BETON ARME - Hard hitting Oi! from Montreal, QC

BETON ARME are a new Oi! band from Montreal, Quebec. Questions awnsered by Prestone(vocals) and Fabio (bass).

1. Who are Beton Arme, age, occupation, hobbies, little known facts...?

Prestone: I'm the lead singer in Béton Armé. I also play in Force Majeure, Ibrahim et les dompteurs de tigres and an upcoming project called Silex. We're all living and working in Montreal. We've been jamming together since January I think. 

Fabio: I'm the bassist in Béton Armé and also in Silex and i work in construction around the city of montreal. 

2.For us Anglo's, whats does the band name mean, and what are yer lyrical topics so far? Yer cassette artwork is classic, who's idea was it and who drew it up?

B.A: Béton Armé means reinforced concrete in english. Oli, our guitarist, thought about this name a long time ago and kept it in case he started an Oi! band someday. To me, it represents how important it is to stick tight to our friends and to be indestructible. This is what a good part of the lyrics are about. It's also about how we don't like traitors and hypocrite people around our crew! One song (Quartier Populaire meaning working class neighborhood) is about our hood in Montreal called Hochelaga who has been going through a gentrification process over the past couple of years now. As for the artwork, we asked out good friend Leo from Paris to do it (you can find him @undefeatedsun on instagram). He’s worked on numerous projects including Bromure’s À la Roquette release aswell as doing a bunch of flyers for our other friends at Une vie pour rien records. He’s incredibly talented and it was awesome working with him. Needless to say, we were also very happy with the results. 

3. You guys instantly make me think of the Chaos En France compilations without being derivitive at all, aswell as (obviously) RIXE come to mind. Is this coincidental, or do these bands make up a good portion of your influences as a band? Are there any genres outside French Oi! that you find inspiring at all, or are you purists?

Prestone: Yeah exactly! I'm a big fan of the Chaos en france era! Bands like Camera Silens, Trotkids, Collabos, Komintern Sect, No Class and more. Our biggest influence for BA is Nabat's LP Scenderemo nelle strade, which came out in 81. This explains why we like to play raw riff and sing some of the lyrics in Italian (Fabio, our bassist is Italian). We covered Asocial oi! at our first show! New french oi! bands such as Rixe, Squelette, Bromure, Condor are the kind of sound I listen to the most. Outside of BA style, I like The Janitors, The Clichés, No Heart, Last Crusade, and Hard Pressed. All of these bands also have a big influence to us! 

4. What's the Oi! scene like in Montreal and Quebec as a whole these days? Can you tell us the best and worst things about it? Have you playing outside MTL yet, and if not do you have plans to?

B.A: We’ve got so much new sick bands in Montreal! You just have to look at Lsc Records on bandcamp and you'll understand! The good side of it is that we have friends from other punk scenes coming to our shows. So that brings a new sense of unity to the scene. Also, we recently found a new venue called Atomic Café in Hochelaga. Don't really know for the worst side of our scene, it’s been mostly positive lately haha. 

5. Do you prefer the classic bands, or the new breed? With a short description, give us yer top 10 of current/new bands.

B.A: We would say both, honestly. There's good new stuff influenced by old school bands these days! Our ten favourite current bands are: No Heart (catchy oi! stuff and rough vocal), Squelette (Agressive french oi! - Big inspiration for BA lyrics) Rixe (agressive french oi! aswell) , Coupe Gorge (Hardcore/oi!, solid new release), Bromure (Very typical french oi!), Ultra Razzia (Friends of us, old school oi! sound), Rogue Trooper (Cool mix of hardcore and oi), Fuerza Bruta (Spanish lyrics and hard oi!), Ultra Sect (reminds me of templars stuff, very good) and Legion 76 (Nice guys who knows are to play solid oi!). 

6. What does the future hold for Beton Arme? As far as releases, tours, gigs etc and how can we get copies?

B.A: For now, we want to play a couple of shows in Montreal and other cities around aswell. We also want to play in Europe in maximum a year. As for the band, we have new t-shirts and we are working on new stuff for a potential LP! I think there are still a few demo tapes on sale, ask LSC Records on Facebook or Bandcamp!

7. Closing comments?

B.A: Thanks you for that interview and keep up the good work man!