Follow @stecatherines
The Sainte Catherines have been around since 1999 and are the first band Fat Wreck Chords has ever worked with from Quebec. Montreal to be exact, sacre bleu! Their Fat debut, Dancing For Decadence, is a perfect representation of their hard-working, hard-drinking, hard-hitting brand of punk rock. People call them crusty, punk, metal, hardcore-whatever, but they sarcastically describe themselves as “Motley Crue taking a bath with Tragedy while Hot Water Music argues with Leatherface about the state of punk rock.” At least we think it’s sarcastic?

A more accurate description would have to include the fact that this is a band that is truly living among the activist/punk community. Guitarist Fred is employed full-time by Greenpeace, Marc tracks punk bands at his home studio, Bassist Pablo works at Montreal’s most renowned punk record shop, and so on. Shoot, singer Hugo is a Janitor for crying out loud, and you can’t get more punk than that! Hugo explains their bands’ involvement, “It’s just natural for us because we all share the same punk rock ideals and desire to make things better. I think it’s really weird when bands in this scene don’t have that set of beliefs.”

The French-Canadians not only have golden hearts, but iron wills. They’ve toured in 9 different countries and have more than 400 shows under their collective beret. Tours with bands like Against Me!, Leatherface, The Lawrence Arms, Strike Anywhere, etc. With the impending release of their new record the band is poised for many months of the same. They’ve already scheduled some shows with the Subhumans and have a nice long tour of European squats lined up in support of the new tunes.

The band insisted they record the new album in Montreal in an effort to capture all the scum and revelry that is their hometown. A city that has recently given birth to booming metal and indie scenes, The Sainte Catherines wanted to make sure Montreal gets its punk rock propers. On top of that, they enlisted the help of Alex Newport, who specializes in heavy rocking and has worked with bands like At The Drive In, Sepultura, The Locust, Melvins, and more. The end result is a vicious punk LP that has The Sainte Catherines and their three ripping guitars (that’s right, three guitars) firing on all cylinders. Frontman Hugo says, “It’s classic punk rock: fast, angry, melodic, and fun. And we did it right for the first time!”

Now you see why we wanted to work with these wacky bilingual punks? They’re a dynamic band made up of very dynamic people. On top of the compelling lives they lead, they also have a Country/Western side project called Yesterday’s Ring that plays sold out shows in Montreal. Totally weird, but lovable dudes, through and through. Be sure to see these road-ready punks when they come through your town and have a listen to their newest full length, Dancing For Decadence!