Rich Aucoin
A man who lives for the live show!
There are, one must suspect, artists who put on a better show than Haligonian Rich Aucoin. There must, on this great and vast planet of ours, be pop musicians who electrify crowds with music and vibes far better than Aucoin, a lanky man-child whose white clothes make him look more like a house painter than a roof raiser.
It’s just that at this moment I can’t think of any.
Plainly put, Rich Aucoin is one of the most energetic, positive, and positively energetic performers currently carving out a space for art, love and community in Canada or anywhere else.
“I just do what comes naturally,” he explains in his trademark good-natured way. I think the best thing you can do in a performing situation is be yourself. That doesn't necessarily always mean you'll act the same person you are onstage and off, like how Ian Curtis would channel this spastic side of himself in his performance. I think if you try and fake a stage persona it comes off cheesy and the audience doesn't buy it. So I just do whatever comes naturally first, which is usually a mixture of parts of myself with the excited side of me leading the charge of course.”
No show exemplified this more than when he flat-out crushed Montreal audiences opening for Of Montreal last summer on the eve of Osheaga. To say that he upstaged the headliners wouldn’t be doing it justice; to suggest he made them quake in their boots might be closer to the truth.
The next morning, after that epic performance, Aucoin got a fortuitous phone call. It led to him being asked to fill-in on the Osheaga main stage.
“I was woken up about an hour before we [performed] as I went out to celebrate the night before,” he says. “I splashed some water on my face and ran out on stage to perform; it was awesome to get that slot from just being in the right place at the right time.”
A man who lives for the live show, Aucoin’s star has risen mightily in the last few years specifically because critics and fans alike are blown away by what he does in a club setting. Attempting to explain that, Aucoin speaks from the heart:
“I love music live or recorded music really loud; that sweet decibel level when it's moving your body physically,” he says. “I have luckily never played to an audience who straight up wasn't into it. In most cases, I have to read what the comfort level of the crowd is and try and make sure they don't feel uncomfortable when I ask them to sing the chorus or hug the person next to them.”
Rich Aucoin plays @ Il Motore w/ Pete Samples, D’Eon & Superfossilpower on February 17th
Rich Aucoin
Rich Aucoin
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