Bar Passeport

I am not, nor was a goth/​emo, etc. I grew up a typical pop princess and loved whatever was on MTV at the time. My friend is/​was a goth girl asked if we could go there one night and I decided why not?
The first night was kinda dead, but that was our fault for getting there so early. But the bartender was super cool and we had a good time chatting with him. I also discovered my love for Jameson shots, had I not known if I hadn’t gone there. Then my friend noticed that the next night it was Industrial, EBM, etc. She tried explaining to me what that meant, so I said why not try it out tomorrow?
What I noticed is that everyone is really friendly and the locals have been there for years. I didn’t get any weird looks due to my jeans and T-​shirt lol. I was fascinated by how much time people took into their outfits.
And you know what? By the end of the night, I was the one wanting to keep on dancing because I was having such a great time. Would I ever imagine I’d be the one dancing in a goth bar to EBM? Nope. So glad I came!

This was one of the best bar/​club experiences I’ve ever had! I’m not a goth at all, but I really enjoyed the ambience here. The drinks (amaretto sour) were amazing and the bartender was really nice. Supposedly there is a $ 5 entrance fee but we didn’t have to pay it. The real MVP of this place though, is the dancing area in back! The songs are metalish and amazing to dance to. The crowd there is great too, many are in there 30s and 40s and, like us, were not at all bothered about dancing like lunatics for 2 hrs. The only downside is that one guest here was clearly high on several drugs and was harassing us, and then two math teacher look alikes threw beer at us (probably for our appalling dance moves). Overall– can’t recommend this place enough, the dancing and music even for non goths were fantastic.

Decent goth bar on St. Denis street. I sorta have a thing for industrial goth music and the weird goth dance. I go here once in a while. They got some cheap beers here mainly boreal beers if you’re into that. Seems mostly like a Francophone crowd that comes here.
This place also has a dance floor where you can do goth dancing and have your beer too.

great times! Great music!

best underground bar/​club known to me

A friend and I visited Bar Passeport recently on my first trip to Montréal to see how the goth/​industrial/​ebm/​etc scene was holding up. Needless to say, it’s holding up much better at Passeport than it is at Foufounes, which I’d read was formerly the «darkie mecca» of Montréal but now seems like just another club for «20-​something dubstep fans who wear black.» Anyway, back to Bar Passeport. I’m not going to lie and say this place is packed, but there were a good number of people there. and I felt like they all cared about the music and keeping the scene alive. Everyone I spoke to was friendly and warm, and happily without any of the pretense or posturing of the «scene» in the 90s.
Probably the highlights of the evening were talking to the owner, and the awesome (and extremely cute) bartender, who introduced us to *maple whiskey*, and of course dancing in the back room.
I hope this place is around for many years to come, because it’s definitely a gem.

Once upon a time, Montréal had an insane club scene.
Bars like Le Business, Le Lezard, Thunderdome, La Nausee, places where the locals were usually dressed in head-​to-​toe black and bumping, grinding and slam-​dancing to underground/​alternative heavyweights like Depeche Mode, Nitzer Ebb, KMFDM, Front 242, Meat Beat Manifesto, Soft Cell, Love and Rockets and The Cure and so much more.
When you actually grew up in that era, when that music first came out, you get spoiled. Music afterwards just does no justice to those days and judging from the comments I see at Youtube underneath the videos of some of these aforementioned bands, I know I’m not the only one who is feeling the same nostalgia.
So if you were into 80’s alternative, old skool industrial dance, can’t stand listening to Beyonce or Lady Gaga, Bar Passeport is the place for you. Sure you’ll see old-​timers whose waists are a little thicker, hair is a little greyer and yes, Passeport doesn’t have the size of the old K.O.X/Station C club but if you’re itching to dance to Nitzer Ebb’s «Hearts and Minds» and want to automatically feel like 20 years has magically vanished, seriously come here, make a request to the DJ and dance your ass off.

Nestled on rue St-​Denis, Bar Passeport has been catering to the city’s vibrant underground club scene since 1982.
Once you step inside and walk down the stairs, the atmosphere is cozy. You don’t feel like you’re in a club at all, until you find yourself on the dancefloor, moving your body to The Sisters of Mercy.
Depending on which night you go, you can hear anything from industrial-​goth, techno, trance and house. I was there for Rebirth, which plays industrial, goth to EBM music, and for a Wednesday night, it was busy. They also organize special guest DJ nights too, just check their website for any line-​up changes.