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Les Asteks
On N'est Pas Bien Compris / Oui Je T'aime - 7"
Elysee - 1967
Michael Panontin
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Like Les Lutins before them, Les Asteks' shtick was to have a preteen singer as their frontman, in this case the cherubic Michel Champoux, who was just eleven years old when they formed in 1966. (Allegedly, there was even a bit of a rivalry between the two groups, but by the time of Les Lutins' garage corker, 'Je cherche', their singer Simon Brouillard was already old enough to chercher a few things of his own.)
Les Asteks - the young Champoux, along with guitarists Yvon Champoux and Yves Simoneau, bassist Gilles Beliveau and drummer Ronald Vallee - got their start in the Sorel-Tracy area, midway up the St. Lawrence between Montreal and Trois-Rivieres. Their first record, 'Cheveux blonds et pantalons', a blues number that copped an idea or two from Bo Diddley's 'I'm a Man', was issued in 1967 on the Elysee label. They even managed a slot on the Expo a go-go TV show, for which they were pretty handsomely paid as well...$248 smackers for a bunch of teenage unknowns!
That same year, they managed to hook up with Martin Hillman, a.k.a. budding pop svengali Martin Martin, who managed to produce both sides of their second disc for Elysee. Martin had recently moved back to Montreal after his career as a pop/country singer (as Marty Hill) had run out of steam. Though the talented producer often had a hand in the songwriting of his records, on this disc both sides were actually penned by the older Champoux. The particularly bouncy 'On n'est pas bien compris' does however come speckled with some groovy horn arrangements, most likely courtesy of Mr. Martin. Equally interesting is the edgier flipside, 'Oui je t'aime', which sports some jangly guitar and tight harmonies, and in a weird way is vaguely reminiscent of the La's' 'Son of a Gun' some thirty-plus years later.
Les Asteks never did release another record, though they managed to stretch things out until 1971 before calling it a career. Mintish copies of 'On N'est Pas Bien Compris' have come up for sale and have sold for well under $200 bucks. But the song can also be found on the totally indispensible 1993 comp Rumble - Quebec Garage Beat 66-67 (in case you were wondering what to add to your collection).
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