Kerrang! – June 28, 2019

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JOE

DUPLANTIER

(VOCALS/GUITAR)

How does it feel to be representing metal

at Glastonbury this year?

“I’ve heard Glastonbury is one of the

biggest festivals in the world, so it’s

pretty exciting that we will get to play

it and experience that for ourselves.

Any time we play a festival that isn’t

exclusively metal, we always feel like

the black sheep of the line-up. That’s

a nice position to be in, though,

because we find that most people are

usually intrigued by us, and those who

aren’t into metal get a chance to take

a glimpse at something different to

what they’re used to.”

Last summer you topped the bill at

Bloodstock festival. Are you excited to

come back to the UK to headline your

own shows this time?

“Definitely. We’ll be returning to

places like Brixton, and the last time

we played there it was such a fantastic

experience. We filmed the show, which

made it feel extra special. We’re thrilled

to go back on our own, because the

first time was with Ghost. I have to

pinch myself, like, ‘Is this a dream? Is

this really fucking happening?’ We’re

super excited, it’s really awesome.

What’s happening in the UK – doing all

these festivals, headlining Bloodstock

last year and now playing Brixton –

means a lot for a bunch of French

guys. The UK is the cradle of fucking

rock‘n’roll. I couldn’t be happier. I don’t

want to wake up from this dream!”

Will these shows be similar to that

Bloodstock headline performance?

“Something like that, but we started to

expand our onstage world when [2016

album] Magma came out and we were

starting to headline some festivals.

Your stage show has to change when

you’re playing large festivals because

you have to occupy a bigger stage, so

you need some sort of trick to entertain

people with. It’s a huge challenge, so

when the show is working it’s a victory.

We’re only doing a couple of shows in

Europe this year because we’re in the

middle of making a new record. Our

attention is mostly on the new material

and what we’re putting together. But

these shows provide an opportunity for

us to expand what we started on that

Magma cycle, and we’re going to play

a few songs we haven’t played in a long

time. We like to try mixing things up,

so it’s going to be a bit different from

what people might be expecting.”

Seeing as you mentioned it, how is that

new album coming along?

“Did I mention a new album? Oops,

damnit (laughs)! We don’t do a lot of

press at the moment because we’re

afraid we might get people too excited.

We like to take our time on music. We

have recorded some things, but we still

have a lot to do. I have a lot of lyrics

to write and soul searching to do, and

I’m going to use these few months of

touring to write some gems. We’ve

been in the studio over the past couple

of months, intensely experimenting,

but it’s definitely not coming out this

year. We were aiming for the end of

2019 originally, but it’s probably going

to be 2020 now.”

Do these shows provide a kind of palate-

cleanser for the next phase of creativity?

“Yes, absolutely. We always wish we

could play live more often and be on

tour constantly, but we are also looking

forward to wrapping up the Magma

cycle with this final run of shows.

We’re excited about getting started on

whatever comes next, and this will be

the perfect way to tie that bow.”

“I HAVE TO PINCH

MYSELF, LIKE, ‘IS

THIS A DREAM?’”

JOE DUPLANTIER

WORDS:

James Hingle

PHOTO:

GETTY

Q&A

DATES

SOMERSET

Glastonbury

Festival, Worthy

Farm, June 28,

BIRMINGHAM

O2 Academy 29,

LONDON

O2 Academy

Brixton 30,

MANCHESTER

O2 Apollo July 1.

62 KERRANG!

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GOJIRA prep for

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