The word Gojira is a portmanteau of the Japanese words: gorira (gorilla), and kujira (whale), which is perhaps better well known via its pop-culture friendly translation: Godzilla. It is also a fitting name for the French, metal goliaths that also share the infamous moniker and who with fifth studio album LEnfant Sauvage are laying waste to household stereos, live venues and entire major cities the world over.
There is a great responsibility for those in a position of particular influenceeven when your album title literally means The Wild Child.
We have to face a different kind of reality. Intones, frontman Joe Duplantier of his interpretation of the albums title. We have to drive ourselves with no one telling us. Id rather live my own life and do things because I think its the right thing to reach what I want in life. The wild child would be the essence, like what needs to be protected. Its the heart : without the essence, without the soul, without the heart were just machines, you know what I mean? Its about the pain we go through in life that we all experience from the second we are born. The first thing we do is cry and then the teeth are growing; its hard to be alive. But what Im saying is that suffering and pain teach us things and when you dont have a guide, a mentor, you can always count on pain to teach you things. When you refuse to see something, you will fall on the ground naked and you will suffer and then you will learn.
Gojira have plenty of that essence, a certain burning conviction, which is reflected not only in their sound, but the causes they champion so vigilantly and the questions they pose of themselves and those around them.
Sometimes Im wondering like why am I running all the time? he ponders. And the easy answer is because I have a show tonight. Theres a kind of obsession for freedom, really. With more success comes very tight schedules, comes a lot of communication with a lot of partners. When you dont answer emails, theres a problem right away. Its incredible how complex the emotion of freedom can be.
The freedom that does exist, at least that which Gojira have to express themselves, is not lost on Duplantier. Schedules and responsibilities aside, passion and belief are still what lay at the heart of the band.
It is so precious, my god, it is so precious he states sincerely, remembering his own early love of Metallica. I was listening to their albums and I felt like I was part of the band, part of the music, and something, you know? So I remember this very clearly. When fans come to us and go hey dude, your album is part of me, I understand so much and I think we need to be very humble with this because this music doesnt belong to us anymore. It belongs to the fans, the people who get it, people who understand it.
Watch the official video for ‘Explosia’!
Gojira’s latest album L'Enfant Sauvage is available now through Roadrunner Records.
