Fans of Canada's arguably best - and geekiest - metal band, Voivod, get ready to get excited. While the recent release of Infini could easily have signalled the end of the band, containing as it did the last recordings of deceased guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour, it turns out that may not be the case.
In a recent interview with Exclaim!, vocalist Denis "Snake" Bélanger said that the band may write new material with guitarist Dan Mongrain (Martyr, ex-Quo Vadis, ex-Gorguts), who has been playing in Piggy's place at recent live shows.
"It's certainly the last album with Piggy," says Snake about Infini, which came out late last month via Sonic Unyon in Canada. "But Dan, he grew up with the band and Piggy was his mentor, so he knows how to play Piggy's craziness. Maybe I'd like to sit with Dan and write some songs. That could be the future for this band. Right now we're more focused on touring. Blacky [bassist Jean-Yves Thériault] came back and now with Dan, it's a good feeling."
Snake says that while both band and fans may have been uncomfortable with the idea of replacing Piggy at first, it seems like it may work, and it isn't so much "replacing" as it is keeping Piggy's music alive.
"After three or four years of mourning Piggy, we wanted to hit the road and make this thing happen," says Snake. "It takes time to reconstruct the band but I'm glad we did. It's really worth it to see the reaction of the people. Maybe some of the people were thinking they weren't going to see Voivod again and now they're seeing it and they have a happy face."
Adds Mongrain, "Piggy was unique, a genius, a true artist. My job is basically to make it sound right and do it with passion. I just hope the fans can enjoy it when we play and can feel the same kind of vibe as when Piggy was there. It's big shoes to fill."
There's only one thing missing: a fun nickname for Dan. Once we see that, we'll know things are going full-steam ahead.
Stay tuned for Exclaim!'s August issue when we'll dig into the storied history of Voivod in our monthly Timeline piece.
In a recent interview with Exclaim!, vocalist Denis "Snake" Bélanger said that the band may write new material with guitarist Dan Mongrain (Martyr, ex-Quo Vadis, ex-Gorguts), who has been playing in Piggy's place at recent live shows.
"It's certainly the last album with Piggy," says Snake about Infini, which came out late last month via Sonic Unyon in Canada. "But Dan, he grew up with the band and Piggy was his mentor, so he knows how to play Piggy's craziness. Maybe I'd like to sit with Dan and write some songs. That could be the future for this band. Right now we're more focused on touring. Blacky [bassist Jean-Yves Thériault] came back and now with Dan, it's a good feeling."
Snake says that while both band and fans may have been uncomfortable with the idea of replacing Piggy at first, it seems like it may work, and it isn't so much "replacing" as it is keeping Piggy's music alive.
"After three or four years of mourning Piggy, we wanted to hit the road and make this thing happen," says Snake. "It takes time to reconstruct the band but I'm glad we did. It's really worth it to see the reaction of the people. Maybe some of the people were thinking they weren't going to see Voivod again and now they're seeing it and they have a happy face."
Adds Mongrain, "Piggy was unique, a genius, a true artist. My job is basically to make it sound right and do it with passion. I just hope the fans can enjoy it when we play and can feel the same kind of vibe as when Piggy was there. It's big shoes to fill."
There's only one thing missing: a fun nickname for Dan. Once we see that, we'll know things are going full-steam ahead.
Stay tuned for Exclaim!'s August issue when we'll dig into the storied history of Voivod in our monthly Timeline piece.
