De Meyer collaborated with multiple filmmakers (Vincent Moon, Hauxplay, Jennifer Kumiko Hayashi and Midia Ninja) to help bring an unfiltered look into the lives and struggle of the indigenous tribes there.
On “Amazonia” Gojira take aim at the crisis impacting the Amazon and its indigenous communities. A lush ripper interwoven with indigenous folk instruments and groove-metal rhythms, the soundscapes skew verdant, but the themes prove anything but idyllic.
Check out the video below:
Vocalist/guitarist Joe Duplantier surveys the endangered rainforest, concluding: “The greatest miracle / Is burning to the ground.” Proceeds from the song will benefit The Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) who advocate for the environmental and cultural rights of indigenous tribes in the Amazon who have suffered immensely – victims of deforestation, land loss, forced labour, violence, and harassment.
Launching alongside the song and video are two fundraising initiatives to help raise money for the indigenous-owned NGO APIB. Working with the social good-focused digital platform Propeller, Gojira are curating a month-long charitable campaign featuring an auction of one-of-a-kind items from the band and their friends.
The auction launches today with a Joe Duplantier signature guitar hand-engraved by Duplantier with artwork celebrating Amazonian wildlife, in addition to a hand-engraved Nash Guitars bass from Metallica’s bass player Robert and his artist wife Chloe Trujillo, a signed exclusive photo print from Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe, a limited edition Rockhard Slayer motorcycle helmet, and more. Each week new items will be added to the auction – to see the current auction listings, visit here.
Furthermore, Gojira have also launched a limited edition art print to benefit the APIB, where the first 500 fans who purchase the print will have their names added to the final design. The limited-edition prints are available today via this link.
“This is a call for Unity,” says Duplantier, “The music community can be powerful when united towards something meaningful like this! So many friends, great artists, bands have joined the movement without hesitation by donating instruments. This is a collective effort from so many people around us!”
The efforts continue Gojira’s career-long tradition of harnessing their music as a vehicle for environmental activism, not only surveying critical cases but also catalysing listeners to take action. “We don’t want to just release a song called ‘Amazonia’—we want to do something on top of that,” Duplantier explains. “We feel a responsibility as artists to offer a way for people to take action.”
“Amazonia” follows the album’s lead single, “Born For One Thing,” which debuted last month accompanied by a Charles De Meyer directed official music video shot in France and Belgium. Both tracks are available as instant grat downloads with all pre-orders of FORTITUDE – Gojira’s first album in five years and the follow-up to 2016’s Grammy® nominated LP, MAGMA.
Recorded and Produced by Joe Duplantier at Silver Cord Studio – Gojira’s Ridgewood, Queens, headquarters – and mixed by Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine), FORTITUDE is a collection of songs urging humanity to imagine a new world—and then make it happen. The band initially laid the foundation for FORTITUDE last year with the surprise release of the 2020 single “Another World.”
Pre-order your copy here. Tune into Overdrive on April 14th for an in-depth feature interview with drummer Mario Duplantier, where he talks about the new album and so much more.
‘Fortitude‘ will be available from April 30th.
Oran O’Beirne
www.overdrive.ie 2021