Endrick and the Sandwiches, or working class rock

August 27, 2024 at 9:18 a.m.

By Marie-Catherine Goudreau

Endrick and the Sandwiches lance l’album Straight Up on August 30. In this third album, the Tremblant native offers a journey through blues, rock, folk and even country sounds that will take you back to the good old days of rock.

Hornby Island

The starting point for this musical project is a blues music camp that singer and guitarist Endrick Tremblay attended on Hornby Island in British Columbia. It takes a plane and two ferries to get to this island that has three national parks, he tells us. There, he met people who were passionate about the blues, like him, and took time to compose and return to his first love for the guitar.

“It was really hippie land! I took lessons to improve my guitar and harmonica. I was able to perfect delta blues techniques, which are reminiscent of my musical heroes. It allowed me to find a new angle to play the guitar,” Endrick explains.

The latter also wrote the song Hornby Island, that we find on the album, to pay homage to this place that he loved so much. “The song captures its essence in three musical acts. First, British folk with mandolins expressing its luxuriant vegetation. Then, the hypnotic pulsation of organs evoking the spirit rave of its inhabitants. Finally, the rock explosion inspired by the epic parties it hosts,” the press release reads.

Back in Quebec, Endrick worked with producer Jean-Bruno Pinard with whom he revisited the songs. “Then, in the studio with the rest of the group, we deconstructed the songs once again and it was really done with openness, love and sharing. My girlfriend was pregnant during the recording.” The project that started as something intimate ended up as a group project where everyone put their own color, explains the one who was part of the folk group The Great Novel.

Listen to a first extract from the album Straight Up.

The Evolution of Endrick and the Sandwiches

In his latest album released in 2021, Sunny Soul, The band explored more poppy sounds, as they wanted to bring some joy into their music after the pandemic years. “I just wanted to make the world dance with music that appeals to both older people and children,” Endrick says.

This time, the singer explains that he has evolved towards more mature compositions that tend more towards Lou Reed or Bruce Springsteen. “There are love songs on the album, but always from an angle that we are old why “It’s less the 16-year-old guy falling in love for the first time, and more the couple who just had a child and are trying to find each other again,” says Endrick, a new dad.

“When we started the band, it was really about getting people to dance and party. We played in bars. The idea wasn’t necessarily a creative project, but more about entertainment. Over the years, the identity of the project evolved. Then, I wanted to create my music and take it all to the end. After the pandemic, we thought about the band differently and I thought a lot about the meaning of all this. I started writing again to see the band as an artistic project,” explains Endrick.

“I prefer to play in front of an audience where people laugh at me, than to play in front of an audience that doesn’t react.” – Endrick Tremblay

« Working class rock »

The band defines its musical style as “working class rock”, which is “more refined than ever” in this new album. The artist works during the week in the construction field and on weekends on his music. For him, he finds inspiration and motivation there, like his “blues heroes” who were never able to live from their music.

“I think it allows us to see what people want to see in a show. I think it’s important to make music that will bring together teenagers as well as 70-year-olds, like I saw during my youth at the Tremblant Blues Festival,” says Endrick.

“Sometimes having less time brings an urgency to live. The moments I have for music, I live them 100%. When people come to see a show, it’s maybe their only outing during the week. But for me too, it’s the time I have the chance to do a show. So I go all out.”

You can listen to the new album by Endrick and the Sandwiches, Straight Upfrom August 30 on all listening platforms.