She is one of the pioneers of Montreal hardcore punk. She is one of the godmothers of grunge. His father, Ernest Tucker, was the CBC’s first black journalist. She creates the costumes for KISS. Meet Rebecca Sevrin, who will dress Gene Simmons for the last time on Saturday night, backstage at her final show at Madison Square Garden.
Published at 1:18 am. Updated at 6:00 am.
Rebecca Sevrin has been working with the KISS camp since 2004, but KISS has been in Rebecca Sevrin’s life for much longer. “The reason I asked my parents for a guitar was because every Christmas I would watch one of my cousins play all the KISS songs on the guitar and I thought, ‘That’s me.’ “I’m sure I can play better than him,” she recalled two weeks ago in the lobby of the Sofitel hotel where she was staying during Paul, Gene, Tommy and Eric’s visit to Montreal.
She added with a mischievous smile, “But I didn’t like KISS. What I like is punk rock. »
PHOTO CAROLINE GRÉGOIRE, LE SOLEIL ARCHIVE
Rebecca Sevrin, November 19 in Quebec, for KISS’s final performance at the Videotron Center
And punk rock fans were not legion in the Châteauguay of his youth. “It was a land of hockey where everyone only listened to Styx and Supertramp,” says Ernest Tucker, the daughter of a Welsh mother and a Bermudian father, the CBC’s first black journalist, as if she were reliving a nightmare. And the last name Sevrin? “A memory I kept from a divorce,” jokes Rebecca laconically.
When her older sister returned from a stay in England in 1976, punk turned everything inside her upside down.
“To me, my sister was the coolest person in the world and when she returned to Quebec she had black, pink and yellow hair. She’s the one who introduced me to the Sex Pistols, The Damned and Co. But it was when I heard Marquee Moon on TV [mythique groupe new-yorkais] that I said to myself: If this guy can make an album with such limited technology, I can too. »
An artistic chaos
Rebecca built her first electric guitar at the age of 19. As a teenager, she moved from Châteauguay to downtown Montreal at every opportunity to be rocked by the sound of amplifiers at clubs like Cargo, Rising Sun and Station 10.
In the early 1980s she founded the hardcore group No Policy, which, despite its short life and a discography consisting of a single demo cassette (now a collector’s item), would go on to shape the local punk scene alongside groups such as Unruled, Genetic Control and SCUM
PHOTO PROVIDED BY REBECCA SEVRIN
Rebecca in 1984 with No Policy
There were no athletes in this scene, no little prom queens. We were all unloved people who loved and helped each other. You saw someone with strange hair on the street and knew he was part of your gang.
Rebecca Sevrin
With great curiosity, drummer Michel Langevin was one of the privileged witnesses of these legendary years of disorder and distortion. “I saw several hardcore shows in Montreal in the 1980s,” confirms the founder of the monumental metal band Voivod.
“And my favorite band from that scene was No Policy. I found them different, mostly thanks to Rebecca and the unique guitars she designed. No politics was artistic chaos. The songs were varied and complex, at a time when hardcore bands mostly tried to play as fast as possible. »
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Rebecca Sevrin
The queen of vinyl clothing
While in New York, Rebecca Sevrin saw silver leather pants on sale for $600. Too expensive. Way too expensive. “When I came back, I cut up one of my dad’s winter coats to make my own,” she says, still proud of her cut. “My father was hesitant to strangle me or congratulate me. »
These trousers become the founding act of her career as a costume designer, as the young woman, despite studying violin making at the Guitar Research & Design Center in Vermont, was unable to find a job in this male-dominated field. .
After No Policy disbanded, Rebecca flew to California. In 1986, she joined the all-female group Frightwig, considered the godmothers of grunge and the Riot Grrl movement, which Courtney Love has often mentioned in interviews.
PHOTO FROM FRIGHTWIG FACEBOOK PAGE
Rebecca Sevrin in the group Frightwig, 1986
“I saw these girls, they were all crooked, they were screaming, it was raw, it was raw, and I said to myself: This is my world,” recalls Rebecca, whose guitar can be heard on the album Faster, Frightwig: Killing !! Kill!!, a little-known treasure of rock music.
However, she made a living as a costume designer and vinyl clothing seamstress in Los Angeles, working on television and film sets, for photographers and for groups (Mötley Crüe, WASP, Pussycat Dolls).
She first dressed Gene Simmons in 2004 and has accompanied KISS on the road several times, including the last two years.
Every evening, Rebecca spends the entire show at the edge of the stage, on the demon’s side, examining his smallest ailments, which she tries to alleviate as quickly as possible with foam and tape. Because his armor full of screws, which is essentially made of carbon fiber, can quickly annoy him.
She doesn’t know what the future holds for her after her final show Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, other than a very, very long nap. “I accompany them as they prepare for the stage, and their love for each other is always palpable,” she notes. They play music and talk about vocal harmonies and production. Gene sings fifth to the sound of the Beatles. And even if their feet hurt, they will give you the best show you have ever seen in your life. »