MEGAPHONO Artist Profile: AkoufèN

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AkoufèN are a Franco-Ontarian alternative metal band with a melodic flare based in the Ottawa/Gatineau region.

The four-piece formed in northern Ontario in 2008 and has made quite a name for itself in the francophone rock world. Their first album Le sixième sens (The Sixth Sense) debuted at #3 in the francophone charts on iTunes. The album features a lot of heavy guitar and drums, several possibilities for sing-alongs and no shortage of opportunities to headbang.

The band’s name AkoufèN comes from the French word acouphène which translates as tinnitus, “the medical term for ‘hearing’ noises in your ears when there is no outside source of the sounds. The noises you hear can be soft or loud. They may sound like ringing, blowing, roaring, buzzing, hissing, humming, whistling, or sizzling.” Rather fitting for a band delivering rocking French music coming out of Ontario and often pushing the boundaries of what so many think of francophone music.

Since 2012 the band has played 47 shows at francophone high schools in an effort to showcase French-Canadian music and show students that French music can be cool. Demonstrating that you can be proud of music played in your first language is important to the band’s members. Akoufèn has also played some pretty important festivals and competitions, including le Festival international de la chanson de Granby, L’Omnium du Rock en Outaouais (semi-finalists) and Landmark Events Battle of the Band (3rd place).

You can check out AkoufèN during MEGAPHONO tonight at House of TARG when they share the stage with one of the strangest and most original bands I have ever witnessed, Fet.Nat and Ottawa’s ghostly ouija rockers The Yips. For more information, check here.