Voivod started out as naïve young noiseniks, but within four albums they’d become pioneers of the progressive metal genre. In 2017 drummer Away reflected on the rapid development demonstrated on their first four albums, released from 1984 to 1988.
The secret’s out now. Voivod drummer Michel ‘Away’ Langevin reveals: “Van der Graaf Generator are my favourite progressive band.” But as he explains, it’s not that surprising at all.
“I’m from Quebec, and when I was growing up, there was such a thriving prog scene. We had a load of excellent local bands around, and thankfully a lot of the albums they recorded have been made available again. There was a time when the only way I could get records by Quebec bands was in Japan.”
He first got into prog by hearing it on the radio. “It was the usual bands – Genesis, Supertramp and Pink Floyd. Then I discovered Gentle Giant, King Crimson and, especially, Van der Graaf Generator. It opened up a whole new world for me.”
However, it was Krautrock that made the biggest impression on the young drummer after he was introduced to the style by late Voivod guitarist Denis ‘Piggy’ D’Amour. “He had a big collection of vinyl from these sort of bands,” says Away. “And it really amazed me. I loved the way they combined contemporary classical music influences with an experimental rock approach. That was a big inspiration for what we went on to do in Voivod.”
If you listen to their debut album, 1984’s War And Pain, you wouldn’t believe that, later that decade, Voivod would have developed a sound both challenging and adventurous – it’s a raw, primitive record with little of the progressive aspects that later became their motif.
“That’s because – with the exception of Piggy, who was already a really good guitarist – none of us were good enough to play anything even remotely complex,” Away says. “All we could do was follow a much more punk, hardcore and metal approach. The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal gave us the inspiration to go out and make our own music. But we never forgot about the prog bands who we’d grown up listening to. It’s just that, back then, there was no way we could attempt anything like that.”
While there was definitely some forward movement on second album Rrröööaaarrr (1986), there was still little sign of what was to come from the group completed by bassist Jean-Yves ‘Blacky’ Thériault and vocalist Denis ‘Snake’ Bélanger. “We were in the process of finding our feet musically, and getting to grips with what we were doing. I wouldn’t say there was a real leap forward for us artistically until our third album.”
As we became a better band it seemed logical for us to go back to our progressive roots
That was 1987’s Killing Technology, by which time they were beginning to take creative risks, exploring territory that was alien to almost every young underground metal act with whom they were compared. “We always understood we were different to most of them,” muses Away. “The problem was that we were always touring with these guys, And therefore were regarded as part of the thrash scene.
“To us it was narrowing. When we were in the studio for Killing Technology, we started to develop ideas which were going off in different directions. We were no longer prepared to be in a straight metal band. Harris Johns, our producer, encouraged us to be a little more psychedelic, and we enjoyed what happened. This was the band proving we were good enough to be a lot more bold and follow our own beliefs.”
But Away is determined to highlight that Voivod never had a blueprint for creating a legacy. “We didn’t say, ‘Right, let’s make the first album very hardcore and punk, then become more metal and thrashy on the second one, and move towards psychedelia on the third.’ We weren’t clever enough to think ahead in that way! What happened was natural and unforced. As we became a better band it seemed logical for us to go back to our progressive roots, and start to get a lot more of those influences into the music.”
Voivod sounded unlike any other band of the period. While you can hear various inspirations – especially the off-kilter manner of Van der Graaf – at no point can you isolate anything and claim it was directly connected to any one artist. “I think a lot of that came from the fact that we grew up in a remote part of Quebec [Jonquière],” says Away. “So to a large extent we were cut off from the mainstream rock culture. We had nobody local to emulate or follow, and felt we had to come up with our own style.
We were jeered at by those who wanted to hear straight-ahead metal
“No one told us what to do or how to do it. We were allowed to become a band who had instincts, and we were never under pressure to limit anything we tried. So when we got to Rrröööaaarrr and were able to try different time signatures and generally more interesting musical stuff, our background gave us the boost just to go ahead and see what happened. Had we lived in a big city, it’s possible we would never have been daring enough to try something like this. ”
In those formative times, the band were signed to Noise Records, a German label renowned for a roster of underground metal. Did they ever try to curb Voivod’s more prog excesses? “No, we were very lucky with them; they signed the band and left us to get on with what we wanted to do. At no time did they interfere musically. Nor did they try to change the artwork we wanted on the album covers [Away is also the artist for Voivod’s album sleeves]. They seemed almost proud that we were different to anything else on the label. I assume our sales were good enough for them to believe we had the right idea. Why alter what was clearly working in their favour?”
But Voivod were still touring with a lot of bands who were clearly unsuited to them. “On the surface we had much in common. But while we always had some metal in our music, as time went on we were moving away from that type of thing – whereas these bands were at the centre of that whole scene.
“It did create some problems for Voivod. Audiences didn’t know what to make of us at all. Some fans would get what we were doing, and loved it. But there were times when we were jeered at during a set by those who wanted to hear straight-ahead metal. They wanted us to play what we did on War And Pain and nothing else.”
Dimension Hatröss is the album I see as the true leap forward for us
In an effort to get around the problem, Voivod began to organise their own festivals in Canada. “We’d get a vast array of bands from all genres that seemed to be connected to us. It worked quite well – but the trouble was that we still felt a little like outsiders. We liked these bands, and in some cases had been inspired by them, but none of them reflected the way we thought about our music.”
In 1988 they released Dimension Hatröss, their final album for Noise. “When I look back, that’s the album I see as the true leap forward for us,” says Away. “A lot of it was driven by Piggy, who was such a fine guitarist; but Blacky was also part of the reason. We were all so much better as musicians than we’d ever been before, so were ready in our minds to take a more progressive approach.
“This was the album that told everyone who we wanted to be. I don’t discount anything we’d done before – I’m proud of it all. Soon afterwards, we began to get offers to tour with different types of bands, not just the metal ones. I suppose of all of those, the one that sticks in my mind would be touring with Rush. I’d like to think that, like them, we are a band who are individual and musically do whatever we want.”
Voivod are often described as one of the most crucial bands in the development of progressive metal, and that’s an accolade Away is delighted to accept. “Because we began to do it when hardly anyone else could be described in that way, I feel we did help to bring the genre to life. But back when we were creating the approach, we never thought of ourselves as pioneers.”
Since Dimension Hatröss, they’ve continued to retain a uniqueness and a flexible attitude to their art. “I feel we grew up musically in a parallel universe to a lot of our peers,” the drummer reflects. “Once we’d done Hatröss we were really off and flying. Nothingface in 1989 took it all a little further, and we’ve gone from there. You listen to all the albums we have done since then, and each is separate to any other. You can hear it’s us, but we’ve never repeated anything – which I suppose is a good definition of being progressive.”
He’s also delighted that the band’s audience has changed over the decades. “I like to think a lot of our fans from the early days are still here. But the number of people who are into what we do has definitely grown. We now attract more of those who like prog, which is fantastic.”
Looking back at those first four records, he’s surprised at the manner in which the band reacted to their experiences. “I’ve listened to those albums, and it amazes me how much progress we made in a short period. I never realised before the progressive journey we were on. As I said, it was never thought through, but just happened. If I was to sum up what we did back then – and still carry on doing – I’d say we were capturing the spirit of Van der Graaf Generator!”
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