November 7th, 2025
Béton Armé: do the discoi shuffle!
Béton Armé, Montreal’s disco beat laced oi!/punk band extraordinaire, strikes again with ‘’Renaissance’’, their latest release on London based record label La vida es mus. Founded in 1999 by one man army Francisco Aranda, this boutique record label is quite epicurean and curates it’s bands with great care.
It’s no wonder then, that “Renaissance’’, Béton Armé’s first LP release since their inception in 2018, finds its home on La vida. Having previously released 3 very solid EPs, as well as several singles, the band is finally giving its fans something more substantial to bite into.
This year, I’ve had the chance to see them several times, most notably at their recent album launch party for “Renaissance’’, at Montreal’s iconic Café Cléopâtre, on September 26th. For the uninitiated, Café Cléopâtre is a legendary downtown strip club that has managed to stay in existence since 1976. It was the first time for me seeing a punk band play there, and I sure hope it happens again.
But, seeing as winter is just around the corner, let’s go on a journey and gather a bit of perspective on this local Montreal phenomenon. I’ll set the time machine dial to February 7th, 2025.
It’s probably a cold winter evening and I’m most likely downplaying how depressed the season actually makes me.
It’s about 6pm in front of L’Escogriffe, a venue located on St-Denis in Montreal. The sun has already clocked out for the day.
Tonight, Béton Armé are set to play a sold out show.
Sold out at L’Escogriffe
Like a good boy, I had purchased my ticket well in advance.
A high energy show like Béton Armé in a bunker-esque, stone-walled, below street-level venue like L’Escogriffe is a no-brainer. You have to go. The show’s success is pre-determined. It’s written in the bubbles of an overpriced pint of Labatt 50 beer.
Or in this case, its embedded in the bar’s sweat seasoned floors and tagged surfaces.
A true Montreal staple, L’Escogriffe is a flavourful venue located on Montreal’s iconic St-Denis street, a bastion of Plateau area nightlife. Despite the challenges bars and venues have faced since the pandemic, l’Escogriffe has endured, and continues to play host to a wide variety of bands and performers on the regular.
But not, generally speaking, bands like Béton Armé. The evening’s circumstances strike me as peculiar. I was curious as to how this all came to be.
Taverne tour, Australia and Japan
Tonight’s show is organized under the banner of the “Taverne tour”.
This annual Montreal music festival seems like a strange place to find an oi! band playing. However, given Béton Armé’s growing success and broad audience, strange was maybe not the right word. Curious, I want to know more. So, I head to the merch table in search of a possible answer.
See Also: Pokey Lafarge at TD Studio, Montreal
Quickly, I find Fabio Ciaraldi, Béton Armé’s bassist, handling the band’s mobile shop. A very approachable dude, I ask him about this somewhat atypical festival booking.
In regards to Taverne tour, he explains, it was Stomp records that made it happen. Though not directly their label, working with Stomp has opened up some rather unique opportunities for them. Opportunities such as the possibility of opening for NOFX on their final tour. It would turn out to be NOFX’s largest attendance for a headlining show with about 18 000 people on the Saturday. Not a bad gig!
However, the following year would propel Béton Armé to new lands, namely Japan and Australia. One notable show on this journey would be during the Australian leg of their tour where they would play the “Vans Bunt Jam”. Vans, the skateboarding ”uber brand”, also happens to sponsor the Béton/Faze drummer Rat Pack, as a pro skater.
Tonight though, in Montreal, the scale of the event is modest, but the venue is sold out.
Whether playing to a crowd of 10 or 10 000, Béton Armé’s shows are always memorable experiences. Their growing notoriety will only serve to cement their status as one of the forces in the “new Montreal oi!”.
Dbeat stands for disco beat
Of course, “new oi!” is a bit of a misnomer. Over the decades, oi! as a genre, has known many deviations from its standard, ”street rock n’ roll” template.
Bands like Blitz and Angelic Upstarts famously embraced “new wave” or “post punk” sounds. The 1982 Upstarts album “Still From the Heart” is a perfect example of such a branching off. The following year, in 1983, Blitz would release “Second Empire Justice”, a post punk effort that to me, has its hits and misses. We could even say that the Cockney Rejects broke ”skinhead character” with their great, blues laced, hard rock/heavy metal effort “Quiet Storm”, in 1984.
And there are many, many more examples, especially when speaking of French bands, oi! wave, etc. But there are better articles out there about that. I’m more of a storyteller and not much a historian.
Needless to say, Béton Armé is not breaking new ground simply by having a different recipe, musically. Béton Armé are are clearly making their own oi! lasagna by layering their signature, melodic gang vocals on top of crispy, shuffling disco beats. It’s a recipe that goes straight to the nose!
And if you have a chance to see them perform, I highly suggest you do. Dan Prestone, the band’s singer delivers a funky spectacle like no other, sweating and strutting all over the place like there’s no tomorrow.
A floor shaking, sold out venue
Getting back to the show, the crowd was becoming thicker with heads, and venue navigation was getting tight. I soon ran into an old acquaintance and had 2 or 3 chats, in and out the venue. Before I knew it, the first band started to play, opening up the night.
Now, this show was quite some time ago. However, I remember seeing the 2 first opening bands and feeling a bit underwhelmed. I seem to recall a screeching front woman wearing shades and a fur coat, yelling in a microphone. One band had so much reverb on vocals, it just seemed like they were hiding behind it. I remember impressions of a crowd that seemed more engrossed in casual conversation than mesmerized by what was happening on the stage.
The bands were probably good but for some reason, the crowd wasn’t fully into it and neither was I.
However, all that changed when Béton Armé silently crept onto the stage and began their set.
Suddenly, there was a crowd shuffle. A tap-in, tap-out. The coach blew the whistle: it was time to change up the players. Béton Armé started playing and the masses, or at least those who knew of the band, were singing and swaying to the tides of a sold out venue pit.
The crowd was alive and united. The energy in the place skyrocketed as they played melodic track after melodic track.
And before I know it, that’s it. The evening comes to a sweaty halt. Wet, hazy and drunk, people exit the venue and flock into the night.
It’s snowing, lightly.
Time: unknown.
Orderly chaos at Café Cléopâtre
A man with a shaved head and dressed in a green suit, who seems to be in his early 60s, guards the front door of Café Cleopâtre.
Perched on the strip club’s front door step, he examines St-Laurent boulevard. He seems utterly unfazed that the entire street outside the strip club is filled with skins and punks. This is his block and he owns it.
Tonight’s showgoers are simply temporary guests in his house of debauchery.
It’s Friday night in Montreal’s latin quarter and Béton Armé launches their new album, “Renaissance”. I make my way into the club.
A bouncer checks my camera bag. He gives me the impression of a big teddy bear in an oversized suit. I think to myself: ‘’What’s up with this place?’’ It’s absurd, vintage decor contrasts with an inoffensive and tacky vibe. Not your typical venue for an oi! show.
Montreal: the heart of Béton Armé
Tonight, this legendary and slightly tawdry club hosts a gaggle of skinheads, a pinch of punks and a healthy dose of everything in between. It’s a real chaotic recipe from the periodic table of subculture. Egos like icebergs slosh around the room or gather in groups, chilling at one of the cabaret’s many scattered tables. The fringes of the large room are vignetted and dark.
Regardless of who is at the show, Béton Armé uncontestably unifies. Montreal is their home and they promote a sense of togetherness and unity.
Dan Prestone, the band’s singer, wholeheartedly confirmed this to me, not 15 minutes before the show. We had an expedited chat outside the venue, just before their set:
“Montreal is our city”, he says. ”To see everyone come together for this release party, locally and from abroad, is absolutely special to us.”
Café Cléopâtre: strip club time capsule
Now, the venue itself is a work of genuine retro wonder. A real time capsule. The sheer magnitude of the room’s lighting structures is impressive; embedded into the ceiling is a complex network of lightbulbs spanning entire ceiling. These lights are going off in sequence and leaving me awestruck.
To describe it, its like being in an old, semi-abandoned circus. I’ve never seen anything like it. For a venue hosting a hardcore show, its possibly the most original and incredible place I’ve been to in Montreal.
Tragically, my camera is at the shop for repairs, having finally discombobulated not 2 weeks prior at the Dwarves show. Destabilized, I decide to shoot the 12 last shots of an expired Lomo B&W disposable camera. I also have a 1st generation Fuji X-pro that I borrowed from my girlfriend.
However, catastrophe: all the photos come back underexposed, due to a flaw in the film. And the Fuji’s battery dies within 5 minutes.
Not a great evening, photographically speaking. So here’s a shot by Kieron Yates, from the future.
Béton and friends from far and wide
Tonight, there are some bands I’m seeing for the first time. The evening’s musical menu is looking tantalizing to say the least. We’re in for quite a meal.
Opening the night is One track mind, a no-frills hardcore punk band with New York hardcore tinged lyrical delivery but wrapped in a Ramones bow, if that makes sense. They have a 2024, self-titled demo out now. Check it out.
Following them, is Sikm, an Atlanta oi! band that turns the vibe up to 11 and brings a consistent energy and quality to every track. A real musical locomotive, they occasionally speed things up, injecting dbeats into their charged setlist. Your head is bobbing the whole time.
After them, came Faze, a hometown cult classic.
Now, you must understand that Faze is a circus. Or rather, the band’s front man, Conor, an Irish name meaning ”lover of hounds”, brings wild, feverish character to all their sets. A veteran of Montreal’s punk scene, Faze’s front man is equal parts pro-wrestler Mankind and Ozzy Osbourne, with a pinch of drunken university professor whose taken to playing the trombone. They play reverb laced, psychedelic punk with moments that I’d label as progressive.
And before Béton Armé takes the stage, we are graced with Pittsburgh’s street rock n’ roll champions, No Time. No Time’s front man Adam Thomas is a tense stick of dynamite, delivering explosive, shotgun vocals on tight and tough oi! beats. Its a real solid band; a treat to watch!
Read More:
>> Lee Fields at Beanfield Theatre, Montreal
>> Endless Swarm at Lopez, Montreal
>> The Damned at Beanfield Theatre, Montreal
Suddenly, there’s a commotion to my right. The icebergs are moving.
A girl iceberg turns around and starts punching her icy fists into this other girl iceberg, howling cold drama I can’t quite make out.
People step in to separate these quarrelling masses of ice. Beer is spilled. A tragedy.
Then, the elements settle down. Further disaster is averted.
Oi.
