Francoise: I think the reason why both of us are probably willing to take those risks and willing to go out on our own and do it: (1) we’re very stubborn, I think. And we tend to micromanage everything. And we tend to also, if we’re not doing it we’re not sure it’s being done right. Although –

Mathieu Drouin: That’s a weakness, not a strength. But –

Francoise: No, exactly. But –

Mathieu Drouin: One that’s particularly prevalent with me.

Francoise: So I think that – I don’t know.

Mathieu Drouin: I mean personally I think we had the benefit of (1) the ability to be entrepreneurial because we got lucky early. But also that turning into something that never did I really hope or aspire would ultimately. I mean I’ve always dabbled in little projects and didn’t know that this thing was going to take off. Or do even marginally well to the point where we’d make any money at all, much less quite a bit of money. And so that gave me the confidence that we’d done it before, we can do it again.

But are you bored with it? I don’t know. But it’s definitely a trick that I developed early.

Francoise: I don’t think I’m bored in it.

Mathieu Drouin: Always wanted – I was always trying to sell something or make money somehow, from the age of, early as I can remember, five, six years old. She comes from eight years of music –

Francoise: .

Mathieu Drouin: - and loving music. Whereas I came from – I’m not a musician. I had not knowledge of the music industry. I made the decision to get into it on a whim. Because I quit school, walked out in the middle of an exam, and then said, “Shit. What am I gonna do?” It was very impulsive.

And Richard Branson happened to be on the television screen and he was an entrepreneur. And that’s what I was first: an entrepreneur who wanted to do something I was passionate about. And he seemed very passionate and he was espousing his life philosophy. And I thought that sounds pretty cool. That’s how I happened into it.

And ironically, one of the reasons I – you asked where the know-how came from. But one of the contributing factors to me quitting school was I was frustrated by the process of having to learn at the rate of the lowest . Lowest common denominator. And the teachers, I found, didn’t speak the language very well on a lot of levels, actually. And I wasn’t learning as – I’m a guy who’ll learn on my own. I read books voraciously. And I wasn’t learning, not only was I not, I wouldn’t say I wasn’t learning. But the rate of learning had really slowed at school. And not only was I not learning as fast as I felt I could go and learn on my own, but I wasn’t learning exactly what I wanted to be learning. I had to learn according to the curriculum of the program as opposed to whatever I was interested in.

And I had, like I said, the security to just go, “Ah. Screw it.” And so I would say that most of the most of the business know-how I have, I developed through reading books. Mostly biographies on other entrepreneurs. And through practical application. And the same is true of the music industry. I knew nothing when I got into it. And I tell artists all the time when I start to work with them—and that’s why Fuzz and I are a great team and complete each other well—I’m left side of the brain for the most part. I know what I like in terms of music and what I think will actually work in terms of marketability whether it’s commercial or whether it’s independent.

But I know where all the money – I know how all the deals work in the music industry. I know where the money comes from, where it goes, how it gets siphoned in one direction or the other. And I learned that from having the benefit, which was exactly the idea, of being in a very substantial independent company that had interest in all these business but where I wouldn’t get pigeon-holed into being just in the publicity department or just in the royalties department. So I just was given access to an open book. And Donald and I developed a really father-son type of relationship where I was granted unrestricted access to everything in the company. So I learned it by reading contracts and by negotiating contracts and by talking with the lawyers who we worked with. And it’s all just practical experience I would say.

And then on the music side of things, we’ll that’s way more Fuzz’s strength. And she handles all the creative services stuff.

Francoise: Also, the same thing when we find bands. It’s the same process as when we were saying you find that one person you respect and get a taste and all that. So I think that that has a big part of it. You go to gigs a lot. You talk to a lot of people. You talk to the people that are there all the time: the sound guys at venues, you talk to the kids are there, and you get out there and you ask what’s cool. You also have – there are certain that I respect a lot, sound engineers that I really love and respect. And they’re also gonna say, “Did you check them out? You check them out.” And you hear stuff like that. And it’s –

Mathieu Drouin: Being connected to that network of people who are living that scene.

Francoise: Yeah. It’s being connected and talking to those people. And then once – it’s the same thing. Once you establish a relationship you know that I could tell you well this guy’s gonna often talk about bands that more like this and that’s less my shtick. So you know when he talks about a band and he goes, “Well, you know what? You may like it actually.” And you go out and see them. And it’s all communication.

Mathieu Drouin: More often I think you get referred something from somebody that you trust or that you know. Than actually happening to be surfing the Internet and find something or see a list and go to see a show with no knowledge of who the artist is. It’s –

Francoise: ‘Cause then it’s kind of in the dark.

Mathieu Drouin: It comes to mostly through the network.

Francoise: There are so many bands out there that if you start doing that, you’re kind of lost.

Mathieu Drouin: Again it comes down to the filters, right? We all have our filters.

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