Metal Anarchy

As previously reported, Gojira recently made history by teaming up with opera singer Marina Viotti for an electrifying performance of “Ah! Ça Ira” at the opening ceremony for this year’s Olympics in Paris, France. Now, during an interview with Rolling Stone, Joe Duplantier opened up about the experience, calling it “pretty surreal.”

Duplantier said the following:

“It’s a bit unreal. It’s been in the works for months. Ever since we were contacted by the Olympic Committee and the composer, Victor le Masne, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen just because it sounded completely unreal. The amount of people that would see us live kind of eclipsed the moment. I wasn’t thinking about what it was going to be because it was just too mind-bending to think about. So the reality of the moment was absolutely mind-blowing from where we were, up there at the Conciergerie and the view we had of the scenery and all the Olympic teams, passing by on boats. It was pretty surreal.”

He continued when asked about having to represent metal on the world stage:

“I try not to think too much about that because it continues to blow my mind. [Laughs] The Olympic Committee could have asked literally anybody to play. I’m thinking of bands like Metallica or AC/DC that are household names and powerhouses in our genre that we all revere and are our heroes. We never considered ourselves the biggest band in the world that would be worthy to play the Olympics or anything like that. It’s so weird.

The way I think about it is it’s a challenge in 2024 to give hope to people, to show something original. People have seen everything from landing on the moon to A.I. So it was a challenge for Paris and the Committee to express something fresh, new, and original [by booking us] and also show what France is all about.

At least for our part, the fact that metal and opera had never been seen together on TV and in front of so many people before is a statement for the country of France. It’s saying, ‘Hey, look. We’re still pushing the boundaries in the world.’ So congrats to France for putting this together.”

He also commented on the song choice:

“That wasn’t us at all. That was the team of young people and composers and designers that decided the whole theme. We were in the dark when it came to the whole ceremony; we were just concentrating on that picture and that moment of Marie Antoinette. We didn’t know how it was going to look or how it would fit in with a whole performance. I didn’t know Lady Gaga or Celine Dion were going to be there. We were in [the Olympic Committee’s] confidence, and we weren’t allowed to tell our people that we were going to do this. We didn’t know what was going to happen at all. We just went back and forth with the composer of the Olympic ceremony, Victor le Masne. He threw us a tempo and a guideline. And then we did our thing.”

Duplantier also added the following when asked about idiots like Andrew Tate, who called the performance satanic:

“It’s none of that. It’s French history. It’s French charm, you know, beheaded people, red wine, and blood all over the place — it’s romantic, it’s normal. There’s nothing satanic. [Laughs]

France is a country that made a separation between the state and religion during the revolution. And it’s something very important, very dear to the foundation of republican France. We call it laïcité. It’s when the state is not religious anymore, so therefore it’s free in terms of expression and symbolism. It’s all about history and facts. We don’t look too close closely at symbolism in terms of religion.”