GOJIRA Frontman Talks About Recording With CAVALERA CONSPIRACY

Peter Atkinson of KNAC.COM recently conducted an interview with GOJIRA guitarist/vocals Joe Duplantier. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

KNAC.COM: Let's go back to this summer. Because you were recording, you couldn't do the tour with CAVALERA CONSPIRACY either, which had to have been tough?

Duplantier: Yeah, but GOJIRA is my priority, I give everything to that. It's my life. I don't like to say that because I'm a human being, I'm not just a member of the band, but GOJIRA I give all my time for that, I did a lot of compromise for that. We are a band for 12 years with my brother and my bandmates, who are now like brothers to me. It is really my #1 priority. When I ended up being the bass player for CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, of course it was an amazing experience and I was so happy to meet Max and Igor. But I told them "I can be part of this album, but I won't be able to play shows after that," so they knew right away that I was doing the band, but I had GOJIRA first. So they were not surprised when they asked me again to do the world tour and I said, "No, I'm in the studio and we have to release an album."

KNAC.COM: At least you were able to be part of the Cavalera brothers' reunion, be part of history, as it were.

Duplantier: It was rewarding, it was fulfilling. I never thought I could one day have a band with these guys. Like I said, METALLICA was important, but SEPULTURA was also very important to me. When they released "Chaos A.D.", I remember trying to play those songs with my crappy guitar. I was playing metal on a classical guitar in my bedroom and I was trying to play these songs, and it was mind-blowing. And when I had my first electric guitar someone lended to me I was amazed I was able to reproduce that kind of sound that I was listening to. It's a part of my musical structure, so when I first came into the studio in Los Angeles I was very nervous. I had my bass guitar with me and I was waiting for Max and he showed up and I was like, "Oh my god." And he took me in his arms right away, and was like, "Hey, Joe, so nice to meet you. We're going to have fun and I'm really glad that you accepted being the band, it's gonna be great." And suddenly he became like a friend, a colleague, a bandmate. And so from a fan I became like an equal and it was very important to me as a human being. I remember this moment when we were playing for the first time and he asked me, "Well we should have a jam first before composing so we can feel the vibe for the band first, can you play some SEPULTURA stuff?" And I was lik,e "Yes, I can. Basically that's how I learned how to play, so yes." "OK, Joe, tell us what do you want to play." "Well, 'Territory', for example," and Igor started to play the drum intro and the brothers were playing together for the first time in a studio for 11 years, so there was a lot of emotion, it was very intense. The families were there in the studio. I'll never forget that, it was really incredible experience. There was a very, very strong energy. The songs are a symbol of their brotherhood for years, and working together on the same level, and they put that aside for more than 10 years and then suddenly you play that, and it all comes back. The energy was incredible.

Read the entire interview at KNAC.COM.