The devil and Canada's new pop heroes

Oh my God... "Take your shirt off!" "Wooooo!"

No, I'm not sitting with a table of secretaries at the Brass Rail watching Hot Rod having finskies shoved down his thong, but at the aptly named Money, where music industry types and lucky Energy 108 winners are gathered to watch Montreal R&B/disco/funk/pop duo Sky play songs from their recently released debut, Piece of Paradise (EMI). Sounding a cross between Savage Garden and Bootsauce, they alternate between saucy numbers such as "Shave" and slinky slow james the gals in the crowd seem to dig.

Over lunch the next day, James (the blond one) and Antoine (the Mr. Clean dude) talk about life as rising Canadian stars. Apart from a couple of tunes co-written with John Acosta (of Acosta/Russell fame), James and Antoine, who met at a music engineering school, write and sing all their own songs, play their own instruments and would like to known as a band that's 4 real. ("Knock on wood, we'll be the Wham! of our generation," says Antoine without a trace of irony.) They also tell me they'd like to have a healthy sideline going in the songwriting pool. But who would they like to cover their songs? "I'd like to work with someone like Celine Dion or Mariah Carey," says James. "Definitely Celine. I can't say I've liked everything she's done, but she's an artist I have a lot of respect for her voice is an amazing instrument!" Do Sky think people realize that "Some Kinda Wonderful" is about devil worship? "More people than I would have though, actually," says James. "It's really in your face if you take the time to read the lyrics. The song is a metaphor for married life." Does that mean marriage is a contract with the devil? "For me, it's about a guy who makes a pact with the devil, who tells him he'll have a beautiful woman by his side for the rest of his life," explains Antoine. "The woman thinks everyone is looking at her because she's beautiful, but they're really looking at her because she's seven feet tall and has horns. I never see no metaphor about married lives or devil worship."

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