Greedy Eyes (split with Shitfit)

General Fools were a bilingual punk band formed in Sherbrooke, Québec, during the early 1990s. The principal lineup featured Anne-Sophie ‘Anso’ D’Ascanio on vocals, Jean-François Clerçon on guitar, Sébastien Boisvert on bass and Sébastien ‘Trache’ Pesot on drums.

The group emerged from Sherbrooke’s developing DIY punk community alongside bands such as Shitfit, Pass Out, Urban Assault, Scapegoats, Chapak and Apathetic Nation. Small venues, handmade releases and direct exchanges between musicians, promoters and listeners sustained a scene that remained closely connected with Montréal and other underground communities across Québec and Ontario.

General Fools combined urgent punk and hardcore with angular post-punk arrangements and a darker emotional edge. D’Ascanio sang in both French and English, delivering lyrics that were often poetic, questioning and intensely personal rather than tied to a single political position. The bilingual approach allowed the band to move naturally between Québec’s French- and English-speaking punk circles.

Their first major release was the independently issued album Sarcasme in 1992. Recorded in Sherbrooke by John Rousseau, it contained fourteen songs, including ‘Suspicious Thoughts,’ ‘Hungry Is Love,’ ‘Dementia Appeases Anxiety,’ ‘Drinking Up My Mind,’ ‘Quéssé?,’ ‘Brains for Breakfast,’ ‘Transparence Apparente,’ ‘Momentary Joy,’ ‘Dernier Passage’ and ‘Cortège Grotesque.’

The album established the range of the band’s writing. Short, abrasive songs stood beside more atmospheric pieces, while the alternating French and English lyrics reinforced their position between Sherbrooke and Montréal and between the province’s two principal punk-language communities. Sébastien Denis created the stark black-and-white cover illustration, complementing the album’s handmade presentation.

In 1993, General Fools shared a seven-inch record with fellow Sherbrooke band Shitfit through Poussin Records. Their side featured ‘Greedy Eyes’ and ‘Your Life,’ two compact songs that continued the group’s mixture of personal frustration, social observation and restless punk momentum. The release appeared with a four-page handmade booklet containing lyrics and artwork.

General Fools returned in 1994 with Pathétik Pik Nik, recorded by Dave Curran at CRSG Studio, Concordia University, in Montréal. The release included ‘Reduced to Nothing,’ ‘The Surface,’ ‘Le Feu’ and ‘Acter Toujours.’ Additional material from the sessions later appeared digitally, including ‘Misanthropy’ and ‘Total Tribal.’

The Pathétik Pik Nik material revealed a darker and more deliberate side of the group. ‘Reduced to Nothing’ and ‘The Surface’ explored isolation and identity, while ‘Le Feu’ and ‘Acter Toujours’ moved the French-language writing into increasingly intense and inward territory. The music remained rooted in punk but expanded through longer structures, repetition and stronger post-hardcore and post-punk elements.

General Fools were also active onstage, performing throughout Québec and Ontario. Their appearances included Montréal’s Festival Hardcore ’94, where they shared the bill with Genetic Error, Global Holocaust and other underground groups.

Following the band’s original period, D’Ascanio and Pesot continued working together in Dr. Placebo. Pesot later developed a substantial career as a multidisciplinary artist, curator and educator. His work continued to explore the influence of punk, post-punk and DIY culture within contemporary visual art, including through the Spunkt Art Now project.

General Fools returned to public activity with the retrospective album Best of du Pire. Remastered by Chany Pilote during the 2022 Pils Session, the compilation brought together selections from Sarcasme, the Shitfit split and Pathétik Pik Nik. One side presented the best of the 1992 album, while the other gathered material from the later seven-inch releases.

The retrospective appeared through Pils Records, Inside Crew Productions and Sick & Twisted Records and accompanied renewed live performances, including an appearance at Foufounes Électriques in Montréal with Les Ramoneurs de Menhirs, Les Ordures Ioniques and Union Thugs.

-Robert Williston