Awards, world tours, videos, and scandals. The last 2 years made Omnikrom one of the most important groups from Quebec. A new single out, an album on the way: 2009 is bound to be even crazier. Charismatic member Jeanbart prepared a family oriented playlist for Fairtilizer. Check it out!

News on the album, Montreal tips, and signature poutine: read the Jeanbart interview.

What’s up? You’re currently working on the new album, how is it going?

Actually it’s going pretty well, almost all the tracks are done, we just finished the pre-production stage. Then we’re going in the studio with Robert Squire (ex-Sixtoo) and Hadji Bakara (Wolf Parade), both members of Megasoid. They’re gonna be something like co-executive producers, I mean, they’ll listen to the tracks then give ideas, try stuff, and together we’ll try to make them reach another level.

How different from the previous one will this album be?

It will be a bit more introspective than before. More of a vision of the past, the present, and the future facing us. The whole album is very movie-inspired, as the whole art, design, songs are all related in some ways to the best entertainement machine of the last century; the TV. And by TV I mean movies, cartoons and TV shows as well as Youtube and the whole internet. Internet to me is a TV that shows me what I want when I want it.

Who did the beats on it?

Mostly it’s our Dj, Figure8, but It’s a familly thing you know, people we feel good with. Ghislain Poirier, Pierre Crube from Numero#. There’s also Tepr who didn’t work on Trop Banane but did 2 bangers on the Fm2: 24 pouces glacés EP. We also have beats from upcomers on the Montreal electro scene like Dj Arcade and Le Matos. Those Matos guys are gonna make some noise in the next few years, and we’ll be there to say we told you so.

Is there a release date?

No exact date at the moment but it’s gonna drop sometime around mid-May.

How was 2008 for Omnikrom, what were the highlights?

Oh man, it was a great year for us! Even without any album droppin we we’re everywhere in Québec. We toured in every little town of the province, we even made Teki Latex come to Canada to do a 10 dates tours with us and it ended with a big show in Montreal that was sold out after 1 week. In fact we did another show 2 weeks later, this time with Cuizinier and it was sold out too. We did the Francofolies for the third time in Montreal and for the first time in France and Belgium. Went back to that Dour Festival in Belgium too, it was crazy.

What about your favorite artists in 2008?

Mmm, don’t know man, I have to say Kanye West for the album he just dropped, and I saw his “Glow in the Dark Tour”, I’m not a big fan of rap shows usually but it was really nice. Lil Wayne dropped a really nice album too. Really happy that my man Tekitek started his freestyle propaganda over the internet too.

What do you look forward to in 2009?

The release of our album for sure, I hope we’ll get a license deal in Europe, because it’s time our albums get distributed out there, not just in America. (there’s always Itunes if we fail). There’s our webshow too, starting January 27 at www.33mag.com. It’s called “Omnikrom Backstage” and it’s the whole last year in 10 episodes. The tours we did with Numero#, with Teki, when we we’re in Europe, etc. All the stupid stuff we did is there. Well, almost. All that and Lost season 5.

How is the scene in Montreal, what artists should we look for?

There’s a really good nightlife in Montreal, people like Peer Pressure, Neon, 33mag and so on are throwing insane parties and there’s some really good djs like Hatchmatik and the NRTOB. There’s also new waves of kids coming from every corner and starting to do their things, like the BSBTRGDCLUB and that’s really nice to see. Le Matos is probably the next band that you’ll hear about if it’s not already done.

What about clubs, restaurants, shops, strip clubs and so on? What are the spots to visit when in town?

For your shopping spree, you can’t go wrong with Off The Hook, I almost live there, they’re the best in town if you want anything related to streetwear. I could tell you about some fancy restaurants, but when you’re in America you want real good American food so you go to Bofinger. Real BBQ smokehouse; eat those ribs like you were in Alabama. For the strip clubs, there’s all kinds of low class/dancing on some three-six mafia clubs and there’s some high class clubs. I let you experience for yourself or call me when you’re here (Note from the editor: we don’t have Jeanbart’s number, sorry).

Where can we eat the best Poutine of Montreal

The best poutine’s at La Banquise. They used to have the Omnikrom Poutine that we invented as promotion for the Danse La Poutine joint with TTC. There was the TTC poutine too but it was kind of weird, only Teki liked it because he’s the one who made it. (I’m not even sure he like it for real).

Fashion is a part of Omnikrom’s world too. What are the best brands right now?

If we talk sunglasses, right now I really love the Marc Jacobs. Besides that, I really like Mishka, 10 deep, Supra lately, The hundreds, old time favorites like Nike and Gucci.

How important has the internet been for Omikrom’s grind?

Most important thing for us. That and how cool we are. We were there at the beginning of Myspace when there was like 2-3 bands from Quebec. It helped spread the word really fast, not only here but on the other side of the ocean too. Now we’re still using the internet in every way possible, from selling merch, putting songs online and reaching the fans, to our next webshow and the blog that’s updated several times a day. Internet’s our best friend!

Anything to add?

I’m really glad to do this interview, Fairtilizer’s really great and it grew fast. You can listen to the first single from our upcoming album here, it’s called “Comme à la télévision”. Don’t forget to drop by www.omnikrom.net if you want the latest news about us and everything. Merci!

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