Canadian Punk Legend Gene Champagne Flies High On Debut Solo Record Let’s Jet!
Pop that cork and raise a toast! Beloved Canadian punk drummer Gene Champagne is stepping out from behind the kit for his long-awaited first solo EP, Let’s Jet!
A fan favorite after decades of pounding the skins for Teenage Head, The Killjoys, and playing the guitar and singing with The Un-Teens, Champagne now has his sights set squarely on Renaissance Man status. He’s written, sung, and played every part on a four-song tour de force he recorded several years ago in his home studio, and which is only now seeing the light of day. Life, it seems, just got in the way … but more on that later.
The title track/opener lets us know just what we’re in for, and why the wait was entirely worth it. It’s an insanely catchy throwback to the days when punk, power pop and rock and roll lived at the same electric nexus point, and you could still use the music to document simple youthful angst without anybody asking you what you thought about Nicaragua. Champagne spins a tale of adolescent lust and trepidation, his hormones raging with every syllable as he musters up the courage to proposition a potential pickup who’s caught his eye:
We’ve been hanging around here way too long
But there’s a girl dancing to my favorite song
I’m gonna ask her to go for a ride
My knees are shaking, feel like I’m gonna die
I’m walking over, I’m really on my way
Let’s jet
Baby let’s jet
Get ready get set
Baby let’s jet
Champagne’s impassioned vocal delivery is 100 percent authoritative, and his instrumental tracks crackle with the energy of not just classic punk, but also power pop and good old rock and roll. It’s the same on the ep’s other tracks, “Back in My Arms,” “Rock’n’roll Boy” and “Shake Some More,” all of which rock with the joyous unison of an actual band while benefiting from the keen focus of a singular vision.
The vindication of finally having the record out is all the sweeter for the many trials Champagne had to endure along the way. First, his mother died; then he himself contracted a nasty case of COVID-19 that landed him in the hospital, where he was put on a ventilator and wound up in a coma for seven days. The story received attention in the national press, with no guarantees offered that Champagne would pull through. When he finally did and regained his strength to play, fate dealt another cruel hand: Gordie Lewis, Champagne’s bandmate in Teenage Head and his self-described “hero” from the age of 15, was found murdered in his home.
“He was taken away from us, and in a way that was not easy to comprehend or shake,” Champagne says.
Lewis’ memory and spirit live on in Let’s Jet! The title itself comes from a saying Lewis had passed along from Head singer Frankie Venom, and the lyrics to the title song include a reference to their band’s classic track “Ain’t Got No Sense.”
If Lewis is getting to pull any strings from his new vantage point Up There, he’s doing so with a vengeance. Let’s Jet! Has hit the top 10 on indie radio charts around the world, including #1 rankings in the UK, France, and Los Angeles. It’s the first time Champagne has gone to the top of any of those charts outside Canada, he notes with pride. The song has been playlisted on SiriusXM’s Rodney Bingenheimer and Little Steven’s Coolest Songs In The World on the Underground Garage channel.
“These days, things are brighter, and I have learned tough lessons in those past years,” Champagne says. “There’s no time like now, and we are all fragile. I can’t sit on things, and I want to do what I love in the now.
Here we are today, and it’s time for Let’s Jet! to be put out into the world.”
Hi Gene, care to introduce yourself?
Hi, I am Gene Champagne from Hamilton, ON. I am most known as a founding member and the drummer of The Killjoys and the drummer of Teenage Head. I now get to introduce myself as a solo artist with a brand-new EP that is out now.
Tell us about the process of recording “Let’s Jet”?
Let’s Jet is the title track of my new ep. It’s truly a solo record in that I wrote and recorded all the instruments and mixed the record myself in my home studio. At the time I was working with Teenage Head bandmate
Gordie Lewis helped him put some of his own song ideas together and record those. I began writing myself in tandem as I was so inspired to work together. I was set up to record anyway so in my own time
I would put my ideas onto ‘tape’ so to speak. Of course, I had to track each instrument and vocals separately because it was just me. This is often how I write. I pretty much hear it in my mind and then I try to replicate it as much as I can and build on it that way. This led to the 4 songs I have on the EP. I was really happy with them, but I didn’t get the opportunity to put it out at that time because life just got in the way.
How does it feel to get back to making music again?
I am in a good place right now. I love playing with my bandmates in both The Killjoys and Teenage Head, but I am really enjoying and embracing the opportunity to do this for myself. I am inspired and it’s a lot of fun to get out from behind the drum kit and do something different.
Who was the first and most recent Canadian artist to blow you away?
The first Canadian band to ever blow me away was Teenage Head way back when I was a kid. I was hooked! The songs, the beat, the loud guitars, and of course Frankie Venom who had the voice and stage presence that was second to none. I often ask myself what would your 15-year-old self say now that I get to play all those songs with my heroes? I feel very lucky and honoured to share the stage with those guys and have them as such good friends. The most recent Canadian band I have come across that I am really into is The Anti-Queens. I knew of them and when Teenage Head did a Toronto show Emily from The Anti-Queens did a solo opening slot and she blew me away. Her bandmate Valerie got up at one point and sang with her and the harmonies were amazing. I was sold. I have been following them and loving the songs and the work ethic they have since, and their new album is fantastic.
What are your plans for Spring and Summer?
This spring I have some shows coming up. The Bovine in Toronto on June 14th and June 15th at Palasad Social Bowl in London opening for my friends The Black Halos. Then my hometown record release show is on June 29th at The Corktown in Hamilton which I am really looking forward to. I am planning for more shows to come. In the summer I have some Teenage Head shows but I am planning on doing a lot more of my own shows end of summer and heading into the fall.
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