13th album lucky
New Voivod talent Vocalist, bassist inject lifeblood

Fittingly for a band that's always been on the outside of convention, 13 is a lucky number for Voivod.

After 12 albums and no shortage of internal drama, the Montreal progressive-metal survivors received two injections of lifeblood on their new self-titled release: one a voice from their past and one an expat from heavy metal's overlords.

The arrival of former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted has guaranteed more interest than Voivod has ever experienced in its 21-year career, but the return of atonal vocalist Denis (Snake) Belanger - who left after 1993's The Outer Limits - has been the real cause for celebration among the band's old-guard devotees.

"I had a few personal problems, and wanted to take a break in '94," Belanger said recently. "But obviously, when you're in a rock 'n' roll band it's really hard to convince the other guys to take a break, because it's how they make their living. So I decided to go on my own. There were no hard feelings or anything - it was just that I had to clear my head.

"And plus ... I joined the band when I was 18 years old, so I never experienced anything other than being a rock singer. When you get into your 30s, (you start wondering) 'Am I missing the point here?' "

Quite aside from Belanger's demons and early midlife crisis, Voivod's inability to escape the underground was a frustration for him. After 1989's Nothingface flirted with mainstream exposure, fortunes dissipated as subsequent albums sank on impact and bassist Jean-Yves (Blacky) Thériault left. Complex hard rock with sci-fi overtones might have been good for Rush in the mid-1970s, but it wasn't going to hold its own against the Nirvana uprising.

Guitarist Denis (Piggy) D'Amour and drummer Michel (Away) Langevin soldiered on through the 1990s with new vocalist-bassist Eric Forrest, but when the band members were injured in a crash while on tour in Germany - Forrest severely - any remaining momentum was gone.

"It was really hard for them to recover from it, physically and for morale," Belanger said. "And finally the guys split the band for a month or two."

D'Amour and Langevin soon reconvened, and asked Belanger if he would join. When Newsted - a longtime acquaintance and fan who had been working on a side project with D'Amour and Langevin - heard Belanger was back, things began to snowball.

"When we were doing pre-production (for the self-titled album), Jason was involved as producer and bass player. He was not in the band. But ... when you're with each other in a small room and you kick ass and blast your amp, you're really in each other's faces. After three days, he said, 'I'm in. It's what I need.'

"I think what he likes is that we give him room to play. In one song ... we didn't know exactly what to do.

"Piggy said, 'I don't want a guitar solo there - how about a bass solo?' We looked at (Newsted) and he smiled and said, 'Oh yeah? Really? I can do that?' He was like a kid."

Despite the exposure Newsted has afforded the group, some longtime fans started a hue and cry before a note was recorded, fearing a Metallica refugee would corrupt the band's anti-commercialism. ("There was actually a Web site where you could vote on what Jason would do: He's going to get fired for trying to take over the band, or ...")* There was no need for concern: While arrangements are less mathematical than in the past, Album No. 13 is as defiantly unfashionable as ever.

What has changed is Belanger's lyrics. The extraterrestrial fixation surfaces occasionally (Les Cigares volants), and phrases like "photosphere" still pepper the verses, but the singer is more direct in his social and ecological concern.

"There are always social issues in our stuff. For 20 years we've been trying to advise people of the need to save this planet. Maybe it becomes redundant after a while, but we have to do it.

"But (regarding) the science-fiction side that we had in the past, right now the world is sci-fi enough that we can pick up stuff from reality."

Voivod is concentrating on support slots, having completed a tour with Sepultura and now opening for Ozzy Osbourne (Newsted is doubling up as bassist for everyone's favourite doddering dad). The goal is to record another album within the year, and everyone involved hopes Newsted - or Jasonic, in Voivod parlance - is in it for the long haul.

"He's a real Voivodian," Belanger said.

"When we were looking for bass players (after Thériault left), we had so much trouble finding the right guy. ... He can be a top bass player, but if he can't get along (with the band) it's pointless."

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*The VVF Poll: How long do you think Jason will stay in Voivod?

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Originally posted by Noitall:
Yeah that's right, I can't stand CHOM - "the spirit of rock." They should change their call to "the station for boomers who are stuck in the '70s"

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Originally posted by VodFan:
Hey, I LOVE that station!!! Classic rock while I'm working makes the day go faster... but I'm not going to start an argument

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Bleah, all I know is when I'm at the gym and they put on CHOM everything seems to take a million times more effort as the music drags on and on and on... But each to their own. EDIT: I'm just being a pain VF, as you know, I excel at this...

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Thursday, Jun. 12, 2003

Drunk man becomes butt of joke

OTTAWA (CP) -- A 24-year-old man will likely be the butt of many jokes but right now, he's way too sore to laugh.

The man impaled himself on a stick during a drunken stunt early Thursday morning in the city's restaurant and bar area.

The man was one of three drunk men who drew a small crowd as they jumped from a garage roof -- confident of a safe landing in a dumpster filled with boxes.

Although onlookers shouted warnings, the tipsy trio didn't listen.

Two of them landed safely but the third wound up with a nail-studded piece of wood shaped like a hockey stick up his rectum.

Police say about 10 centimetres of wood was protruding from his buttocks.

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Thursday, June 12, 2003

Feeling lucky about 13
Latest album has Voivod on 20-year high

By ANN MARIE McQUEEN -- Ottawa Sun

It's 2:20 p.m. Edmonton time and a rep for Voivod calls to say lead singer Denis Belanger, aka Snake, wants to move the phone interview ahead an hour.

Sure, it was scheduled for 20 minutes ago, but as Chris explains it, well, Snake just got up.

It's nice to see, after 13 albums and 20 years in the music business, Voivod is still living the heavy metal life. Things have gotten a little easier of late for the band, with the jolt of financial backing, music prowess and enthusiasm ex-Metallica bassist Jason Newsted has brought to the table.

NEW EXPOSURE

After a long, winding, hard-rocking road, things are looking pretty good for this Montreal band, including founding members Michel "Away" Langevin and guitarist Denis "Piggy" D'Amour.

"Obviously Jason Newsted joining gives us a lot of exposure everywhere and a lot of opportunities," explains a slightly groggy Belanger when he finally makes the call a half-hour later. "But other than that we're the same group."

Having Newsted, long a Voivod friend and fan, on board has sparked greater stability and has put the entire recording process in high gear. It also meant the group hasn't had to answer to record company executives in assembling their 10th, self-titled studio album released in March.

Newsted plays a double role as Ozzy Osbourne's bassist -- after swapping spots with now-Metallica member Rob Trujillo -- which was key to being added to the Osbourne ticket rolling into the Corel Centre tonight. And Voivod is once again playing in front of the kind of sizable crowds they last saw touring with Rush more than a decade ago.

"So far we did two gigs and it's great," said Belanger. "Everyone loves Ozzy because he's still there. He is still doing it."

WEATHERED TOUGH TIMES

It's all very satisfying for the late 30s-aged group, which has weathered member departures (an acrimonious split with Jean-Yves Theriault years ago; Belanger himself leaving in 1994 for eight years), a 1998 tour van accident in Germany which severely injured former bassist/singer Eric Forrest and sparked a flurry of lawsuits, and then several months in 2001 when it looked as though the band was finished.

Now, not only does Belanger believe Voivod has put out their best studio record ever, after a six-year gap since 1997's Phobos, but that the band can compete with some of the bigger, modern metal acts.

"There are bands out there and they're doing good and everything, but there's a lack of meaning, a lack of something to say," he says, refusing to name any names. "They're full of tattoos but there's no balls to it."

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Originally posted by Noitall:
"There are bands out there and they're doing good and everything, but there's a lack of meaning, a lack of something to say," he says, refusing to name any names. "They're full of tattoos but there's no balls to it."

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Originally posted by Noitall:
well speaking of a pain in the you-know-what...

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Thursday, Jun. 12, 2003

Drunk man becomes butt of joke

OTTAWA (CP) -- A 24-year-old man will likely be the butt of many jokes but right now, he's way too sore to laugh.

The man impaled himself on a stick during a drunken stunt early Thursday morning in the city's restaurant and bar area.

The man was one of three drunk men who drew a small crowd as they jumped from a garage roof -- confident of a safe landing in a dumpster filled with boxes.

Although onlookers shouted warnings, the tipsy trio didn't listen.

Two of them landed safely but the third wound up with a nail-studded piece of wood shaped like a hockey stick up his rectum.

Police say about 10 centimetres of wood was protruding from his buttocks.

The man's name was not released.

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HAHAHA, nothing like a hard piece of wood up the ass!

Did the poor guy get arrested too? He's lucky he didn't give himself a third-world version of a self-prostateotomy. No more wood for him ever again after that LOL.

I don't care if his name was not released, was the poor stick eventually released.