Réjean Nadon is founder of Le Net Blues, an online magazine dedicated to the happenings on the Quebec blues scene. For years he has worked the equivalent of a second full-time job to promote both established and up-and-coming artists alike – all on his own free time and all at his own expense. Very impressive, considering his site offers continuous updates ranging from performance reviews, album reviews, artist features, classified ads and countless video clips and mp3 samples.

 

In 2003, he took it all to a whole new level: He orchestrated the first ever blues awards ceremony in Quebec – The Lys Blues Awards – to honour the finest talent the province has to offer. Since then, it has become a major annual event bringing the who’s who of the Quebec blues scene together under one roof.

 

Crossroads Blues introduces you to the man who deserves more than his fair share of the spotlight – Réjean Nadon.

 

 

CB: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us, Réjean. Let’s talk about the Let Net Blues website… did you ever think it would get so popular and well-known?

R.N.: First off, I sincerely wish you much success with the new site. The more blues sites and media coverage out there, the better we can attract more fans to this style of music. I am very flattered that Crossroads Blues has aligned itself with our web site. Also, I’m very honoured to be one of your first main features.

 

When I look back on the progress Le Net Blues has made since 2002, the results largely exceed our original expectations. Never did we imagine getting such cooperation from the artists and the incredible amount of hits the features generated. The musicians can’t be thanked enough. The majority now have websites which link with Let Net Blues. That’s really helped us get extra coverage. I’m also really surprised by the popularity our site has gained in Europe. We’re currently establishing links and contacts with many European blues artists – as well as more and more Canadian and American acts.

 

Now many artists and festival promoters are using Le Net Blues as a promotional aid buy placing ads on our site. This certainly helps to defray the hosting costs – considering some days we get over 30 gigabytes worth of downloads!

 

Right now, our most difficult task is getting out to further areas of the region in order to cover more shows and discover new artists. 

 

CB: How many hits does the site get per year?

R.N.: We received 554,172 visitors in 2005 and 5,663,973 hits. 2006 is starting off on a strong note with over 60,000 visitors. In December of 2005, we were the number ONE most-visited web site on the French Blues Network (La Chaîne Du Blues) – a network comprising of over 440 French sites worldwide. We’re now noticing more and more people using the translation function on their search engine to get our articles in English. Language “barriers” are fast becoming obsolete on the web.

 

CB: What was your motivation for launching a blues website here in Quebec?

R.N.: I simply wanted to talk about artists that I saw live. I was really surprised at the lack of interest the local media demonstrated towards the blues. In 2001, I attended the Urgence Noël benefit organised by our friend Richard Chartrand. On the programme were Bob Walsh, Carl Tremblay, Jim Zeller, Jean Millaire, Johnny Gravel and Breen Leboeuf from Offenbach. The next day, this major event wasn’t covered anywhere. Not one newspaper, radio show or television report had anything to say about it. This turned my stomach. Now, Quebec blues artists are getting as much coverage as we can give them, and gradually we’re expanding our horizons to report on the happenings in other provinces and countries.

 

CB: What were your goals when originally launching the site? What year did it launch?

R.N.: I’ve always loved the blues – even while playing semi-professionally in rock and pop/rock groups. During our gigs, there was always a spot for some good blues. I ended up pursuing music more as a hobby after a gig I had on December 31^st, 1999. I left my wife, three kids and my parents at home to go play a New Year’s gig – ringing in the year 2000. I didn’t really enjoy being away from my loved ones on that special night, so that was it. Right around then, we had bought our first computer. A real beast – a Pentium 200MMx equipped with the state-of-the-art video card. My eldest daughter, and aspiring journalist, asked if I could help her start up a web site. We got to work and soon had a site that featured mostly music and musicians geared towards the teenaged audience. I asked that she reserve a little section on her site dedicated to the blues. She obliged the old man and a section called “Le Nad Blues” was born (Nad was short for my family name “Nadon”). Visitors to my section of her site jumped from 45 to 80 in less than a week. I then started reporting on local blues festivals. Soon after, I received my first congratulatory email from Quebec artist MO Blues. I took the opportunity to interview him for the site which officially became Le Net Blues in 2002.

 

CB: With such a rapid growth, you’ve found the need to hire some assistants. How many volunteers work for Le Net Blues and in which capacity?

R.N.: We’ve had a lot of great help over the past few years. Our old friend Aldo Druda has been with us since nearly the beginning. He travels the province for Le Net digging up stories and reporting on festivals. Other reporters also lend a hand: Pierre Jobin from Quebec, Marc Champagne from the Couleur Blues website, Sylvain Chartrand from Gatineau (who also runs the 24-hour Le Net Blues online radio feed). Our two photographers are Johanne Kirouac and Serge Desnoyers. Pierre Montpetit takes care of most of the live footage. Gaétan Nadon edits the articles. My wife, Louise Gosselin has her hands full with the site maintenance and the clerical work. Recently, two new team members were added: Young reporter Patricia Clavel and photographer/writer Marcel Dubois.

 

All these mentioned blues lovers give their time on a volunteer basis and share the same vision as Le Net Blues. They are all incredible people and I’m extremely lucky to have such a team around me. It’s definitely the key to Le Net’s success.

 

CB: The Lys Blues – another huge accomplishment. To ask the same question as earlier, did you ever imagine it would become so big, so fast?

R.N.: I had no idea the Lys Blues would be such a success. I mean, everyone I spoke with thought it was a good idea, but I had my doubts. My wife and I decided to give it a shot and started off by seeking some sponsorship. Right off the bat, Laurier Gagnon from Café Campus offered us the room for free. Martin Lachance from CHAA-FM accepted the emcee duties. Already we were off to a great start. From there, we set up an online voting system then secured some great performers for that night. The first year was huge. The room was filled to capacity and we knew then and there that the Lys Blues Awards would be here to stay. The next day, Louise and I started working on the following year’s Gala.