Yvon Serré releases 7th album with M.I.C.
Julie Ann Bertram
Special to the Tribune
For over five decades, Yvon Serré has been a resonant voice in rock music. From the high school halls of Sturgeon Falls to international airwaves, Serré has always kept a piece of home in his heart.
M.I.C., Serré’s band, started over 20 years ago in Chengdu China, having a few embodiments over that time with different musicians. They have just released their latest album, 7th Heaven, a melodic upbeat soundscape of songs reminiscent of Serré’s 80s rock influences.
Growing up, Serré played in a few bands locally: The Junior Beatles, Rock, Wizard and Thalassa. “I started playing live at 11 years old, I played at the Cache Bay restaurant. I played gigs at weddings, a graduation, Ecole Resurrection, a summer camp, at the arena, and at other schools. There were a lot of bands in Sturgeon Falls at that time, there were five or six clubs, and they all had live bands. We were influenced by the local musicians; we were influencing each other. I got the bug pretty early and I always had to have a band. I haven’t changed – I still think I can make it in the music business,” he chuckles, “I just keep on going!
Yvon Serré’s life has been music, in many incarnations; it lives in his blood with his Franco-Ontarian heritage. “I was born and lived in Sturgeon Falls until I was 23. I’d always listened to French music, and I wanted to go to Montreal, where I wrote my first original. I came back to Sturgeon and wrote a whole bunch of French songs, put a band together, and then we went back to Montreal where we were signed a record deal with Denis Pantis [Les Disques Millionaire/Rockbec], who was famous in those days, he was the man in Quebec.”
Being a Franco-Ontarien, “I had that love for the French culture, I was raised in a French community, this got me writing a hundred songs in French. But there was no money to be made there, so I moved to Toronto in 1986, and just before leaving Montreal, I changed my name to Harry Straight.” The Harry Straight Band toured Canada extensively for the next 14 years and got some radio play, TV appearances, and side projects. “Even today, I’m thinking I should’ve stayed with Harry Straight!” Serré says with a hearty laugh.
Serré speaks with the enthusiasm of a true rock star, and has some very entertaining stories. “In 1995, I actually dressed as a clown, with stilts, I was going to reinvent the world of rock, with smoke bombs and giant clowns and guitars (…), but I got tired of wearing the makeup, although a lot of people loved the band. There’s some videos on YouTube [see here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=jQ_FaTWuwVM ]
“Since the inception of M.I.C., I was in China for eight years and released 5 albums during that time. When I released my first album there, I got a call from a UK promotion company and they’ve been promoting M.I.C. since 2009, as well as some radio stations across Europe. In China, we played stadiums, can you imagine? You come out of the dressing room, and it seems there are millions of people, and they’re all trying to see you, it’s like you’re the Beatles! I had a great time. I came back when my daughter was 8 years old, she still speaks Mandarin and Chinese.”
Serré and his wife and daughter moved back to Canada, settling in Toronto, where M.I.C. continues to rock and make records. There are likely thousands of stories he could tell about his time performing, composing, recording and so on, but some of his fondest memories are from playing in West Nipissing.
