"The death of Denis D'Amour was a tragedy. Piggy truly lived for his music. He was easy-going yet focused, never complained and never wanted to be a burden on anyone, he just wanted to write music and play his guitar. He seemed shy to most, but really wasn't, he was funny and loved life. We celebrated his life at a memorial held in Montreal and it was a cool laid-back affair, just like Piggy. His family, friends, musicians and industry all came together to remember how much of an impact he made on us all. Some of his original gear as well as rebuilt custom guitars were on display as well as great photos, videos and tour footage while his favourite music from his record collection played in the background all night.

"Thank you Trish, Michel, Julie, Gilles, Andreas, Jason, Steve, Chris, Chasse, G, Monk and to all involved, to all the well-wishers and fans.

"Piggy lives on, VOIVOD lives on!"

Click here to view some photos from the memorial held on October 22, 2005 in Montreal. More photos can be found at this location.

D'Amour died Aug. 26 in a Montreal hospital from complications of advanced colon cancer. The surviving VOIVOD members — Michel "Away" Langevin (drums), Denis "Snake" Belanger (vocals) and Jason "Jasonic" Newsted (bass, ex-METALLICA) — will release four new albums that feature Piggy, confirmed the band's label, The End Records. The first disc will feature the songs VOIVOD were working on at the time of Piggy's death and will be finished in December with producer Glen Robinson (ANNIHILATOR, NASHVILLE PUSSY), mixed in January and released next year. Piggy recorded all of his parts for the record on his laptop with ProTools. While working with that material, drummer Michel "Away" Langevin discovered another three albums' worth of finished songs that the surviving bandmembers will work with over the coming years.

As previously reported, Langevin is still in the process of scanning hundreds of drawings for his book, to be released early next year on Troubleman Unlimited. The book will consist of 300 black-and-white drawings and 50 colored pictures. Away is also continuing work on the group's next DVD release, "DVOD-2", which will contain footage shot during the Eric Forrest era of the band. A follow-up DVD release, "DVOD-3", will cover the band's most recent lineup, which included former METALLICA bassist Jason Newsted.

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