Beast's Shocking Grammy Nom Takes the Sting Out of Struggle

Posted on Jan 28th 2010 11:30AM by Simona Rabinovitch

At the 2010 Grammys, the dark horse of the Best Short Form Video category is a clangy, sexy, funky little song called 'Mr. Hurricane' by Montreal band Beast.

Directed by Montreal filmmaker Ben Steiger Levine, the video -- in which a monstrous swarm of bees attack a fellow who morphs into a dancing bee-man -- is up against Coldplay, Depeche Mode and Black Eyed Peas. Not bad for a Francophone indie "trip rock" duo who, until now, have gotten little recognition outside of French Canada.

"It's a lot of excitement for us," said Beast's Jean-Phi Goncalves, on the phone from France (where both Beast members were born and raised) before taking the stage at a festival. "When she told me we grabbed each other and started to jump up and down like kids. We were crazy!"

Beast is the shared moniker of Goncalves, who plays drums, produces and composes, and singer Béatrice "Betty" Bonifassi. The pair bring to the ring quite the pop cultural pedigree: Goncalves is a pro producer who has worked with the likes of Lauryn Hill while Bonifassi's powerful pipes graced the big screen in the Oscar-nominated animated feature 'Les Triplettes de Belleville.' (Her ex-husband scored the film.)

'Mr. Hurricane' was released on their acclaimed 2008 debut on Verve, who submitted the video for Grammy consideration before Beast and the label parted ways.

As for Levine, the band approached him after seeing a video he made for Montreal's klezmer-hop MC Socalled. They knew he and his producer (NuFilms' Sach Baylin-Stern) could execute their crazy bee-man vision. Levine, 30, has also worked with Chromeo, Plants and Animals, and the Most Serene Republic.

"His humanity is touching," said Goncalves about the director, who will join the band at the Grammy show. "I think the nomination will help him more than us. Although more people are discovering us, in the case of English Canada."

Beast will perform at the Grammy Awards Pre-Telecast Ceremony this Sunday, January 31 from 4-7 pm EST, streamed live internationally at Grammy.com.