Joe: [Nods head] …heroes to me so I had to deal with these feelings. So I had to work on that. But it’s very interesting because now I am confronted to that kind of people. Like say for example that guy Rex [Brown] from Pantera…

Joe: [Acquiesces]…the bass player came in the studio, a guy from the Misfits came in the studio, Dino Cazares (Fear Factory)…

Joe: Yep, that kind of guys that are just, normal…I won’t ask them not for autographs or anything because I am working with these guys now and it feels great!

Joe: It is awesome! [Smiles]

Joe: I know that I don’t want to release the album in August but…okay so there’s the band and there’s the management. All we want to do is take our time and lead our passion; I mean do exactly what we want to do. We are musicians because we like to chill out and grab a guitar suddenly and rock really, and that’s what we like to do… But it’s not like this in the real life, it’s much more complicated; I mean I would love to live this life, chill out and suddenly grab a guitar and go, “Hey, let’s go on tour!” [Laughs] “You know a lot of people want to see us, let’s go on tour!” It’s not like that! It’s a LOT of work and a lot of sacrifice. When you do concessions, the label and the management, the tour manager and the prime minister…they talk together! [Smirks]

Joe: [Nods]

Joe: [Laughs hysterically] Okay, so all these people who talk about the band and they’ll say how the last tour was great but… But now the time has come and we need a new album. It’s totally unknown that we’re getting famous and I know it’s totally gonna work. I mean we are musicians okay, and we don’t give a fuck! We just want to chill out and grab a guitar suddenly. But [the label] have this chat about us and they give us a phone call. “I think we should release this album in May!” We have two options, it’s May or September…because in September, kids go back to school and they want to buy some new music. We don’t want to wait too long, because people forget about you. You  know that right?

Joe: We have had several meetings and we decided it was wise to release the album before next summer.

Joe: Yeah, yeah! So it means it’s going to be out in May/June.

Joe: Yes, it is a very good thing. Because we do everything, it can take more time because we have this option to…

Joe: Yeah, which is good but it drives you mad sometimes.

Joe: Yes! Yeah, why not! It’s an option that…

Joe: Yes, we’re actually going to talk about that in a couple of days when the rest of the band comes to the States.

Joe: The upcoming tour is going to be a BRUTAL tour! Very death metal and it’s probably even better for us than a hardcore tour, you know. It will be the first time in the States where we play with extreme death metal bands. It’s going to be very interesting because especially with Behemoth we have like common points with this band, maybe like the same influences. It will be interesting to see a new crowd. Like people who want to see Behemoth or Job For a Cowboy or even the first band Beneath the Massacre.

We like being in the States, we love that! We love new places like Chicago, New Orleans, Orlando, also and we’re playing San Francisco for the first time. [Eyes brighten] A lot of new things and its all-very exciting.

Joe: It feels good; it’s exciting because it’s one of the first times that a French band has had a career here in the States. That’s what we’re about, is to live but it’s cool!

Karma: What have you learned about yourself and your band mates as musicians over the years?

Joe: Very interesting question, it would take AGES to answer that one. [Laughs] I’ve learned, and I going to try to be effective, I learned how to manage my fears and my anger when I’m mad a someone or when I have that feeling, I learned to turn them into good vibrations and into music. SO I have this impression where I take my fears and suffering and pain… [Pauses]

Karma: …and channel them?

Joe: Yeah! And sculpt it, you know. I have this image of I put all this in front of me and I just do something with it, with my friends, my colleagues, my family…and we learn friendship; it’s a beautiful adventure. It’s hard to explain this to people usually. Especially when people go, “So how’s it going?” [Shrugs shoulders] “I don’t know, it’s going! It’s amazing, it’s fantastic!” It’s been ten years now.

Karma: Well suffice it to say, it’s been a great ride!

Joe: It’s great!

Karma: And just to think ten years in and it’s only the beginning, here in the States and all…

Joe: Yes, it’s only the beginning.

Karma: So I had to look this up, in regards to Sirius C- Dogon: Nommos, that roughly translates into “Day of the Fish”. Is that religious belief the basis behind the concept of From Mars to Sirius?

Joe: Not really “religious” beliefs,

Karma: Well then more of a spiritual influence?

Joe: Yes, spiritual. I believe that we don’t know everything. I like to talk of things that we are not certain of, you know. Human beings, people in general are so certain that we know everything, “Okay, are they there? I have this number. I have my I.D. I have this and my car. I live there, and my name is” But so what? Finally, what do you know? [Laughs] We know that we live on a planet surrounded by never ending space so it’s exciting. I like to read things about aliens or new planets to discover, ocean planets and uh, whales. [Laughs] Alien whales, I dunno, just dreams, just imagination. But to me, spirituality is to be able to speak as a child with questions and not being certain of everything all the time, and I like that!

Karma: Do you believe in the afterlife?

Joe: [Without hesitation] Yes!

Karma: And what is your take on "god"?

Joe: It’s what I’m going to say is pretty strange because I think it’s very simple but at the same time it could be like blasphemy but I would say that we are god! We are the creator of our own lives and god for me is infinity. The smallest parts of my body, of your body, we’re all linked by the same energy and we are all a part of the same light. There is light, and we are light and we are god. That’s what I would say! I mean god is a beautiful word because each one of us has its own definition of god. Yeah, to me its pretty powerful.

Karma: Well that was a powerful answer! Switching gears a bit, I have to say that I loved the album! It’s one of the most original ones for that year, or otherwise!

Joe: [Humbled] Thank you very much! That’s nice to hear.

Karma: Sounds like you were able to exorcise your demons as From Mars to Sirius served as a testament to your personal evolution of enlightenment and betterment.

Joe: [Acquiesces] Yeah!

Karma: How hard was it for you to be able to put into words what you were feeling? How labourious was it for you to do?

Joe: Yes, it was hard. At the same time it’s like the lyrics just come to me so I have to be patient. Maybe for a week I will write things and I will try to think of what’s in front of me, you know the ideas and the feelings, the experiences and try to be positive and constructive. But at the same time I have to deal with my demons, my fears, my anger, jealousy, etc. Sometimes I like to talk about the fact that I feel lost or just without any strength. And sometimes I just “feel” [said in his finest French accent] life, you know. Yes, it’s hard to write lyrics. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain. It’s like giving life to someone, because we are the parents of the song and then we let them go and then it belongs to the world, to the audience, the people. It’s not us, it’s like when you give birth.

Karma: Such a poetic way of putting it. Never have I heard it quite in those terms.

Joe: [Laughs] Cool!

Karma: Well for you “not being able to explain” it came out very well! Did you intend to make an album over an hour long [1:06:52]? However, you were able to do some amazing things in that time frame.

Joe: Yeah, we just let things go. I had an idea of a short album with short songs, may be nine, ten songs and finally we have a one-week album! [Chuckles] It’s like a very long trip to hear that and the songs are something like seven to eight minutes so, it was not planned, you know. It just came like that. And we like it, finally. It’s intense! Very, it’s almost work to hear to listen to this album.

Karma: But having said that, it’s a journey, a very enjoyable journey.

Joe: But you have to hear it at the right moment so you won’t get bored, I think.

Karma: Hmmm…I will disagree with you on this. l I think even if you were bored this album will pull you out of it. You don’t have to even be in a particular mood to listen to this album…but this is just my 2¢.

Joe: Well I guess it’s because I’m in the band its different for me,

Karma: And of course since you did create the songs you would think differently but there’s something new to discover every time you hear it.

Joe: Oh well thanks! Cool!! So then finally it’s not that long, huh?

Karma: No! The hour passes very quickly!

Joe: Well I almost feel there are two albums in this one album. We could have two albums with the ideas and what I see in it. The materials for two albums mixed in one, but I’m happy with it.

Karma: What’s your favorite song off the album and why?

Joe: Today it’s “World to Come” because there is hope, because its about the world that I would like to see for the next generation and for me later. I like it because I’m getting old, I’m 31… [Laughs hysterically]

Karma: Oh poor you, you’re so ancient!

Joe: [Smiles] “World to Come” is mid tempo; it’s more light, it’s not as heavy as the rest of the album. So on one of the French tours, we had an hour and a half so we had the time to play three albums, a lot of things. We used to play that song, and on stage I mean man, I changed my guitar, I took a Telecaster, the sound was changing and refreshing so I really like that song.

Karma: If not music, then what?

Joe: Baseball!

Karma: [Shocked] Really?

Joe: Yeah! I love baseball; I’m a pitcher. In France we don’t have so many teams, you know. When I was 15-years old I wanted to be professional, you know. It was impossible so I formed a band.

Karma: Is there a Gojira song that sums up your life in a nutshell?

Joe: “Backbone” actually, the lyrics are about I feel indestructible. I believe that! When you believe in life after death, life after life…you feel indestructible. I like this feeling, when I’m down; I like to think about these things. If you’re alive [pauses, switches gears] if you’ve got an arm, for example, you’re still alive. If you’ve got the other one too…legs, if you take off the eyes and if you take off the head, are you really dead? It’s just the body doesn’t work anymore. We are more than just flesh, water and bone you know. When you look at someone, you see much more. I like to stay in this idea and make something grow, like a fire that you’re building, you put wood on it. This idea I’m just making it stronger and it makes me feel indestructible.

Karma: Something else I wanted to ask you concept wise, what do whales represent/mean to you?

Karma: And that it is! Is there one common misconception about the band that people may have about you and/or the band that you would like to dispel?

Karma: Definitely, my name is Karma after all! [We all laugh] What would you like the music community to remember about Gojira?

Joe: [Thinks] I dunno, brutality!

Karma: If you could commission a band to do a Gojira cover, particularly off this album, who would do it and which song would it be?

Joe: Wow, that’s a question! Hmm…Metallica! YEAH! Why not! I’m free. Metallica playing “Backbone!” That would be awesome! I don’t think it’s gonna happen but maybe they’re gonna read this interview and something will happen.

Karma: Yeah, that would be awesome indeed! But hey stranger things have happened Joe! Stranger things! Now do you have any special messages to your fans?

Joe: For the American fans, beware, Godzilla’s coming for you [Laughs hysterically] and for the others, be patient!

Thanks to Joe for allowing us a glimpse into his world and sharing also to the Gojira camp for hooking this interview up! Also click here to access interview with Sharlee D'Angelo of Arch Enemy; where Joe poses an interesting question to him!

Related Links of Interest

Ø      Photos / Review from their maiden American tour