Crying over bread | The art of “fucking with the status quo”, according to Hugo Mudie

The young punk retiree recounts 25 years of refusing to fall into line in Crying over breada fascinating account of his final tour.

“Why would a 42-year-old punk, by no means at the peak of his career, go on an unprofitable tour in Mexico in average conditions with Mexicans who, too, do all that “because”? », asks Hugo Mudie, an excellent question.

“Because, precisely,” the icon of Quebec punk responds in Crying over breadthe story of his final tour, interspersed with more or less glorious anecdotes gleaned over his last 25 years in the trenches of the underground.

” Because. » The simple beauty of the gesture, that of screaming in front of sweaty crowds, will have long justified in the eyes of the leader of the Sainte Catherines the countless defeats incurred on the bumpy road to the margins, eating poorly, sleeping poorly and having pain everywhere – Hugo Mudie shares her daily life with generalized degenerative osteoarthritis.

Subtitled “The punk singer’s final chapter”, Crying over bread chronicles the end of a heady, but often toxic, love story between music and an arrogant young man who is less and less young and less and less arrogant. The intoxication of the scene having gradually transformed into routine, even into a burden. He would have preferred to bow out last December – no more shows, no more albums – than to have to start pretending, an art that he never really mastered.

“My motivation behind my music has been a lot of provocation,” he explains in an interview. I asked myself for a long time: “These people love me, what can I do now to disturb them?” »

He admits it himself: his solo albums, drawing on power pop, indie rock and country, will have alienated many of his followers. “It’s like I’m forcing myself to lose fans,” he says, half laughing. “But at the same time, I could do acoustic folk like all the old punks do, but I never liked creating with popularity in mind. If I just wanted to be popular, I would do something else in life. »

Cool like the big brother

At the age of 5, he says, Hugo Mudie already knew that he would spend his life “fucking with the status quo”, in other words, that he would never come across any rank he would wish to enter. At the age of 15, he created his own fanzine, which he posted all over the world and in which he wrote record reviews in still broken English.

At 17, when it became clear that his hockey career would never reach the same heights as that of his hero Ron Hextall, the rebel without a cause found one: singing in a band. He was barely an adult when he founded The Sainte Catherines, a now cult Montreal band, whose reputation as an unstoppable rock machine would be cemented by the classic The Art of Arrogance (2002).

In 2005, the group signed a contract with Fat Wreck Chords, one of the most important American punk labels. But once he becomes a father (his son is now 17 and his daughter, 14), Mudie will miss his kids too much to continue to break his voice and his body in the four dark corners of the world. The clichés of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll had also already worn him out quite a bit.

“In my head, that was the only way to be a rock star,” he confides of his former excesses. “I say it today and I’m a little ashamed, but I was 24, I was stupid and I wanted Fat Mike (singer of NOFX) to talk to me. At some point, I realized that it wasn’t me, that the child I had been would laugh at the guy I had become. »

In defense of art for art’s sake

Although he said goodbye to the stage last December, Hugo Mudie has not renounced punk rock and is still working on the organization of Pouzza Fest, the next edition of which will be held from May 17 to 19.

“I say it here. Not in my name, but in that of the entire underground (musical at least): We are superior,” he wrote in Cry for bread, proof that he has not completely cured his insolence. “It’s not a question of taste. It’s just better. It’s a question of passion, effort, guts, audacity, heart. Operation Ivy is better than Smash Mouth. (…) Tom Waits is SUPERIOR to Marie-Mai. »

“Every time someone tells me that a certain pop artist is a genius, I feel like answering: “Are you crazy, Criss?”, he exclaims. I think it’s a reflection of the society we live in, where what counts is numbers. It’s present even in my environment. I’m going to ask someone: “Have you heard that band?” and I’ll be told: “No, they just have 800 monthly listeners on Spotify. Why would I listen to that?” But what does this have to do with music? »

Any advice for young punks? “You have to finish what you start. Even if it works average. In any case, that’s how you experience good stories. » His book is flamboyant proof of this.