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Editorials

I <3 GOJIRA’S JOE DUPLANTIER

 Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 3:58pm by

joe duplantierMy man-crush on Gojira’s Joe Duplantier just got even larger. Not only is the man largely responsible for one of the best records of the year, but Duplantier continues to prove himself an all-around good dude,  responsible citizen of planet earth and flag-waver of humanity. The man’s environmentalist sentiments are pretty well known and have been covered in this space before, but in a recent guest blog for Headbanger’s Blog, the level-headed Duplantier comes off sounding like the Dalai Lama:

We have the power to bring positive energy around us by thinking, For example, “These people around me are my brothers and sisters and we’re part of the same existence.” Being in this state of mind is pretty hard sometimes, but it can be a sort of self-discipline in life and a good way to overcome hate, anxiety and jealousy. When we are on tour with the band, we go through tough situations every day — even though we have fun and love what we do and respect each other — because we’re tired all the time. A lot of things can be hard for the nerves. The way we behave becomes more important every day, and we have to find the proper way to behave. For me, it’s an unlimited source of strength to think about life in a positive way and to face problems thinking, “There is a solution.”

I am talking about a deep decision of being constructive and the will to be into compassion instead of competition. Being part of a global solution instead of a growing cancer for our planet: destruction.

Some call this positive thinking “prayer.” In my opinion, it’s just another word for that. I am not a religious person but more of a spiritual guy, I guess. I try to see the different levels in each aspect of life and I feel “concerned.”

Maybe Duplantier should consider a side-career as a road therapist for Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe.

-VN

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  • http://myspace.com/hoplite Travis Conquest

    I agree with him 100%, this is exactly how I feel. Only he put it much more succinctly that I probably would have.

  • tiagón

    we need more people thinking like that.

  • muzikwhore

    I fell in love with these guys when they were on the Sacrament tour. BEST OPENING BAND EVER!!
    After that I flew and picked up From Mars To Sirius and got really hooked. The link is a kick ass album too. And this new album The Way Of All Flesh is amazing. Joe’s lyrics make u think bout all that we avoid with fuckin heavy riffs and a blast beats. Horns up for the french metalers!!

  • cornblood

    fuckin hippies

  • iolanach

    As long as he keeps writing great music i don’t care if he’s a Nazi baby rapist.

  • lern2swim

    Love their music, let me just say that and get it out of the way.

    That being said, it’s incredibly easy to spout this really obtuse metaphysical bullshit and sound like the Dalai Lama. And the thing that bugs me about the stance these guys take is that that is all I hear from them. They don’t seem to have any grasp of real world solutions. I can appreciate environmentalists’(even though some go off the deep end) opinions. God knows, we as a species seem to be intent on driving ourselves into extinction. But I would at least like to get a sense that the person speaking has some grasp of the way things really are. The members of Gojira do not give that impression. And because of that they do come across as “fuckin hippies” as cornblood so succinctly put it.

  • bucketochicken

    A lot of that sums up why I’m going to school to get my Masters in Education.

    Viva la France!

  • Gordon Bombay

    I was gonna write something but lern2swim put it perfectly

    New album is great though, Guy from The Red Chord is my current man-crush

  • http://www.myspace.com/bminekime enemyofgod72

    @lern2swim

    You’re right it is easy to sound obtuse and metaphysical, any one who has ever been stoned in a group of people knows there’s always that one guy that thinks he’s all deep. The point I’ve always gotten from Joe and Gojira is an attempt to open people’s minds to at least thinking about the enviroment and the role of the human race in general. What more can they do? They’re not engineers they’re a fucking heavy metal band. Besides the last I checked no one has any real clue how to solve our enviromental woes. The fact that Gojira gets us to think about this and maybe motivates some metalheads to take action is about all they can do.
    Anyway… Gojira make awesome, kick you in the face metal and that’s enough to make me a fan.

  • lern2swim

    Well, like I said, I am a fan too. It’s nothing that bothers me a great deal. I also didn’t mean to make it sound like I expected some solution from them. I just think it comes across as snotty mental masturbation most of the time.

  • http://myspace.com/hoplite Travis Conquest

    Regardless of anything else, the fact that he is using his position to provoke discussion such as this is, I think, something that he would pleased about.

    I think just opening up avenues of discussion, provoking new trains of thought, can do a great deal to influence whole groups of people. He may not actually be saying anything truly mind-blowing, but the fact that he’s willing to share his basic philosophical tenets with us is pretty cool.

    And it provides a launching board for people like myself who’ve always felt this way, but don’t find much in the way of reciprocation within our tiny little subculture.

    I’ll be happy when it’s finally cool to be compassionate and sincere. notemo

  • http://hookssobig.blogspot.com Wayne

    Can’t say enough good things about this band, and Joe D. seems like a cool guy.

  • http://www.sickdrummer.com Ian

    I met these guys on tour with Lamb of God, Trivium, Machine Head… Not only were they the nicest bunch of guys I have ever met on a tour bus, the bus was clean & organized! They were cooking up a healthy meal on the bus stove & just all seemed to be very relaxed. Top notch people all around… That and they fucking slay!

  • Pingback: MY BONER FOR GOJIRA’S JOE DUPLANTIER JUST GOT EVEN HARDER | MetalSucks

  • http://www.atwks.blogspot.com Flora

    I think he raises a good point. However, with that being said, this is the only article I’ve seen of him and his beliefs.