Just before Gojira’s live performance in Greece at the first Rocking Athens Festival, drummer Mario Duplantier talked to us about the band’s tour, their last album and their worries. Mario seemed very happy and friendly, despite his weariness from their continuous live shows, and here is what he said to us… 

Solid Rock: Your last album “The Way Of All Flesh” was released in October of 2008. Today, 9 months later, how do you feel about it?

Mario Duplantier: We feel very proud with this release. We have been on the road for the album since last September, so we started touring just before the release and we haven’t stop touring till now, so there is lot of intenseness. We’ve spent nine months on the road and the crowd is amazing, it’s generous and I am very proud of the expectations of this album on stage. We did our best to translate the album on stage with, for example, some screens on the back of the stage, some videos or pictures, trying to create something emotional around the concept of our last album.

Solid Rock: Is it difficult for you to perform your tracks in English?

Mario Duplantier: My brother, who is the singer, speaks very well English. When he speaks you don’t hear any accent or anything like this. I understand all the lyrics and all the concepts, but I focus most in music. But I am just a drummer, so…it’s all ok for me with English! (laughs )

Solid Rock: Would you like to say few things about “The Way Of All Flesh” and its producing, like who made the mastering and the mixing and describe the whole process.

Mario Duplantier: For this album it is very specific, because we were on the road. We had to compose a new album and that period we were very challenged about it. So, my brother and I decided to go and practice well just to make the album and not to do something else. We felt the energy making this album, so the composing was very special! We decided to call Logan Mader, great producer and ex-Machine Head guitarist, who did the mixing and mastering. But, we all participated in this… We have our own studio at home, so when we returned we recorded the guitars, the bass, and the vocals and then we did the mixing and the mastering in Los Angeles. This experience was quite new for us, because usually we do everything in our home. It was the first time that someone else took part in the process of our album.

Solid Rock: “The Way Of All Flesh” refers exclusively to death, either it is emotional or human or ecological. Why is that? Is the fact of death a fear or just a mystery for you?

Mario Duplantier: Both! We are all human beings and we wonder about death, what is going to happen after this life and maybe it’s a reflection about what we can do in our life. It is a mystery that we know that one day we will disappear, but in the same time we don’t know what is going to happen when we die. My brother, who wrote the lyrics, he is 40 years old now. When you become older you ask about yourself. He is curious about the fact of changing through years. It is very personal for him and death is a symbol of change. It’s very global, very symbolic and we don’t talk about death, violence or blood. In general, Gojira is very poetic.

Solid Rock: “Gojira is a musical genre on their own. Unique vocals, with influences from extreme, thrash, death and progressive. How would you characterize your sound?

Mario Duplantier: Like modern, experimental, death music.

Solid Rock: All your tracks have been written in English, although some of them contain French lyrics. What do you express with this action?

Mario Duplantier: In the last album we didn’t use French lyrics. But we did it on the previous albums. When you sing in French it is very difficult to sound musical, it sounds “rudely”.

Solid Rock: But French is more a “poetic” language.

Mario Duplantier: Yes, it is. Joe writes some lyrics in French when he can’t express it on the English language, for example something mystical.

Solid Rock: Would you ever write any song exclusively in French?

Mario Duplantier: No. I think Joe doesn’t want to do something like this, because he feels very confident with English. You don’t feel confident with French, even though when we play in France we face lots of difficulties to talk to the crowd, but when we are in England or anywhere we show very confident. We had double education, as our mother is American and our father is French, so… For my brother it is normal to speak English.

Solid Rock: According to the claims of music industry, how easy is it nowadays for a band to be well-known and to survive?

Mario Duplantier: We have to make the right choices, so we talk together all the time. We talk about what directions we want to take, about our behavior in front of the crowd, we talk about business and we cooperate a lot. Also, we are always careful about all points and dangers.

Solid Rock: As a band you express your thoughts through your songs about the environment and wish for its protection. Particularly, in the track “Toxic Garbage Island” from “The Way Of All Flesh” you describe the ecological disaster, the anger and disappointment for these facts. What is the meaning in the last phrase of the track “Another Bag In The Sea”?

Mario Duplantier: The bag is a symbolism of a mollusk in the ocean, which looks like a plastic bag. It is a symbol of pollution. We kill creatures of the ocean with all these things we throw into it. We wanted to describe the illusion and as we wanted to think of something natural, we used the plastic bag. The fact of pollution is so sad, and we wanted to express our sadness and not our anger.

Solid Rock: Till now, you have been on tour next to big bands, like Children Of Bodom, Behemoth and today with Heaven And Hell. How important is for a new band to support such big groups? How do you feel about it?

Mario Duplantier: We feel very proud! Those bands are so simple, we trust them, and they are so unique. Sometimes we play with small bands and they are very pretended! And then we play with Metallica and Machine Head and they are so simple and open-minded! I think fans sometimes need to see this reality from these famous people and realize that most of the times some of them are not connected to reality! I like to see that, because it makes me feel a lot of hope for our future and maybe one day we may be as famous, but we’ll keep our feet on the floor! But… yes we are playing on big stages with Metallica in September, so it is a big approaching! A dream came true! We stay cool and we always enjoy the moment!

Solid Rock: Which group do you admire most and why?

Mario Duplantier: Deftones are my favorite band!

Solid Rock: I thought it was Metallica!

Mario Duplantier: Metallica yes, but not for me! I love Metallica, but I can’t say the same for their last album (Death Magnetic). I admire these guys because they create something important for rock and metal music, I love Deftones because they never stop making something new and they don’t care about fame, they don’t care about money, but they do something artistic. I also like groups like Tool. I would like from Gojira to stay something strong and artistic.

Solid Rock: What are your plans when you finish the tour?

Mario Duplantier: We are not sure yet, but we would like to stop for a while and have a break, because we are on the road one year, non stop. And then maybe compose a new album. I really want to compose a new album!

Solid Rock: Your song: “Stan Is A Lawyer” talks about a lawyer, his habits, his character and his job. Why did you write this song? Are you angry for any particular fact?

Mario Duplantier: Not really. We are against Mc Donald’s, for example, and we created our following message: I’m not Mc Donald’s tool! So, we made something for the issue.  Mc Donald’s is a symbolism that everything looks clean, healthy, everybody is happy…but in reality it is something satanic. It was more a reaction to show to the crowd a conviction, it was not personal.

Solid Rock: Any message for our readers and for all the fans that will enjoy the show tonight?

Mario Duplantier: I hope we will enjoy the show and you enjoy the show with us. Thank you for the interview and we are very happy to be in Greece!

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