M for Montreal 2024 Day 3 & 4: the return of Les Breastfeeders ++ Hot Garbage, TVOD, FUUDGE & more

Somehow, despite knowing of their existence and generally liking the ’00s garage rock renaissance, I had never seen Montreal royalty Les Breastfeeders before Saturday night at their hometown’s club, Théâtre Fairmount. Having finally rectified this, all I can say is, “Where have you been all my life?”

To give myself a little break, Les Breastfeeders have been largely inactive since 2011’s Dans la gueule des jours, playing only a handful of shows since, and none of those were below the Canadian border. The band just put out La ville engloutie, their fourth album and first in 13 years, and in addition to being part of the final night of M for Montreal 2024, it was also record release show. This was a mostly-locals show and judging by the crowd’s attire — lots of denim and vintage fashion — all of Montreal’s garage psych cognoscenti were in attendance. Kind of like the Quebec answer to The Fleshtones or The Hives, Les Breastfeeders make amped-up, party-forward rock n’ roll with lots of hooks and a French twist.

Les Breastfeeders have also got Johnny Maldoror, the band’s whirling dervish tambourine player (who some may know as Canadian actor Martin Dubreuil), who looks a little like Marty Feldman and was bouncing around the stage like that old action game Battling Tops. (He is part Bez and part Joel Gion but with a lot more pep.) Johnny outpaced the rest of the band, though they were all bundles of energy, including frontman Luc Brien, who looked like he just stepped out of 1968 and who kept the crowd entertained between songs with stories, all of which were in French. (Montreal is an English friendly city these days, but Les Breastfeeders seem from another era in more ways than one.) The band’s groovy songs, style and spark know no language barrier, however, and their set was one of my favorites I saw at M this year. I’ve been listening to their new album ever since as well, and you can listen below.

The best overall showcase I saw was Mothland’s at La Sala Rossa on Friday night. The Montreal label has a strongly defined aesthetic, a mix of post-punk, punk, krautrock and other styles that could be goth-adjacent. Like their 2023 showcase, they kept things moving by putting a second stage in the middle of the floor so there was maybe only five minutes between acts, and had high-tech LCD screens behind the main stage and hanging from the center of the room with some very cool visuals, making for a total package experience. Darkwave artist Alix Fernz, who opened the night, called the lineup “all vampire bands,” and that was pretty accurate. The rest of the show included Toronto’s Hot Garbage who played in near total dark and blasted out superior garage rock noir; Brooklyn six-piece TVOD who just signed to the label and have a unique, fun twist on post-punk; hardcore-leaning punks Truck Violence; and theatrical techno duo Slash Need.

Part of La Sala Rosa, one floor below, is La Sotterenea, a smaller, divier venue where label Hand Drawn Dracula also had a showcase on Friday. Before making my way home (via St-Viateur Bagels) I caught a few songs from Toronto’s Bonnie Trash, who bashed out classic goth. While some of M is as pro as it gets, Mothland and Hand Drawn Dracula are keeping the DIY spirit alive.

Other things I saw over the weekend: Night Lunch opened for Les Breastfeeders with a Bowie-esque glammy style and an emphasis on songcraft, and I capped off the festival at La Sala Rossa on Saturday for the closing party with Belgium’s Wire-esque Milk TV and Montreal’s FUUDGE, who mixed grunge, doom, stoner rock and just a little ’90s quirk alternative (did one song sound like The Presidents of the USA’s “Lump”? Yes) into a very fun way to end my trip to Montreal. 

Check out music from most of the bands mentioned in this piece and a few iPhone photos below.

Read previous M for Montreal 2024 recaps here.