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Interview with Stephane Gariepy
By Anna Alexander
I wasn't quite sure to what to write for an intro to Frenchie's interview so I made his lovely wife do it. As usual, the interview is split into my questions and questions from the list. Here's Cerr's intro:
What makes our Frenchie tick? Is it crepes? Anna's keeping on his toes? Our kids? Ah, all of these and so much more would be the answer!
Frenchie aka Stephane, and I have been together for close to 6 years now, he has been the most loving, supportive husband...and above all he has been accepting of this side of my life. To learn more about what it is to be married to me (poor man! LOL) and a man on WG (rare!) please read on......
Music
Since music is such a big influence in your life (and your livelihood) lets start with that. From what I'm told, you pretty much came out of the womb playing an instrument. When did you first decide this was what you wanted to do?
Well, I started piano lesson at age 5 and then switched to organ, picked-up the saxophone at 12 playing in the local concert band which led me to meet other much older musicians who got me playing weddings and other end of season bowling parties at age 13 and so on. So I guess I never really decided to this. It's just something I was already doing.
It became sort of more serious when I went to college to study music. Maybe this was the turning point of me deciding to become a professional.
Was music a big influence in your family?
Aside from my mother constantly listening to Engelbert Humperdinck, there wasn't really any big musical influence at home and fortunately no permanent scars left from hearing to much Humperdinck or Tom Jones or any other of those '60s crooners. No one else played an instrument in my family.
From what I understand (and I didn't catch any of the conversations in French) your father was an engineer of sorts.. how did he respond to you wanting to be a musician?
My father wasn't an engineer but rather worked for Hydro-Quebec, the electricity company for 40 years. He's always been very supportive. Surprisingly, my mother who actually is the one who pushed me through music lessons was the one who had the most concerns about me become a musician. She wanted me to have a more "standard" diploma in my pocket. I never did of course. I thought that if I were to become anything close to a decent musician I would have to devote my entire time working on it, which would leave very little time to pursue another career unless I didn't mind getting out of school at 40.
Do you want your kids to play instruments?
Maybe. I frankly haven't thought about it yet.
In the United States, many of the schools are getting their budgets for things like theater and music cut completely out. How important do you think is music education for the masses?
Well I think it's important for kids to be exposed to it at some point during their education if only from a cultural point of view. It can also help some kids to discover that they have a talent for it. A lot of those students don't have any opportunity at home to explore that possibility, for various reasons, and they get to try stuff for free at school.
Also taking part in music activities at school often (in my days anyway) means extra-curricular activities if I use the term right. Keeping busy at doing something creative helps keep kids out of trouble. It certainly help me and thinking back about all of my friends who were busy with music rehearsals, I can't think of any who got in trouble.
Miles Davis or Louis Armstrong?
I guess I would have to say Miles Davis. They both made enormous contributions to the music world but Davis is closer to my time.
You told me once you were in an 80's cover band.. did you wear eyeliner and hairspray? (hey! You agreed to be interviewed by ME!)
I did not wear eyeliner or hairspray. And that's probably what caused my demise in the cover bands' world. It was a very good experience at the age I was when I did it. It wasn't a very good band because we didn't spend the time it would have needed to make it good because nobody really believed in it I guess. But again it was an invaluable learning experience.
I heard your play the tuba. do I get a sample the next time I'm in Las Vegas?
If you bring a tuba I'll more than happy to oblige.
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