THE BEAST

During a conversation with Loudwire , Gojira singer/guitarist Joe Duplantier talked about the band's latest album, 2016's "Magma," which saw both Joe and his drummer brother Mario becoming fathers, and also losing their mother to cancer.

"It's cathartic like you said and it's therapeutic, and it's never going to go away," the musician said on implementing those emotions into the record, adding:

"The fact that I don't have a mom anymore and what we've been through and cancer is a horrible thing. You see in movies people dying from cancer, but it's not like that in real life. It's way harder and it's kind of gore. It's super brutal.

"I've seen several people dying from cancer and we all know someone who died of cancer and we all know how horrible it is. When it's a parent, it's definitely a page in your life that you're turning, it's a huge thing.

"But now, we're playing these songs that are related to that event. The songs are evolving. The meaning of the songs can change as well.

"So, they're companions to our journey through life and sometimes they take different meanings depending on what we go through and it doesn't bring the same emotion every show. It's a different emotion every show.

"We're so into our songs when we play them. Even the old songs from the first album, back when we were 17-years-old and now we're 40-something, we find a new meaning every time and that's what keeps them alive and fresh.

"I can't imagine when Metallica are going through when they play 'Seek and Destroy,' you know what I mean? But they still own their songs and I'm sure they also put new meaning.

"'Seek and Destroy' could be 'Destroy bank' or it could be 'Destroy your demons,' but you know what I mean. You could give a new meaning every time you play a song."

Last time we spoke about how 'Magma' opened the door for Gojira to incorporate different musical ideas and try different techniques. Do you guys as a band make a decision like that when you're working on music together? Or does it happen organically? Do you have a conversation before you go in?

"We do have a lot of conversations, but usually it goes the other way. Like we decided something and we do the opposite. So, it's, it's really organically that all of this happens. And I myself was working on a lot of demos on my own just for fun.

"I love recording, I love surprising myself with sounds. And Mario is doing the same. He's experimented with a little keyboard for a few years and did a lot of songs that just stayed on the computer.

"We never released any of that. And I love to experiment. I love singing. I love the cold wave thing, and naturally, when you know how it is when you were a band, you start to be successful and you're, you're scared to disappoint the fans that your life depends on, you know?

"Completely the audience is our boss. If they don't show up at a show, we're fired, that's it. So there's that, that fear that bands have to disappoint their fans.

"That is always there, and I think I somehow we got rid of that a little bit, which is good cause we stay real. And when some people think, "Oh, you guys are selling out because now you're singing," it's actually quite the opposite. It's we're not selling out where we're being ourselves and evolving."

Via UltimageGuitar