Jimmy Kay from Canada's The Metal Voice spoke to Voivod singer Denis "Snake" Belanger from Canadian metal legends Voivod prior to the band hitting the stage on June 30th at the Montreal International Jazz Festival at Club Soda.

Snake spoke about being included in the Jazz Festival, their upcoming tour plans, a Voivod documentary in the works, his evolving vocal style throughout the years, writing lyrics in English, opening for Rush in 1990, and thoughts on David Grohl of the Foo Fighters who is a Voivod fan and friend.

On performing at the Montreal International Jazz Festival

Snake: "When the Jazz Festival asked us to be part of it, it was a bit of a surprise but it is understandable because what we are doing is music. Okay, we do metal,  punk,  progressive rock, but at the end of the day, it's music. Being part of the Montreal Jazz festival is a great honour as the festival is celebrating 40 years and Voivod is close by at 36 years years. Voivod has always been a band that goes over the boundaries so we fit in. The Jazz Festival sometimes includes artists who are not necessarily Jazz but they try to expand musically and for us it is an opportunity to do something different like bring a brass section on stage and incorporate it in one of our songs."

On the band's next studio album 

Snake: "We're  are still at the beginning stages of a new album, we were putting ideas together while we are on tour but we never got back to those ideas because we have been so busy lately. When we were touring, we would go in the back of the tour bus with the laptop and we would lay down ideas. Not sure about the musical direction yet we will see how it goes. Our last album, The Wake, was a good transitional album from our Post Society EP. We wanted to go further with the Wake and we did, the same musical direction as the EP but more elaborate and more complex. It is going to be tough to top The Wake,  it will be quite a task but we will go with the flow." 

Voivod performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival (Festival International de Jazz de Montréal) on June 30 at Club Soda. Video and photos from the event can be found below.

Says Voivod: "Thank you Montreal! What a great evening on Sunday - the fantastic introduction from Montreal Jazz Fest founder Andre Menard, the Juno award presented on stage to The Wake producer/engineer Francis Perron, the 5-piece horn section that blew the roof off Club Soda, the festival staff and Quebec media coverage to the great venue and band crew and most of all the great city of Montreal and the fans. Voivod is back Friday September 13 at the Corona Theatre with a killer tour package. More tour announcements soon!"