12-12-12 is as good of a date as any to interview the Canadian band Voivod. The date is supposed to be a numerical alignment on the Gregorian or Christian calendar to launch the end of the world. Needless to say, nothing happened. But predicting the apocalypse is as much of an inexact science as categorizing Voivod’s music.
And it’s relatively easy to say that Voivod has been obsessed by the apocalypse, too — or obsessed by conditions that may bring on an apocalypse — since their first album in 1984, War and Pain.
Since War and Pain, Voivod has gone through several line-up changes, the loss of guitarist Piggy (Denis D’Amour) in 2005 due to cancer, a former Metallica member joining their ranks (bassist Jason Newsted from 2002-2008) and has delivered eleven studio albums in the process.
Now, Voivod is ready to release their next album Target Earth with an older member rejoining (bassist Jean-Yves Thériault, aka Blacky), a new guitarist (Daniel Mongrain, aka Chewy), longtime vocalist Denis Bélanger (aka Snake) and mainstay Michel Langevin (aka Away) on drums. But first the world needs to survive another apocalyptic warning: December 21, 2012 — the end-date on the Myan calendar. Voivod has persevered through many ups and downs in the band’s 30-year long history. They will likely survive this event, too.
Michel Langevin, drummer and illustrator for the band’s unique artwork, was kind enough to take time to talk to Powerline. He starts off the conversation by explaining the band’s longevity.
Michel Langevin (Away): We’ve had quite a few obstacles but we survived and now it’s the fourth lineup and I can’t even remember how many albums we’ve put out (laughs). And it’s cool because the people who love Voivod are very loyal. Every time we go out on the road we see the Voivod family again and again.
You have said that you think this new album has all the elements of Voivod throughout its history. Obviously the Blacky era?
Away: I think Blacky’s bass sound is very recognizable — and his playing as well, of course — so it brings me back to the ‘core-thrash metal of the ’80s. But I think there are elements of … when I think about a song like “Resistance,” it brings me back. And another song like “Mechanical Mind” will bring me back to the ’90s — the Eric Forrest years (vocalist and bassist, 1994-2001). But it’s mainly the elements of the Blacky years, of course.
How did Blacky get back into the fold? Have you kept in touch with him?
Away: We’ve kept in touch but for a long while he was living on the west coast and we are on the east coast, so we only saw him when we played Vancouver. He came back to Montreal in the early 2000s. And we got closer together when Piggy passed away in 2005. We had done the memorial and funeral and then in 2007, Snake and I saw Blacky and Chewy perform together a medley of Voivod and we were blown away and in 2008 they were the first people we thought of when we decided to reform.
Was it true that he was off experimenting with electronic music?
Away: Blacky was doing avant-garde and electronic music.
Well, it’s not so surprising.
Away: No. actually, it’s a normal continuation of what we had started in the ’80s in terms of learning how to use digital technology. And we were very intrigued by sampling and sequencing and all that, mainly around the recording of Dimension Hatröss (1988), and Harris Johns, the producer, introduced us to all of these techniques that were used more in the industrial movement. It really brought a lot to the band. So I’m not surprised. Blacky kept going in that direction when he left the band in 1991.
How do you compare his sound to Jason Newsted’s?
Away: His sound is a bit more like Lemmy, as I would compare Jason’s sound more to a Geezer Butler, I think. It is really interesting to me to be playing with different bass players, in terms of matching the rhythm. I think Blacky is the most punk of them all.
Were you surprised by Jason’s eventual decision to leave?
Away: After Piggy’s departure in 2005, we got together early 2006 to finish Katorz which we started in 2004, and it was a very grueling experience. We were pretty drained. We decided to put the band aside for a while. And, I think, that at this point Jason — like Snake and I — had the mission of eventually finishing the album Infini, but aside from that he left the band pretty much on hiatus. I think that when we reformed in 2008, I don’t think Jason was into going on with us but we [still] had a great musical relationship with him. I know his intention was to one day finish Infini to make it available to the people who like Voivod. After touring in 2008 with Blacky, Snake and I were recharged enough and we found Jason and we ended up finishing Infini. It is confusing because in 2009 we have an album with Jason, Chewy, Snake and I, and we were touring with Blacky. But we ended up including Infini songs to the thrash metal material of the ’80s and eventually added “Forlorn” from Phobos from the Eric Forrest years and we had an element from all the eras, and then we started writing the album Target Earth in early 2010. But we played a month ago with Neurosis in San Francisco and Jason came to the show and it was really amazing to see him again.
It seems that it took him a long time to recover from the Metallica split. He recently said it took twelve years to come back to earth. The whole time he was probably going through his own personal stuff, you know.
Away: Oh yes, for sure. When we decided to reform for this one show in Montreal —the festival called Heavy Montreal (Heavy MTL) in 2008 — I phoned Jason first because of what he had brought to the band, and I knew that at this point he was much more into painting than jamming. He never stopped jamming but it was great last month when I saw him and he told me he was going back to music full on. I think that’s great because he’s such a great bass player.
Do you think Chewy brings a newer sound?
Away: It’s definitely a different sound and a very different picking as well than Piggy, and different approach, but we try to keep the spirit of Voivod intact. On the other had, we try not to over think it. We try to make it very natural. But I know Chewy is a huge fan of all the Voivod albums. I think that’s one of the factors of us having different styles and eras of Voivod presented on the new album. I notice the difference between Piggy and Chewy at the very first couple rehearsals, but after that it was the same to me, to my ears. It was a very natural and gradual process after a while, and he was very well accepted by everybody into Voivod, which is very great as well.
Your artwork for this album, Target Earth, was based on the [recent] Montreal riots, is that true?
Away: Part of, yeah. Actually, it was meant to be very galactic in the beginning after discussing it with the other guys but there were a lot protests and riots in the area around my building. There were helicopters all the time and I had another idea about the from cover after. But, of course, it had to do with what’s going on on the globe at this moment. Well, what’s been going on since we started writing the album — the Occupy movement, Arab Spring, the Fukushima nuclear accident — all the Voivod worries, in a way. And the main trigger was definitely the helicopters above my building.
And the riots were due to the rising tuition fees, right?
Away: Yeah, the students took to the street and then the anarchist movement and it was soon like thousands and thousands of people. And there were a lot of actions by the Black Bloc group that triggered mass arrests and all that. It was pretty crazy the whole spring and summer. It’s been a very strange year here.
We didn’t hear that much coverage of this, in America.
Away: I know there was support for the students all across the globe but it was, of course, not a very well known fact but it also was happening in Chile at the same time.
Now, as Canadians, do you really scratch your head at American politics?
Away: No, because I would think that — although I speak for myself and not for the band — that people here in Quebec are used to it. Here in Canada, we have the conservatives in power and in Quebec it’s kind of different-minded and we find that what’s going on in Canada in terms of politics, closer to America, so I find it very normal for me. In terms of traveling and all that I try to have a great appreciation of everywhere I go, without prejudice. So I can really travel without thinking too much about politics and make friends everywhere. It may sound cheesey but I like to go somewhere without thinking too much about the politics. In terms of Voivod’s science fiction stories, they’re more global and universal, not really on a country in particular. As a band we try not to talk about politics that much but we worry about social disintegration and all that is appearing right now. We all have different political views but, of course, we have the same worries in terms of things like hi-tech weaponry and pollution and destruction of the earth, like a lot of people.
The conservatives here always bring up Canada as a point when they are trying to fight socialized medicine. They always say, ‘Look at Canada. It’s horrible!’
Away: Yeah, well, I don’t know but I know that Quebec is a great place to live. But even here I’ve noticed that since we — Voivod — moved here in 1985 an increase in homeless people and I recently learned that there are 30,000 homeless per 2 million people in Montreal which is quite awful. So even though I find Montreal a very cool place to be, I notice the collapse of the economy as well and … all of these homeless people that wander around without medicine and all that, it’s becoming very Mad Max-like, you know. But I must say that I live on top of a subway station in downtown Montreal and it’s very urban.
Well, when you say Mad Max, it is very apocalyptic-sounding. And you have written songs science fiction-like about the apocalypse. What are your thoughts on all the stuff about the world ending this month?
Away: Oh, I have some theories. One of which is the world is going to end because everybody’s going to update their Facebook profile at the same time (laughs). I’ve actually been excited. We’re having an end-of-the-world party. All of our friends are going to gather in an apartment and watch t.v. and see what happens, and maybe take a look outside once in a while to see if we’re not missing anything. And it’s pretty exciting. I’ve been waiting for this one for a long time, reading all the conspiracy theories for a long time. I found a Web site with a countdown and everything. I’m ready. I also waited for the time to be 12-12-12 but nothing happened. Not to my knowledge.
Well, you’re going to gear up for a tour next year. But how do you pick the songs from thirteen studio albums? It must be a hard task.
Away: Well, a lot of it will be pulled from the Blacky years. We did add a couple songs from Infini when it came out. In the last couple of years we slowly added new material to the set list until we ended up playing four songs from Target Earth, and it blended very, very well with other material. For the next tour … hmnnn … since it is the 30th anniversary, we might try to do a best of of all the albums. I have no idea. We still haven’t discussed that though.
And fans always love the early stuff.
Away: But lately we’ve been playing “Jack Luminous” (from the 1993 album, The Outer Limits) which is very long — 18 minutes, I think — and people really like it. We are probably going to keep this one on the set list for the next year.
Well, Voivod transcends genres. It’s not just metal fans who like the band. You get fans from all over. Have you noticed that?
Away: Yeah, it’s always been like that. Of course, we were part of the thrash metal movement of the ’80s and all that but we attracted people from different scenes. And we were always attracted to all types of music and we try to integrate all different influences in the band very early in our career. But I think the main characteristic was that progressive rock was very popular in Quebec in the ’70s, so we heard it when we were young. And not only the big bands like Pink Floyd, Yes and Genesis but more obscure bands like Van Der Graaf Generator, Gentle Giant and King Crimson were very popular and even the Krautrock like Faust, Can, Amon Düül II, that was integrated into our style very early. I think that’s what kept us apart from other scenes, like we were traveling on a different plane. But then many people from different scenes really liked that fact and we got a very diverse crowd.
We were fans of really all types of music. When we were writing the albums in the ’80s, we liked hardcore like Discharge and Conflict but also a lot of New Wave of British Heavy Metal and early first generation of Black Metal like Bathory and Venom and all that. But also a lot of the alternative music like Killing Joke, Bauhuas. Industrial material like Psychic TV and avant-garde music. We were also listening to Sonic Youth and all types of different alternative movements, so I’m not surprised that we cross over to many different scenes because we integrated many into our music as well.
