Loco Locass

In 1999 the band adopted the name 'Locos Locass' and then changed it to 'Loco Locass', also adding new band member Chafiik (Mathieu Farhoud-Dionne).[1] The band musicians besides the trio of Biz, Batlam and Chafiik are Jeanse, Djip, Lester G, VöV and Tchi Tchi Novo Solmol[2]

Loco Locass's self-image as a vehicle for promoting the sovereigntist option has played into existing social divisions. These divisions have played out on several occasions:

St-Jean Concert: on June 24, 2005, the group took part in a show marking the government-designated Quebec National Holiday organised by Les Cowboys Fringants at Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau. The ten-hour politicized show's $40 entry fee was controversial, as was its sponsorship by Coca-Cola and Gillette, companies some left-wing nationalists identified as "Anglo-Saxon imperialists", leading to charges that the show constituted elitist competition with a long-established event at Parc Maisonneuve.

Federal Funding: Loco Locass are not among the sovereigntist artists whose political stance leads them to boycott federal funding programmes. In particular, some of their recordings have received federal recording industry subsidies. Federalists have charged that this poses an integrity problem, since they accept funding from the very level of government whose rejection they seek to promote.

Federalists Leave Home: Biz was reported during the spring of 2006 as suggesting that those who do not support the sovereignty option should leave Quebec. Some also accuse Biz's of taking part of the history of accusations of disloyalty by nationalists.

On 25 February 2010, Chafiik of Loco Locass signed, together with 500 other artists, a call to support the international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid.[3]

On August 19, 2005, in Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, Loco Locass played five of their songs accompanied by a young string orchestra of musicians aged 12 to 17, an initiative of Camp Musical St-Alexandre director-conductor Mathieu Rivest. The five songs were La censure pour l'échafaud, La bataille des murailles, L'empire du pire en pire, Antiaméricanisme primaire and Libérez-nous des libéraux, to which music by Prokofiev, Berlioz, and Stravinsky was added. Partners included Télé-Québec, Vidéo Femmes and Audiogram,[4] and a documentary entitled Symphonie Locass was released in the winter of 2006.

Loco Locass won awards from:

• ADISQ (best hip-hop album for Amour Oral, 2005);
• CRIA-certified gold album for selling 50,000 copies of Amour Oral (2005);
• MuchMusic Video Awards (nominated for best French-language video, 2005);
• MusiquePlus (artist of the month, April 2005).

• Manifestif (2000)
• In Vivo (EP) (2003)
• Amour Oral (2004)
• Le Québec est mort, Vive le Québec ! (2012) #4 CAN[5]

• Sheila Chu la (2002)
• Groove Grave (2005)
• Bonzaion (2005)
• Spleen & Montreal (2006)
• La bataille des murailles en symphonique (2006)
• La censure pour l'échafaud (2006)
• La Paix des Braves (featuring Samian) (2007)
• M'accrocher (2008)
• Hymne à Québec (2010)
• Le But (2010)

• Loco Locass Official site (in French)
• Loco Locass at MySpace (in French)
• Loco Locass videos (in French)