THEY CRUSH IT LIVE
“I saw Gojira for the first time 10 years ago at Download festival. My friend had said to me, ‘Hey, I checked out this record called From Mars To Sirius by this band, Gojira – you should really go check them out!’ I was like, ‘What kind of stuff is it?’ and he said, ‘It’s brutal death metal with its own… thing.’ I told him, ‘I’m not really into death metal’, but I went down to the tent anyway, and it literally changed my whole fucking perception of music. It blew me out of the water.”
THEY DON’T HAVE FANS - ONLY FANATICS
“It sounds really strange, but I’d never seen a French band in rock music, ever, and maybe that influences their sound, but whatever it is that makes up their music, it’s just so unbelievably amazing and raw. After seeing them at Download, I went out and bought From Mars To Sirius straight after, and I’ve followed them religiously ever since. I honestly think they’re one of the heaviest bands in the world.”
THEY SOUND LIKE NO ONE ELSE
“They sound so huge and have so many things that are unique to them. They’ve got a lot of archetypal death metal styles to their sound – blastbeats, double pedals – but then they have this whole range of instrumentation, pinch harmonics and stuff. There were a lot of people trying to do that kind of stuff at the time, but it just wasn’t the same. Their music has really progressed as they’ve gone on and they’ve developed in terms of having all these new ideas, but they’ve stuck to their sound, that crushing heaviness and production, and they epitomise, what I love in metal. It’s heavy, it’s progressive, it’s dark, it’s got balls.”
MARIO’S DRUMMING IS STRAIGHT-UP LUDICROUS
“We saw them at Leeds festival last year and got to talk to them after, and we chatted to Mario about drumming stuff and how rigorous he is with his performance. He’s a ridiculous drummer, man. I think he’s one of the heaviest, hardest-hitting and most consistent drummers in the world. There’s a lot of guys that, when they play double-kick, they play really softly, but he’s just fucking, ‘BA-DA-DA-DA-DAAAAAA!’ Like, arghhhhh! There’s something almost tribal about it.”
THEY DESERVE TO BE BIGGER
“In terms of their politics, they’ve always been very environmentally conscious – a lot of their albums have been about saving the planet and the sea. I’ve always been aware that that’s been a precedent for their music. Black Peaks have never been labelled a ‘political’ band in the same way those guys are. We’ve hidden [political messages] behind a narrative, and I admire Gojira for being out there and going, ‘Fuck it: this is what we think, this is what we want to do’ in front of thousands of people.”
THEY DON’T NEED AN IMAGE
They have a presence and their faces are well known, and they have a certain look, but I don’t think they actually have an ‘image’. I love how a lot of the time, they’re all just dressed in black. They let the music speak for itself, and their personalities blast through their music.”
GOJIRA’S MAGMA IS OUT NOW VIA ROADRUNNER. THEY PLAY BLOODSTOCK IN AUGUST. BLACK PEAKS’ STATUES IS OUT NOW VIA SONY RED. THEY ARE CURRENTLY TOURING THE UK
Black Peaks release White Eyes video
"We can change the world." An audience with Gojira - metal's most important band
