Turbo Haüs, one of the city’s leading alternative-rock clubs, is the latest to be threatened with fines because of a noise complaint by a nearby resident.
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Here we go again.
Yet another vital Montreal music venue is being harassed by the city because they dare to allow bands to play live on their stage. It really is kind of outrageous.
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This week, Turbo Haüs, one of the city’s leading alternative-rock clubs, received an email from the city saying there had been a complaint from a nearby resident about noise coming from the bar and that the venue could face a fine of up to $12,000.
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In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the club snarled in full sarcastic mode: “Nice to know it’s illegal to have des spectacles in the f—ing Quartier des spectacles.”
Turbo Haüs is located on St-Denis St. just above Ontario St., on a strip exploding at the seams with bars and restaurants. The venue’s owner, Sergio Da Silva, told the Montreal Gazette that he called the city for more information and was told only that the complaint came from a building on Joly Ave. just west of his club. It was built in the last two years, while Turbo Haüs has been located there for five years. The city official would not reveal the date or the time of day of the complaint.
The letter from the city said the noise “nuisance” has to be stopped immediately or the venue could be hit with a fine of between $1,500 and $12,000. Da Silva said small clubs like his can’t afford to pay fines like this, “especially coming out of the pandemic.”
“Everyone in this industry is still suffering,” Da Silva said. “For most people, the pandemic is done and gone. But for people in bars and restaurants and especially venues, your job is to get as many people as possible in one room, and it’s still very difficult to make that work. We spent two years closed. We don’t have the scratch to absorb a $12,000 fine because one person decides to move to the wrong place and is now upset that at 11:30 there’s some noise.”
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The problem is, this is not an isolated case. The St-Laurent Blvd. venue Divan Orange closed in 2018 after years of fines following noise complaints, most of which came from one woman who had moved into the third-floor apartment above the club. The police told me she called 911 85 times in a two-month period and the club was fined $18,000.
This spring, fabled Plateau-Mont-Royal theatre La Tulipe lost a case in Superior Court brought by a neighbour complaining about sound coming from the venue. The complaint came from the building next to the theatre that was rezoned for residential development by the city administration. The judge said La Tulipe would have to lower its sound. In other words, a theatre built in 1913 has to lower the volume because of a new residential development next door! Unreal.
“There’s not a single small venue that hasn’t experienced this,” Da Silva said.
Robert Beaudry, councillor for the district that includes Turbo Haüs, said his administration is doing much to help nightlife, pointing to a pilot project to have certain venues stay open and serve drinks all night. But that pilot project doesn’t help venues on a day-to-day basis.
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Beaudry also pointed to the city’s program to help soundproof venues.
“We have a program he can use to help soundproof his hall,” Beaudry said.
Which begs the question: Why is it Da Silva’s problem and not the problem of the owners of the new building that was constructed right beside his club?
A couple of years ago, nightlife activist Mathieu Grondin told me a story about how he had gone to see Luc Ferrandez, mayor of the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough at the time, to complain about venues being fined for noise issues. Grondin said Ferrandez replied that his job was to look out for the residents. To which Grondin quipped: “But I’m a resident, too.”
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That’s the heart of the matter. Da Silva is a resident, too. In fact, he lives in an apartment on top of Turbo Haüs, in part so he is less likely to receive noise complaints for his club. Often enough, the musicians playing these small venues are residents, too, and those small bars are crucial for the city’s acclaimed indie music scene that has been celebrated around the world for the past 20 years.
Arcade Fire didn’t start off playing the Bell Centre. They — and The Dears and Stars and all the bands that came after — began in places like Divan Orange and Casa del Popolo, and then they worked their way up to bigger halls.
Some of Montreal’s best selling points internationally are its nightlife, its cultural life and specifically its cool indie music scene. You’d think the city would understand that. But all too often, they think of helping the big boys — like the mega-festivals — and forget that you also have to water the roots.
To make it even clearer: Don’t fine Turbo Haüs. Support them.
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