Gojira’s Joe Duplantier Says Slow Climate Change Action ‘Feels Like We’re In The Middle Of A Nightmare’
If there’s one thing you can take away from nearly their entire body of work, it’s that the four Frenchmen in Gojira must lose a lot of sleep over the climate. Sure, the planet’s quickly becoming an over-populated sauna that’s threatening to kill us all because a buncha rich bastards want to siphon as much out of our pale blue dot as possible at the cost of future generations, but that’s not a lot to get worried about — right?
During a recent interview with MoreCore.TV at Rock Am Ring festival in Nürburgring, Germany over the weekend (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier lamented the fact that global efforts to curb global warming aren’t moving fast enough.
“There is a frustration, for sure. ‘Cause I remember clearly being a teenager — pre-teenager — and seeing scientists and philosophers and thinkers blowing whistles and saying, ‘Hey, we need to change our ways right now ’cause in 50 years we’re gonna be effed.’ And seeing this happening right now feels like we completely didn’t listen at the time [to] the scientists that were talking and we completely ignored it.
“It is frustrating. Yeah, it is frustrating. But I think that the only thing we can do and what we must do is keep it up and keep the hope and try to project a vision of the future that is not total chaos and by projecting this thought allowing it to happen. It’s a fool’s hope because you see the oceans rising and the temperature climbing and it seems like it’s all because of what we did in the last three decades or something.
“But the earth will be fine. The question is, are we going to survive or not? Pretty much. And if we survive, who’s gonna survive? The rich?
“I don’t know. It’s complicated. It feels like we’re in the middle of a nightmare and I’m trying to wake up from this nightmare. [Laughs]”
For years, Duplantier has been involved in environmental efforts, working with causes like the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and Boyan Slat’s “The Ocean Cleanup.” The story goes that the Duplantier brothers (Joe and Mario) became increasingly aware of the need to protect the environment after witnessing their childhood region slowly get polluted over time. It’s a big reason why many of their songs deal with the impending environmental crisis and how it was avoidable the whole time.
While all of this is nice to say, the need to reduce carbon emissions is another thing for bands that tour all over the place to actually practice. In fact, a recent study showed that Gojira was one of the worst bands for the environment when it came to their touring carbon footprint.
Gojira just recently finished the first half of “The Mega-Monsters Tour” that they’re co-headlining with Mastodon. Lorna Shore is the tour’s support act. If you want to catch the show live, check out the dates below.
“THE MEGA-MONSTERS TOUR”
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS LORNA SHORE
8/9 Cincinnati, OH MegaCorp Pavilion [Tickets]
8/10 Cleveland, OH Jacob’s Pavilion [Tickets]
8/11 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE Outdoors [Tickets]
8/12 New York, NY Coney Island Amphitheater [Tickets]
8/13 Syracuse, NY OneCenter [Tickets]
8/15 Detroit, MI Masonic Temple [Tickets]
8/17 Toronto, ON RBC Echo Beach [Tickets]
8/18 Laval, QC Place Bell [Tickets]
8/19 Portland, ME Cross Insurance Arena [Tickets]
8/20 Boston, MA MGM Music Hall [Tickets]
8/23 Milwaukee, WI BMO Pavilion [Tickets]
8/25 Hammond, IN Horseshoe [Tickets]
8/26 Omaha, NE Westfair Amphitheater [Tickets]
8/27 Minneapolis, MN Waite Park Amphitheater [Tickets]
8/29 St. Louis, MO The Factory [Tickets]
8/30 Kansas City, MO Azura Amphitheater [Tickets]
9/1 Salt Lake City, UT USANA Amphitheater [Tickets]
9/2 Denver, CO Fiddler’s Green Amphitheater [Tickets]
