Gojira, the French heavy metal band that sold out with a Vorterix and had to move their recital to Luna Park

The paradigm shift in recent decades has reached all corners of human life, including heavy metal and its evil subgenres. Billy Gould, bassist of Faith No More – perhaps the best dogma destroyers distorted music has ever known – referred to the positive side of globalization in music: a series of situations that have led to the cultivation of unexpected mixes and improved versions of different types of proposals.

In the field of metal, the French band Gojira is undoubtedly one of those achievements of human inertia. It is that in addition to some albums that pop out the front door between the best that the genre has given in the last 20 years and some simply spectacular shows, the group presents a good handful of curiosities worthy of being the protagonists of an interesting conversation. Would anyone expect such a solid power plant to come out of the small seaside resort of Ondres, a paradise for surfers and mountaineers? Is that sound suitable only for the brave accompanied by a powerful message of ecological awareness?

The disc of the fortress

That said, Gojira – Joe Duplantier on guitar and vocals, Mario Duplantier on drums, Christian Andreu on guitar and Jean-Michel Labadie on bass – are not a typical metal band and their Argentine fans – the ones who bought the tickets, because the fact is that sold out – they will have the chance to attend their memorable live show again next Sunday at Luna Park.

They will come to present forcean album that topped last year’s best lists, already outside of metal itself, mingling with names from the mainstream genre.

In a remarkable example of evolution, the LP is the latest chapter in a discography that has generated a huge cult following around the world and has sailed into the dark waters of death-metal and the intricacies of math-metal but which has always shook hands with a melodic sensitivity that makes them different, compiling a good number of hits.

With a few minutes late on the agreed time and from the intimacy of his parked car, Mario Duplantier lends himself to chat with Clarín without hiding his enthusiasm for the huge present of the group and with a nice accent that betrays his origin.

-Your 2016 album Magma has had some Grammy nominations and the music press seems to agree that Fortitude has taken them to the next level. How do you feel when it is said that Gojira are the new titans of metal?

-Freddo! We always try not to get distracted when we get these kinds of comments. We consider it, we appreciate it, but at the same time we try to stay focused on the idea of ​​putting on a great show and writing good songs. We are always focused on the next step, but yes, we can feel that Fortitude is a step forward for us.

We have just finished two tours, one in the US and one in Europe, with the halls full. It is a good feeling, we are also very happy and focused.

“Our school was Sepultura and Metallica”

-You and your brother have reached a high musical level. How was your education and how important was art in your family environment?

-It was actually very important. We practically learned by ourselves, almost self-taught. I mean, I had a drum teacher for six years, ages 16 to 22, or something like that. Then I had to stop because I started shooting a lot, but for me it was important. He taught me a lot of basics and key elements for drums.

But I’d say the way we write and learn songs has to do with being self-taught. We didn’t go to school, we only listened to Sepultura, Metallica, that was our school.

But it definitely helped that our parents were artists and very open, people who would never set you limits on what to listen to, for example. They have always pushed us in the right direction, especially our mother. She has given us a lot of confidence and strength. If I needed something for drums to improve my playing, he would buy it for me. She had this amazing attitude, we never had to fight, they always helped us.

-It is curious that they grew up in a rural area of ​​France and ended up in a band that plays very aggressive and complex music, something that would be more related to the fast pace of a big city. Do you have any explanation for this?

-It is very complicated to explain but I would say that it comes from our sensitivity, from the fact that we are very sensitive people. It is not that uncommon in this type of music for sensitive people to make heavy music.

-In our case, somehow, we felt a certain aggression in the environment we lived in, that is, living in the countryside in France is very beautiful by nature, but the lack of culture and diversity presented us as a type of aggression. People played soccer and surfed, that’s all. We strongly felt that something was missing. Metallica were a great source of inspiration: through them and through heavy music we managed to escape from that reality.

But it’s true, we had a paradise in our hands, but it didn’t have all the culture and spirituality that the big city can give you. I feel the kind of growth we’ve had has impacted the band’s lyrics.

“It’s great to play with my brother”

-How does the fact that you work with your brother affect your relationship? Do you discover different parts of his personality through Gojira’s songs?

-Yes of course. The fact that he writes the lyrics is very interesting because I can follow his life path through them. I can understand their feelings and the different types of expression from one album to another. I can follow his spirit and his mentality.

The way we walk this game path together is very organic, very natural. I know my brother, his way of being enthusiastic, strong, spiritual hasn’t changed much. He is a very demanding boy, he fights forever, he is an activist.

His music and his personality are the same, I’m not surprised but it’s nice to travel with him and live his life, play with him in front of so many people every night. Is fantastic.

-Return to their skills as musicians. how do you deal with the “virtuosity factor”? Because they are very skilled musicians and can write catchy songs. Can playing so well be risky?

I feel there is no risk. We write what we hear. I can’t lie, the reality of the band is that we are playing in bigger and bigger venues. This could have an impact on the way we compose. When you play in places for 10,000 people, the sound has an impact that is not the same as when you play in small spaces, in bars where you can do much crazier and more complicated things.

When you open your sound, giving it more space, you make things easier to hear, to understand, so the success of the band has had an impact on the way we create our music. Sometimes we want to simplify to be able to share with the public. We now love when people sing with us! It’s something new for Gojira, do you understand?

After being in this band for more than 25 years, we now want to share more. It is a less selfish experience to play less technicians. Sharing is thanking (laughs) What yes, we don’t want to be trivial and we have to really enjoy what we play by being as artistic as possible, is our main goal: to be honest and write good songs.

“We are very obsessive and perfectionists”

– Taking into account the balance between the complex and the listenable that is Gojira’s music, I assume they are a very perfectionist group.

-We try to be less perfectionist but we are very obsessive. We are on every detail and our main rule is that if Joe and I disagree on something, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t work. Obviously with Christian and Jean-Michel it’s the same because the four of us write music. We have to love music completely.

Yes, we are completely perfectionists, even when it comes to live entertainment. When we do a concert we film it and then we watch it in full in the hotel and we analyze everything: the tempo, the tuning, the arrangement of the stage, the symmetry of the lights, the sound. We try to be better in every show, we know very well how important it is for a band to be very good live and we don’t want to waste the opportunity to play and have the resources to give the best.

-In addition to being a drummer, you are also a painter. Does painting satisfy a different aspect of your expressive needs?

-Yes, absolutely! I think it’s something else that has to do with the spirit and soul. It’s not about getting something on a technical level, it’s about expressing something from the subconscious, I would say.

I love to draw mountains or big caves and I always draw a tiny human being, a mini silhouette of someone. I love the idea of ​​thinking that we are absolutely nothing in terms of thinking about the universe; as you know we are a small grain of sand.

I am very interested in the macrocosm and the microcosm, the minimum and the giant. There is our reality as human beings but it is not “reality”. It is a philosophical, spiritual question of ideas, not of techniques.

– I only have time left for one more. Could you name your five favorite artists outside of metal?

-Of course! There is a singer called Tamino, he is Belgian but of Egyptian origin, he is my favorite now. Then another guy who makes electronics, he’s French and his name is Rone.

I must also mention someone who lives in California and is of Bengali descent. His name is Alam Khan and he blows me away. I love Lorn, who makes mystical electronic music, and also James Blake, a successful British singer and pianist.

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