Luc Lemay (Gorguts)

Gorguts is a one of a kind band in the Death Metal world in that they keep reinventing themselves with every record and still release strictly critically acclaimed albums. Starting with the Old School Death Metal sound of Considered Dead (1990) and then the brutal Effigy Of The Forgotten worship of The Erosion Of Sanity (1993), they went on to create a whole new sound on the massively influential Obscura (1998), adding dissonant guitars, odd time signatures and intricate composition. They then released From Wisdom To Hate (2001), an album that combined the brutality of their first two lp’s with the complexity and technicality of the previous one. The band went on hiatus for more than a decade and came back in 2013 with Colored Sands, once again reinventing themselves with a more atmospheric sound in what is widely considered to be one of the greatest comeback albums of that era. That progression lead to the release of Pleiades’ Dust, an 33 minutes atmospheric Death Metal masterpiece. When we look at their discography as a whole, and at the progression of their sound, it’s easy to understand why Gorguts is so influential to so many subgenres of Extreme Metal.

Luc Lemay, the mastermind, main songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and only constant member of Gorguts, was generous enough to join us for a phone conversation and, after talking with him for over an hour, we can confirm that his reputation as “nicest guy in metal” is totally justified!

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What have you been listening to the most lately?
Just to tell you, every day, I play snooker, you guys know about this game? It’s a British game, like a pool game but those 6′ by 12′ tables and I have my own table. I’m pretty crazy about this game. I’ll get to the music in a second! *Haha* I got this table maybe three years ago when we got back from Europe and so every day, when I go there, I have my playlists, and some days, I’ll listen to this record or that record, so the snooker practice would be a good meter to tell you what I’ve been listening to. Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of Emperor Of Sand, the last MASTODON record. I listen a lot to Firepower from JUDAS PRIEST. I listen to some Classical music also, I’ve been listening to a lot of piano music lately as well. SERGEI PROKOFIEV Piano Sonatas, especially the eighth one. I like to start my practice and put on piano, it’s a beautiful movement. Then at some point, I’m going to change. I love Hardwired, METALLICA’s last record as well, I played that a lot too.

Otherwise, when I work during the day, I’ll be listening more to the news lately, with the COVID crisis, and the politics going on and everything. I haven’t been listening to much music during the day when I work in the workshop but my music time is mostly around five, six o’clock, when I go to snooker practice. Some in the morning, but for some reason, the past two, three years, I kind of developed an interest in listening to the news. Back to my early 20’s, I was listening to a lot of SHOSTAKOVICH and some Metal, SUFFOCATION and all that stuff. But throughout the years, you know, I’m not a guy who’s going to read the newspaper, but I kind of like to hear about public opinions, in politics and this and that so in the morning, I like to start my day with talk radio. If I’m going to listen to music during the day, maybe it’s going to kick in around noon or one in the afternoon, when I got my fix of everybody’s opinion on the radio! Then I can turn it off and get into a more artistic dimension.

You’ve mentioned listening to the new Judas Priest, new Metallica, new Mastodon and those are all new records by classic bands. Are you the type of person that will follow a band all the way through when you when you like a band?
Kinda. Especially MASTODON. I was kind of late on them. When I got started on Mastodon, Crack The Skye was my first record. I remember that was during the time that I was writing Colored Sands actually. I loooved the production of that record, all the vocal harmonies and everything. I mean, it was love at first sight with this band! After Crack The Skye, I kind of went backwards in their discography, with Leviathan and Blood Mountain, etc. From then, I’ve been following them and picking up every record. I get a copy put aside in Sherbrooke, at this little local independent shop that I like to go. That’s where I get my Metal records. So, yeah, when there’s a band I like, I’m pretty fanboy. When I like an artist, I can be the annoying one at the merch table, with my CDs, wanting autographs and stuff like that! *Haha* Yeah, totally.

How do you usually discover new music these days? Do you go to the record store and you browse or do you just stream? Or you prefer discovering bands live maybe?
Live bands, especially when we’re on tour. But usually, check it out, I wake up in the morning, get the coffee done, sit down and read Metal Injection’s news, Blabbermouth’s news and Metal Sucks. These are the three places that I go to pretty much every day so when there’s a new release, I’ll learn about it there. I like Metal Injection’s Tech-Death Tuesday, or every now and then, they’ll have more underground, even Black Metal, Technical shit, they’re going to talk about so I discovered a lot of music on those websites. As I said, when I really like a band, I’m all in and I actually try to contact them. I don’t have a Facebook but I find a way, through a friend and say, “Hey, can you drop a line to these guys through your Facebook, just so they can email me?” When I really like their music, I’m the kind of guy who, I will write right away. When I listen to a song, let’s say a new band, younger bands, when I love it, I find a way to write to the people right away. So that’s how I discover new music. Or when we’re in practice mode, I’m going to go more to New York City and I’m going to chat more with Colin and Kevin, so they’re gonna play for me any kind of music. It could be Dark Ambient, whatever, any kind of music. They contributed a lot to making me discover new music since we’ve been jamming together.

What are some of your favorite new bands that you’ve discovered in recent years? Through those blogs or through your bandmates?
There’s this band from Italy, NERO DI MARTE. First time I heard about them, I believe it was on Metal Sucks or Metal Injection. They were like, “you got to listen to that shit!”, their first record. So I press play, and I was like, What the fuck!? This is fucking amazing!” So same thing here, I just wrote them an email, “Hey guys, Luc from Gorgots here. I loooove your stuff, just listened to the single, blah, blah, blah.” I ordered the CD, I ordered a tshirt a couple of weeks later. That’s my fanboy side but at some point, we have this US tour that was booked with ORIGIN, in 2013 or something and we needed another band. I really wanted to play with these guys, Nero di Marte, so I personally sent them an email and invited them on the tour. We became great friends, we did another tour in Europe with them, with PSYCROPTIC and DYSRHYTHMIA. That was for Pleiades’ Dust. In the States, it was for Colored Sands and they had never come to America before so I was very proud also, to bring their craft and their sound and get them known to the people.

I invited them to come on the tour but, let’s say you and I were at the party, and we’re good buddies, and we share CDs all the time, and it’s the same thing as if I were to say, “Come on, dude, you really gotta hear this band!” and I play a track for you and you lose your fucking shit, you know? It’s the same thing for me. I told the agent, “Dude, you got to check these guys out”, and he made it work. That’s what’s nice with technology and all the Bandcamps and all the social media platforms. So yeah, I’m a total fanboy. Why I like a band, I’ll be the first one to try and invite them on a tour. I want to become friends with artists I admire in any fields. Let’s say, it’s wood working, name it. Same with snooker, I want to go to Montreal and meet the best players, and take lessons from them and become friends with them so it’s the same thing with Death Metal or whatever. That’s how I am.

What’s the band that you’ve toured with that has impressed you the most? The band that you had to watch their set every night?
Nero di Marte, they were one, but that’s a good question. I remember when we toured in the late 90’s, you remember Jay, he was the bass player for MALEVOLENT CREATION and he got this band called DEVINE EMPIRE. They did one or two records on Olympic Records, we were label mates at some point. Anyway, that’s when I discovered Derek Roddy, who became the drummer for HATE ETERNAL a couple of years later, and duuude! Devine Empire, don’t get me wrong, they were more old school or something…I mean, I don’t want to sound like, “Oh, if a band is not technical, I’m not gonna like it.” No, it’s not true. It’s the energy and it’s the performance and everything. I don’t need to have a band like, let’s say, DEEDS OF FLESH or all those unique leader band to impress me, you know? I can have a band, which can be total old school, like fucking HM2, playing Swedish old school Death Metal music, I’m going to love it. And another night, I’m going to have a fucking ultra-tech, Death Metal. It’s all about the energy. I like one or the other. So long story short, Divine Empire, I really liked them and that’s when I discovered the playing of Derek Roddy and I had to sit on the stage every night, even by the drum kit just to watch him perform. It was like, “Tabarnak!” He was just fucking killing it! No wonder why Rutan (Hate Eternal) wanted him in his band at some point. He just could play every anything. Anything.

Is drumming one of the main things that you notice in the new band? Or is there anything specific? You also mentioned technicality? Is there any elements that will jump out at first when you listen to music?
Technicality, that’s for sure. I mean, come on. A couple of months ago, before the pandemic and all that shit, I went to Montreal and I saw a SUFFOCATION show and dude, ta-bar-nak! I would be the one fighting for my spot just to sit in front of Terrance Hobbs. You got to watch him. Last night, I went to Sherbrooke and I saw VENGEFUL play. I watched the drummer, let’s say a good 80% of the show. Don’t get the wrong, they’re all fucking great players. I couldn’t play that shit, I don’t have that. I’m not in my 20’s writing riffs for Erosion with all those fast picking and everything but I really enjoy it. I kind of have a little something for drummers. They get my attention pretty quick and I like to see a great technical drummer perform, that’s for sure.

What are some of the most memorable shows you’ve seen in your life?
Let’s go back to the 80’s, Spiritual Healing (DEATH). I was a big Chuck (Schuldiner) fan and it was my first time seeing him performed in Montreal. OBLIVEON opened for them that night at Foufounes Electriques. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, MORBID ANGEL, Blessed Are The Sick, when they came at Foufs. Tabarnak. First time you see Sandoval (drums) play, you’re like, “Wha-What the fuck!?” We were already big, big fans of all the Earache stuff, we were big fans of TERRORIZER. So you get to see Sandoval doing the actual Grindcore blast beat in your face. It was the first time I saw that performed really cleanly and it’s perfect. It’s not sloppy, or anything. I watched recently a documentary, Slave To The Grind, about the history of Grindcore. I kinda like my Grindcore sloppy-ish though. I don’t say sloppy in a bad way but in a more rawer way. Punk-ish. It’s not that it’s not played well because Punk-ish can be playing perfect, as well, but it has a different aesthetic. A Grindcore blast beat, in let’s say GADGET sounds different than if you listen to Covenant (MORBID ANGEL). A different aesthetic in ways of playing the actual…I like to call them music ingredients. Like you’re doing a recipe, needs some salt and pepper, you know? So anyway, yeah, Blessed Are The Sick, and then I saw the Covenant show at Spectrum. One of the last shows I’ve seen there, I think.

Then, there was PORCUPINE TREE at Metropolis. When I saw that, that was a real inspiration. Those were seeds for Pleiades’ to kind of start growing in me. Because when I saw them play The Incident, which was a 40-45 minutes record with no break and they perform the whole thing live, it was the first time that I would see a whole record performed live with no intervention from the singer or whatever. It was just the music, like when you press play at home, and we’ll see you at the end. So I said, “Ah, I really want to make a record like this.” I was totally blown away by that show.

So that was the inspiration for Pleiades’ Dust, with the long song?
Totally. This and there was I, from MESHUGGAH, but I never got to see it live. But just to make sure we get through your question of memorable shows, when I saw Meshuggah at La Tulipe, that was another great one. I try to go to Montreal as much as possible to see shows.

Is there a band that you’ve always wanted to see but you never got a chance to? Or is there a song that you’d really love to see a band play but it’s never in their set?
Well, of course, if you go to a OPETH show, you’re not gonna hear all the songs. My favorite record of theirs is Watershed, the last record they did with Death Metal vocals. If I had something on my wish list, a record that I would like to see performed live from start to finish? This one. Dude, the vocals on this one, when Åkerfeldt does the Death Metal thing…tabarnak! It’s as if he was recording a technical BLOODBATH record. It has this really evil spirit in the vocals. I’m not saying that on Blackwater Park, it’s not good or whatever but on this one, it’s more mean, it’s more dark. Let’s say you did a painting and you succeed to do the darkest painting you can do with your brushes. Him, his brush is his voice and this is the darkest painting he did with his Death Metal voice. I mean, the opening song, Heir Apparent, I never get bored of this song. It’s so fucking heavy. It has everything you like. You want to be Proggy, just let yourself loose, no problem. If you have a chance to revisit this record, or the opening song…not the acoustic opening. The acoustic is beautiful and everything but when it starts with distortion, it’s perfect. Actually, you know what, this is the record that got me into Opeth. Same thing for VOIVOD, it was Outer Limits that got me into them. There’s a few cult bands, that I’m kind of late to the party, and then, I go through the previous records.

What are five examples of some of the heaviest riffs of all time?
Let’s say the second riff in Rapture (MORBID ANGEL) *hums riff*. This is like opera. It’s really dramatic. What else? Most of the riffs in Heir Apparent (OPETH). Opening song on that GADGET album…the first couple songs on that, actually. If you want your Grindcore fix: there it is! I get my fix of heaviness with this record, you know? Immortal Rites (Morbid Angel), you know, the break? *hums the riff* If one day I do a cover from Scream Bloody Gore, which is the record that really got me started. I would be covering Regurgitated Guts (DEATH). This is heavy as fuck! Dude, imagine if they tuned in fuckin G or something! But here they tuned in E, and it worked! Also, the opening song from Scream Bloody Gore *hums riff*, this is fucking heavy. It’s very evil sounding.

Can you name five albums that had a strong impact on your musical evolution and tell us what makes them so special?
Of course, Scream Bloody Gore because when I heard that, I thought it was heavier than Seven Churches from POSSESSED. So let’s say, first thing first, Seven Churches, then Scream Bloody Gore. Altar Of Madness (MORBID ANGEL). TERRORIZER, but the thing is, we didn’t have the ability to emulate them. But it was a fix of heaviness, that’s for sure. Then, I got into more intricate music, Effigy Of The Forgotten and Pierced From Within (SUFFOCATION). I, Monarch (HATE ETERNAL). Given To The Rising, NEUROSIS.

So would you say that initially, in Metal, the heaviness attracted you first and then the technicality came later?
Both! I mean, in general, it’s the whole energy. What really got me in the first place with Death Metal was the grimness, the darkness in the music. Of course, with Seven Churches, but even before, when I would listen to, let’s say BATHORY, The Return, and Under The Sign Of The Black Mark, I kind of liked the dark ambience. But then, when Scream Bloody Gore came out and Leprosy (DEATH) and these records, I was all in. It’s not like one song was heavier than the other, no. It’s from start to finish. Of course, Seven Churches, I loved his record because of the vocals, which was like pre-Chuck (Schuldiner – Death) for me, you know? But it’s not every song that sounds fucking brutal, like The Exorcist or some other songs. Some riffs, at some point on Seven Churches, to me, you could tell they still had a toe in the Thrash thing. There were from San Francisco, with the old SLAYER-ish influence at some point, but I might be wrong, it’s just a personal perception. Then, when you get to Scream Bloody Gore and Altars Of Madness, now it’s heavy all the time. You’re not going to have a breakdown that you can slam on it.

Coming back to the question, for Morbid Angel, after Altars, I would say Covenant more than Blessed Are The Sick. What I like on Covenant is that the production is dark. It sounds grim. Then, what else…well, going back to Suffocation, when we went to Morrisound to record Considered Dead, I came back home with a tape with fucking Effigy on it before it came out. I was like, “what the fuck dude? You gotta sit down and practice!” *Haha* You hear Liege of Inveracity and you play Stiff And Cold, come on! It’s like me, I’m Tom G Warrior and you have James Hetfield playing some brutal shit for you! *Haha*

So you were really impressed with them, and they made you push yourself?
Oh, dude! Have you listened to The Erosion of Sanity? It’s because of Effigy. If I would have never heard Effigy, I would have never wrote music for Erosion. Never. Because I wanted to be as good as them. But at some point, when we wrote Obscura, the thing was, fast picking and the blast beats and everything, fine, but that belongs to them. It’s not us, so let’s find our own voice. You know, these were fucking important records. Even lately, I’ve been listening to Pinnacle Of Bedlam and I’m a total fanboy. Like I said, when I see Suffocation live, I’m gonna be front row in front of Hobbs, I’m gonna watch them play, it’s just amazing.

After Effigy, I got more into, let’s say, Times Of Grace by NEUROSIS. More different stuff. HUMAN REMAINS, the demo, I remember that, and the ep they did on Relapse, Using Sickness as a Hero, that was really important as well. All the New Jersey scene, you know, RIPPING CORPSE for sure. It was more intricate shit. That was way before Rutan did HATE ETERNAL.

Then, to stay in Metal, OPETH came pretty late. I had a period in my life, that I was listening mostly to Classical music. That’s when I started playing violin and I was mostly listening to Russian composers and stuff like that. I kind of left Metal by the way side and I came back to it when I started jamming with Hurdle again, and NEGATIVA. That’s when I started listening to all those band like DEATHSPELL OMEGA and BATTLE OF MICE. Actually, no. You know what, for DEATHSPELL Omega, it was Colin that got me into that, when we started jamming on Colored Sands and I became a total fanboy, same thing. These bands, like ULCERATE, that was Longstreth (former Gorguts drummer) that played it for me the first time, Everything Is Fire and The Destroyers Of All. Again, same thing with Ulcerate, we became good friends and we played with them in New Zealand two times. So these are the bands, you know, I’m still a total fanboy. I’m going to follow these bands, I’m going to buy every record they’re releasing. Actually, the latest Ulcerate, I played that a bit.

So you mostly listen to Metal and Classical, or is there other things mixed in there?
Yes, mostly those two. Actually, you know what, like I told you, during the summer, I was listening to a lot of news and this and that, and at some point, there was a commercial break and they played a TEARS FOR FEARS segment of Shout. First thing I knew, I was on YouTube listening to their music. I remember when I was in high school, I would come back home and listening music videos. When those came into our life, even if it was Pop music, it was something fun to watch. I remember that I always kind of liked their melodies, but it was like, “Nah, I’m not gonna buy a Tears For Fears record.” Not when you’re 20. Back in ’93, I remember when we were in the studio recording Erosion, at some point the assistant engineer was sitting there on the couch and I went to tap on his shoulder going, “Hey dude, what are you listening to?” And he said, “Dude, I listen to Tears for Fears, and you should listen to their mix, it sounds fucking amazing!” That always stuck with me. So now that I’m 48-49, when I heard that music on the radio, I said, “This week is the week! I got to give them the attention that I never gave you!” They always intrigued me. I started listening to their music, beautiful melodies and the productions and everything. I can listen to more melodic music. Like, when I listen to Porcupine Tree, and all the Steven Wilson music, there’s no blast beats in there, but I find that as appealing, just from a different point of view.

Is there any other band like that that you didn’t like at first, but then learned to appreciate over time, way later?
Oh, that’s a good question. Let me think for a minute…Let’s get one clear, Kill ‘Em All, I gave it all the chances that I could and it never worked. CYNIC’s Focus, it never worked either. I tried so many times. PINK FLOYD, it just won’t click with me. I tried many times. I remember Martin Lacroix, he’s a tattoo artist, he did the Colored Sands cover, and he said, “Okay Luc, come on. You got to listen to your Pink Floyd. I’m gonna lend you Animals for a couple of weeks, start with this.” I did maybe five minutes of the first song, then I stopped.*Haha*

I’m sorry. I just got started on the opposite way. To answer the question. Let’s say LED ZEPPELIN. That’s a band that I never listened to, but lately, because of Colin, I did. I remember him telling me on tour that he was really attracted by their production. He was really impressed by how their record sounded, for the time they were made. So I went to listen to their music and first listen, now at 49, I love it. Right away. But in my 20’s, that would have never made it. You know what, you can read a book at 25 and read a book at 50 and you’re not gonna understand the same story. It’s the same with music for me.

You mentioned that you don’t like Pink Floyd or Kill ‘Em All. Those are records that are very popular. Is there the opposite for you, where there’s this one band or one album that you really like but no one else around you seems to get it?
Maybe The Outer Limits from VOIVOD. This is my favorite one and that’s the one that nobody talks about. Same with Angel Rat, although it’s not my favorite one. But hands down, every song, every riffs, the production, the arrangement, everything, The Outer Limits is like, Ta-bar-nak! It’s fucking amazing! It’s a hidden gem, don’t you think? I mean, it’s just my taste. You can like a painting and me, I’m going to sit in front and I’ll be like, “what the fuck?” Different strokes for different folks. But let’s say, Rrröööaaarrr, it never worked for me. Even the first one, it’s okay but when it really kicked in with The Outer Limits, then I went through Nothingface and those records but the only one that I’d be listening in my teenage years was Killing Technology. This one, I liked. I remember I had a tape and on one side, I had Killing and on the other side I had Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing from DISCHARGE. For me, in my mind, those two records kind of go together because of the cassette!

Can I ask you a trick question? Both Nothingface and The Outer Limits have a Pink Floyd cover on them, do you enjoy those covers? Or since you’re not into Pink Floyd, do you skip these songs?
No, I don’t skip them. But if I had to skip them, I’m would skip the cover on The Outer Limits, The Nile Song. On Nothingface, I love Astronomy Domine. I like the atmosphere. I like the riffs, I like the melody. The essence of the song will grab me more than the one on The Outer Limits. That one doesn’t matter to me.

Going back to when you were younger, do you remember the first time that music really had an impact on you?
Maybe the Star Wars soundtracks, because I remember I had that on vinyl. Actually, it’s not true because the first 45s that I bought were YMCA (VILLAGE PEOPLE) and KISS, I was made for loving you. I would play these in my room, at about 7 years old. I remember putting them on the player so at some point, there was some part of enjoyment. That’s the furthest I can go.

What’s the one album you’ve listened to the most in your life?
Um, Beneath The Remains, I played that a lot.

Is that your favorite from Sepultura?
Oh, I think so. I didn’t follow them much after, with Arise and Chaos A.D., and all that stuff. I was a big, big fan of Schizophrenia. Beneath and Schizophrenia are the more important for me. But yeah, it’s either that or Scream Bloody Gore or Leprosy. I’ve spin those records so fucking much. Also, it’s because I was in the phase of wanting to become like these guys. These were the reference, or the snapshots for my bedroom laboratory to learn this craft. I wanted to be as good as those people. I liked the energy from SEPULTURA for sure, From The Past Comes The Storms, I remember learning that with my tape deck, to become a better guitar player with the picking. That was fucking technical for Sepultura when it came out. It wasn’t like Morbid Visions at all.

You mentioned Discharge a bit earlier, is there any other Hardcore Punk bands that you enjoy? What would be some of your favorites releases in that style?
Dealing With It, DRI, I really like that. Of course, DISCHARGE. Some EXPLOITED records that I’ve listened to because a buddy of mine had a few vinyls from them, but I couldn’t throw a title for you. I like Crusty Grindcore. I love FUCK THE FACTS. I love GADGET, TERRORIZER and NAPALM DEATH. I love the D-beat. *hums the drum pattern* You know, if you listen to Inverted, the opening song on From Wisdom To Hate, when there’s the solo, the under riff is a D-beat, and that’s my tribute to Grindcore. *Hums the riff* There’s no cymbals, it’s all played on skins and I’m sure of the next Gorguts record, I want to put a few of those. I love that beat. I love these little nods. I would even say, on Erosion, I could point out a riff that’s a tribute from me to a record that I really liked a specific song. I mean, I didn’t copy the riff or whatever but it’s influenced by, as a tribute. I have a few tribute riffs here and there on my records, but the Inverted one, it’s my tribute to Grindcore and it’s the only time that I’ve made it so far with D-beats.

What are some of your favorite lyrics? Either a lyricist or some specific songs.
I really like David Vincent, the way he wrote his lyrics, and the way he sings and the phrasing. For topics, I’ve never been a much a fan of the occult and all that stuff. I’ll love a song from IMMORTAL but I’m never gonna care about the lyrics. I’m not saying that lyrics are not important, but it’s not something that’s going to come and get me and move me. As much as I think they are important. To me, making a record, writing the lyrics is more work than doing the music. I did always enjoy Chuck’s lyrics (DEATH) because they were social and really to the point. Social issues but not like, fuck government and this and that, you know? He had interesting stories.

Which band do you think released the best sequence of three albums in a row?
Um, OPETH are pretty good, until Watershed, let’s say? Watershed, Ghost Reveries, and Damnation. That would be cool sequence for me. What else…Well, hey! MORBID ANGEL, Altars, Blessed, and Covenant. That’s pretty untouchable.

Can you name three songs that you consider to be perfect? What makes them special?
The opening song on Ghosts Reveries, Ghost of Perdition, I love this song. To me, there’s no flaws, it’s perfect, perfect, perfect. The song Scream Bloody Gore (Death). From a structure point of view, this song has a structure unlike any other song on the record. The way it’s arranged, the way it’s structured with a very slow riff at the end *hums all instruments*. I don’t know, there’s something about it. If you look at any song like Infernal Death, Regurgitated Guts, Zombie Ritual, you name it, it has more of a symmetrical, organized and patterned structure, but Scream Bloody Gore, to my ears, it has it always sounded like an asymmetrical journey. For riffs, textures and everything.

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