Meet the 14-year-old behind some of Calgary’s best music
At age 14 weirdo rock wunderkind Jean Sebastien Audet has already surpassed numerous musical peers with twice his years. Whether fronting fuzzy pop duo Faux Fur getting skronky with his solo project Wealth Plant dropping J. Dilla-style beats under the hip-hop alias Zouk Fuck or running his Yew Nork record label the teenage rioter is laying the foundation for an underground empire.
Since moving to Calgary from Montreal five years ago Audet gave his earliest local performances in the same way Chad VanGaalen did: as a busker. Playing Neil Young covers in front of Kensington coffee shop Higher Ground he netted as much as $30 an hour (“I made even more when I looked younger” he quips) yet it was a chance meeting with local scene stalwart Chris Dadge that set the wheels in motion.
“My mom had forgotten to pick me up so I met Chris when I walked into Hot Wax after busking” Audet says. “I was in the shop for two hours asking about music. Eventually Chris commented that we had similar taste so I started coming in all the time. I met Sean (Dicey) at Hot Wax as well and he ended up recording the Wealth Plant tape. Now Chris fills in whenever my regular drummer can’t make it to shows.”
From there sets at a variety of all-ages venues such as Tubby Dog the Local Library and the now-defunct Comrad Sound raised Audet’s afro-headed profile even further. This fall he surprised many by booking two of Calgary’s (and the country’s) biggest bands Women and Azeda Booth as the opening acts for a Faux Fur album release show. But while his stock may be rising quickly Audet still considers his efforts in the trial stage; he takes inspiration from both current local bands and timeless touch-points.
“Most of my projects are experimental in the sense that I don’t prepare much for them” he says. “That might sound bad but I’ve worked out a system that works well. For Wealth Plant it’s usually just whatever I can come up with that sounds like something no one has ever heard before but that still won’t be too weird. With Faux Fur I just write whatever sounds good not thinking about what I want it to sound like. It’s definitely influenced by Friendo because they have that ’90s underground rock sound but my biggest influences are Guided By Voices and Sonic Youth.”
On top of uploading music to the Internet at the speed of Mediafire Audet has also offered tangible releases from his own projects and others via Yew Nork. Prior to Wealth Plant’s Friends cassette YN001 was a CD reissue of Truro N.S.’s PiG’s Elbow Witch tape. Next came an all-Canadian digital compilation with Sans AIDS Grown Ups and Tonetta while upcoming releases are slated for Calgary’s Free Nude Celebs L.A.’s Allister Izenberg U.K.’s Old Forest and more.
“Yew Nork was more of an art project at first and I decided to release art with music attached to it” Audet says. “The first two releases haven’t been too artsy but I plan on making some silkscreens and watercolour paintings for the next few. Eventually with the help of my parents and some money I’d also like to do vinyl.”
Recent developments include the recruitment of Andrew Flegel (younger brother of two members of Women) as Faux Fur’s drummer; the band also signed to South Carolina label Summertime in Hell for the band’s next full-length. Audet’s future is looking bright if he can only settle on a style.
“The first Faux Fur releases were on regular tapes from London Drugs” he laughs. “It was an electronic project back then kind of like ’80s synth music. I sent a copy to weirdcanada.com but then told them not to review it because I didn’t like it anymore. Right after that I did another Faux Fur cassette that was really chill kind of like Real Estate. The tapes didn’t dub well so I just destroyed them. Then I released it as a CD and sold about 50 but decided I didn’t like that style either. I guess I’m just picky.”
