JASON NEWSTED: 'VOIVOD Is Always Number One Because That's Just That Way It Is'

Christine Carney of MP3.com recently conducted an interview with VOIVOD members Jason "Jasonic" Newsted, Michel "Away" Langevin and Denis "Snake" Belanger. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

MP3.com: [To Jason] Do you consider this your priority, working with VOIVOD?

Jason Newsted: "Well, VOIVOD is the band that I'm a member of. I'm doing the SUPERNOVA project on television and stuff. I plan on following that through with whatever the demands are for it, from me. If it ends up touring and all these things that SUPERNOVA [has] planned, that's great. I'll get out and do what I've said I would, for that. But VOIVOD is always number one because that's just that way it is.

"I always have one big black boot in heavy metal, in the underground of metal. No matter what other projects I do, from PAPA WHEELIE to ECHOBRAIN to GOVERNMENT MULE, SEPULTURA, SUPERNOVA, any of it, I always have one foot where it's supposed to be with the right kind of music, with the music that I know and love. So that's the way that is.

"Good luck to SUPERNOVA and I already know VOIVOD's going to really, finally, get some of their due this time around. We have a great record company involved. We're having the exposure that we never could have expected before, from the television, for this record. The timing of it and everything, it's fantastic. It really is. It's killer how it's happening. The audience is available again, the numbers of people to enjoy this music. The same way that it was with the 'Black' album from METALLICA in 1991. It was just enough people, for the audience that wanted to hear this heavy music, available to hear something new coming out. I know it. I don't have great expectations of it. All I want it to do is whatever it's going to do. The people that know and love VOIVOD, right, they are dedicated. They are going to be down with it. And there's going to be all kinds of new generations of fans because of the timing of this."

MP3.com: I hate to ask you this on the eve of your new release, but what's ahead for VOIVOD? Once you are past this, is there a possibility of any dates? I know that Piggy left quite a few tracks for you guys to work with moving forward. But what is ahead?

Michel Langevin: "Well, I mean, at the end of the Ozzfest in 2003, we took about a month off and then we started writing songs, and all through 2004 we demo'd 23 songs. And Piggy, before passing away, had recorded professional tracks on the 23 songs. So the album coming out tomorrow is the first 10 of these. Next year we have to work on the next 13 songs. So there will be another album of the same batch of songs. They were written in the same period. So it's pretty coherent with this album coming out tomorrow. And, of course, we have to remaster and release the back catalog. I have an art book coming out this year also. What else, guys?"

Jason Newsted: "There [are] two more sets of videos that are going to come out. They already have the one video out on DVD and there's going to be two more. One with — did you say that? One with the middle section with Eric Forrest and that kind of thing. And then 'D-V-O-D-3' video...the Mach Three of VOIVOD. That's still in the works. And we have the other 13 [unreleased tracks], like Michel talked about. We will be performing in the studio together looking at each other just like always, with Piggy's guitar parts that are already complete and [the] album really blasting through, reamped through his amp ghosting into us. So if you, kind of, get that — I'm getting bumps thinking about it. So put yourself in that space for a minute. What Michel had to do on this album for his recording...he had Piggy's guitar amp ghosting him as he played the drums by himself, gluing all the parts together. So that was a feat in itself. And then when we do the other 13 songs it will be similar, except we will get to be together as we're supposed to be. So I feel that we will have that much more of a vibe, even. We still have this quest. The quest has changed a little bit. But we still have a giant quest. I'd like Snake to tell you about it just a little bit because he has great analogies of what we're up against here."

Denis Belanger: "Yeah, well, I mean it's been quite a tough year, the last year, and after Piggy's death, but we're here now, 11 months later. And this really, this is taking its place..."

Jason Newsted: "Tell them about the mountaineering. Tell them about the..."

Michel Langevin: "Tell us a story, Snaky."

Denis Belanger: "This experience felt almost like a life-after-death experience because we're taking — I always compare this to people climbing a mountain, like an expedition and then you lose one guy on the process..."

Michel Langevin: "And not just one guy, but the leader."

Denis Belanger: "The leader. And then you have a choice of going back to the base camp or going for the top and that's what happened, we went for the top to see the beautiful view over there and to put the flag [in] and say, 'We win. And we win it for you, Piggy.' And that's basically the type of image that I have in mind, it was tough but we made it. And, of course, you know there's a part of sadness but there's a feeling of pride that it's so high. And this album is out now and it's yours to discover. And I'm really proud of 'Katorz'."

The interview can be heard in streaming format at MP3.com. To read a transcript of the entire chat, click here.