When Ontario artist Nicholas Durocher, aka Talk, showed up at the Plains of Abraham on July 8, 2022 to open the evening dedicated to Luke Combs, he was a famous unknown. Half an hour later, 70,000 people had fallen in love with him.
“It was magical,” recalls Talk, who spoke to Le Journal a few days before the release of his first album “Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees” and the opening act for Shania Twain concerts in Toronto, Montreal and Quebec.
His flamboyant and endearing personality, his inspired covers of rock classics and his love for Quebec and French, including his presentation of a new interpretation of “La Ziguezon”, enchanted the audience at the summer festival.
After the concert, a video of his evening posted on TikTok went viral and Quebec radio stations began playing “Run Away to Mars” (played more than 105 million times on Spotify). He gained supporters in Norway and South Africa, but the United States lost in turn. He reached No. 1 on the Billboard adult alternative songs chart and was a guest on James Corden’s show.
All of this, he repeats, is due to his performance at the summer festival. “I started my career in Quebec. That’s where I have the most admirers.”
Lecture at the Summer Festival, July 7, 2023. Photo from the archives of Didier Debusschère/Le Journal de Québec
Rock roots
The impact was so great that the FEQ invited him again in 2023, this time before Imagine Dragons on the Plains.
He destroyed the house again. “It was just as magical because the audience knew the lyrics to my songs,” says the man, who was dressed in Quebec colors and ended his concert by smashing his guitar on stage.
In addition, Talk’s music is more rock-oriented, although he is associated with country artists at concerts. “These are my roots. My father listened to the Stones, the Beatles. I like the Foo Fighters, Elton John, Queen…”
Dream about stadiums
His costumes, each more colorful than the next, reflect his love for the rock stars of yesteryear.
“When I was young I dreamed of being like Elton John, Freddie Mercury or Chris Martin from Coldplay and playing big stadium concerts. I like to be different. I think my look is like my music, it’s rock and roll, colorful and vibrant.”
He has ambitions and he embraces them. “Next time I go to FEQ,” he said, “I want to be the headliner.”
Son of a Quebecer
Nicholas Durocher grew up in Ottawa and is the son of an Ontario father and a Quebec mother who met in Val-d’Or. He speaks English but knows French well enough to give interviews in his mother’s language.
“I understand it well because when I was a child she would shout at me in French when she was angry,” he says humorously.
Now thousands of people are screaming at Talk, but the point is to send him love.
- Concert at the Videotron Center in Quebec on October 24th and at the Bell Center in Montreal on October 25th.
The cover of Talk’s album Lord of the Flies & Birds & Bees, released October 20, 2023. Image provided by Universal Music Canada