Voivod is Still Looking for a Sci-Fi Challenge
Voivod have been out here doing cool shit for a while now, but one thing on their list they haven’t tackled yet is scoring a film. It’s something they’ve always wanted to do apparently, and they’re putting feelers out there to see if anyone will bite.
The band’s guitarist Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain recently did an interview with Bilal Butt of CHOM 97.7, where he was asked if the band still wanted to partake in scoring of the sci-fi variety, and he had this to say as transcribed by Blabbermouth.net:
“I think it’s still there on the list, because it would be very challenging in the most creative way to write music for a story that’s already been written and creative with a script and images. I think as an artist and creator, you’re always looking for stuff like that to happen and provoke it when it’s your own music and your own world. But when you’re asked to help, collectively, on audio sculptures or something that can enhance another form of art, it’s always motivating. And it’s always a matter of accomplishing ourselves through this medium that is VOIVOD. And I think we can do it. It would be a great experience, for sure. We’re still waiting for the call. [Laughs]”
Voivod is kind of taking a step in that direction by performing with the Orchestre Symphonique De Montréal later this month. It’s not a movie score, but I feel like it’ll look and sound so fucking cool. They’re playing two shows together, both conducted by Dina Gilbert, at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletie in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on January 29 and January 30.
About how the collaboration came about, drummer Michel “Away” Langevin had this to say: “We didn’t approach [the orchestra], but we always talked about either doing symphonic shows or doing a soundtrack for a sci-fi movie or something like that. It’s part of the dreams we have.”
Mongrain added:
“I never tried to write for a whole orchestra. I know a little bit about it, studying orchestration at university and knowing my music theory and all that. But what happened is that my help with the project was to provide the music sheets to the arranger, Hugo Bégin. He did an amazing work. He took the music sheet that I wrote for guitar and bass. So he had a template to work on. And so he orchestrated it for the whole orchestra and added his own color to it. And it’s very efficient. It’s like a movie soundtrack, like the movie we used to watch, like Planet Of The Apes and Ben-Hur and Mad Max and all that. Voivod has been influenced since the beginning by those movies, so you can hear it, but with the whole orchestra, it’s very exciting. So I exchanged a lot of e-mails and messages with Hugo, the arranger, and we worked really hard on it and he was really, really fast and efficient. And until the last minute, the last day, there was little modifications here and there, but it’s gonna be amazing. It’s a dream come true, but it’s so big that you only imagine something like that in your wildest dreams, but you know it’s not gonna happen. So this is just a life-changing experience, a bonus in a career. It’s gonna be grandiose.”
Langevin: “We’re also gonna put a lot of work into the visuals with a company called Noisy Head. They’re really high tech. It’s gonna be spectacular. They did stuff for Lizzo or Chemical Brothers. And also they did a symphonic show with the music of Harmonium. And so, yeah, it’s gonna be pretty sci-fi visually as well.”
I’m not even that big on sci-fi but I would love to see-fi this in real life. (Don’t hate on me. I know how lame the joke was.).
