Fred Everything is impressed by the growth of the Montreal scene and the MUTEK festival

If you’ve followed Fred Everything’s career, it’s hard to overstate the impact he’s had locally and abroad.

The Hull-born, Quebec City-raised and Montreal-based producer and DJ has been a staple in this city’s electronic music landscape — particularly in deep house — since he moved here all the way back in 1996. Spending about eight years between then and now in San Francisco, the artist born Frédéric Blais has since returned home and is now based in Verdun, and continues to play a residency at le Salon Daomé in the Plateau. After releasing his most recent studio album, Love, Care, Kindness & Hope back in May, Fred’s gearing up for a live set on Aug. 23 at SAT as part of MUTEK’s NOCTURNE 4 series.

We caught up with the veteran local producer via FaceTime — while he was holed up in his studio on the day he released two new remixes for his track “Never” — to talk about his upcoming show, how much growth he’s seen from MUTEK over the years and his view of Montreal’s electronic music culture in 2024.

Dave MacIntyre: Your MUTEK performance is coming up. How are you feeling about it?

Fred Everything: Great! I mean, obviously, always a little nervous. I don’t play live very often at all. I did another project — an ambient project — at MUTEK and at the PHI Centre under the name All Is Well. But other than that, my last real Fred Everything live (show) was at the Jazz Fest in the early 2000s with a full band. That was a long time ago. I’m excited, though. I’m really looking forward to it.

DM: What can you tell fans about what to expect from your set?

Fred Everything: Basically, it’s a version of my album that doesn’t exist. There’s a few unreleased versions of tracks — well, it’s not unreleased anymore, but the remix I put out today of this track “Never” featuring Robert Owens. These are new remixes I did called Cosmic remixes. That’s one of the versions I’m playing instead of the album version. I have an unreleased remix as well of the track I did with Stereo MCs that I’m going to play.

They’re all going to be sort of rearranged. I have a console desk, and I’m dubbing things out with effects. I have all the parts, the different stems. I’ve got keyboards and effects. It’s gonna be fun. We’ve got some nice visuals from my friend “VJ” Van Luong.

DM: You’re playing at SAT downstairs. What would you do if you had the Satosphere at your disposal? That would open up so much more room for visuals!

Fred Everything: Yeah, I was planning to do an All Is Well show there. I think it’s more for ambient music. I think it would be great to do something (for that). But if (the MUTEK show) was at the Satosphere, obviously, we would just adjust the visuals and possibly the sound. With my other project All Is Well, I’ve dabbled with Dolby Atmos. My album was available in Dolby Atmos. But on this one, I think it’s gonna be good old stereo.

DM: What have you noticed as far as how much MUTEK has grown over the years, since this is now the 25th anniversary?

Fred Everything: It’s really amazing to see how it started, and how much it’s grown. Especially internationally, it’s a very important festival now. When I lived in San Francisco, people would talk about it. It’s become a bit of a destination (festival), like Movement in Detroit. They did a really good job with it. Not only that, but I think how much they’ve diversified their offerings to so many levels now with the Forums [conference events]. They’ve always had the art part. Musically, it’s definitely wider than ever. It’s great. I’m really happy to be part of it.

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DM: Your most recent album that you’re releasing new remixes for is Love, Care, Kindness & Hope. How have you noticed people responding to the album so far?

Fred Everything: Very good, actually. I was very pleased, because I feel like it’s my most personal offering so far. I wouldn’t say that I was necessarily nervous about putting it out, but I didn’t really have any expectations. When we started to do the PR campaign, I already noticed that people were feeling something. I felt like my intention came across, and that people felt that and were touched by it.

DM: You spent a lot of the pandemic lockdowns making new music. How much do you think making music during that time unlocked a new side of you creatively that you maybe didn’t have or expect?

Fred Everything: There was less noise — I’m not just saying real noise. Just in general, there was more time and space to be able to create. I was making music as a bit more of a therapy in a way, too. It was something for me to hold onto as hope. There wasn’t much we knew, and we kept getting into these cycles of, “Okay, you guys can do some things now,” and then, “Now you can’t.” Making music for me was very important to just keep going, and to think more positively. I’ve still got music that I’m releasing now that was written during that time.

DM: What do you think of the current state of electronic music in Montreal?

Fred Everything: It’s very healthy, definitely. It used to be so small that we knew everybody doing everything. Nowadays, it’s gigantic. It’s really hard to tell. I don’t know most people (locally) who are making stuff. I know enough people, but… it just seems like, not just here, but everywhere, such an explosion with the democratization of all the formats — from what it takes to make music in the studio, to self-release, to self-promote. All of these things are so available, for better or worse, that it creates a lot of music, or “content.”

DM: It’s interesting you say everybody knew everybody back in the day, because it still kind of feels that way now even though it’s bigger than it used to be.

Fred Everything: I don’t know! I don’t think so. There are still people I haven’t met. Glowzi, who’s performing live before me at MUTEK, I still haven’t met her. There are the generation gaps, as well. One of the things I’ve been trying to do with my residency at Salon Daomé is I usually play the whole night, but I started bringing people from the new generation to open up, and to have a conversation. It’s important, because we have so much to learn from each other. It’s not just us teaching them something. We’ve really got things to learn (from them), so it’s important that we know each other.

DM: What are your plans for the rest of 2024?

Fred Everything: I’ve got to finish all this album stuff as far as releasing more remixes. Like I did for my previous album, there’s a plan to release another album of unreleased versions, alternates and unreleased tracks. I’m finishing an album I started in 2022 with my friend Atjazz in the U.K. We’re trying to get this done before the end of the year for next year.

Hopefully, also getting back into making music. I haven’t really made a lot of new music recently, because I’ve been so busy with the album and everything. I feel like writing some more dancefloor tracks, as well, because I’ve done all this more “introspective” (music), and now I feel like I need to get a couple DJ tracks out of me! (laughs) The fall is mostly preparing for next year with my label Lazy Days, as well, and releases. There are already a lot of things I need to plan ahead. ■

Fred Everything performs at SAT (1201 St-Laurent), as part of MUTEK’s Nocturne 4, on Friday, Aug. 23, 10:40 p.m. (his set is at 11:50 p.m.), $45. For more on Fred Everything, please visit his Bandcamp.

For more Montreal music coverage, please visit the Music section.