YouTube - 96th Most Viewed - Canadian Director - September 2008
Professional Affiliations
None ! We are DIY amateurs !
PUNK EMPIRE/DIY CHANNEL's Interests
Movies
INTRODUCTION
PENNYWISE interview by Mat
AFI interview by Mat and Andy
BLINK 182 interview by Mat
ICE-T interview by Andy
THE QUEERS interview by Mat
ANTI FLAG interview by Mat
GREEN DAY interview by Mat
DOWN BY LAW interview by Mat
DIESEL BOY interview by Mat
LUNACHICKS interview by Mat
SICK OF IT ALL interview by Andy
GOOD RIDDANCE interview by Mat
GOB interview by Mat
WIZO interview by Mat and Andy
GOLDFINGER interview by Mat
HI-STANDARD interview by Mat
MILLENCOLIN interview by Mat
About me:
Hello, my name is Jean-Francois Hayeur, from Montreal, Canada.
I was a record dealer for the past 12 years in Montreal, Canada, selling the best music at Rockweiler, C'DEMENT, SAM THE RECORD MAN, MUSIGO and BEATNICK. I also had the privilege to open up record stores in PARIS & LYON. I am a vinyl aficionado and a jazz record collector.
I recently graduated from HEC
business school and i just started a new career: i am now a music programmer for the world's largest DIGITAL JUKEBOXE company.
Back in 1991, i was 15 years old. What was happening musicaly back then, at least commercialy, was GUNS N ROSES and METALLICA. GRUNGE was about to take over the world a year later but it wasn't exactly what we were looking for.
For us, the sound we liked came from the music we heard in skateboard videos from California. Like H-STREET's HOKUS POKUS (1989) and PLAN B's QUESTIONABLE VIDEO (1992).
We could not find those ''skateboard video songs'' anywhere. This was before ''Green Day's DOOKIE'' or ''Offspring's SMASH'', both released in 1994 that created the 90s's punk explosion. The skate-punk scene was underground in Montreal at that time and it felt really special to us. One band we liked from around here were ''The Doughboys''.
We soon discovered two excellent Montreal record shops: L'OBLIQUE and DUTCHIES (r.i.p.).
Then, in june of 1994, my High School buddies FOREGROUND and ENOUGH were the opening acts for the 1st original FAT WRECK CHORDS band to play Montreal: NO USE FOR A NAME (the DAILY GRIND TOUR). We could barely find any SO-CAL punk music back then and the next thing we know, our friends from High School are opening for the 1st FAT WRECK show in Montreal on june 14th 1994. We couldn't believe it ! We could walk up to bands like NO USE FOR A NAME and talk to them. It was mind-blowing. Those early EPITAPH & FAT WRECK CHORDS bands felt like they belonged to us. The scene was fresh and new. Even the clothing was new and different. Something was happening. California was coming to Quebec.
I immediately started writting letters the old fashioned way (ink, paper, stamp, envelope) to my favorite punk bands and asked them if i could videotape their first shows in Montreal.
Most of them, unheard of at the time, wrote back personnaly and said "Sure Dude !''. This was before e-Mails ! (You can read these letters in my Pics section)
I eventually met more local friends in bands: MEN O STEEL, SUBB, SPRAINED ANKLE & ROACH who renamed themselves RESET and who would later become SIMPLE PLAN.
Between 1994-1998, the bands playing shows in Montreal received free tapes of my best footage and a copy of their own shows. This positive exchange landed me on countless guest-lists, with easy backstage access as the scene grew bigger and bands played bigger venues. Needless to say, it was alot of fun.
I met the promoters and the people involved directly in the scene which i became neighbor and roomate with:
The 2112 crew: Page (Greenland), Orion (Shades of Culture), PatWreck (Slaves on Dope), Curtis (SNFU, Trigger Happy), Clo, The MenOsteel guys (Matt, JF), Adrian (Reset), Rachel (August Elliot).
Since Page
and his agency, GREENLAND
booked the punk shows in Montreal, touring bands would stop by our bloc, bbq, skate Page & Orion's backyard ramp and have a few beers. This is also the house where the BAD BRAINS broke up in 1995 while on tour with the BEASTIE BOYS. Because of the great people at
GREENLAND, lets not forget NANCY's hard work and PAT HAMOU's great concert posters, Montreal became one of the favorite cities in Canada for skate-punk bands in the 90's.
PAGE also founded 2112 RECORDS, a punk label that promoted Montreal bands such as RESET
(known today as SIMPLE PLAN),
MEN O STEEL, Montreal Hip Hop godfathers: SHADES OF CULTURE, Montreal's dancehall king: Jah Cutta as well as STEALTH featuring Darryl Jennifer of BAD BRAINS and B.C.'s TEN DAYS LATE.
By 1997, i had accumulated alot of good footage but never bootlegged it. This was my agreement with the bands. Trust was a key factor. You don't screw over bands. You make them your friends. What can be better than ''a band you grew up listening to'' tell you that you rock for doing this ? Honesty is the way to go. It gives life purpose.
That same year, my footage was used for the FAT WRECK CHORDS"Peepshow" video.
So after seeing my footage in a FAT WRECK video, it made me want to expose the rest of my work. But i only had live concert footage at the time. That doesn't make much of a film. So i thought that if i could mix my live footage with some video interviews, do this all on my own, without any money, with only the help of some good friends, i thought that i could come up with an interesting concept. Totally DIY.
Punk Empire was born with the help of my new buddies Matt and Andy as an "unofficial / home made / Do It Yourself" video.
Matt was already part of the scene. A very loveable and comedic type of guy. Outspoken and loud, he was just what i needed. Andy seemed like a new addition to the scene, solid, honest and trusthworthy, he was filming hardcore shows on his own and was also exactly what i was looking for.
PUNK EMPIRE would not have been possible without the amazing contribution from MATT
and ANDY. You guys are the stars of PUNK EMPIRE.
There has been a rebirth with Punk Empire in 2009. JF has been working with Sarah and Adina interviewing bands again. YouTube has helped us come back and allowed to do this our way more than ever before.
Hey saludos amigos acabamos de subir 4 canciones entren a escucharlas
dejen su comentario tambien en pocos dias entramos al estudio para
empezar a grabar el material nuevo asi que esten pendientes gracias ...
Hey greetings friends we upload 4 songs enter to listen and keep your
comment also in a few days we enter to the recording studio for being
to record the new songs so they pending thanks ...
Hey! My new track "Keep on wondering" is online on my myspace. Please come to listen to it and feel free to comment or to tell me what you think about it in an email. Life is music! Cheers, Frank.
Cheers for accepting We've uploaded 2 new tracks, Addiction and Dirty Rock N Roll. Check them out and leave us a comment letting us know what you think.
hey i dont know if you heard or not but 88 fingers louie is doing a renunion show in chicago man. you should go there and record it. cuz i wont be able to make it out there. do it man pleeeeeeeze!!!!!
hola amigos colgamos un nuevo tema "heroina" (mujer heroe) espero que les gusten un abrazo a todos y suerte. hello friends put a new theme "heroine" (female hero) I hope you like a hug and good luck to all
Hello, my name is Jean-Francois Hayeur, from Montreal, Canada.
I was a record dealer for the past 12 years in Montreal, Canada, selling the best music at Rockweiler, 
Online Now!
