Gojira's Joe Duplantier: Fortitude, Whammy pedals & Charvels

For a generation of young headbangers, Gojira are the new titans of groove metal: progressive, heavy-hitting riff giants continuing in the lineage of Metallica, Sepultura, Pantera, Lamb of God and others.

And just like the six-string legends that preceded them – Hetfield, Cavalera, Dimebag and more – central to the French band’s success is a modern metal rhythm guitar hero: Joe Duplantier. But good luck approaching him with that kind of praise.

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Since Gojira formed in 1996 (first as Godzilla, before adopting their current moniker in 2001), their career has followed a steady trajectory upward. Duplantier and his band – which also includes his brother Mario Duplantier on drums, bassist Jean-Michel Labadie and lead guitarist Christian Andreu – have continuously refined their musical chops and expanded their artistic vision across six albums.

And with each one, from 2001’s fierce debut Terra Incognita and 2005 breakout From Mars to Sirius to 2016’s Grammy-nominated Magma, Gojira have earned more fans, more critical praise and more respect from many of their own heroes. Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe was an early backer (and guested on 2008’s The Way of All Flesh), and Metallica, Slipknot, Rammstein and others have personally recruited them as tour support.

Environmental activism has been a major thematic element in Gojira’s music from day one: from Terra Incognita (inspired by Duplantier’s two-year experience living in a cabin without electricity) to Magma (a twofold study in grief about the passing of the Duplantiers’ mother and the potential ruination of the planet). Fortitude continues Gojira’s ecological mission – though this time the band rallied behind one additional unifying, and very humane, objective: uplifting people.

Duplantier & Co. are still channeling some aspects of their forebears — from Metallica’s mid-tempo stompers (Sphinx) and Pantera’s breakneck grooves (Into the Storm) to Sepultura’s pummeling world music (Amazonia, Born for One Thing) and Death’s progressive extremity (Another World). But filtered through Gojira’s unique creative lens, the final result, as heard on Fortitude, is something entirely personal and undeniably fresh.

He used the T-style solidbody prototype on some of Fortitude, and throughout the pandemic has been jamming on the production version (which features his signature DiMarzio Fortitude bridge humbucker and a DiMarzio PAF 36th Anniversary at the neck). He also says that the axe has been handy to record demos for Archetype: Gojira – his new Neural DSP plugin that boasts three amps and a host of effects modeled after Duplantier’s personal rig.

“In real life it would be impossible to achieve what you can with that plugin,” he says. “You can explore each riff [in] a million possibilities… the flexibility is mind-blowing.” Both Duplantier and Andreu love their gear. Obviously, it’s an essential tool to create their art – but, thankfully, it’s also been one of a few welcomed distractions during the ongoing challenges and restrictions of the pandemic.

“I have mixed feelings about humanity,” Duplantier adds with a laugh. “I don’t know what’s what. We live in a time where people question everything, all the conspiracy theories… It’s a bit overwhelming… But I’m lucky enough to not work for a few months and to not be homeless. A lot of people lost that, and their jobs, which is disturbing… But for me, creatively, it’s very good because I had a chance to reboot. And for a few months now it’s been starting to itch: I want to play…”

”This whole pandemic thing was a curse – of course, because all our gigs were canceled – and a blessing. The good thing was it gave us time to try new things. I did some experiments at home. I did a Massive Attack cover, Atlas Air, just for myself. I had a blast doing that... I need music in my life all the time. I am producing all sorts of little demos and stuff. We’re about to jam with the band, and being in France makes it possible to gather and play together more often.”

”Yes. But he has no ego, it’s incredible. He says, 'You know I’m here because I love you guys and what you do is amazing.' And he doesn’t like interviews very much because he feels like it’s almost not his thing… But he wrote some key riffs on every album and he comes up with great intros and atmospheres. And Jean-Michel also has a way to approach his lines that is very interesting and often not what we would imagine. We complete each other pretty gracefully.”

“Then there’s the production. I used to put six guitars – three on the left, three on the right – and you couldn’t hear the guitar pick on the strings, just a big wall of sound. Yes, it’s impressive, but then I’d listen to the System of a Down album Mezmerize, and I was mesmerized. [Laughs] Because it’s raw as fuck, and there’s little distortion. But that’s what makes the whole thing super violent, because you feel the person playing the guitar and pounding the strings.

“…Metallica, Death, Morbid Angel, Sepultura, Pantera, Machine Head! [Laughs] I come from a small area in France and just a few bands made their way to my local shop… I was never introduced to EVH or the other greats, even Black Sabbath. I had to discover them way later. I was a little late to the party, because I was listening to rap, like Public Enemy, and playing piano and classical music until I was 14 – when I discovered Metallica and it changed my world completely.“

“I played the solo for The Chant on my first electric guitar. It was a Gibson Flying V that a friend of mine sold to me when I was a kid. There was a problem with the ground, and we found a solution: I attached an old string to the bridge and put the string in my mouth and it grounded it. [Laughs] For some reason there was a ghost in that guitar. There was this hum, so I put a leash on that guitar and put it in my mouth when I was playing the solo. [Laughs] I had a blast.“

“My approach to guitar is very physical… but not sexual. [Laughs] I have a physical approach to instruments; sometimes I’ll pound on the guitar and it’ll go 'boom' and I’ll use that in a song. That technique wasn’t premeditated. It happened live on tour in 2002 or 2003. The catalyst… was the song Embrace the World [from 2003’s The Link]. Toward the end of the song there’s a riff with a guitar slide…

“When we were playing live, instead of using my left hand to recreate the slide, I wanted to use my right to see if I could simulate a similar sound. I was doing this weird movement with my right hand: scraping the skin of your thumb over the strings. If you have some distortion on, you will get that sound. But it’s basically the rubbing of human skin on electric guitars. [Laughs] … The next album after that, From Mars to Sirius, it was all over it.“

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Brad is a Brooklyn-based writer, editor and video producer. He is the former content director of Revolver magazine and executive editor of Guitar World. His work has appeared in Vice, Guitar Aficionado, Inked and more. He’s also a die-hard Les Paul player who wishes he never sold his 1987 Marshall Silver Jubilee half stack.