Growing up in Québec in Canada, I discovered music as an early teenager and wanted to emulate some of those sounds. It started with pop music by U2 and The Cure and then my tastes began branching out.

Where my parents worked, the radio was on all day, so they didn’t play records in the house. It was something that I discovered with neighbours, who played classical music on rainy days when we played chess, and an uncle who lent me a jazz album, which made me really attracted to the low sounds, the bass guitar, mostly. 

I didn’t think I’d have a career in music. I had a mathematical mind and I thought I would do something in that field or in science, but, as a journey, it felt that there was more to be discovered in the area of the bass. 

Maxime Bibeau holds his 1585 Da Salò bass against a pink background

Maxime Bibeau with the 1585 Da Salò bass. Photo © Ben Sullivan

When I was 15, I did an exchange language program and lived in Toronto for three months. It was a bigger city and a bigger...