Mamou, by Mamou

Mamou

by Mamou

	/

Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
“Sometimes we freak people out at first, because they’ve never heard a band like us before; but once they really hear us play, they understand that it’s the real thing.”

--Steve LaFleur, Mamou

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Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Jolie Blonde 04:38	buy track
2.	Un Homme de Pitie' 02:44	buy track
3.	Between the Lines 03:34	buy track
4.	Bayou Teche 04:09	buy track
5.	Bebe Catin 03:48	buy track
6.	La Valse de Balfa 04:11	buy track
7.	Les Flammes d'En Fer 03:20	buy track
8.	Hurricane 03:33	buy track
9.	Madam Boso 02:17	buy track
10.	La Louisiane 04:03	buy track
11.	Tit Galop Pour Mamou 03:09	buy track
12.	La Danse de Mardi Gras 06:19	buy track

about

Rising out of the swamps of Mamou, Louisiana (the heart of Cajun Country in Evangeline Parish) in 1985, Mamou flooded traditional musical forms with an unlikely, explosive combination: the energy and intensity of a punk rock juggernaut, mixed with a bit of psychedelic experimentation and jaw-dropping sonic virtuosity.

A rebel in his own right, LaFleur set a standard for the evolution of Cajun music, beginning with Mamou, by carving out a new niche in rock 'n' roll that merged two genres of music previously kept separate.
Though born and raised in Mamou, Steve LaFleur hardly took to playing the traditional sounds--the kind generally subscribed to by Festival de Acadiens over the years--as a youngster. “Cajun music was all around when I was growing up,” LaFleur recalls. “But at the time, I looked at it as my grandparents’ music, so I rebelled against it and played rock ‘n’ roll.”

Heavy metal, leading a group called Fantasia, was Steve's first calling, though they hardly endeared themselves to Mamou locals. Stints in the Grapes and the Movie Stars followed, but Cajun rhythms eventually found their way back into LaFleur's sound. By the mid-80s, with groups like Los Lobos, Jason & the Scorchers, Brave Combo, and others bringing rural, ethnic, and esoteric influences into rock 'n' roll, the time was right. Brushing up on his French, delving heartily back into his cultural heritage, LaFleur embraced the spirit of the music with a vengeance.

Starting with classic Cajun melodies and riffs, then running them through the meatgrinder-- mixing screaming Fender Stratocaster with a fiddle, accordion, bass, and drums--Mamou has reminded listeners of everyone from the Ramones to Jimi Hendrix. Or, put another way, rocking Cajun music that Cajunizes rock music. Or, as one observer noted, taking the folk out of Cajun music and putting rock there.

The eponymous first album, recorded for Austin, Texas independent Jungle Records, and eventually picked up for distribution by MCA Records, is--akin to Los Lobos' . . . And a Time to Dance--a lightning bolt, a frenzy of pent-up energy, virtually every song vibrating with a weird mix of jittery, dance-happy rhythms (the gut-punch of "Bayou Teche"; the dark of "Un Homme De Pitie") and hearty fiddle and accordion riffage.

By the time of their Ugly Day album, released by Rounder Records in 1992, LaFleur was drawing on personal autobiography, and tales of the Haddyshack Gang, whose partying and shenanigans in the mudlands of the countryside near Mamou in the late 1970s gave rise to an debauched event--Ugly Day--legendary in Cajun circles for its wild, pre-Mardi Gras revelry. It was LaFleur's appearance as pickup guitarist during one of the all-night Ugly Day parties that issued the challenge: Could contemporary hard rock be melded to old-style Cajun music?

Well, it's certainly present on the recorded results. Mamou's tough-as-nails sound comes to the fore on Ugly Day, on cuts like "Homme a Pitier" (Man to Pity), Cajun music lifted from the musty museum, and hot-rodded into the "now." "Ugly Day Stomp" immortalizes LeFleur's approach, digging at the cultural tension always present between the modern and the traditional. A live LP, Comes to Town, followed in 1997, before the group fizzled out.

credits

released January 6, 1989

1) Jolie Blonde (Traditional-PD) BMI 4:32
2) Un Homme De Pitie' 2:38
(Stephen C LaFleur-Stephen C LaFleur Music) BMI
3) Between the Lines 3:30
(Stephen C LaFleur-Stephen C LaFleur Music) BMI
4) Bayou Teche 4:00
(Nathan Abshire-Flattown Muslc)BMI
5) Be'Be' Catin 3:43
(Stephen C LaFleur-Stephen C LaFleur Music) BMI
6) La Valse De Balfa 5:06
(Dewey Balfa-Flattown Music)BMI
7) Les Flammes D 'Enfer 3:17
(Traditional-PD) BMI
8) Hurricane 3:20
(Stephen C LaFleur-Stephen C LaFleur Music)BMI
9) Madame Bozo 2:12
(Shirley Bergeron-Jon Music)BMI
10) La Louisiane 3:58
(Stephen C LaFleur-Stephen C LaFleur Music)BMI
11) Tit Galop Pour Mamou 3 04
(Dewey Balfa-Flattown Music)BMI
12) La Danse De Mardi Gras 6:13
(Dewey Balfa-Flattown Music) BMI

Steve LaFleur; All Guitar, all Tracs, except*
Bass on 1,3.9.12
Vocals on all Tracs
Background Vocals on 1,2,4,7,8,10,11,12

Jonno Frishberg;
Fiddle on all Tracs
Accordion on 1,8,10,12
Viola on 2,6,12
Background Vocals on 8,11

Eraste Fontenot;
Bass on 2,4,5,6, 7,8,11, 12

Joe Granger;
Drums on 1,2,4,6,7,8,9,11,12
Bastrang on 1,2,5,6,8,10,11,12

Guests;
Mike Buck; Drums on 3,5
Mike Stewart; Lead Guitar on Be'Be'CatIn'
Kris McKay & Susan LaVez;
Background Vocals on 3, 5
Leanna Meloncon; Bastrang on 7, 12

Produced By Mike Stewart
Executive Producer: Bruce Sheehan

Recorded & Mixed at Arlyn Studios, Austin, TX
Photography & Concept Design: Andrew W. Long
Layout & Art Design: Dale Wilkins
Wilkins Art, Austin, TX
Song Times: Julia Stewart

Mamou would like to express their extreme Appreciation & Gratitude for the contributions and support from those who believed in the Music:
Connie Atkinson/Wavelength, Dicky & Tina Landry, Mark & Ann Savoy, Barry & Tee Dave Granger/United Enterprise, Kermit Venable & Pitre Bergeron/KVOL, Pascal Fuselier/Mamou Acadian Press, Carl Weber, Paul Guidry & Son, Mr. & Mrs. Raymond LaFleur, Tommy & David LaFleur, Perry, Roberta & Paul(s)/Black Cat Lounge, Eric & Marie, Dessie Guillory. Brenda & Sheppard Samuels, Esquire.

Special Thanks To:
Wayne Aguilard for guitar inspiration and some arrangements.
Andrew Dugas for guitar inspiration and contribution to the Mardi Gras Song.

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Mamou Mamou, Louisiana

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