METALSHRINE - Intervjuer

Intervju - Joe Duplantier, Gojira

Fransk metal är väl inte det som det finns mest av hemma i skivamlingen, men Gojira är ett mycket intressant band med en hel del att säga. Deras blandning av death metal och progressiva element för tankarna till vårt eget Opeth, även om de kanske har en bit kvar till samma höga kvalitet.
Gojira är just nu ute på europavägarna med In Flames och Sonic Syndicate och snart bär det av till USA.
Några timmar innan den första av två utsålda kvällar i Stockholm, fick jag nöjet att sitta ner med frontmannen Joe och prata lite om allt möjligt. Joe visade sig vara en man med mycket tankar om livet och jorden vi lever på och det blev ett i mitt tycke väldigt roligt och intressant samtal.

When did you get here? Today?

Joe Duplantier: Eeehhh, I don´t remember. (laughs) Boat, bus...yesterday.

Right, you played in Helsinki. What was Finland like?

JD: Awesome! The show was incredible and I was not expecting such a warm welcome. People knew the lyrics and they had a circle pit all through the concert. It was probably the best show so far on the European tour.

Cool. How´s the tour been going so far?

JD: Well, it´s a tour man. (laughs) Sometimes you don´get a chance to take a shower, we´re like 16 people in the bus and a lot of tension going on. Touring is really hard sometimes. Basically you´re tired all the time, but it´s great. We love it and have a blast. The guys from In Flames are just really nice and simple people. Swedish, but nice. When I say that, it´s like we have different...

Swedes are uptight and quiet?

JD: I don´t know, but there is a strange distance. It´s hard to communicate at first, but when you get to know them it´s great.

I guess you just described the normal Swede.

JD: Ok, well I like it like that. It doesn´t bother me. It´s cool and I appreciate it. It´s kind of a respect from a distance, but in the end we feel close, so it´s great.

I´ve read... are you French-American?

JD: I have an American passport actually. My mother was born in the United States. She´s an American, but she moved to France when she was 25. She was escaping the US and she met my father on a trip to Europe and she styed in France forever. She never went back to the States. I´ve been to the States for like 15 times, but she didn´t make her way back to the States. But I didn´t learn English from her. I know it sounds weird, but we would speak French at home all the time. She spoke perfect French, because my father doesn´t understand English and we had to go to a French school, so I had to learn by myself.

Alright. You have an American passport, but do you get to vote? I was kind of wondering about the election coming up?

JD: I was excited and I thought I could vote, but I found out that you have to have an address. I don´t have that, but I have a social security number and even a bank account, but the only thing I miss is a physical address. Anyway, my place is New York and I love New York, but there´s no need to vote in New York because Obama will in New York. It wouldn´t make a difference if I had an address in New York.

Well, it´s gonna be really interesting. It will affect the whole world in one way or another. Are you paying attention to the election?

JD: I feel concerned. Not because I´m an American, but because the United States has such an influence on the world, so I feel concerned and I hope things will turn for the better on a political level. I don´t really follow the details, because it´s so much about being a rockstar now, becoming a president. I don´t know, it seems that the election of the president or the ministers or what ever is one aspect of the political life, but I have my own approach to politics and it can be through music, discussions or with people. But I´m interested.

I just get a feeling from reading past interviews with you and then your lyrics, it seems like you´re concerned and involved when it comes to the world and the way things are.

JD: It takes up a lot of my brain actually. (laughs) I feel concerned but in a really simple way. I feel like I´m a part of all this and I noticed that some people don´t feel involved, like "It´s not my business!", as long as I have my house, my car and my family´s safe and all the rest I don´t care about and if I vote it´s for me, just for me. I can say that I´m not like that. I´m pretty sure. Not totally, but I think I´m not like that and I hope I´m not like that. I have one personal belief and that´s that I am not going to die. I´m not going to disappear. When I say I, I mean the soul. Somehow I belong to this planet or to this universe so that´s why I feel concerned by everything. It´s hard to be an activist for real and change the world, but the only thing I can change is myself and try to be a better person. I don´t know. It´s a bit confusing.

And hopefully affect other people. With your band and as a musician, do you think you have any way of getting through easier perhaps or have any power of getting through to people with your message?

JD: Yes, definitely. And if it´s only one person, it´s worth it. It seems that what we express as musicians is so precise and so connected to the soul that finally the words don´t really matter. If you´re a politician you have to explain this and that, different points and stuff and you have to be really coherent, but when you´re a musician you just have to be precise in the emotion and if you can add words to that it can be even more powerful, because you can deliver a message that is at the same time entertainment and at the same time a real message or information. That´s what I hope we are doing and some people are very sensitive when it come to our music and we don´t want to tell them what to do and we don´t want to preach or anything. It´s just expressing ourselves and that´s what I like about it. So yes, we can affect people, like I am affected in a good way by good music. For example the last Portishead album. I´m really into it these days and I just constantly listen to it. It´s affecting me in a great way. It gives me a lot of strength to go on in this life.

There are people totally for it and totally against it, but a guy like Bono with all his fortune and fame, that he is using his fame to get a message across, is that an ok thing to do or is it just to get cheap points?

JD: It´s a great thing to do. Really. I don´t like to be sarcastic about that or cynical, but I have a secret plan. (laughs) If we get big, I think I´ll do that. I don´t need money! I just need money to buy some clothes and food, but if I can get some money I can´t wait to do things. I´m totally honest when I say that. Bu your cd´s! (laughs) Really! At the moment it´s really hard because we have to be on a bus and it´s a big source of pollution and we take planes and we use electricity and stuff, but I´ve thought about it a lot and on a personal level, a spiritual level, I know that we´re some how part of the problem, talking about the environment. But through the music and the interviews, I do a lot of interviews every day which is great, but it´s a great oppertunity to say something. So we´re part of the problem, but at the same time we try to be part of the solution on a certain level. It´s a great feeling and I hope I can develop this.

Sounds great and different from what a lot of other people in your business say. It usually seems to be about getting the biggest house or the coolest car.

JD: But that´s bullshit!

It is! I totally agree. To the album then. What was it like working with Logan Mader? I met him once and interviewed him and he seemed to be a really quiet and down to earth kind of guy. Did he approach you?

JD: Yes! You know, I played with Cavalera Conspiracy and I didn´t know what to expect. I had this crazy guy jumping with dredlocks and stuff and I was impressed to meet him and I was a big Machine Head fan and when I met him I was like "Is this Logan Mader, the guitar hero?". I was impressed by the way he worked. Basically he´s a great producer and he can do the big sound and he´s a great Pro Tools engineer and he´s very efficient. I was impressed, because I do some Pro Tools myself and mixing and recording, bu the was like a robot and very calm and when there´s a problem he tries to fix it in a very calm way and I spent like 15 days with the Cavalera brothers and him and we got along very well. We worked together and he was producing the album with Max, but when I had a cool idea, he was able to say "Yeah, you´re right, this is cool! Go ahead and follow that idea!" and I like that. He´s calm and in control, but at thye same time he can be laidback and let you do what you´re supposed to do. He asked me where we were gonna record our next album and he wanted to work with us and I was like "Fuck yeah man!". I told my brother and we thought about it a little bit and then we called him. We needed some help on this album, so I´m really glad we did that.

Putting together this album or when you usually work with an album, do you come up with a lot of songs or is it just the ones that end up on the album?

JD: When you do 40 songs for example, it´s not really 40 songs. It´s more like 40 bunches of riffs and then you get in the studio and you work with a producer that will tell you that "This chorus is great, but this verse should be shorter and you should add an intro there!" and that´s producing a song. But you don´t just compose songs, you also produce them. Each time we go into the studio we know exactly the first note and the last note and it´s all written in one piece. We produce our albums ourselves and on this album I did a lot of work with preproduction and I worked with my brother a lot and then I went to Los Angeles with Logan and I was there for the drum tracking, like choosing the right microphone and such, but I trusted him so much. We knew exactly what we wanted. The snare has to be acoustic and the kick has to be more high end and stuff. I was there all the time and even for the mixing he would bring the big sound and edit all the songs and he did a great job. I was there all the time and we knew exactly what we wanted, so basically when we come to the studio the album is already done. There was one song that wasn´t finished, but we knew that we wouldn´t record it.

About the artwork then? Was it your idea or did you tell someone what you wanted and this is the theme on the album?

JD: I did it.

You did it yourself? Cool!

JD: I work too much and I just have to find things to do. When I write the lyrics I usually draw and make sketches and it´s inspiring me and sometimes I draw something and I don´t know what will happen and suddenly I see something. Like a flying whale for example or a guy swallowing the earth. It gives me inspiration for the lyrics, so I do the artwork and the lyrics together. This idea of a guy, like a living being, came first and then the idea of death came after. The cover was the very first thing that I did for the album.

Did you do it as a painting or just a sketch?

JD: A painting in ink and Chinese ink.

Do you paint just for album covers or otherwise as well?

JD: I used to do that as a student. I was a student at the art university and then I went to Fine arts, but I only did one year and then I stopped because it was boring and I strted to play music all the time. For each album I do the covers and for 3 or 4 months I´ll be drawing a lot and getting into it and then I stop. It´s a hobby but I don´t have the time anymore.

It looks great.

JD: Thanks! It´s a bit naive, you know, I don´t want to go too far in the artwork. It´s still simple, but I like it.

When you first came up with the name Godzilla, did you ever try to copyright it or did you just use it and see what would happen?

JD: We didn´t try anything really. We were just like kids and "Let´s call us Godzilla! Fuck yeah!" and that´s it. We were not, absolutely not, having this idea that we would have a professional band. We would record demos and we wanted to be like Death and Morbid Angel. Music was actually our only obsession. We didn´t want to have a career. It came after.

But it was the American movie company that came after you?

JD: Yes.

Kind of funny that it´s Japanese from the beginning, but it´s the American movie company that goes after you.

JD: Yeah. (laughs) First it was Gojira in Japanese and some American guy wanted to export it to America and the name was not really good for the American people. It was hard to pronounce so they decided to change the name. I didn´t know that at that time. It was cool to change it.

Did you have any other bands before Gojira?

JD: Yeah, in high school, like a punk/thrash band. Pretty cool and we had success in high school. I have a tape somewhere. I had another band with my brother called Empalot. It´s a crazy thing. It´s 9 friends, 2 basses, one guitar, keyboard, saxophone, percussion and it´s a crazy mix of a lot of things. We had a certain success in our area, but we didn´t want to be in the business and release records. We did that for maybe 4 or 5 years and we could draw like 1000 people in our hometown. It became pretty crazy, but we stopped because everybody was doing something else. We have some songs and we should have a website or something. It´s impossible to find anything on the web.

Would you ever consider doing more of a solo thing where you would explore more of the art thing you´ve got going? Ever thought of that?

JD: Yeah, yeah! A lot! Actually I was thinking about that yesterday. I feel like I maybe have something personal to express through music and with Gojira It´s like we´re digging in a certain way. I love that and it´s a great feeling. It´s a band effort and we put a lot of different personalities in it, but I feel I need to do that (record a solo album, editor´s note) some day.

It would be really interesting.

JD: Yes, I hope so. (laughs)

Growing up, did you have any childhood guitar heroes? Was it KISS or machine Head or what?

JD: It was Metallica. I was not really into guitar heroes. I was more impressed by the compositions and the way they would behave on stage, talk to the crowd. I was really impressed by how powerful a band can be. I was always very impressed by that. I love that feeling of writing a song and seeing it grow and put it on a cd. It belons to the people and it´s powerful. I was more impressed by that than just the technique. I don´t consider myself a guitar player. I like to use the guitar to express myself.

As an artist, playing in front of a lot of people every night, it´s always interesting to see that you have a certain amount of power up there. You get people to raise their fists at the same time or clap their hands. Is that anything you think about?

JD: Yeah, it´s crazy.

I know that every time my mother sees something like that she thinks it´s mass hysteria or something. It´s interesting.

JD: It is very interesting. I like to think that if we have good intentions at this event, it can be positive. It can be very powerful. I sound very cheesy, but I really want to do good. I beleive that we have unlimited powers as human beings and we are not aware of that. Being on stage and sharing these ideas and music and intentions is very powerful. I know what you mean. It could be dangerous if you have bad intentions, but we do our best to have good intentions. Even if we have dark sides and anger and frustrations and jealousy, whatever, we can express that too, but with consciousness make it positive some how. We have frustrations and anger and questions, a lot of questions about life in general and suffering and pain, but we can make something good out of it.

I totally agree. After this tour with In Flames, you go back to France right?

JD: Yes, but we go to the US with In Flames.

Right, till the 10th of December or something?

JD: Yes, something like that. We have a 3 week break and then we do 20 gigs in France. France is a good market. A lot of people want to see us because we developed the band there for 8 years.

And the plan after that? Continue touring with this album?

JD: Yes. Basically we´ll be on the road for 2 years. We have a European headlining tour and a US headlining tour and hopefully we´ll go to Japan and Australia.

Wow, so you know what to do for the next 2 years.

JD: Yeah! (laughs)

Well, thanks a lot!

JD: Thank you!

Niclas Müller-Hansen

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