"It sounded really empty in the studio, because I'm used to see Piggy across the window when I track my drums... "

"Katorz", the fourteenth official release by the Canadian progressive thrash metal legends Voivod, shall see the light of day in July 2006 via Nuclear Blast. Naturally, this should be considered as a happy event, however not in this case, as "Katorz" happens to be the last record to feature the guitar work of Denis "Piggy" D'Amour, who died from cancer on August 26, 2005... Voivod's drummer and founding member Michel "Away" Langevin shared his thoughts about these topics for all Tangra Mega Rock readers and listeners.

Vassil Varbanov: Good evening, Away! How are you doing?

Michel "Away" Langevin: I'm very good! How are you?

V. V.: Good, and thanks for calling! The first question concerns your new album. The main thing about Voivod before releasing "Katorz" was the tragic death of Piggy last year. Is this release some sort of a relief, because you feel like he's still alive, as the guitars on the record were recorded by him?

Away: I know that Snake (Denis Belanger - vocals) regards it as a healing process, but I personally found it very graining and difficult. However, now I know it can be done, so we still have 13 songs to record next year, which are built on these guitar tracks, too. Now I feel confident in doing the same thing next year, but for "Katorz", while I was doing the drum tracks in January 2006, it sounded really empty in the studio, because I'm used to see Piggy across the window when I track my drums... This time around he was not there, so after some days Snake and I set up an old Voivod logo,В a photo of Piggy and a couple of guitars, and that's when I was able to have a good presence. So next time we want all of us to be in the same studio instead of working in three different studios at three different times, and I'll do a set-up of Piggy's photos and guitars right away, at the start of the sessions.

V. V.: Let's talk now about your bassist, Jason Newsted a.k.a. Jasonic. Considering the fact he used to be in one of the world's most successful bands, Metallica, is he still a normal and regular kind of guy?

Away: Oh, yes, of course! Jason is a very good bass player, but he's also a brother of ours from way back. He's a very down-to-earth guy, and he gives tremendous help to the band, because he has his own record label and studio, The Chophouse, and he made it available for Voivod. Besides, he's been drawing a lot of attention towards the band, especially when he joined Ozzy for a while. Now he's doing a TV show with Tommy Lee and Dave Navarro, Rock Star Supernova, which is probably going to be watched by 13 million people or something, and Jason's gonna be wearing Voivod t-shirts, so he's doing publicity we've never even wished to have, as we're an underground band. You see, he's been helping us a lot.

V. V.: Having in mind you're from the French speaking part of Canada, in what language do you communicate with each other?

Away: In Frenglish, he-he! Snake andВ I speak to each other in French, but we talk to Jason in English, of course. You know, in Canada it's very important to know both languages.

Copyright: Tangra Mega Rock