Hamadryad Biography

Hamadryad is a group of musicians all driven by the same passion:  musical creation.  Their music tastefully blends progressive and classic rock, with a touch of cinematic vision, taking the listener on a musical adventure. (In classical mythology, the Hamadryad was a wood nymph fabled to live and die with a tree to which she was attached.  Her mission was to be the link between the mortal and immortal entities.)

Hamadryad’s musical mission is to take their audience on a journey that transcends passing trends.

Hamadryad loves to reinvents  themselves, not two albums have quite the same sound, or the same members. Initially, as a quintet, they released in 2001 “Conservation Of Mass” (UNCR-5002, Unicorn Records).  This first effort brought much critical acclaim to the band and assured them of a place in a few "TOP TEN" lists for album of the year. But after the departure of their lead singer, Jocelyn Beaulieu, Hamadryad decided to reinvent itself as a quartet.  They started from scratch, trying to find a new sound for the group. The working sessions, where they would rearrange the existing songs, became without planning and unconsciously writing sessions of new music. Jean-François, who already sang one song on the first record and a few covers during shows, took on the role of singer and all gave birth to tons of new ideas.

It is toward the end of the work sessions for the second album, once the majority of the pieces were structured, that their keyboard player, Francis Doucet, announced that he had to quit the band. Not wanting to leave the band in a bad position, he presented to them a talented keyboard player named Sébastien Cloutier. They challenged him to compose a partition for one of the song that was going to be on the album that was to be released only a couple of weeks later and to learn all the keyboard partitions for every song that they were to present at the album launch.

They released “Safe in Conformity” in May 2005 (UNCR-5020, Unicorn Digital). This second album was well received by the public and the critics and opened doors for them to play festivals in both the US and Europe.

In June 2007, still as a quartet, Hamadryad released their first live album, the much anticipated “Live in France” (UNCR-5046, Unicorn Digital).  All the songs on this album were performed and recorded in August 2006, at the Crescendo festival in St-Palais-Sur-Mer, France.  With it's help, Hamadryad opened for the legendary Deep Purple, at the Bell center in Montreal and the Pavilion de la Jeunesse in Quebec City, and went back to Europe for two memorable shows, one in Switzerland and one in Belgium.

With the unfortunate departure of their drummer, Yves Jalbert, due to personal reasons; Hamadryad decided to reinvent itself once again.  They went ahead and hired 2 new members and got back to the quintet formula.  By adding lead singer Jean-Philippe Major and drummer Nick Turcotte to the fold, they added even more ingredients to their "sound".  Their album “Intrusion” released in 2010, is an impressive demonstration that this band is in constant evolution and their passion for music has not faded at all.  This strong album, which earned them nominations for best album in various top ten lists, has taken them on a small tour of France where they consilidated and grew their fan base.

This album also got them to take part in the "Three Friends" (Gentle Giant) tour of Québec in October 2012.

Now they are currently on a new album with the same lineup as their previous album, which is a first for them.  Having toured together and played many venues, this lineup is even "stronger" then on "Intrusion" and for that every fan should really look forward to getting a great album.   

For more details on each current member of Hamadryad, you can visit their own biography by clicking on the picture above.

Christian Lamarche

(color picture of band by Michael Cloutier)