In a new interview with Ireland’s Overdrive, GOJIRA guitarist/vocalist Joseph Duplantier was asked if he and his bandmates have commenced work on the follow-up to 2021’s “Fortitude” album. He responded: “Actually, Mario (Duplantier, GOJIRA drummer and Joseph‘s brother) was very busy recording drum patterns, and song structures over the pandemic period, and I have a few new things also, but we’re not really in a ‘writing the next album’ situation right now. We’re just sending a few ideas to each other here and there.

“Right now, I feel like I squeezed myself like a lemon for ‘Fortitude’, and I have nothing left in the tank,” he explained. “I believe that the slow process is best for us. Some bands just pump out new music with lightning speed, and from what I’ve seen with a few bands, it’s not a good vibe. In fact, it’s very stressful and can cause bands to implode. I don’t want that to happen to GOJIRA. I want to take it slow and do the very best that we can do when it comes to writing music and lyrics.”

Duplantier also talked about how important having his own recording studio, Silver Cord, which is located near his home in New York City on the border of Ridgewood, Queens and Bushwick, Brooklyn, has been for GOJIRA‘s creativity. He said: “Building the studio was one of the best decisions I have ever made. For me, it’s mandatory to have a place where I can work and not be interrupted. I can just be there feeling miserable and trying to come up with ideas, and it’s okay if they don’t come at once. Silver Cord is a place where ideas are born, nurtured and grow into bigger things, or perhaps not at all. (Laughs]) Either way, it doesn’t matter because I can just leave and come back tomorrow.

“Before Silver Cord, we had a studio in France we recorded three albums there, and when I moved to New York in 2009-2010, I was between creative places, and away from the rest of the band… which was a really weird time,” he explained. “But that’s when I started thinking about building a studio, and Mario moved over for a few years and helped me build Silver Cord.

“I am notoriously slow when I work, because I like to go through everything with a fine-tooth comb, and then after a while, there might be a creative explosion where lots of music or lyrics are written in short period of time, so just being able to have this special place to do all of that, is absolutely vital for me personally.

“I’m not very organized,” Joseph added. “I know people who prepare all their demos, go the studio, record, and then that’s that. For me, I’m kind of all over the place. (Laughs). Sometimes, I may start the writing process by mixing before I even have one song. For example, I have recorded an entire demo in the past, just to research how it sounds and how we are gonna do things going forward.”

Last October, GOJIRA released a new song titled “Our Time Is Now”. The track appears on the soundtrack to EA Sports‘ long-running NHL video game franchise “NHL 23”.

“Fortitude” came out in April 2021 via Roadrunner Records. The follow-up to 2016’s “Magma” was recorded and produced by Joseph at Silver Cord and mixed by Andy Wallace (NIRVANA, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE).

GOJIRA initially laid the foundation for “Fortitude” in 2020 with the surprise release of the single “Another World”.

The artwork for “Fortitude” was created by Joseph.

Later this month, GOJIRA and MASTODON will embark on “The Mega-Monsters Tour”, a massive co-headline tour across North America in 2023 along with special guests LORNA SHORE on all dates. The trek kicks off at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon on April 18, stops at legendary venues such as the Forum in Los Angeles, California on April 21, and steamrolls through MASTODON‘s hometown of Atlanta for their biggest Georgia headlining gig to date at the Ameris Bank Amphitheatre. The first leg concludes at Santander Arena in Reading, Pennsylvania on May 11. Meanwhile, the tour resumes with a second leg from August 9 through September 2.