', John Wiley and Sons, 2006, p. 267.
Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010 The club opened in 1983 and became a centre for

underground music Underground music is music with practices perceived as outside, or somehow opposed to, mainstream popular music culture. Underground music is intimately tied to popular music culture as a whole, so there are important tensions within underground ...

underground art Underground art is any form of art that operates outside of conventional norms in the art world, part of underground culture. This can include essentially any genre of art that is not popular in the art world, including visionary art and street ...

, and culture in Montreal.Barry, Chris, "Anarchy and assholes", ''Montreal Mirror'', Oct 20-26.2005 Vol. 21 No. 18.
Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010 The history of Les Foufounes Electriques on the club's official website.
Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010Musgrave, Sarah, ''Resto a Go-Go: 180 Cheap and Fun Places to Eat and Drink in Montreal'', ECW Press, 2003, p. 227.
Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010Kokker, Steve, ''Québec'', Lonely Planet, 2002, p. 125.
Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010
Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010 Known as "Foufs" by the locals, the club is the oldest

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...

venue in the city.Klein, Rachel, ''Fodor's Montreal & Quebec City'', Random House of Canada, 2010, p. 93.
Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010Jepson, Tim, ''The Rough Guide to Canada'', Rough Guides, 2004, p 257.
Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010

History

In 1983, Norman Boileau,

François Gourd François "Yo" Gourd is a Canadian political figure and entertainer, who has been involved in the Rhinoceros Party of Canada and the entartistes, two satirical political movements."Pied snipers". '' The Gazette'', January 31, 1999. He was also t ...

and Bernard Paquet, 3 friends from the same musical theatre group, decided to open a bar which would also serve as a place to showcase burgeoning alternative musicians and different types of art. Some of the more notable early art performances included applying paint to human canvasses as well as the walls of the club itself - these sessions were known as "Peinture en Direct" (live painting). The club's inner decor includes

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

covered walls and strange

sculptures Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

.Zimmerman, Karla, ''Canada'', Lonely Planet, 2008, p. 285.
Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010 According to Gourd, the bar did not turn much of a profit and he sold his share in the club after 5 years. By the end of the 80s, Boileau was the only remaining owner. The name "Les Foufounes Électriques" in Quebec French literally translates to "the electric buttocks". wiktionary:foufoune According to a 2008 article which appeared in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' the name originated from "its founders' habits of exhibiting their painted derrieres in old TV sets."Gittins, Ian, "Can M for Montreal predict pop's future?", ''The Guardian'', Dec 2, 2008.
Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010 During the 80s the club became a centre for the

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

and

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

subcultures of Montreal, however the club has also been home to many varieties of underground and alternative styles of music, including new wave,

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

, grunge, and hip-hop.Papineau, Philippe, "Attaque locale aux Foufs", ''Le Devoir'', May 4, 2007.
(French text.) Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010 The club tends to attract a younger punk/alternative rock crowd in addition to and including students from one of Montreal's many colleges and universities.Whyte, David, ''Scotland'', Hunter Publishing, Inc, 1998, p. 187.
Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010 Some of the more well known international artists who have performed at the venue include

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

, Green Day,

Queens of the Stone Age Queens of the Stone Age (commonly abbreviated QOTSA) is an American Rock music, rock band formed in 1996 in Palm Desert, California. The band was founded by vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, who has been the only constant member throughout mul ...

, Mano Negra,

The Dickies The Dickies are an American punk rock band formed in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, in 1977. One of the longest tenured punk rock bands, they have been in continuous existence for over 40 years. They have consistently balanced catchy mel ...

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

and

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...

.Béland, Kathy, "Les griffes de la nuit", ''Voir'', Jan 6, 2011.
(French text.) Last retrieved May 20, 2012 In addition to live musical performances and various DJ shows, the venue has also hosted a variety of non-musical events, including barbecues, art shows and

sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. Types There are four main types of classic sideshow attractions: *The Ten-in-One offers a program of ten ...

References

External links

A video clip about the club which originally appeared on the Radio Canada French-language tv series "L'Enfer, c'est nous autres" on June 14, 1993.
Last retrieved Jun 17, 2010.
A video clip from Halloween night, in 2000. It really illustrates the creative and fun vibe that is still found in the club to this day. WARNING - Some of the costumes may not be considered appropriate for young children.
Last retrieved October 12, 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Foufounes Electriques, Les 1983 establishments in Quebec Music venues completed in 1983 Music venues in Montreal Nightclubs in Montreal Punk rock venues Quartier Latin, Montreal Rock music venues