Alix Fernz on Music, Masks, and Montreal

We caught up with Montreal-based artist, Alix Fernz (Mothland), to talk about his debut album Bizou and his electric onstage persona.

We discovered Alexandre Fournier, AKA, Alix Fernz, as he’s one of the first from Mothland to press his record using our exPRESS Vinyl Packs, a rapid-turnaround option specifically designed for indie artists and labels. Before launching his current project, you might have known him as a member of Blood Skin Atopic or as a stand-in guitarist for La Sécurité.

Alix Fernz, is known for his daring persona and psychotropic, Post-Punk grit, his sound pulses with synth-heavy, skull-splitting reverb. Speaking about the recording process for Bizou, Fernz explained, “Usually, I did all the demos by myself at home. Then, when it came to the drums and bass, I headed somewhere else to record with the band.” The result was a raw, experimental album—a one-of-a-kind collection that began as demos crafted in his bedroom.

Fernz embraces the stage as a space to experiment with identity, wearing a figurative mask on stage. As he explains it, the mask becomes a way to live out the extremes of his own story in public—without completely exposing what it is to live with those extremes in private. On stage, he feels he’s giving people what they want, the spectacle of someone who’s chosen to be an outsider and uses it as a superpower.

However, Fernz is quick to point out that his music is not about dwelling on hardship or creating an aura of depth for the sake of it. “The music that I’ve written, and the persona on stage is how I need to deal with my past.” “It can be deep,” he says, “but I’m not acting deep when I’m performing. I’d do that normally in life,” he admits. “But on stage, you want to give the audience the experience that they came to my show to get and it’s just a way for me to give them what they want.”

In Montreal, there’s a freedom in standing apart, in performing the role of an outsider without trying too hard to belong. Here, Fernz stands out for the very things that might get lost in the shuffle somewhere else. He describes Quebec’s music scene with a mix of affection and distance, a place where one can create something “outside” by default, without the weight of expectation.

Performing in places like Toronto, he’s noted how the crowds respond (or don’t). “In Quebec’s Francophone scene, it’s easy to stand out when you’re someone like me,” he says. Outside his home turf, however, it’s different. “People are too cool,” he laughs, describing Toronto audiences with a mix of empathy and frustration, “standing there, watching, maybe nodding, but it’s like they’re just… holding back.”

So, for now, he’ll let the crowd come as close as they’re willing, even if that means staying at arm’s length. He’s still learning how to inhabit these spaces, to figure out what it is that makes people let go, to give in to whatever energy he’s offering. He’s realizing that music isn’t just a matter of sound, nor the performance of look alone. It’s an exchange, a call to something deeper—a moment when, maybe, if they’re lucky, everyone in the room forgets themselves for a song.

To learn more about Alix Fernz and his music, check out mothland.com/alix-fernz

To learn more about exPRESS Vinyl Packs, visit precisionpressing.com/express

Header Photo by Antoine Giroux