By Andrew Bansal
After more than a decade in the wilderness, Canadian technical extreme metal band Gorguts orchestrated a triumphant comeback in 2013 with the release of their fifth studio album ‘Colored Sands’ via Season Of Mist Records, their first album since the 2001 effort ‘From Wisdom To Hate’. Unanimously heralded by fans and critics alike as one of the strongest albums of the year, ‘Colored Sands’ is Gorguts’ finest hour. Now, while the band gets ready to hit North America on the Decibel tour with Carcass, they also have a Juno Awards 2014 nomination under their belts for the best hard rock/metal category. A few days ago, guitarist, vocalist and principal songwriter Luc Lemay to discuss the Juno nomination, Colored Sands, the upcoming tour, and more. Check out the conversation below.
Luc, it’s good to have you on Metal Assault. First of all I’d like to ask you about the Juno nomination Gorguts has been given for the upcoming awards. How does that feel?
Just great! Of course I feel very happy that the album made it there. That’s not the only reason we do music, for sure, but I’m happy about it because in a way it sends a message that this type of music can get recognized by the industry at some point, enough to sneak itself in its own category. Between you and me, it is not easy-listening metal! It requires a lot from the listener to be able to get every detail and the essence. But beyond that, I think the record has a very special ambiance. If you’re a metalhead and if you’re not typically into the extreme death metal and all that stuff, I think this album has something that reaches beyond the death metal genre tag. The fact that we’re nominated means that we’ve transcended the tag and the narrow thinking. Not saying that death metal fans are narrow-minded people or whatever, but it’s always been seen as a ‘black sheep’ style of metal.
You’re right, the reason why the album got nominated is because it has something beyond just extreme metal. You have dark atmospheres and melodies that go well for everyone.
Yeah, I think before being a death metal record, it can reach music lovers, period. That’s good for the style to be recognized by this type of industry.
Exactly, and you’re in pretty good company with the other bands nominated in your category.
Yeah, totally! Ken Mode and Anciients are great people. I got to meet the boys from Anciients two years ago when I went to do a conference at the Noctis Festival in Calgary, and I got to know the guys from Ken Mode briefly when we played together in Chicago last December. Super nice people, so yeah,this is great!
Aside from this, what else has Gorguts been up to lately?
Just getting ready for the tour! I manage myself pretty much, so I deal with a lot of paperwork, getting the tour book ready, and also taking care of the European schedule because as soon as we come back from the Decibel tour, I’m coming home for a week and then we leave for Portugal. We’re going to do a short European tour with Misery Index. So we’re getting ready to do all the road stuff and we’re jamming pretty extensively with our drummer Patrice Hamelin who used to be in Martyr before and now he’s going to be a full member of the band because John [Longstreth] is busy with Origin and we were going to have a lot of scheduling conflicts. At the end of the day I don’t want to be missing any touring opportunities or whatever it takes to push my thing. My band members are in many different bands. John’s busy with Origin, Colin Martson has got a studio with three or four bands, and Kevin Hufnagel has a few bands as well. So we need to be very organized with our schedule.
With the album ‘Colored Sands’, you’ve enjoyed so much success and achieved what you aimed to do musically. From that, how do you move forward in terms of creativity?
Well, from my experience of when I was in school to study and write classical music, I would spend a whole year writing a ten-minute piece of music. In the same way, with the record ‘Colored Sands’, I spent about 4-5 years working on it. So it takes a while to get perspective and to have your mind clear so you can start fresh with a clean slate. But mow I’m starting to feel a bit disconnected from the record, so I can have my mind focussed to start fresh again. So I’ve started to work on some new music. That’s going to be in between tours so I’m not going to sit at home 3-4 months in a row and write music. We’ll be on the road a lot, which is good because it’s going to change my mind too, to get away from the Colored Sands concept, music and the lyrics. I spent over a year working on lyrics only, so just to get that out of mind it took a while. It really lives with you for so long that it’s like a part of you, it takes a while to get rid of the ideas. But now I’m getting away from that thinking. Imagine people writing a book or a story for which they’re coming up with characters themselves and everything. I’m sure it takes a long time before you can start something else.
But do you think the next album will come quicker to you as compared to Colored Sands?
May be. Colored Sands in a way was a bit long because I was stuck in a lot of business things. I had to move away from a record deal contract that I had before and had to start fresh. So there was a lot of legal stuff to be done and those things don’t get done overnight. But of course, when I’m ready with new music, we’re going to take this out of the equation and it’s going to be quicker from that point, for sure. So hopefully it’s going to take less time for the next one. I don’t want to wait another 5 or 6 years to put out a new record, that’s for sure (laughs).
Talking of the Decibel tour that you have coming up, you’ll be playing with the legendary Carcass. How are you feeling about playing with them and did you get a chance to listen to their latest album?
Oh, of course! I’ve been listening to the Carcass record for a while now and I got the Black Dahlia Murder one. I got the new Noisem too. The boys gave it to me at the show in Montreal, but that’s the one I’ve listened to the least. I’m not much into grindcore anymore and they’re more of a grindcore band. I enjoy the style, but I think I’ll enjoy it more live. I’ve been spinning the Carcass record a lot though and I love it. I’m very, very happy that I’ll get to meet and tour with them and share some time on the road together. They are artists that I’ve been listening to sine my late teenage years and early 20s and it’s great to be able to share the stage with them, for sure!
We’re all looking forward to the show here in Southern California. Luc, I think that’s all I have for this particular interview. All the best for the Juno. I have a feeling you will win.
(Laughs) Thank you. Send good vibes! But you know, the fact of being nominated is great it itself, so no worries either way.
Visit Gorguts on the web:
Gorguts.com
facebook.com/GorgutsOfficial
twitter.com/GorgutsOfficial
youtube.com/GorgutsOfficial
Decibel Tour 2014 featuring Carcass, The Black Dahlia Murder, Gorguts & Noisem:
03/18 The Beacham Theater – Orlando, FL
03/19 Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
03/21 Prophet Bar – Dallas, TX
03/22 Mohawk – Austin, TX
03/24 The Press Room – Phoenix, AZ
03/25 The Observatory – Santa Ana, CA
03/26 The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA *WITH REPULSION
03/28 Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC CANADA
03/29 Showbox at the Market – Seattle, WA
03/30 Roseland Theater – Portland, OR
04/02 Summit Music Hall – Denver, CO
04/04 Mill City Nights – Minneapolis, MN
04/05 House of Blues – Chicago, IL
04/06 Newport Music Hall – Columbus, OH
04/07 Stage AE – Pittsburgh, PA
04/08 Sound Academy – Toronto, ON CANADA
04/09 Metropolis – Montreal, QC CANADA
04/10 Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA
04/11 Best Buy Theater – New York, NY
04/12 Trocadero Theatre – Philadelphia, PA
04/13 The Fillmore – Silver Spring, MD