The province of Quebec has always been been fertile ground for metal, producing a lot of important bands, but above them all stands the mighty Voïvod! Most people will consider them ground zero of the scene, and are without a doubt, the most successful export around the globe. Their influence can still be felt on generations of bands and yet, they show no sign of slowing down. Approaching the 40-year career mark, a lot of retrospective projects are in the works but most importantly, they are still releasing killer new material. 2018’s The Wake may have been a top 5 record of theirs and the freshly released Synchro Anarchy is poised to stand the test of time as well.
We spoke to founding member Michel “Away” Langevin over zoom, discussing his favorite music, as well as the most marking art of the mastermind behind Voïvod’s artwork.
Voïvod’s new album, Synchro Anarchy, is out now on Century Media.
What have you been listening to the most lately?
Well, I’m very retro so whenever I buy new stuff, it’s new material by heroes of mine. Bands like MAGMA, VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, KILLING JOKE, JUDAS PRIEST, they still release great music. Whenever I’m confronted with new music is when we’re on tour with Voivod. The last time I was blown away was when we played the Heavy Montreal festival. I watched GOJIRA and my mind was blown. I think they’re great. I had heard a lot about them and I was told I should go and watch them so I thought okay, I’m gonna go and watch a couple of songs. I stayed the whole show with my eyes wide open. It was just fantastic.
That’s a great feeling when that happens! Do you remember having any other experience like that, of discovering a band live and being blown away?
Once I was blown away, I think it was in ’93 for The Outer Limits tour, it was in Europe at a festival, and we played with the band THERAPY? and they were really good. There’s a band that I saw online called CRYPTOSIS, I think they’re really good too but it’s just the algorithm that lead me to them.
What’s your favorite way of discovering new music these days? In more normal times, is it live, on records, friends’ recommendation, etc?
It’s mainly online, through recommendations, but people will probably be amazed by that, but I still go to the main library in Montreal and try CDs. It’s always great to just go by the front cover and try something like I used to do when I was a teenager. It’s still a way for me to discover music, from all kinds of categories.
Of course, you are very well known for your art, as much as the music. What were some of the first album covers that struck a chord with you, and inspired you to eventually express yourself through art?
Probably progressive rock albums, mainly YES. I was pretty impressed by the landscapes of Roger Dean and I started having a style a bit copied on his style. But it’s really in 1980, with the first IRON MAIDEN album that I had the spark, that I understood how important it is to have an impactful front cover. I went to the store and amongst all the other cover art, it was the one that stuck out. I immediately grabbed the vinyl and I thought, “This is my new favorite band.” I had no idea how they sounded like. I bought it just because of the front cover, and when I put the needle on, they were exactly what I was hoping they would be. Heavy metal, punk, goth rock, prog, everything rolled into one. When time came later to do the first Voivod album cover for War And Pain, I was paying homage to the Iron Maiden cover in a way. I had in mind that it had to represent the music perfectly and also, it had to attract the eye of the kid getting into the store. That was our main goal.
Did you have any experience to the contrary, where either you hated the front cover but loved the music, or loved the cover but couldn’t get into the music?
I don’t remember picking an album with a bad cover that I liked musically, but I remember buying albums that I thought the art was not really representative of the music, let’s say GRATEFUL DEAD or MEATLOAF’s Bat Out Of Hell. But these are albums that I ended up liking anyway so in a way, the art helped because I bought it because the drawing was great. Back then, in the ’70’s or early ’80’s, you didn’t have the chance to hear the music before, so you had to take the chance of buying the album. Sometimes you were sort of forced into liking it because you had spent your pocket money buying it.
Yeah, you gave it a running chance, as opposed to now where after 15 seconds, maybe a minute, it might be over. Back then, we gave it a chance to grow on us sometimes.
There was an album by NAZARETH with a great cover called No Mean City and it had an impact on what I did later for Voivod. It’s one of the cases where I thought the music could be heavier but I ended up liking the album a lot.
What are some most recent cover art or even artists that you really enjoy?
An artist I really admire is Ed Repka. He’s constantly posting new art online, he’s very prolific. Even today, I saw a figurine of EXODUS’ first singer, Paul Baloff, and the art on the box looks great. As far as album front covers, usually Killing Joke is one that always strike me whenever they release an album. I dig the packaging a lot. Not only that, but their albums have been increasingly good the last few years.
In other realms of artwork in music, like shirts and posters and stuff, what are some of your all-time favorite pieces?
There’s one movement that really influenced me visually, and it’s the anarchist punk movement. The black and white designs of CONFLICT, CRASS, DOOM, DISCHARGE, is something that still hits me today. That’s the type of shirts I will usually buy online. If I can get it from their official website, it’s even better. The black and white design of punk and hardcore bands are always a winner.
Talking about punk and hardcore, back in the 80’s, almost every band had a logo. Besides the obvious Black Flag bars, what are some of your favorite logos?
Well, the first one that I got in trouble for drawing at school was KISS. I still think the BEATLES have one of the best looking logos ever but it’s Kiss that really got me started into figuring out heavy metal letters. I liked the SEX PISTOLS’ collage a lot when it came out. There were a few prog rock bands, with letters that would intertwine, like YES, that gave me some ideas. The P.I.L. is amazing. What else? The VAN DER GRAAF logo’s lettering is a good twist as well. My real roots are the New Wave of British Heavy Metal so it’s all these JUDAS PRIEST and IRON MAIDEN and MOTÖRHEAD logos that really struck me.
In your mind, which artist do you believe managed to create the best overall aesthetic, from albums, to sound, to merch, to visuals, the best full package?
In music, I think Derek Riggs for the Maiden albums. But overall, I think it’s Philippe Druillet. When I was a teenager, I discovered the magazine Metal Hurlant, which became Heavy Metal, and all these artists, Moebius, Bilal, Druillet, they had the strongest effect on me, with desolate landscapes and all. Philippe Druillet is the one that I copied the most and he is still my favorite. Heavy Metal magazine is really what made me want to be an artist. Before that, I really liked Philémon by Fred, and dreamy art but it’s really when I discovered Heavy Metal magazine that I decided to someday be a comic book artist. It’s at the end of the 70’s that I started to develop the Voivod character on planet Morgtöth and all that but it’s only in ’83 that I explained the story to the guys in Voivod when we founded the band, and we decided to explore it through the 80’s, which was great.
Going back to the conversation about older, classic bands, that you still enjoy their new material, what would you say is the best comeback record from a band that stopped for a while and came back with the strongest material?
I think Judas Priest, Firepower. It’s not necessarily a comeback, because they had put out albums before that, but this is the one that I thought they were really back to full form. The same with the last Killing Joke album, Pylon. The ones before are great, but they’re just getting better, which is insane. They’ve been around longer than Voivod. A comeback is more like when Van der Graaf reformed around 2005-2006 and they started releasing albums again. They still had a lot of creativity in them. It’s inspiring, you know? Because I’ve been in Voivod for 39 years and it’s always a bit stressful when you sit down and think whether the band is still relevant, or if you write a new album and you’re worried that people might think it’s a bit passé and all that, but thankfully, the first three singles of the upcoming album had an amazing reaction. There’s a way to still release good quality music after four decades, I think.
For sure! Is there any bands that you heard on records and didn’t necessarily like them too much, or maybe even hated them, but then seeing them live totally change your mind?
Oh, tough question. Nothing comes to mind really. Most of the times, when I go to see a show, I’m pretty sold. But I must say, in ’89, Voivod was invited to a showcase in New York called the CMJ. SOUNDGARDEN were playing in one of the conference rooms, and we went to see them and I was blown away. Chris Cornell destroyed the walls with his microphone stand halfway through the set, he was hanging from the ceiling…and we’re talking about a conference room! After, I went to shake hands, I was really impressed with the live performance and they told us that they really liked Voivod, so we started discussing doing a tour. We ended up touring with both FAITH NO MORE and Soundgarden in 1990, across North America, and both bands were a great discovery. Faith No More was a band that I heard, but as soon as we started the tour, and I saw them at the first show, I was really, really, really impressed with their live performance as well.
Of course, you’ve toured with hundreds of bands over the years, but who would be the band that impressed you the most? The one that you had to watch their set night after night?
There were quite a few! I think CELTIC FROST, KREATOR, POSSESSED, in the mid 80’s. These were really eventful tours we did across the world and I loved the camaraderie of all, we were all in our early 20’s. Thrash metal was exploding so it was super exciting. Also, when we toured with RUSH, it was quite a highlight. We got to meet the guys, we were a little nervous, like, “What am I going to say to the professor?” It’s funny, because when I was a kid, I was listening to Rush with my headphones trying to figure out Neil Peart’s drum rolls, and I couldn’t. I thought, “okay, it’s my chance, I’m gonna stand by the side of the stage and I can figure out the rolls.” But I still couldn’t figure it out! *Haha* It was amazing. Then, when Jason Newsted joined the band in 2002, he was also playing with OZZY. He was playing in both bands and so we were touring with Ozzy a lot in 2003 and I had to watch it most nights, you know? Also, we did some tours in the 90’s with Neurosis, great experience. The tour we did with YOB, across North America for The Wake, amazing. And the very last tour we did at the end of 2019 with GWAR in Europe, I had to watch them every night, but from afar! *Haha*
Voivod covered a number of songs over the years, the most well-known being Astronomy Domine, of course. I’m sure a lot of people discovered the song through your version. Did you have that experience with a band? To discover the cover version first, and despite hearing the original afterwards, the cover version remained the most marking to you? Or if nothing comes to mind, what are some great cover versions that come to mind?
I’ve heard many great covers. GBH covered a STOOGES song, I Feel Alright, that’s a good one. The DAMNED did a bunch of covers that were great, from the BEATLES to a bunch of stuff. It’s funny because on the first ANTHRAX album, they did the song I’m Eighteen, by ALICE COOPER and I like their version. You know, many times, people will come to me and say, “your version of PINK FLOYD’s Astronomy Domine is better than the original.”, but I can’t figure out how it could be! You’re trying to cover a song that you admire so your goal is not to make it better! *Haha* Maybe make it as good but the original is the original, you can’t touch it.
In closing, is there anything other projects, aside from the new album, that you’d like to promote?
Oh, man, I’ve been ultra busy. I didn’t let the confinement stop me, in terms of working on Voivod. I’ve been dedicating my life to Voivod for 39 years so last year, I worked a lot on the reissues that are going to come out this year. Aside from the new album, they’ll be reissues of the MCA catalog and Noise catalog. Also, we’re trying to wrap up a movie. We are connected with Felipe Belalcazar, who did the Death By Metal documentary, so we hope to release it this year, a lot of the work is done already. We have a lot of touring planned this year too. But next year is the 40th anniversary, so there’ll be a book and also, we’ll try to work on some sort of greatest hits. It’s also going to be the 20th anniversary of the album we did with Jason Newsted in 2003, the self-titled album, so we want to do a reissue of it on CD and vinyl as well. The trick is to keep the name out there. Luckily, the people into Voivod are really loyal and they buy the stuff. In 2020, we were more focused on releasing live material that we had recorded during the tour for The Wake, at the Montreal Jazz Fest and other places. We just keep going all the time. We were sort of forced to do online shows where we revisited Nothingface or Dimension Hatröss, so if we’re not allowed to tour in the near future, we might go back at revisiting albums like Angel Rat or The Outer Limits or maybe play the new album or it’s also the 35th anniversary of Killing Technology this year, so it’d be a good occasion to do so. We just keep on keeping on!
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