Dopethrone is a four-year-old trio of down-to-earth, horror film-loving guys who like to party hard and play really loud. Singer/guitarist Vincent "Vince" Houde invited us to his place, which doubles as a jam space where he likes to shred his blues-infused riffs with his pals, bassist Victor "Vyk" Daigle and drummer Carl "Big" Borman.

"With a name [like Dopethrone], you have no choice but to deliver," admits Vince, citing both Electric Wizard’s Dopethrone album and the band Darkthrone as inspirations. As I said in Hour’s Best of 2011 issue, this writer was stoked by Dark Foil, their sophomore album, which perfectly blends blackened sludge with some mighty doom and a whole lot of groove.

So was Roadburn Festival promoter and artistic director Walter Hoeijmakers, reached by email from his home in Tilburg, Netherlands, where the fest takes place every spring. "I heard of Dopethrone through the Internet. Quite a lot of people were raving about them and I got really interested. The band’s psychedelic sludge/doom fits Roadburn really well. Plus Voivod, our [2012] curators, are from Montreal too! So the invitation to play their curated Roadburn event, named Au-delà du réel, was inevitable."

It’s actually Mr. Roadburn himself who turned the Voivod guys onto the Hochelaga trio’s slow-and-low tones from down below. "When Dark Foil was released, we put it on a Bandcamp page and then, one day, the sales went up like a tsunami. [...] Then I found out that an excerpt of a review had been posted on the Roadburn website," enthuses Vince, who still can’t believe they went on to be asked to play at the cult festival so quickly.

This year’s Roadburn – which will also feature Killing Joke, YOB, Red Fang, Nachtmystium and our very own Priestess – was sold out in only seven minutes (!). It clearly a popular happening, where established bands like Fu Manchu, High on Fire, Neurosis, Clutch, The Melvins, Ghost and Down have performed since its inception back in 1995.

To take advantage of their trip to the Old World, Dopethrone are looking into booking gigs all over Europe. They’re also currently discussing a limited vinyl release of their latest album, with expanded artwork – stay tuned. And did I mention they have their own brand of hot sauce too? Smokin’.

Dopethrone
w/ Squalor, Putamen Insula, Murtenscythe
At Death House (679 St-Remi)
February 4