Multi-instrumentalist, composer, music engineer and producer, and head of the Unicorn Digital record label…Michel St-Père does it all! And this week he also guests on Prog-Watch! Tune in to this week’s program to hear some of our chat and lots of great music from his band Mystery!

At age 17, Michel St-Père was working as a sound engineer in a recording studio. Raised on a musical diet of rock music it wasn’t long before the band Rush captured his attention, quickly followed by the music of Yes and Genesis. His first serious musical project was a band that was going to be called Century, that was until they discovered a band in France going by the same name, who’d just released a recording. It was back to the drawing board. After a night of frustration throwing out name after name, it was the girlfriend of then keyboardist Sylvain Deharhais who suggested Mystery and the name stuck.

Mystery started life 1986, and as with most bands in their early days a stable line-up was hard to come by as members came and went. During this time St-Père with the help of his father took to building a recording studio and studying music recording and production. Members continued to come and go and it wasn’t until 1990 that the band membership stabilized. A demo was created with the hope of securing a major label deal. It did generate interest on the part of some record labels who suggested the band might be the next Yes, but in the end no deals came through. As a result, St-Père’s father suggested they should control their own destiny and release the music independently which they eventually would do. The first Mystery EP was released in 1992, and their first album in 1996. By that time, Michel had decided to form his own record label, Unicorn Digital to handle the music of Mystery. The label eventually expanded and began releasing the music of other artists, who number more than 50 at the time of this writing!  

In more than 30 years of existence, Mystery have released one EP, seven studio albums, two compilations, and two live albums. Through those years (and many line-up changes) Michel has remained the one constant. 

therealmystery.com

unicorndigital.net

                     

Music with some meat to it!

Prog-Watch is a weekly podcast and internet radio program dedicated to bringing the listener contemporary Progressive Rock music from around the world. Your big, hairy host, the “Prog-Squatch” wanders the woods of the world, beats the bushes, and digs in the dirt to bring the best Prog back for YOU! Sometimes solo and sometimes with a guest host, the Prog-Squatch will bring you new and interesting artists in each episode, and give you some background info and a taste of their music.

Want More Squatch? Check him out howling into the wild with his own Progressive Rock Band, Novus. Jam some Squatch in those ears! http://novus3.bandcamp.com/releases