ERIC FORREST Says 'It Was A Real Honor And Privilege' To Play With VOIVOD Again: 'One Of The Best Tours I've Ever Done In My Life'

In a new interview with Sylvain Latour of The Subversive Podcast, former VOIVOD and current E-FORCE vocalist/bassist Eric Forrest spoke about his recently completed European tour with VOIVOD after the band's frontman Denis "Snake" Bélanger sat out the trek in order to "attend to a family matter". Asked how he came to be asked to play with VOIVOD again nearly 25 years after his departure from the band, Eric said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "[VOIVOD's] management, James MacLean, reached out, like, maybe a week and a half before the tour and said, 'We have to confirm a few things, but it's a possibility. Would you be interested in doing the tour?' this and this and that. And for maybe, like, 20 shows or something, or maybe — I don't know — two weeks or something. I said, 'Yeah, sure, man. Of course, I'll do it. It'd be an honor and a privilege to do it.' So then Away [VOIVOD drummer Michel Langevin] contacted me the next day, and he said, 'Well, in fact, we would like you to do the whole tour.' And I said, 'Well, that's cool. Even better with me.'"

Eric, who appeared on two VOIVOD albums, 1995's "Negatron" and 1997's "Phobos", continued: "It was a real honor and privilege and surprise to be able to live this adventure again, so to speak. I never imagined myself being the frontman of VOIVOD or playing shows like that. But it actually worked out pretty good because it was apparently Snake's idea. He said, 'Hey, maybe see if Eric can do it,' 'cause of his situation. And so basically I was honored to do it, and did do it. And they were very happy that I so-called 'saved' the tour. And I was just, like, man, to be playing some of these stages, these festivals was a real privilege for me and experience. And it turned out pretty good. It was entertaining, that's for sure. People liked the 'Negatron', 'Phobos' stuff. Obviously, we played a couple of those, and some old classics. But everything was just on a real professional level, and I'd just stay in my lane, do my job. And it was fantastic — one of the best tours I've ever done in my life, by far. It brought a lot of good vibration, everybody, and it was a great tour. Absolutely… It was an honor, man. I mean, everything was really, really on a professional level — the biggest I've ever experienced, with touring on a nice tour bus and this and that, and the food, everything was just perfect. It went very, very well, and smooth energy, connected people. And it was so much fun to play with Away again and Chewy [VOIVOD guitarist Daniel Mongrain] and Rocky [VOIVOD bassist Dominic Laroche], and just feel the real chemistry and for the family, so to speak. I'm not in VOIVOD, but I'm still the little brother of VOIVOD in a way, and it was really a really memorable moment. And we crossed the finish line and we finished the race."

Forrest also addressed his health, seven months after he went public with his prostate cancer battle. Eric, who lives in Toulouse, France, wrote in a social media post in February 2026 that he was diagnosed with stage three prostate cancer in 2024 after registering a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level of 23. Asked if there were certain restrictions on his activity that he had to be mindful of while he was on tour with VOIVOD, Eric said: "Well, it's been kind of like that for a while. I'm taking a metabolic route, as opposed to chemo and surgery for many reasons. But it hasn't necessarily gotten better, it hasn't gotten worse. It's kind of blocked from certain medication, and I'm still dealing with that issue. And when I had this offer to do this thing with VOIVOD, I, I wasn't gonna turn it down no matter what. I wanted to play, and I wanted to rock out with these guys, do what I can. So I'm still, after the tour's over, more serious about a lot of things in the diet and this and this and that. But, actually, I'm doing nine shows with E-FORCE next week, starting in Czech Republic next week. So after that, it's time to get back at it and be very determined to kill this thing. I'm not gonna die tomorrow, but I don't want it to get worse and worse and worse. And it's a very complicated issue, because there's many ways that's coming out on the Internet and around the world on the underground of ways to kill cancer, cure cancer. I have a friend from Canada who had surgery, had chemo, and it came back, and then he did other methods with other medication, and he got rid of it. So that's a whole other conspiracy debate. But anyway, I'm doing my best, and that's it."

Earlier this year, it was reported that Snake's partner Christine McDonald was battling stage four colorectal cancer. In an effort to assist with mounting medical and related expenses, a GoFundMe campaign had been launched to help support her during this difficult time.

In all, Eric appeared on two VOIVOD studio masterpieces, the aforementioned "Negatron" and "Phobos", on the live album "Voivod Lives" and on the compilation "Kronik". When leaving VOIVOD, Forrest used his nickname, E-Force, as the name for his new band.

As previously reported, E-FORCE is putting the finishing touches on a new album, "Voivod Revisited". In an interview with Chile's iRock, Forrest said the effort will contain re-recordings of songs from "Negatron" and "Phobos", as well as a new original track and a cover version of an as-yet-unspecified song. Furthermore, Mongrain will contribute a guitar solo to E-FORCE's new recording of the "Negatron" track "Nanoman", the lyrics to which were originally written by Ivan Doroschuk of MEN WITHOUT HATS.

In 2017, to celebrate the anniversary of "Phobos", Forrest led a European tour performing songs from "Negatron" and "Phobos". The band assembled for that tour was operating under the name "E-FORCE Performing VOIVOD".