Gojira - Joe Duplantier
Posted on December 04, 2007 at 8:00 am by admin
I spoke with guitarist/vocalist Joe Duplantier on Gojira’s tour bus during the Radio Rebellion tour, and I have to say, he certainly has some charm! Often during the interview, his initial reaction to my interview questions would get me thinking of an interesting follow-up to ask, but by the end of his answers, if I found myself quite engulfed in what he was saying! Everyone who I met on the Gojia bus was also very nice, as well as their tour manager Emma, which is amazing because male tour managers always seem to hate me before they know who I am!
Way Too Loud: For the music scene in France, are all the bands connected, or are the scenes split?
Joe Duplantier: You have different scenes actually. Like mainstream rock, they know each other pretty well, then you have extreme black metal, and they know each other, but their not friendly to each other all the time. Of course sometimes you have connections between for example a death metal band and a classic rock band, and they’ll hang out. For example, we have good friends, and their music is kind of similar to what we do. Their from Toulouse, the south of France, and the name of the band is Manimal, and it’s a crazy technical thing! I don’t know how to name it! It’s just crazy, you should check it out!
WTL: Heavy music is often associated with anger and negative feelings, but one of the messages you try to bring across is that people can make a difference.
Joe: Yes! Exactly! That’s a good way to explain it! People can make a difference! We have a pretty simple message. It seems mystical and complicated, but it’s very, very simple, it’s respect yourself first, then you’ll be able to respect other people, and then you can communicate with other people, and you can make something together. When we recorded our first demo, back in 1996, the name of the demo was “Victim”, like we were victim of the world, victim of our own fears, and other people, and the second demo was “Possessed”, like we were possessed by these things, then the third demo was “Saturate” like saturation. That was enough victim crying. Let’s do something. Then the first album was “Terra Incognita”, and that was something new, like “what else can we talk about?” We’ve talked about things that can go wrong on planet earth, like with wars, hate, so on the first album, we started to talk about the things that we don’t know yet, positive things, and each time we write an album, we try to evolve in that way. Try to be constructive instead of complain. We are part of something that’s happening. Maybe people in heavy metal are more open minded, and they can talk about different things, and feel concerned about what’s happening with humanity, not only about their scene, or band!
WTL: I’ve heard that you go to bed when you’re done playing as part of your routine for a good live show.
Joe: (Laughs) Yes! Actually, we have a reputation for being party poopers, and when we go on tour, it’s to deliver a good show. We want to give %100 on stage. We are not heavy drinkers, we are not big partiers. It seems like being on a tour is all about partying all the time, and it’s like if you’re a band, and you don’t party, what’s wrong with you? Nothing’s wrong! I’m a musician! I play guitar on stage. It’s alright! When we go on tour, we go on tour to play music, and share our music with people. If they want to party at a show, it’s great, that’s ok, our job is to be very tight, very heavy, that’s what we are known for. People want to get something strong, so we have to be healthy and clean, and do it properly. I think! That’s my opinion.
WTL: I spoke to the guys from Immolation about that. They sort of share the same stance that you do. I don’t know how familiar you are with them.
Joe: We’re on the same label actually, in France. I never met them, but I have their e-mails and phone. I was supposed to go and see them in New York in September, but it didn’t happen. I heard something like that, that they’re pretty wise.
We’re not extremists though. We don’t think that people who drink are jerks. Sometimes we have a beer, we like to drink a little bit. We’re French, so we like red wine! 2 days ago, we went on the other bus, the Job For A Cowboy/Behemoth bus, and we drank! (Laughs) That’s how I got these fake tattoos! I was totally drunk! You know, it happened! Sometimes we drink a little bit, especially because we’re in the states now. It’s very new, and we’re excited. We meet very different people, so we try to communicate with them, not being in our own world, so we’ll have some beers. But give me 2 beers, and I’m drunk! So it’s cool! [Note: The fake tattoos Joe was talking about were drawn on with markers, and the band performed in Toronto with the fake tattoos drawn on them. They were actually very well drawn I might add.
WTL: Morbid Angel gets referenced often when people speak about Behemoth, Job For A Cowboy, and Gojira as well. How does it feel to be on a tour with 3 bands being referenced to Morbid Angel?
Joe: It feels good! We really enjoy the feeling of being part of this bill. Morbid Angel is one thing. I know what you mean. I can hear it in the music, especially Behemoth, and us, and Job For A Cowboy have these minor tones, that special thing that I really love. Beneath The Massacre, the first band is quite different. So technical! It’s too much for me! I respect them, and I like them. We love them! They’re so nice, and we hang out with them on the bus. They’re cool guys. They’re very, very technical, and extreme, and with all 4 bands, the common point is that we’re all %100 dedicated onstage. There’s a special feeling that we take very seriously. When we’re on stage, that’s the time we’ve got to give it. That’s what we feel, and we like to talk about it. Sometimes you have bands that if the crowd isn’t into it, they won’t do the show good, but on this tour, every night is %100, and that’s what we like.
WTL: You guys did a live recording I heard recently, I’m trying to think...
Joe: On XFM Radio.
WTL: Yeah! You were super-tight, and it sounded just like it does on the album, only a little bit faster.
Joe: Well, it is not, but it’s ok!
WTL: There’s a lot of arguments on what kind of metal that you play, and I know a lot of bands don’t like to be labelled. Do you like the fact that you’re hard to define?
Joe: It depends on the song! (Laughs) I like to say that we play music! Really, for real! I know it sounds cliche to say that, like “oh... fuck this...”, but really, I really mean it. We like classical music, we like hip-hop, we like stoner rock, we like extreme black/death metal. We like sound. When it sounds good, we like it. It’s not our job to say what kind of music we play, but I would say, if we have to say something, I would say “organic metal”. In French organique is the guts. Organ is the guts, and the heart, and the lungs, and the intestines. Organic is also like organic products. When I say that we recycle, I want to say that we have violence, we have hate inside of us, we have dark things, and we like to take them out, and express them, and recycle this dark, violent energy in something positive. Like when you put gas in a car. You burn it, and the car can go, it can work, and this is a certain energy we use to work with, because it’s hard to be on earth. It’s hard to live, for everybody, no matter if you’re rich or poor. Of course we have %1 of the planet that is rich enough in order to eat correctly, but very rich or very poor, you feel the pain anyways. Everybody is suffering on earth, and everybody’s happy too sometimes! But this pain that we all feel, we can do something with it. Something positive.
WTL: What are the most important environmental issues to you right now?
Joe: Hmm... there’s so many! (Laughs) To me, this issue is the main political subject, it’s the only theme that matters in politics, so to me, the next big thing is to make environmental issues the main political thing. Most of the politicians talk about [work], comfort for everybody, but fuck comfort! We have a planet, and that’s the only one we have so far. Maybe there will be other places we can go, but for now, that’s the only planet we have, so we really have to take care of it. I wouldn’t say that [one thing] is the absolute priority, like cars polluting, or electricity, or global warming, it’s everything! We’ve got to take care of everything right now.
To me, it’s not our job to talk about it, it’s our job to play music with this message in it, and people can feel something when they listen to us. Sometimes I feel like I’d like to be an eco warrior, like go on a ship and save the whales, and dive in the ocean and take pictures of dirty things, like Greenpeace. I really like what they do, and I’d like to be part of their crew, but because music is my stuff, I can do something with my music. It’s more like poetry, and I like this idea that someone just listening to out band can feel something, and maybe hope about the planet, or even anger. Whatever, something constructive about it. It’s more like on a spiritual level, on a sensitive level.
WTL: Are there any plans for a new album in 2008?
Joe: We’re working at it right now. [He shows me some recording equipment and guitars they use on the bus] We’re really into the writing process right now, but it’s hard in a bus. We have no drums or a microphone. It’s hard because we like to jam, and feel what’s happening in the room, and on tour, it’s just impossible. There are other ways, like we sit down and say “after this part we can do this part”, but it’s only talking, so it’s very different. We will be in the studio around April or June 2008, and it should be out sometime in September.
WTL: Who would you like to tour with that’s both feasible, but not obvious? You’re friends are an obvious choice.
Joe: Oh yes! I see what you’re saying! Like Lamb Of God would be obvious! We’re [good friends] with Lamb Of God now, and they support us a lot, and they’re big fans of our music, and we’re fans of their music, so of course I would say Lamb Of God for that reason! But they’re friends! (Laughs) Mastodon, Meshuggah and Tool. That would be my dream tour!
The Official Gojira Website
Gojira at MySpace
Gojira at Prosthetic
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Copyright © 2007, Xtremely Media, All Rights Reserved
