The original core of the band came together in 1965 and consisted of François Guy (rhythm guitar, vocals), Charles Prevost Linton (keyboards, vocals), and Louis Parizeau (drums and percussion). The bandmembers came from a Montreal neighborhood known as Notre-Dame-de-Grâce that had a mixed French/English population, so it was natural that they should record in both languages. For about two months the band went by the name of the Silver Spiders and then changed their name to Les Sinners. There were changes in the second guitarists over the next several months – Georges Marchand and Jay Boivin – before the line-up stabilized with the addition of Ricky Johnson on lead guitar.
Les Sinners broke up sometime in 1968 but reformed two years later, with only drummer Louis Parizeau left over from the original band.
Les Sinners came together a third time in 1975, with Louis Parizeau remaining from the original line-up plus Daniel Valois from the prior incarnation. New bandmembers were Serge Blouin (bass guitar), Claude Hetu (keyboards), Serge Locas (keyboards, synthesizers), and Dennis Violetti (lead guitar).
The bandmembers in Les Sinners for their final album, Le Chemin de Croix De Jos Roy are mostly the same as those on ?, including Daniel Valois (rhythm guitar), Serge Blouin (bass guitar), Claude Hetu (keyboards), Serge Locas (keyboards, synthesizers), and Dennis Violetti (lead guitar), with the addition of Wally Rossi (rhythm guitar) and Richard Tate (drums, percussion). Longtime Les Sinners drummer Louis Parizeau produced the album, and another former bandmember, Alain Jodoin handled the arrangements.
When I looked up one of the related bands, La Révolution Française, they seemed more like Les Sinners than the post-1968 line-ups of the actual band did. When François Guy left Les Sinners in 1968, the band evidently broke up. Guy then put together a new band consisting entirely of former members of Les Sinners: Jean-Guy Cossette (guitar), Georges Marchand (bass guitar) and Louis Parizeau (drums). Their debut single did well enough to justify an album in 1968 on CANUSA Records, called C. Cool. Louis Parizeau also produced the album.
(April 2013)
