Photo courtesy of John Carroll.
Last night after a beer at Chez Lucien, I headed to the Château Lafayette (better known to its patrons as the Laff) to meet with John Carroll. The Kemptville musician has had a residency at the Laff for the past seven years. I was there on my own when a spring chicken of about 70 named Roy accosted me. “Is it your first time here?,” he said. When I replied no, he announced “I’ve come here every Wednesday for some years now to hear John and I’ve never seen you before!” Well, that’s speaks volumes to John Carroll’s dedicated fans, old and young, and it also put me to shame for not having yet caught one of Ottawa’s most authentic musicians on his favourite stage of the city.
I was at the Laff to catch Carroll’s set and to discuss his new album Everyone Smokes in Hell, but I also wanted to talk about his Ottawa roots. Carroll grew up in the city but has lived in Kemptville for the last little while. Carroll’s gig at the Laff started when, after a few of the bartenders and regulars of the Laff had seen him busking around the Market, one of the staff offered him a Tuesday night slot to compliment Lucky Ron. It was at a time where business for bars like the Laff, who where still feeling the effects of the smoking ban, was really slow, so Carroll said what the hell. Overtime, the gig became a Wednesday night residency and a few years on the crowds of people, young and old, still keep coming.
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