Interview with Béton Armé

A chat with Montreal Oi! band Béton Armé

From the very first listens we completely fell in love with Béton Armé, a band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2018. Their Oi! sound is inspired by the Italian scene of the 1980s and the more recent French wave, also enriched with hardcore punk influences that give everything the right extra push. The result is a direct, raw, and savage sound that’s truly unique. In 2025 they released Renaissance via La Vida Es Un Mus, which we immediately included among our favorite records of the year!

Radio Punk: Hi and thanks so much for being here on our webzine! Let’s start with the basics: we know you formed in 2018 and over the years you’ve consolidated the project through several splits and two releases. Where do Béton Armé come from? Do you have – or have you had – other projects besides this one (bands, collectives, anything else…)?

Béton Armé: Hi ! First, thanks for having us. It’s always great to contribute to zines from all over the world. It’s a really important part of the subculture and we’re always honored to be included in them.

The idea of the band coalesced at the end of 2017 and we really started playing together in early 2018. It started when I (Oli, guitar) came back from France, after spending a year in Paris where I hung out with friends there while the scene was at its peak and really wanted to get back to playing music since it had been on the back burner for years because of perpetual back and forth between Canada and France which didn’t allow me to be in a band in any serious way. At the same time Dan (vocal) and Fabio (bass) had the idea to start a band with similar influences so we got introduced by a mutual friend and we went from there. We asked Remi (drums) to join because we had seen him play with other bands and thought the energy he brought was exactly what we needed. He realistically is the only one who already was in a band worth mentioning (haha). He indeed was already playing with Faze, a hardcore band from Montreal which solidified its status as one of the best in the city even more in recent years. As for the rest of us we all had punk and hardcore bands, but nothing anyone outside of our local scene would have ever heard of.

Radio Punk: Your latest record Renaissance, released by La Vida Es Un Mus, is a real gem. We know you draw inspiration both from French bands like Rixe and from Italian Oi! bands of the ’80s, and this really comes through on the record! We’re curious: what are your favorite Italian records?

Béton Armé: That answer is really easy and quite straight forward. Nabat is obviously the one that comes to mind immediately and is one of the main influences for the band. We also really like Rough from Turin. It’s a classic for us, especially for Fabio. We also fuck with Basta. All great bands with the sort of energy we wanted to infuse our music with since the beginning.

Radio Punk: Can you share some cool details, curiosities, or anecdotes about the record? And more generally, is there something you’d like to say about the album or about yourselves that nobody has asked you yet?

Béton Armé: Here’s a fun fact : as Dan is often saying, we’re a dance band from Montreal. The idea is to get people moving and in order to do that some of our songs are heavily influenced (if not totally ripped off) by 90’s euro dance hits. I’ll let the readers figure out which ones!

Radio Punk: In Europe, and especially in Italy, the punk and skin scenes are closely connected to social and political struggles and themes such as antifascism, anticapitalism, and transfeminism. Is it the same within the Canadian scene?

Béton Armé: Yes. In Montreal especially, punk and oi! Scenes are very much intertwined and heavily leaning on the left. We try our best to keep it that way and that’s where our politics stand.

Radio Punk: You’re from Canada, specifically Montreal, and in an interview from some time ago (with Matt from Creases Like Knives) you talked about how gentrification is destroying your city – something we’re unfortunately seeing in many Italian cities as well. How do the punk and skin scenes resist all this? Are there any “free zones” or places, venues, squats that try to slow down the inevitable slide toward a yuppie-dominated world?

Béton Armé: It is very hard. DIY spaces are opening and closing all the time. People try to organize and build alternative communities, but the general phenomenon is hitting our scenes very directly. One such example is the death of LoudHouse, which was one of the most long standing DIY venue/squat in North America a few years ago. We have yet to find a new alternative to replace it and it’s becoming quite difficult. Katacombes also had to shut down. It was a venue co-owned and run by punks and it got tore apart to build condos. I guess the only glimmer of hope is the neighborhood I live in, Hochelaga, where a lot of the punks live. It always has been a left leaning/working classe part of the city and a lot of community based initiatives work together to fight – or at least slow down- the aggressive gentrification of our city. It works to an extent, but rent is still increasing and it is a never ending uphill battle.

Radio Punk: You’ve played a lot and in many different countries – the USA, Mexico, Chile, Spain, Germany, France… so when are you coming to Italy?! Jokes aside, with bands that tour as much as you do, we always like to ask for some trashy or grotesque tour anecdotes. Make us laugh!

Béton Armé: We’re gonna play at least a show in Italy in September. It’ll be announced soon. And obviously we would like to do more. It’s definitely coming in the next years.

As for anecdotes, I guess this one is our classic one : one member of the band – who shall remain nameless- had too much to drink one night in Milwaukee and ended up so drunk he pissed his pants… with his brand new passport in his pockets. This document has been nicknamed de PISSport ever since. And I might had that to cover our tracks, another member of the band left an empty bottle of beer on the couch where the deed happened to cover our tracks and the next time we saw the owner of the house he instantly came to us saying : “Nice try covering the stain on the couch, but don’t worry it’s not the first time someone pisses on it.’”

Radio Punk: You’re a band that receives a lot of support, both live and online, and you’ve had a great response from the public – something we imagine makes you very happy! We also know that in your lyrics you really care about spreading the idea of unity within the scene, mutual support, and personal growth. How can these great values be put into practice in everyday life? And speaking of the scene, is there unity among the different subcultures where you’re from?

Béton Armé: There is obvious unity in Montreal. The support we got from every underground subcultures has been great. Even the more “mainstream” scene is starting to see us and support what we are doing, which is great. We try to practice what we preach, book new bands, support our friends and always be stoked for other bands’ success. We understand now the amount of work required to be in a touring band and it’s important for us to give back whenever possible.

Radio Punk: We’re at the end – thanks so much for answering our questions. We’ll close with one last, extra-spicy question: who are you in everyday life? What are your jobs and hobbies outside of music? Cheers!

Béton Armé: No worries, it’s been a pleasure. Thanks for having us! And as for our everyday lives, I am a historian, I did research and taught history at Unii for a while. Remi and Fabio work construction/renovation jobs and Dan is an electrician by trade. But at this point we’re on tour so much that we don’t really do any of this very often. Remi is a great skater and it’s a big part of his life. Personally I mostly like to read and watch football. And most of us like hockey because… you can’t escape that in Montreal haha.

First photograph by Jesse Ramirez