Fly Pan Am

For the airline, see Pan American World Airways. For the New Zealand band, see Pan Am (band).

For other uses, see Pan Am (disambiguation).

Fly Pan Am, or Le Fly Pan Am, are a Canadian experimental rock band formed in Montreal in 1996.^[1] They release their albums through the Montreal-based Constellation Records, producing and collaborating on works with Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Shalabi Effect.

Fly Pan Am
Fly Pan Am photographed in Montréal, Québec, Canada.
Background information
Also known as	Le Fly Pan Am
Origin	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres	Post-rock, experimental rock
Years active	1996–2005 2018–present
Labels	Constellation
Members	Félix Morel Jonathan Parant Roger Tellier-Craig Jean-Sébastien Truchy
Past members	Éric Gingras
Website	cstrecords.com/pages/fly-pan-am

About the band

The band was formed in 1996 by guitarists Jonathan Parant and Roger Tellier-Craig, drummer Felix Morel, and bassist Jean-Sebastien Truchy.^[1] Eric Gingras would later on join the band in 2002, contributing guitar and percussion.^[1] They additionally shared personnel with Godspeed You! Black Emperor, until guitarist Roger Tellier-Craig left Godspeed You! Black Emperor in 2003 to concentrate full-time on Fly Pan Am.^[1]

The band is influenced by the French Canadian culture of Quebec, as well as the burgeoning avant-garde musical scene in Montreal. French is the predominant language used in producing albums and writing lyrics, with English peppered throughout. The track titles on past records, as stated by Roger Tellier-Craig, were written in a way to interpret the song, which Tellier-Craig concedes was "lost on most listeners" due to the French used.^[2] Unorthodox use of electronic sounds, occasionally provided by Alexandre St-Onge,^[1] serve to intersect and often confuse the listener.^[3]

The group often recorded their albums at the Hotel2Tango, a recording studio owned by Efrim Menuck and Thierry Amar of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, as well as Howard Bilerman. As a result of these ties, members of other Montreal-based bands sometimes participated as guest musicians or aided the recording process.

An announcement from the band in 2006 spoke of their indefinite hiatus and Parant's part in Feu Thérèse.^{[citation needed]} Tellier-Craig went on to found experimental pop band Pas Chic Chic with Gingras playing bass.^[4] Morel currently drums for the psychedelic sludge band, Panopticon Eyelids, and for Les Enfants Sauvages.^{[citation needed]} Gingras has released two albums as Enfant Magique, the first self-released, the second, L'art d'enfiler les pearls, released by independent Montreal label, No Weapon.^[5]

In September 2018, the band announced on their Facebook page a re-formation after a 14-year hiatus to play a single live show in Montreal, along with new artwork to advertise as such.^[6] The band's hiatus officially concluded with the announcement and release of their fourth studio album, C'est ça, in June and September 2019 respectively.^[7][8]

Discography

Albums

• Fly Pan Am (Constellation Records; 1999)
• Ceux qui inventent n'ont jamais vécu (?) (Constellation Records; 2002)
• N'écoutez pas (Constellation Records; 2004)
• C’est ça (Constellation Records; 2019)
• Frontera (Constellation Records; 2021)

EPs and singles

• "aMAZEzine! 7" " single with Godspeed You! Black Emperor, given away free with aMAZEzine! Magazine; (1998). Included "L'espace au sol est redessiné par d'immenses panneaux bleus"
• Sédatifs en fréquences et sillons EP (Constellation Records; 2000)
• "Mirror Cracks Seeking Interiority"; Part of Corona Borealis Longplay Singles series (Constellation Records; 2020)

References

1. "Fly Pan Am biography". Bands index. Constellation Records. 2006. Archived from the original on February 3, 2007. Retrieved March 21, 2007.
2. Powell, Mark (2004). "Interview with Roger Tellier-Craig of Fly Pan Am". Interviews. Southern Records. Archived from the original on February 27, 2007. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
3. "Le Fly Pan Am – Ceux qui inventent n'ont jamais vécu (?)". Records index. Constellation Records. 2006. Archived from the original on March 20, 2007. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
4. "Semprini Records". December 25, 2008. Archived from the original on December 25, 2008.
5. "Enfant Magique". Noweapon.org. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
6. "Playing our first show in 14 years next month..." Facebook.com. Archived from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
7. "Fly Pan Am Announces New Album C'est ça - Constellation". June 20, 2019. Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
8. "OUT NOW: Fly Pan Am's C'est ça". cstrecords.com. September 19, 2019. Archived from the original on December 21, 2019. Retrieved December 21, 2019.