Archive for the ‘Interviews’ Category
Voivod Live in Helmond, Holland: Catching Trains and Missing Sequences by Leslie Hadlock
Posted on Monday, August 16th, 2010
Friday, 13 August 2010: Snake’s theory was that the date had something to do with Blacky’s bass breaking down during ‘Experiment,’ quickly followed by Dan’s guitar malfunctioning during the same song. Band and crowd took the temporary breakdown in stride. It didn’t matter and besides, it was nothing compared to the various setbacks this band has seen over the years.
At times the set missed a certain flow: sandwiching the airy, groovy elegance of ‘The Unknown Knows’ and ‘The Prow’ between the mud-splattered opening assault of Voivod and subsequent Ripping Headaches made for some whiplash-inducing leaps backward & forward through space and time. After surviving ‘Nuclear War,’ however, ‘Astronomy Domine’ was quite soothing.
Ruyter Suys from touring mates Nashville P had been on and off the stage throughout the set indulging her inner thrash freak and she led the crowd in a fired-up chant for an encore. The band obliged and returned with a rough and tumble version of ‘Nothingface.’
This was my second time seeing them in an intimate club setting in the 21st century and having room to see (and breathe) is still very much a novel experience. When I close my eyes I’m sandwiched somewhere in the first five rows of a non-stop headbanging mass while the rest of the entire floor is a giant seething pit with bodies launching from the stage. But when I open them the only thing I see in the air are camera phones, not combat boots. Another whiplash-inducing leap through space and time.
And so much for my theory about living in Holland means no more Voivod live logistic problems.
First, I have to rush out right as the final note of the unplanned encore (‘Nothingface’) fades in order to catch the last intercity train. Oh well, at least I managed to see the entire set and not get stuck in Noord Brabant.
Insert favorite pun here: stranded in Helmond, ring Satan’s bell; I have been to Helmond and back; I don’t want to be born, I don’t need it, leave me in Helmond; see you in Helmond my friend…
Okay, that’s enough.
Second, aside from a fantastic rendition of ‘Tribal Convictions,’ the ‘best’ part of the night is acting like a blithering idiot in front of Away. I don’t care about autographs or signed posters or tickets or records, but his book is so beautiful I thought it would be nice to have him sign my copy. I was looking forward to the opportunity to tell him how much I enjoyed reading all the stories that go along with the many eras of the band and discovering interesting details about the creative process and the various covers and booklet art.
I was aware that the band often hangs out at the merch table after the show, but knowing that getting the last train would be a close call I was hoping to get my copy of “Worlds Away” signed before the show. I go inside but all I see is a handful of thrashers in the bar sporting various faded holey Voivod shirts from past tours patiently waiting out the thunderous Nashville P set. I go back outside. I’m on the phone with the man, hanging back from the entrance, when all of a sudden I see Away walking towards the club.
I shyly approach him, fumbling with my bag trying to remove the book, and murmur something unintelligible. He’s totally nice, soft spoken, friendly, super flattered that I bought his book. “Would you like me to sign eet?” he asks in that wonderful Quebec accent.
All I can manage to blurt out is: “Remember back in the early days, King from Deceased would call you guys up when he was at a party at someone’s house when their parents were out of town? I was at one of those parties…”
After listening to Voivod for 25 years and never having had an opportunity to talk to Away, a musical and artistic hero, this is what I come up with?
He laughs and nods and says, “Yes, yes! Great! Ah, Keeng…we saw heem in New York earlier theez year, he came to see us when we played with Kreator!”
I mumble something about not having seen anyone from the old days in over
15 years because I moved & eventually settled here, bla bla bla — oh help me Rhonda, where is the trapdoor button, I’d like to fall into the center of the earth now.
Instead, I babble something about Roadburn & say that I had been hoping that Voivod would play this year’s festival but it didn’t happen but I still hope they will be able to play next year.
He nods, “Aaah…yes, Roadburn! When eez that?”
“Here,” I say. “I mean, the Netherlands, not here-here, but in Tilburg.”
(ummmm, I believe the correct answer should have been “April 2011”)
Oh my god, what is wrong with me?
He’s holding the book, pen poised, and I try to explain how to spell my name: “It’s eye eee, not eee why…”
(why not just write, “To the silly rambling fool”?)
Away, writing in earnest concentration: “Ahhh…Lessss…leee. Ell, eee, ess, ell…eye, eee?”
Oui!
Now they *definitely* need to play Roadburn so I can meet him again and engage in sophisticated intellectual discourse all about art, world politics and technology.
Or just have another laugh about those rowdy phone calls during suburban keg parties way back when…
Tags: Leslie Hadlock, Michel Langevin, Nothingface, voivod
Posted in 2010, Interviews, Roadburn Recommended | 1 Comment »
Metal Assault: In Conversation With Mike Dean of C.O.C.
Posted on Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Aniruddh “Andrew” Bansal of Metal Assault recently conducted an interview with vocalist / bassist Mike Dean of the reunited “Animosity”-era lineup of Corrosion of Conformity. An excerpt from the chat folows below. Metal Assault: A new C.O.C. album is supposed to be in the works. A lot of people must ...read more
Metal Ireland: In Conversation with Hour Of 13
Posted on Thursday, August 5th, 2010
Lorcan Archer of Metal Ireland recently conducted an interview with Hour of 13 about their first ever live show at the second installment of Dublin Doom Day, set for September 18th. An excerpt from the chat follows below. With tickets already being hoovered up by the Doom faithful, Metal Ireland ...read more
The Quietus: Track-by-track – Michael Gira On Swans’ My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky
Posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010
Michael Gira has reactivated his No Wave / industrial / apocalyptic folk project Swans for the first time in 13-years, so who better to ask than him for a track-by-track review: The Quietus: What appears at first to be field recordings of church bells (but is actually percussion) and squealing, ...read more
The Quietus: In Conversation with Moon Duo’s Ripley Johnson
Posted on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
The Quietus’ Ben Graham talks to Ripley Johnson about Moon Duo, Wooden Shjips and the three R’s. “Are you really in Bermuda?” Ripley Johnson‘s soft Californian accent asks me down the line. It’s easy to imagine Johnson – main man behind Wooden Shjips, leading lights of the current garage-psych, neo-kraut, ...read more
Terrorizer: Rob Miller Talks New Amebix Album!
Posted on Monday, July 19th, 2010
“Amebix is me, myself, [guitarist] Stig and Roy [Mayorga, drums],” asserts founding vocalist / bassist Rob Miller, “and that’s the way it is. It’s not a project piece, if this album does anything it’ll be as a three-piece. With Stone Sour it’s very tour orientated, there’s a lot of hard ...read more
The Obelisk: In Conversation With Yakuza’s Bruce Lamont
Posted on Monday, July 19th, 2010
JJ Koczan of The Obelisk recently conducted an interview with Yakuza‘s Bruce Lamont about his visions of the changes the world is about to undergo, how Yakuza came to work with Profound Lore, and just how great it is to scare the crap out of yuppies. A few excerpts from ...read more
The Quietus: Sax And Violence – Jørgen Munkeby of Shining (Norway) Interviewed
Posted on Thursday, July 1st, 2010
As two of the most radical forms of music that emerged in the 20th Century jazz and metal don’t always make the best of bedfellows. Luckily Shining ignored this fact when they started on Blackjazz, says The Quietus’ John Doran, speaking to Jørgen Munkeby: The Quietus: To what extent is ...read more
Terrorizer: Amebix Arise – Rob Miller talks Reunion And Recording
Posted on Thursday, June 24th, 2010
“We’re releasing three tracks that we initially did as re-recordings for a DVD project, I suppose it’s really what brought us into playing again,” explains vocalist / bassist Rob ‘The Baron’ Miller of apocalyptic metallic punk pioneers Amebix. “We got involved with Belfast Records and he did a DVD called ...read more
The Obelisk: In Conversation With Stone Axe
Posted on Thursday, June 24th, 2010
JJ Koczan of The Obelisk recently conducted an interview with Stone Axe ‘ T. Dallas Reed . A few excerpts from the chat follow below. When I spoke to Stone Axe multi-instrumentalist, occasional-vocalist, recording engineer and principle songwriter, T. Dallas Reed, he was, as I imagine he often is, working ...read more
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