When Iohann Martin first heard Bye Bye Mon Cowboy, Bye Bye Mon Rodeo – the ultimate lyric in modern Quebecois pop music – he had no idea he would one day be working with Mitsou, the singer who made the song a national hit.

Four years ago, Mitsou, la belle chanteuse from la belle province, met Martin, a funk master with a rock and roll groove. The resulting partnership was the foundation of Dazmo Musique, a commercial and long-form music house in Montreal.

Martin is jubilant when discussing his collaborator.

‘When I first met her, I thought, ‘What’s up with Mitsou?’ Pop music was the last thing on my mind,’ he admits.

However, it didn’t take long for Mitsou to make a positive impression on Martin, and they have shared a symbiotic partnership ever since. While Mitsou works hard on the commercial music and tv theme song projects which are Dazmo’s forte, Dazmo will drop everything to produce Mitsou’s hot-selling albums.

‘She’s a very big influence on what we do,’ Martin explains. ‘She’s so together, man. She made me discover so many things.’

Mitsou and Martin are supported at Dazmo by a number of diverse musicians. They include Sari Dajani (who brings a jazz and Brazilian influence), Miklos Simpson (funk and rock), Rudy Toussaint (of French rock outfit Rude Luck) and Andrew Lapierre (studio support).

‘We’re like a band. Essentially it’s just a creative group that works well together, thank god. I’ve been in so many bands where it just lasts a month,’ Martin says.

Dazmo’s recent clients include Montreal commercial houses Jet Films and Cinelande. Jet hired Dazmo to pen and produce the music for a series of spots for the Quebec Government. Cinelande brought Dazmo in for the audio on a campaign for Rona Hardware, a Quebec Price Club-style hardware store.

Martin also describes close relationships with agencies, which do not hesitate to bring Dazmo in directly for their spot audio. Marketel, Diesel, and The BCP Group number among Dazmo’s agency clients.

With the closing of its original studio, Dazmo is currently renovating a new space in downtown Montreal. In the meantime, Martin operates out of his private loft. Says Martin with a laugh, ‘We’ve got clients coming into my house – I’m hating life.’

Martin has some thoughts on the current style in demand for commercial audio.

‘It’s got to come right out of a big movie,’ he suggests. ‘If you’re going to do a spot it’s got to sound as good as Danny Elfman (The Simpsons) – very simple concepts, very polished sounds.’

Nearly a decade ago, the Dazmo dynamo recounts, ‘There was a crucial point where people started moving away from bringing a whole band in-studio. Programming became a trend. [This allowed] putting together tracks with fewer people, but [gave] more power to computers and equipment.’

He continues that the digital transformation was followed by a time ‘where people didn’t use the equipment as well as they do now, so the sound wasn’t as clean. But now people manipulate those systems in an adequate way.’

Dazmo currently has seven tv theme songs airing in Quebec, and continues to produce commercial audio while juggling Mitsou’s album productions.

‘Whatever makes your body move,’ Martin says, ‘that’s really what we’re all about.’

Talk of Dazmo’s future goals gets Martin even more excited: ‘Oh man! I want to do the Super Bowl – Budweiser on the Super Bowl!’