The Zyphoid Process & Great White North
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The Zyphoid Process & Great White North The Zyphoid Process (sometimes stylized as The Zyphoïd Process) was probably the only band from Quebec that I actually truly adored. This melodic, chaotic, post-metalcore band featured members from various locations in the West Island of Montreal, but they practiced in the bassist’s house studio in Ile Perrot. Meeting from attending the same high school, College Charlemagne in Pierrefonds, Quebec, most of the members had crossed paths in previous bands. One of these, Deadly Awakening featured Simon Talbot on vocals, Pierre-Charles Payer on bass, Laurent Shaker and Eric Lapierre on guitars and Dave Powell on drums. Deadly Awakening played their only show in early August of 2007 at The Vault in Pierrefonds. Their set consisted of only covers; As I Lay Dying’s “Meaning in Tragedy”, Atreyu’s “Lip Gloss and Black”, Alexisonfire’s “Waterwings” and Killswitch Engage’s “My Last Serenade”. Shaker had also been jamming with another group of friends; Eric Lapierre and Raphael Sous-Leblanc on guitars with Shaker on bass. By the fall of 2007, a new band had formed featuring Simon and Raph on guitars and dual vocals, and PCP on bass. Simon was responsible for naming the new band. “The Zyphoid Process”, an alteration of “xiphoid process”, was a term he had come across during a first aid course. Musical influences came from Poison the Well, Norma Jean, The Chariot and other emocore and metalcore bands of the era. The first Zyphoid Process artwork ever created. October 2007, Nicolas Kudeljian Initially, the band continued jamming with Dave Powell on drums but this didn’t last very long. He was living at the complete opposite end of Montreal Island, in Pointe-Aux- Trembles, and wasn’t available for jams often enough. Before the winter, he was replaced by Marc-Andre Lemyre. Marc had been introduced to PCP by his friend Jason at a party, and although Marc and PCP had played hockey together they had yet to initiate a conversation. That very night they setup a jam to try him out. Marc was by far the most talented drummer they had met and with him, they secured a stable rhythm section. Raph was also starting to have commitment issues, apparently due to winter sports. He was constantly training or working out while the band wanted to practice. So Simon and PCP asked Shaker to come back into the line-up, as a temporary fill-in to continue writing dual guitar songs. The Zyphoid Process demo/EP “Are You Processed?”. Artwork by Nicolas Kudeljian In November they started recording at the Payer studio. Four songs were recorded for their planned EP/demo, “Are You Processed?”. After tracking “Le Visage de Juliana”, “Dirty Fingernails”, “The Human Machine Gun” and “Wrath of the King of Apes”, PCP asked his friend Nicolas Kudeljian to design the artwork. A Myspace page was created in December, and in January of 2008, their first show was booked at Cafe L’Inconditionnel. Through the Myspace page, Simon met Kevin Fernendes who operated Wreck Your Face Productions. Kevin would go on to book the band over a dozen times during the next two years. The Zyphoid Process’ first show happened on January 11th with A Wasted Sacrifice, Madeline, Terracide, Systematic Denial of All, Avery’s Decent, Camalus and End of Crisis. During the show, Shaker remained on guitar, while Simon and Raph alternated between vocals and guitar. For this event, Simon also asked a college friend and fan, Maxance Vassart, to handle the venues light effects. Max had grown up with Simon and PCP and had been attending local hardcore concerts with them for a couple of years. He had also been at Deadly Awakening’s concert and knew the band well enough to handle the job. But their demo wasn’t sold at the show. Apart from a few very close friends who had home-burnt copies of the four songs, the band wasn’t distributing the recordings. They were still writing new songs and wanted to wait until a longer CD could be released. Throughout the early months of 2008, three more songs were recorded at the Payer studio and added progressively to “Are You Processed?”; “Motorpsycho”, “I Hope Your Attitude Is As Positive As These Results” and “Every Hole As a Little Glory in It”. Ultimately though, this demo was never released, as the band moved on to completely new material later in the year. The Zyphoid Process live at CEGEP Gerald-Godin, February 8th 2008. Photos courtesy of Stephanie Lepage. Simon Talbot in the dressing room of the Gerald-Godin talent show. February 8th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephany Lepage Marc-Andrew Lemyre and Nicolas-Patrick Therien in the dressing room of the Gerald-Godin talent show. February 8th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephany Lepage Pierre-Charles Payer in the dressing room of the Gerald-Godin talent show. February 8th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephany Lepage Raphael Sous-Leblanc in the dressing room of the Gerald-Godin talent show. February 8th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephany Lepage Pierre-Charles Payer, Nicolas-Patrick Therien, Laurent Shaker and Maxance Vassart (mirror) in the dressing room of the Gerald-Godin talent show. February 8th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephany Lepage Simon and PCP were then attending CEGEP Gerald-Godin in Sainte-Genevieve, QC. The college put up a talent show on February 8th, and Simon booked the band to play as the main musical act. Although the school asked the music to be toned down (less screaming vocals) and also to translate their lyrics in French, they were still up for a surprise. Simon dressed up in booty shorts and their friends Max and Nicolas- Patrick Therien put on costumes. Max was dressed in a clown mask and outfit, while Nicolas put on a Furby suit with a werewolf mask. During the show they moshed all over the stage, before disappearing. By then, not only was Raph’s contribution to the band extremely limited, but he was also struct by laryngitis and therefore limited his vocals. After finishing the new songs for “Are You Processed?”, they played their third show, on March 22nd. Once again booked by Wreck Your Face at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, this time with Darkness Rites, Shock Therapy, Terracide, Realizing Our Fatal Lies, WDNFRA and Systematic Denial of All. With the spring came a new evolution for The Zyphoid Process. Raph’s dedication still wasn’t winning over his interest in sports, and Simon wanted to focus on guitar. This meant finding a new lead vocalist to sing clean melodies. Thankfully Nicolas-Patrick knew someone, who happened to be dating Simon’s ex-girlfriend. Mathieu C., who had previous sang in Sin Silencer, was asked to come try out at their next rehearsal. The Zyphoid Process live at Cafe L’Inconditionel, April 18th 2008. Photos courtesy of Stephanie Lepage. The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel , Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel , Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel , Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel , Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionne l, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionne l, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditio nnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditio nnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditio nnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal. April 18th 2008. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Lepage The Zyphoid Process at Cafe L’Inconditionnel, Montreal.