Rain, Punk, and Banjo Riffs: P’tit Belliveau’s Santa Teresa Festival Takeover
Out of the bus, when my grey New Balances hit the pavement, my first thought was: Hey! Sainte-Thérèse is pretty neat, maybe I should move here… And, to be honest, I would if the festival Santa Teresa was a year-long affair. The indie music event has made a name for itself by taking over a quaint college town about 40 minutes north from Montreal and filling it with some of the coolest bands around, allowing students who know what’s up to rub shoulders with AWOL hipsters and city scenesters. Since its debut in 2017, Santa Teresa has carved out a unique spot in Quebec’s festival circuit – indier than Osheaga, more intimate than FEQ, less messy than Pop Montreal... It’s the kind of festival that transforms the whole town into a chaotic playground, where quiet parking lots and quaint parks become buzzing hubs of beer cans, good food, merch kiosks, and even a tattoo truck for anyone looking to ink a memory in real time.
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The vibe is this weird but perfect clash of urban and suburban – grungy but still cozy, with a lineup that’s as unpredictable as the weather. You get a little punk, some indie, and whatever the hell P’tit Belliveau is doing. There’s a focus on local acts and rising artists who are just weird enough to feel like they belong.
And speaking of P’tit Belliveau, he was the headliner for the first night of the weekend – the oddball singer-songwriter who’s somewhere between Mac DeMarco and Kid Rock, if either of them had grown up in rural Nova Scotia. Hailing from Baie-Sainte-Marie, P’tit Belliveau (aka Jonah Guimond) is known for his idiosyncratic fusion of Acadian folk and lo-fi, vaporwave-esque arrangements – a sound that’s made him the king in a category of his own.
As I made my way out of the “navette” (a school bus that goes back and forth from Montreal’s traffic to Sainte-Thérèse’s cute downtown area,) the rain was hitting the early birds amassed to see Le Prince Harry. The Belgian electro-punk duo had the task of getting the few attendees in the mood for partying, and not knowing anything about the duo going in, I was blown away!
Their dark music clashed against their unassuming stage presence, making for the perfect festival opener. The bar was high, and despite having to hide under an umbrella, attendees were getting down to Le Prince Harry’s dance-y, lovable blend of killer riffs and techno attitude.
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After that, The OBGMs kicked ass with their high-octane garage punk that’s so Toronto, it might just replace the CN Tower one day as the metropolis’ main attraction. Between the band’s flawless execution and the singer’s charismatic presence, the energy kept climbing.
A while later, once the sun had set and the audience had filled up to a maximum, P’tit Belliveau embarked onstage. It took a while for Guimond and his band to tune their instruments, as the rainy weather had gone from damp to cold, which is less than ideal for delicate gear like a mandolin, a violin, and of course… the banjo, which is always sort of the star of the show.
Not to worry – the crowd was on their side, cheering them on and clearly excited for what was coming. Breaking with the project’s usual trashy aesthetic, Jonah’s band is now a well-oiled rock machine that can cut through a festival crowd like a warm knife through margarine.
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Between new cuts from the project’s latest album and a few so-ironic-it’s-not-ironic-anymore covers –System of a Down "Chop Suey!“ and Nickelback’s “How You Remind Me” (which we all sang along to) – the show progressed, and some of the quirky elements of P’tit Belliveau’s music started to surface.
Highlights included Jonah cracking jokes and drawing heat from the audience with heel work that would give The Rock a run for his money. When he said the Maple Leafs were better than the Habs, I started wondering if he was touring with security detail, otherwise he might not get out of Sainte-Thérèse in one piece. The audience was a good sport, though, riffing off his bit and booing him with its tongue firmly planted in its cheek as the crooner flipped them the double bird.
As much as I appreciated the electrified, balls-to-the-wall rock energy of the band, I was there for that awesome left-field spirit that started to shine through the group’s FM synth chords and banjo tirades. Some of my favorite tracks from P’tit Belliveau’s debut Greatest Hits Vol. 1 were missing from the setlist, but they still played undeniable modern classics like “Income Tax” and “J’aimerais d’avoir un John Deere” while the hilarious no-fi projections tied the whole experience together. Hard to be mad at that.
The set ended with a solo rendition of “L’Église de St. Bernard” – a sweet and sincere ballad that hit the crowd sideways, offering everyone an emotional moment that proved once again that even though P’tit Belliveau is inseparable from his weirdo jester’s persona, Jonah Guimond is just a big ol’ sweetheart underneath it all.
Not bad for a night spent in a rainy parking lot.
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