Richmond, Virginia’s metal-punk trio, BAT, is thrilled to announce a spring U.S. tour alongside Canadian progressive sci-fi metal pioneers, VOIVOD. The eight-date trek begins in at Hell’s Heroes VIII in Houston on March 20th and concludes in Tulsa on March 27th. Fans can join BAT for an official afterparty immediately following the final show at 2 Minutes To Tulsa at The Whittier Bar.
Tickets for the tour go on sale this Friday, December 12th at 1pm local time via the below links.
Two nights only (Jan 29-30, 2025) at the world famous Place Des Arts Centre (Wilfrid Pelletier Hall), It’s Voivod meets The Montreal Symphony Orchestra for the first time, conducted by Dina Gilbert. It’s Progressive Thrash, meets Class. Today we talk opening night.
Voivod, hailing from Jonquière, Quebec 43 years ago now based in Greater Montreal, with the present line-up consisting of guitarist Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain (2008–present), bassist Dominic “Rocky” Laroche (2014–present) and co-founders vocalist Denis “Snake” Bélanger and, drummer Michel “Away” Langevin. The band found mainstream success in the late 1980s with their fifth studio album Nothingface (1989). However nothing has stopped this band’s upwards global momentum in the past decade and a testament to this are accolades such as the band winning the “Visionary” award at the 2017 Progressive Music Awards. In 2019, Voivod’s fourteenth studio album, The Wake, winning the Juno Award for Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year and in 2023 another Juno for Metal/Hard Music Album Of The Year’ Category For ‘Synchro Anarchy’
The band musically has never stopped evolving, changing and mutating, always putting the band musical challenges first and foremost and their fans joining them on their ride. The constant pivoting of the band also led them premiering their long anticipated documentary last year entitled WE ARE CONNECTED at the Fantasia Festival documenting the band’s journey to the present times. (more to come on that)
So this is where we are today, Voivod taking on yet another musical challenge of fusing their world, with the classical world.
I will be honest when the idea came out that Vovoid would do a symphonic performance I may have paused for a second saying, wha?? But as the idea settled it all seemed so clear, welcoming and exciting. The band’s music may sound punky, alternative and thrashy to the layman but when you peel away the layers of Voivod music the core is intricate, progressive, epic and precise. Which is exactly what Classical music is as well.
Jimmy Kay from The Metal Voice talks to all the members of Voivod and director Felipe Belalcazar at the Art Exhibition (BBAM) in Montreal, Canada before the premiere of the bands documentary WE ARE CONNCETED. The band members spoke about the making and completion of the long awaited (8-10 years) documentary on Voivod.
“We Are Connected”, received its world premiere July 29, 2024 at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, Quebec. Canada.
By Director/Writer/Producer Felipe Belalcazar Cast Voivod Terry Brown, Tobias Forge (Ghost) Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth) Jason Newsted (Metallica) Danko Jones George Stroumboulopoulos (Broadcaster) Zach Blair (Rise Against, GWAR), Tom G Warrior (Celtic Frost, Triptykon) Ivan Doroschuk (Men Without Hats), among many others. Luc Lemay Martin Popoff
‘We are connected’ Premiere took place in Montreal, Canada at the 2024 Fantasia Film Festival at Concordia University, Address: 1455 Blvd. De Maisonneuve Ouest, By Director/Writer/Producer Felipe Belalcazar.
Cast Voivod Terry Brown Tobias Forge (Ghost) Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth) Jason Newsted (Metallica) Danko Jones Martin Popoff George Stroumboulopoulos (Broadcaster) Zach Blair (Rise Against, GWAR), Tom G Warrior (Celtic Frost, Triptykon) Ivan Doroschuk (Men Without Hats), among many others. Luc Lemay
Picture above Michel “Away” Langevin – drums (1982–present) Denis “Snake” Bélanger – vocals (1982–1994, 2001–present) Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain – guitars (2008–present) Dominic “Rocky” Laroche – bass (2014–present) Manager James Maclean The Metal Voice-Jimmy Kay, Perrin Wolfson
Voïvod : We Are Connected traces the first 40 years of career of the famous and innovative Quebec metal band Voïvod. Through numerous testimonies and archival documents we follow the impressive journey of this extraordinary band. The documentary is enhanced by the use of animations from the visual creations of the band’s drummer, Michel “Away” Langevin.
It’s been a forty year journey punctuated by freak van accidents, bouts with cancer, Billboard recognition, and seismic line-up changes, never mind the event most critics assured would be the end of Voïvod: the death of co-founding guitarist and composer Denis “Piggy” D’Amour. Despite adversity, and perhaps by cosmic intervention or just serendipity, Voïvod found guitarist Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain, re-igniting their engines to deliver a string of albums and EPs leading to late-career triumphs The Wake (2019) and Synchro-Anarchy (2023). “We Are Connected” delves into the band’s creative journey and the challenges they’ve faced over the course of their career, while unequivocally reaffirming Voïvod’s status as one of Canada’s most important and innovative musical exports.
Jimmy Kay from Canada’s The Metal Voice recently spoke to Voivod Drummer Michel “Away” Langevin.
In the chat Away spoke about what is needed to finish the long awaited Voivod Documentary film ‘We are connected’. He also spoke about what stage the band is in regards to the next studio album plus info on the lost Voivod album.
When asked about the upcoming documentary “It’s (documentary) has been in the works for quite awhile. It’s tens of thousands of dollars to make a movie so it takes long. We had a very successful first Kickstarter ( fan donations campaign) that allowed us to move forward. Now we are trying to have a (movie eidtion) cut for the summer festivals. The version for the physical release will be longer but we are trying right now to do an edit for the summer festivals. It’s really the last stretch where Felipe Belalcázar (producer) is doing some animation with my art. It is the final stage but we do need some money to finish it up since it is self produced (self financed). We tried our best to get money from the government (film grants) but we had to self finance it. The fans into Voivod are also really loyal and they are helping finance and we are also trying to supply goodies whenever they contribute. It’s going to be a movie financed by people who are into Voivod which is truly fantastic.”
When asked about any upcoming studio album “We all synched up with Logic Pro so we can work on it on tour in hotel rooms or in the tour bus and also build individual parts at home. But it is really when we get together in rehearsal space when it morphs into Voivodian material. Right now we have very basic templates for maybe 10 songs, I think. So whenever we get together to rehearse the next tour we also try to jam new material. We just got off the tour with Prog which was amazing. So we are going to take a couple of weeks break and then start working on this album again. I can’t really say how it’s going to sound right now. The good news for us is we are writing a very intricate album right now and winning Junos so it’s a good indication that we are on the right path.”
When asked about the unleashed Voivod Album “There are demos of an unreleased album. It was supposed to be produced by Steve Albini (Nirvana) but the band split up. THe demos are there. I am really hoping to release them on the Eric (Forest) years. It’s 12 songs. We got disillusioned after a while. I think it was at the end of the year 2000 that we decided to disband. Eventually we reunited with Snake and got Jason Newsted involved. “
ABOUT THE DOCUMENTARY:
* The movie will be subtitled in Quebec French (as well as Standard French, Spanish, Italian)
* Some of the Voivodians interviewed include Zach Blair, King Fowley, Tom Warrior (Celtic Frost), Mikael Akerfeldt (Opeth), Tobias Forge (Ghost) and Dan Swanö. The team also interviewed Terry Brown (Producer), Glen Robinson, Jason and Eric. (24 interviews)
* The theatrical cut (running just over two hours) is shorter than the “extended cut” that will come only on the physical release, with disc extras
* There currently are film festivals who are interested for 2024.
WHY CROWDFUNDING?
* Film grants in Canada have a set criteria for the type of material they are mandated to fund, unfortunately our project does not fit the current criteria.
* Thanks to Voivodian support we had a very successful first campaign back in 2021 and it allowed us to film the rest of the interviews, complete the edit and begin post-production.
As a token of our gratitude, Voivod is offering limited-run, premium T-shirts, each featuring unique artwork by the legendary Away, in collaboration with Felipe.
– Chewy’s Shirt: A rare ink drawing from ‘The Outer Limits’ era in 1993, previously unseen and now brought to life.
– Snake and Rocky’s Shirt: A 2002 ink masterpiece featured in the booklet of the self-titled 2003 album.
– Away’s Shirt: The iconic Mercury symbol, inked in 1997 for the ‘Phobos’ booklet.
VOIVOD have launched a new Kickstarter campaign to help them finance their official documentary film.
VOÏVOD and PRONG will be kicking off their much-anticipated co-headline tour across North America next week! This tour marks a reunion of sorts for the two bands, who have long admired each other’s work and have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to hit the road together once again. The upcoming tour promises to be an exhilarating experience, as both VOÏVOD and PRONG are known for their dynamic and powerful live performances. Fans can expect a blend of new hits and classic favorites, delivered with the raw energy and passion that both bands are renowned for.
The decision to embark on this tour was an easy one for both bands, united by their fresh and acclaimed new records. VOÏVOD, the Canadian heavy metal connoisseurs, recently released their latest special 40th anniversary album, Morgöth Tales, via Century Media Records worldwide.
After VOÏVOD’s studio album 2022 release Synchro Anarchy won the 2023 Juno Award for Best Metal/Hard Music Album Of The Year in Canada, VOÏVOD have recently been nominated in the same category again for this year’s Juno Awards with Morgöth Tales. Congratulations!
Stressing the band’s untamed and contagious live-energy, you can now also check out a newly released VOÏVOD live-video of their track “Rebel Robot” (which also appeared on the band’s 40th anniversary release Morgöth Tales) from the band’s appearance at last year’s Wacken Open Air festival in Germany:
VOÏVOD’s Michel ‘Away’ Langevin checked in with the following comment about the new clip: “Here’s another amazing souvenir from Wacken 2023. ‘Rebel Robot’ from the Jason Newsted years. It was great to have Jasonic on bass for the ‘Morgöth Tales’ LP version. We also had the pleasure of having him jumping on stage with us in Florida last year: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_UeLwVWxLwEnjoy this Wacken Festival live version!”
Feb. 28 – Columbus, OH – King of Clubs Feb. 29 – Milwaukie, WI – The Rave Mar. 01 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater Mar. 02 – Kansas City, MO – recordBar Mar. 03 – Denver, CO – Oriental Theater Mar. 04 – South Salt Lake, UT – The Commonwealth Room Mar. 06 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom Mar. 07 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon Mar. 08 – Eugene, OR – John Henry’s Mar. 09 – Berkeley, CA – The UC Theatre Mar. 10 – Los Angeles, CA – The Fonda Theatre Mar. 12 – San Diego, CA – Brick by Brick Mar. 13 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren Mar. 14 – El Paso, TX – Rockhouse Mar. 15 – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater Mar. 16 – Oklahoma City, OK – Diamond Ballroom Mar. 17 – St. Louis, MO – The Golden Record Mar. 19 – Detroit, MI – Harpo’s Mar. 20 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall Mar. 21 – Fort Wayne, IN – Piere’s Entertainment Center Mar. 22 – Knoxville, TN – The Concourse Mar. 23 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theatre Mar. 24 – Stroudsburg, PA – Sherman Theater
Further upcoming live dates are as follows:
VOÏVOD – Live 2024: Fri 2/23/24 – Joliette, QC – Centre Culturel Desjardins Sat 2/24/24 – Saint-Hyacinthe, QC – Centre Des Arts Juliette-Lassonde Thu 5/16/24 – Saint-Eustache, QC – Scene Exterieur Fri 5/17/24 – Sherbrooke. QC – Théàtre Granada
And more international dates to be announced soon…
Morgöth Tales succeeded VOÏVOD’s 15th (!) much acclaimed studio album Synchro Anarchy, which entered sales charts upon release in early 2022 as follows: Germany # 7 (!), Switzerland # 64, Austria # 67, The Netherlands # 88, Belgium # 129, UK (Rock & Metal) # 7, Canada (Hard Music) # 2, USA Current Hard Music # 8, USA Top New Artist # 11, USA Heatseekers # 56 and USA Current Album # 67.
Check out VOÏVOD’s previous videos for the Morgöth Tales release:
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s ASA unveil the long-overdue release of "Collective Failure" + first music video for title-track! Check it out and stay tuned for more news! Click image to watch the video
Kimmo Kuusniemi’s SARCOFAGUS return with a Historic 2010 Concert Video Premiere on YouTube! Click image to watch the video
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