When I saw Voivod thrash Glasgow recently I had the opportunity to chat with frontman Denis “Snake” Bélanger. Post-vocal soundcheck, we discussed the band’s touring, recent releases Synchro Anarchy and Ultraman EP, the upcoming new record Morgöth Tales as well as their extraterrestrial experiences and more! So retreat into your hypercube and check it out below!
You’ve been on tour a lot recently, you’ve started your UK tour and you played Prognosis festival in the Netherlands – how have these shows been?
The show in the Netherlands was great being in a more proggy context. It went super nicely, then we started the tour for real yesterday. We played Bristol and that was fantastic – great crowd and the place was packed. Can’t ask for anything more. People enjoyed it a lot.
Voivod has played with a lot of different kinds of bands as well as the Montréal Jazz Festival. Is it inspiring to the band to be surrounded by all of this different kind of music beyond heavy metal and is it important for you to support the underground bands?
Absolutely. It’s always fun to discover new things and we’ve always been open-minded towards all kinds of music. It gives a more rich flavour to what we’re doing because we’re inspired by different kinds of things. It could be prog music, jazz or thrash metal mixed with punk…we’ve always been crossing over different genres and styles. We always have fun discovering new things and it’s good to be part of it as well. I guess they invited us for that matter as well because we’re slightly different.
When the band was producing Synchro Anarchy and the Ultraman EP, it was more under lockdown conditions and I understand the band approached the production process a little differently than you normally would have at the time to account for the restrictions. Going forward, will Voivod continue to use some of those production methods that you used during lockdown on future releases?
It was different for sure. We ended up being isolated for quite a while but we were corresponding with each other and sending ideas via files. We started like that with a bank of ideas. We had a really short time period to actually create the songs and record them. We had no time to judge ourselves. We did the whole album in four months and I thought it was crazy – we almost went crazy at one point because it was so intense! It gave a really good result which I was surprised with. It’s amazing what you come up with sometimes when you’re under pressure instead of being more laid back. There was a sort of “emergency” feeling to it which gave it its own particular flavour of madness.
With the pressure and the darkness of Synchro Anarchy, would you say that following it with the Ultraman EP was a more happy and relaxing moment?
It was a fun moment! It was the after-stress thing. We did record part of it during Synchro Anarchy but we finished the whole thing afterwards. It was a more fun thing to do, laughing and singing in Japanese.
I understand that Chewy already speaks Japanese but was this a great opportunity for the rest of the band to learn some Japanese?
Daniel (Chewy) knows quite a bit of Japanese so he was able to sing parts of the Japanese version and I sang the chorus. I tried! It’s a really hard language. It was fun to do the EP – there’s French, Japanese and English on it.
Some of you guys grew up watching the Ultraman TV show when you were younger. Is there any other kinds of Japanese media that’s inspiring to Voivod, or that you just enjoy a lot?
When I was younger there wasn’t just Ultraman but also Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, Thunderbirds – all these shows were super fucking amazing for us as we grew up. I remember there being different Japanese cartoons back in the day. In French it was called Mini-Fee (Quebec French version of Sally the Witch) which was a little girl that had power. The imagination back in the day was absolutely crazy so it was a great influence for us as we grew up. It’s a part of our childhood. It’s really fun to do these kinds of songs. It’s an alternative rock ‘n’ roll kind of thing – it sounds easy but it’s not. The music is more complex than you think.
For Voivod’s 40th Anniversary you’ve announced that in July you’ll be releasing Morgöth Tales, which is a re-recordings album with one new song. How was it for the band to revisit these deep cuts?
It was really fun to do. First you realise how time flies, but for some of those songs it was like opening a treasure chest – they were buried for so long! There’s great memories of the first song that we ever recorded (“Condemned to the Gallows”) – I lost the lyrics! I was expecting someone on the internet might have them but I looked and there was nothing about that song. I was desperate because the music was already recorded and I was freaking out because on the original recording, I can’t hear what I was saying and I can’t recall what I was singing about because it was all screams and the definition is not really clear. I thought, “maybe my mum has it because she’s way more organised than I am”, so I called my sister and said, “can you go and see mum and see if she has…,” and I gave her the title. Then she called me back and said, “Yeah. It took two minutes to find it!” It’s like – file 36, second drawer and there you go! It was my handwriting – the only copy in the world!
Does your mum keep everything you have for Voivod?
She has a little museum in the basement where she keeps everything – souvenirs, backstage passes, all kinds of stuff!
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For Morgöth Tales you’ve brought back previous members Eric Forrest and Jason Newsted to play on the songs included from their respective Voivod albums with “Rise” and “Rebel Robot”. How was it to work with those guys again?
We called them and they were super surprised but they said “For sure, I’ll do it”. They were totally into it. They went into their own studios. When we do the next part of the tour in the States, Jason said he’ll probably join us onstage in Florida to play “Rebel Robot”.
The title track of Morgöth Tales is the new song. Is there anything you can tell us about the new song and what can the fans expect?
I’d like to keep it a secret! I did an interview not so long ago and Michel (Away) said “I think you said too much about it!”
The Voivod documentary, We Are Connected by Felipe Belalcazar, is supposed to come out later this year. Is there any updates on it?
He’s taking his time to make it perfect. It’s funny because as we move forward, he always has something else to add. He’s got other ideas and more interviews…it was hard for him to work on it during the pandemic so everything was postponed. It will come this year or early 2024. I know he’s been working hard on it.
You’ve said in a previous interview that you and your sister saw a UFO when you were children. Has anyone else in the band had a crazy sci-fi experience at some point in their life that you’re aware of?
I think Michel witnessed something on a beach somewhere south in the USA with Piggy . They saw something really weird in the sky…there’s something out there! It’s weird. When I recall what I saw with my sister, the UFO came out and it seems like the brain doesn’t compute it because you’ve never seen anything like it. By the time you realise and try to understand what you saw, it’s gone. There’s a timeframe that’s weird. I remember I was sitting in the car and I didn’t say anything and I can’t remember how long for. My sister was paralysed. We were both paralysed! The car was driving almost by itself and then all of a sudden we kind of woke up and said “did you see what I just saw?”, “yeah!”
I also read that Chewy is very interested in mushrooms. Do yourself, Away and Rocky have any interesting hobbies outside of Voivod?
Me, I just want to sit on my couch and watch TV. I’m a really busy guy and I don’t have a lot of free time. I take time to spend with my girlfriend, taking long walks by the river. That’s my activity. Something really relaxing or getting out in nature – that’s my thing. I don’t want to force myself to do something you know like “every Tuesday let’s play tennis!” – I can’t do that. For the other guys I know Dan is doing a lot of cycling in the summer. We’ve got a pretty intense touring schedule so it’s hard to get a routine going.
Was there ever a point throughout your career when you realised that the band could be around for as long as 40 years?
Sometimes I have to pinch myself. Like “fuck, it’s 40 years keeping doing it!” But time flies. I’m still the same dude as when I was 20. I don’t feel like I’m old, it’s just that my knees and my back sometimes remind me that I’m old, but I’m still the same kid I was. Nothing’s changed. I don’t think I ever have thoughts like “I’m not gonna do this, I’m too old for that!” I’m still young in my head. I still want to create and be productive as much as I was in my 20’s.
Here in the 4th decade of Voivod, if Piggy is watching over you, do you think he’d be proud of what the band has achieved?
I hope so. Part of the reason we’re doing this is to honour his music. His tragic death was so hard to cope with and mourning his passing was absolutely brutal. The fact we keep on doing it is to take his legacy and push it forward – we wanted to keep his music alive. After he died we could have said “this is it”. He was such a particular player with a particular sound and way of composing. For us to still live our dream and to honour his music – that was the goal and that’s why we keep on doing it. I think he’d be saying “thank you guys!”
Thanks to Snake for his time, Jazmin L’Amy from The Noise Cartel for organising the interview and Voivod’s tour manager Dale Tomlinson for sorting out the interview at the venue.
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Morgöth Tales is available July 21st via Century Media Records
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