The Flamingos Pink play rock ‘n’ roll music in its purest form. No frills. No nonsense. The duo of Julien Corrado (drums, vocals) and Sacha Gubany (guitar, vocals) waste no time in getting to the essence of the music. This is rock ‘n’ roll stripped right down, down to its beating heart. Taking their cues from old school rock and proto-punk acts like The Stooges with a healthy dose of early 2000’s garage à la Hives/White Stripes thrown in, The Flamingos Pink are able to weave their influences together in such a seemingly effortless manner that they manage to sound both classic and modern at once. These two have been playing together for a good few years now, honing their chops and sharpening their songwriting skills all the while. Their latest record, Free Livin’, is a gnarly blast of hard rock riffing at its finest, with the single I Don’t Care alternating between garage rock chugging, and an almost 70’s AC/DC-like groove before exploding into an anthemic chorus. The title track has a similarly classic vibe, with a catchy, bluesy vocal riding a swampy old school riff to fantastic effect. Like true kindred music-loving souls these two connected and bonded over a shared passion.

Julien: Sach had recorded a version of the Elvis Presley song Jailhouse Rock and I was putting together a band at the high school I was working at. I was a hall monitor, and Sach was a hall monitor as well. He was, like, ‘I hear you’re putting together a band, I can sing’ and he put the headphones on me and I was taken aback. I was like ‘Okay, this dude can sing!’ It takes guts to just show your voice, and I like that putting-yourself-out there. I’m kind of like that with drums. Musically this was one of the first clicks. We had known each other, but we became friends at that point. This was 2013.

Sacha: Originally Julez was my hall monitor when I started high school so we’ve known each other since I was twelve and Julez was nineteen. That was 2007.

Julien: So I met Sacha in 2007 and then when we got back together to form that band. We found out that we had both gone to the same kindergarten and elementary school! So essentially we have the same schooling.

Sacha: We had a similar path. And that brought us together.

Julien: For one of us to be a guitar player and the other one to be a drummer, like, we could have been two guitar players and just been like ‘I hate this dude!” [laughs] “It wouldn’t work.

The two found that not only did they share a similar path through life and several similar interests, but they also shared an intense and passionate love of all things musical. That intensity connected them and the chemistry was immediately apparent. That’s one of the great things about musical duos, a shared vision is that much easier to come by with no one else in the mix. Of course, it also means that both halves have to be operating at maximum strength at all times.

Julien: Every thing has the flip side to its coin. So during the pandemic it feels like being a two-piece was great, because you don’t have to run things by a bunch of people to get schedules. It was run-and-gun for a long time. But the flip side to that is that when it’s hard for one of us that’s fifty percent of the band. So it’s a lot of weight, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. You breed accountability. We’ve been through a lot in the last five years of being a band.

Sacha: Which brings us to when we formed, actually, as The Flamingos Pink in 2018.

Julien: Right about this time we played our first show ever.

Sacha: Five years ago almost to the day.

Julien: Six songs. Two of them had lyrics. The other ones were just made up on the spot.

One thing that’s immediately apparent listening to The Flamingos Pink is that these guys have a wide variety of tastes and influences to bring to table when it’s time to write. The infectious, memorable melodies that run throughout their discography recall everything from 60’s pop to the harder edged sounds of the first wave of 70’s punk. Folk and country elements mix with more modern sensibilities and the whole thing is tied together with a raw and gritty production style. The little off-kilter moments and occasionally detuned guitars combine to form something warm and familiar, yet visceral and alive. The band charges through it all like a freight train made of pure, swaggering attitude. Check out the Davies-brother-like riff on New Kins (I Got It) from 2020’s Outtacontroller LP or the more rootsy sound of At The Altar from the latest record to see what I mean.

Sacha: On Julez’ side, growing up playing drums, there’s the whole disco influence, and hip-hop as well. The way he plays is not just a straight ahead rock‘n’roll guy. Which adds a flair. I grew up listening to a ton of Beatles and 70’s rock from my dad, so there’s another influence. So all of that is just a big pool meshed together.

The Flamingos Pink wasted no time getting down to the business of making records. In the few years they’ve been together they’ve already put out an impressive three full length LPs as well as a further three EPs. They’ve done DIY live-to-tape recording, live recording and some more extensive studio work.

Julien: We’ve always prided ourselves on working fast. Efficiently. Which means that when you show up to the recording sessions you know what you’re doing. Back to the whole flip side of coins, I think we were able to do a lot in a condensed period, but sometimes when you look back it’s like ‘Okay, why rush?’. But you look at the context and it’s, like, it was the pandemic, and I think it’s intimately entwined with where we’re at today. It’s just run and gun. Burning so hot and trying to put what we’re going through, through our instruments.

Sacha: Obviously, like anybody in music, money’s a thing too. We’re self producing these records so you gotta try and get-in-get-out in the studio. The last record we did [Free Livin’] was recorded in four days in a live room at Studio La Traque with our buddy [engineer] Dave Laurendeau. Which was a really cool experience. Music is very visceral for the both of us, that’s how we connect, so I think we’ve always gravitated towards keeping it very raw. When you listen to the records they’re very stripped down. There’s not a whole lot going on in terms of layering and whatnot. But to take the time going forward, we’re trying to see how we can keep it raw, keep that energy, keep that visceral aspect that we really enjoy that’s ultimately the special part of our live shows. How do you transfer that to a recording but also give it more lushness in the soundscape. That’s something that we’re working on now. Trying to gravitate towards that instead of just get-in-and-get-out two day recordings.

With such an impressive amount of studio experience in comparatively little time it’s no wonder that the boys have developed an efficient, no-nonsense way of working out new material.

Julien: We have a bunch of SM 57’s and we just put them on the drums and on the guitar and we’re just trying to build structures on clicks so that each of us can kind of dig into what the parts could be and then get together and see what works and doesn’t work. Then we stack studio recordings on to our home recordings. I find it’s the best way, first of all to A/B the tracks, and second of all it’s nice to have a texture from here and a texture from there. What I find cool with our records up to now is that they’re really snapshots in time. These songs represent what we were going through at that point in time. And I’m seeing that just because they were mastered at that point in time doesn’t mean you can revisit them and re-record them and add stuff and subtract stuff. It’s just another entity that lives in time. And we all evolve with time.

The noisy, rollicking garage rock number No Fear off the latest record is the perfect example of this ethos. Having first appeared on their very first EP in a very different form, the band dusted it off for the Free Livin’ sessions giving it new life. The Flamingos Pink are always moving forward, already in the process of demoing songs for future records. Having self produced everything so far I couldn’t help but wonder if they had any plans to work with a producer in the future.

Julien: I think we’re at a point where we know that we like these home recordings and for me I’m not rushed with a time frame anymore in the sense of going to the studio and having everything ready. I want to build home recordings and then book a studio session and do some stuff and have the songs build themselves so we have time to sit with them, as opposed to digesting them once they’re released. I think we’ve come up with a process and now I’m looking forward to evolving with that process.

This mentality of viewing their songs as living pieces that can always be expanded on helps The Flamingos Pink keeps moving forward at a breakneck pace. They never have to second guess what they’ve done because no version of any song is the definitive one. There’s always a place for new ideas should the mood strike them. Keeping their creative minds open and alert also allows new material to form quickly. The most common creative frustrations stem from a sort of preciousness that the artist tends to feel for their art. But often the best ideas come out of nowhere when you’re least expecting them and it pays to stay on your toes and be receptive to your own subconscious impulses. To have a like minded soul as your creative partner can expand and embolden those ideas in ways you’d never imagine on your own.

Before we wrap things up I ask the band to talk a little about some of their favourite local venues and bands so readers might have an idea of where to catch some killer local music.

Sacha: Favourite place to play is Turbo Haus. Favourite place to see shows? Turbo Haus is pretty good! The whole staff, they’re so nice and everybody's so welcoming. They’ve created a beautiful place for people to come play and listen to music. I really like the Corona Theatre, which has changed names but I’m still gonna call it Corona ‘cause fuck it. [Note: It’s now called Theatre Beanfield] In terms of bands, a band we’ve played with who are doing great for themselves right now is Les Shirley. They’re beautiful people. We were lucky enough to open for them about a year ago at Le Ministere and that was a lot of fun. It’s really cool to see them doing well. Another one that sticks out, we played about a year ago at Turbo with Dangereens. I thought they were really cool.

As we talk about the local scene the two realize that a lot of bands they know have broken up for one reason or another mostly over the course of the pandemic. The Flamingos Pink took the opposite route and sharpened their sense of determination.

Julien: That’s such a big part of us as a band. I think we were hungry before but in the pandemic we were just like hyenas. To have a purpose at a time when everything was just like “What’s going on?” Now we’re out of that and going “Okay, so what’s up now? What’s new?”

With five years of experience under their belt already you can be absolutely certain you’ll be hearing plenty more from The Flamingos Pink in the months and years ahead. These guys aren’t stopping anytime soon and that’s something to be thankful for. Go check out Free Livin’ to hear Montreal rock at its finest.

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Check out The Flamingos Pink’s choices for Top 5 MTL Record Stores on Forget The Box!

Free Livin’ and The Flamingos Pink

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