Gary James' Interview With Lissa Turgeon Of
Broken Nails
They just happen to be one of the "hottest" bands in Montreal and now their reputation is spreading fast into and all over the States. They are Broken Nails. Lissa Turgeon of Broken Nails talked with us about the group.
Q - I take it there's a thriving music scene in Montreal. There must be a lot of clubs and a lot of groups.
A - There's a lot of clubs and there is a lot of groups. The competition is fierce in Montreal.
Q - You've been getting some prestige gigs. That must mean you've got a high-powered agent in your corner.
A - We do have a pretty high-powered agent. His is originally from Montreal. He did a lot of touring around with musicians as well when he was younger. He's now based in the U.S. and he does Atlantic City, a few Vegas acts. He does a few casinos around. We've been dealing with him since about 2005 in Atlantic City. We also do Detroit with him.
Q - And he's also booking corporate gigs for you, is he?
A - That's not him. That's another agent. We're not exclusive. That's the one thing we agreed on, that we weren't going to be exclusive.
Q - How long have Broken Nails been together?
A - They've been together since 2004, 2005 I believe.
Q - You haven't had any personnel changes along the way, have you?
A - We've had a lot of personnel changes along the way, but we've pretty much been this group for four years now.
Q - How do you find people that share the same vision, not to mention people that you can get along with offstage?
A - Well, actually all of us have different projects elsewhere. Broken Nails is more of a sisterhood, party time. We know where our gigs are ahead of time. A lot of the girls have original projects aside. The drummer is a doctor. So, she doesn't have much time for music. She did her studies while being in the band.
Q - What were you doing before Broken Nails?
A - I did a lot of music in Montreal. I went to Asia for about a year and a half. Toured there doing music. I did music full-time for about six years and I also taught music. Then I have steady jobs as well. I worked for lots of companies and I just moved back from Ottawa and I work in a Daycare and I also do music for kids.
Q - Broken Nails is a Dance band, but you can also Rock out.
A - Yeah, absolutely.
Q - This is probably what separates Broken Nails from other bands. You can do one or the other or both.
A - Definitely. It goes by the venue as well. When we play Detroit we'll play a lot more Motown, whereas when we're in Turning Stone (Casino), Verona, New York, people over there love the Rock, so we do more Rock there. We have the feel of the crowd. We've got a lot of songs in our repertoire, so we can make sure to play what people want to listen to. Corporate events, we'll do a little Dance, a little Rock, a little Reggae. Just everything they want to hear. We make sure to change it up a bit.
Q - Where did you come up with this name, Broken Nails?
A - They used to be called Le Girls, The Girls, but in French Le Girls. At one point, I believe it was the bass player at the time, she thought of Broken Nails. I like to say today that if we're doing this a little while longer, maybe we'll be called Broken Hips. (Laughs)
Q - I was going to say Broken Nails would probably send most girls into a frenzy.
A - Well, that's the thing, we're not the feminine type, the whole hairspray and getting ready. We can have supper at 9 and we have to be on at 9:30 and we'll be ready at that time 'cause we don't mind having our nails broken. That's the whole point of the name. We're feminine, but we like to Rock out. We carry our own gear and we don't need anybody else to help us out. That's the whole point of Broken Nails.
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