Latest Drum News
During a conversation with Rock Hard Greece, Gojira drummer Mario Duplantier talked about the band’s latest album “Fortitude.”
“Fortitude” marks the group’s first full-length effort in five years. You can check it out here via Amazon.
When asked, “How did you find the balance to create this new album? What did you try to do before entering the studio?”, Mario replied (transcribed by UG):
“I think we just tried to be spontaneous and we just try to write what we feel we want to write at this precise moment. But I had in my mind that I would love the fans to get a little bit of heaviness because we are famous for that as well.
“We grew up as a technical death metal band, and I know a part of our community and fans love the technical and catchy, and aggressive part of it.
“So it was important for us to find this balance between what we love to do because we love to be aggressive and heavy, but we love melody as well. So it’s really important for us to make sure we find this fine balance between all of this.
“So I would say ‘Fortitude’ is a perfect example of where the band is able to go from the heaviness to the quiet aspect of it. So songs like ‘The Chant’ or ‘The Trails’ are almost like slow metal songs, but then you have ‘Into the Storm,’ ‘Grind,’ and ‘Born for One Thing,’ and even ‘Newfound.’
“But the challenge was more doing something we could also play with a lot of satisfaction live- because the live aspect is a big reality of our life. We spend 90% of our life playing shows- not during the pandemic, but in general, so it’s really important to be able to write the songs that will resonate in the kind of venue we play.
“It’s a reality. We cannot play grinds for five minutes, we want to share with the crowd, so when you open for Metallica in the stadium and you play a fucking death metal song, everyone is like, ‘Oh my god, it’s too intense!’
“So we have this desire as well to have more air in our stunt since the beginning, we are a big Sepultura and Metallica fan, so naturally, we brought more groove and air in the songs.
“But I’m not sure if it’s 100% natural or if live performance has an influence. I’m sure the live experience has an influence on the writing but it’s almost unconscious.”
The album has been written before the pandemic, so did this add anxiety to the band? Because you have an album, you have a great album ready to be released, and you always change the release date because of the pandemic, and it’s five years now since the release of ‘Magma…’
“Yeah – it is what it is. We try our best to do things but the pandemic was something we were not expecting at all. The goal was to release the album around May or June 2020, so it was a huge pain in the ass, actually.
“But the reality is the management, the record company… there is an economic side of it. If you are not touring, you’re losing a lot of money, and a lot of promotion for an album. So everyone around the band said, ‘Let’s wait for the world to reopen.’
“But then the pandemic became what it is right now, it’s actually more dramatic and complicated than we thought, so we had to wait. But at some point, we said we want to drop it, ‘Let’s drop it! People need culture, need music, and even if we are not touring, let’s drop the songs even for ourselves!’
“Because we hold the album for one year just in our camp so it was time for us to release, and yes, we didn’t want to lose the momentum, and the attention around the band. But what I truly believe is if you love a band, sometimes you can wait two or 13 years!
“Tool dropped an album almost 15 years after the previous one, and Tool is the biggest band right now. What I feel is if the music is real, if there is quality – if the band is well known for the songs and has enough credibility, I think you can wait for four, five, six, seven, eight years sometimes.
“Like Slipknot, they don’t do so many albums but every album is an event. I don’t want to compare Gojira to Slipknot because we’re not as big as Slipknot, of course. But I think we didn’t lose the momentum as well because we did a lot of touring.
“And when we did open for Slipknot in the US for seven weeks, it was also a real event, like a good thing for the career of the band, we got the attention during the tour.
“So if you are still touring, and if you are able to do big tools like touring with Metallica, you are not really losing the momentum. It is what I feel. We will make sure that the next album won’t be in five years.”
Original Article: HERE
