Rock band Rust Eden’s journey to success

Alexandre and David’s love of music has turned Rust Eden into a five-piece rock band

At the heart of the Montreal rock band Rust Eden are two long-time friends who have a deep and profound love for music. They are vocalist, guitarist and keyboardist Alexandre Larin and bassist David Bastien. These musicians met each other in Saint-Eustache a decade ago, where both of them grew up. Their shared passion and drive made it natural for them to combine their music and start jamming together right away. They started off with the band name Gregon Ciel, which involved a progressive music style. “We made a lot of music before. Did some recording, just the two of us at my parent’s house,” said Larin.

However, by only making music alone in Larin’s basement, they began building a bubble around themselves. It got to the point that they were shy to go out and share their music with the world. Although they have built up their confidence over the years, the shyness still exists for both musicians. “It’s still a big deal,” said Larin. “It’s better than it was, but there’s mood swings in the process. There’s a lot of, ‘Oh is it okay? Do I suck?'”

They believe that this lack of confidence comes from putting a lot of pressure on themselves, but they say it can be a positive thing as well. “I think it’s a good thing because we are [creating] so much music. We are doing two or three songs a week,” said Larin. The band said focusing more on the creative process and less on gaining popularity through their music helps them build their confidence as well. It was around this time four years ago that they decided to create the band Rust Eden. They then grew their musical duo into a five-piece band, with Marc-Antoine Sévégny on drums, Étienne Broué on guitar and Benoît Parent on keyboards.

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Larin and Bastien performing at the M bar on St-André in 2015. Photo by Camille St-Jacques.

They wanted to add more musicians to their band in order to bring a new dimension to the sound of their live performances. “I think that playing with other musicians is pretty cool because you’re playing with different mindsets,” said Larin. “I think it’s really positive to hear other musician’s ideas.” The band released their latest album, Apartment Green, in May, and will be releasing an EP in the upcoming year. Apartment Green was recorded in Parent’s studio, Studio B. “It was a no-brainer to record there because it’s a good studio with expensive stuff,” said Larin.

Studio B’s label, Chivy Chivy, has also given them a lot of funding for their music. “They paid for radio tracking in the States and Canada, and they helped us with money and with promotions,” said Larin. According to Bastien and Larin, as reserved people, it is hard to make contacts, so they are thankful to have Chivy Chivy as a record label. “We took a huge step with them just to promote our band. We have no contacts in Montreal, so they just know how to do it,” said Bastien. “We tried, but we’re not good at it.”

Although they are both very happy with how the album turned out, they’re ready to move on with their new music. “We’re the kind of guys who just… We’re doing music and once it’s released, we say to ourselves: ‘Okay, what’s the next thing?… What’s the next step? How can we make something different?’” said Larin.Bastien and Larin have always been focused on creating unique music they’re proud of—something that will never change throughout their musical careers. “We just wanted to make music from scratch,” said Larin. “We don’t want to sound like anything else. The final goal is to [compose] original music.”

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Rust Eden jamming at Studio B in 2015. Photo by Camille St-Jacques.

The band is now experimenting with sound and adding more glam rock influences to their upcoming EP. “It will have the groovy kind of stuff, because we’ve always been more down-tempo, kind of stoner type of music, but we’re trying to do more up-tempo and upper music,” said Larin. Both Larin and Bastien’s mindsets and points of view will be equally featured in the upcoming EP. “In terms of lyrics, for the next album it’s pretty 50/50,” said Larin.

They are simply happy to be playing together and compose my original music that they are proud of. “That’s the best high we can get. It’s just so much fun,” said Larin. The most important thing for these two friends is to be true to themselves and to their music. “We just try to keep the roots of two guys who are doing music and tripping and… trying to explore things and just satisfy ourselves in that kind of trip. It’s really a trip for us,” said Larin.

Rust Eden will be performing at Casa Del Popolo on Nov. 17th. The show starts at 9 p.m. and tickets are $7 at the door.

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