GOJIRA share new single Amazonia and launch fundraising initiative
26th March 20212x Grammy® nominated band Gojira have shared “Amazonia,” a brand-new single featured on their widely anticipated new album,FORTITUDE, which will be released April 30th via Roadrunner Records [album artwork / tracklist below]. “Amazonia” is available today on all streaming platforms and is accompanied by a Charles De Meyer directed official music videoshot in France as well as various locations in Brazil. 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. Vocalist / guitarist Joe Duplantier surveys the endangered rainforest, concluding: “The greatest miracle / Is burning to the ground.” Proceeds from the song will benefitThe Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) who advocate for 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 propeller.la/gojira. 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 at http://gojira.lnk.to/poster.
“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.” NPR hailed the track as “an apocalyptic banger,” while STEREOGUM declared, “Gojira are one of this century’s most important underground metal institutions,” while FORTITUDE was voted by fans as the #1 release on REVOLVER’s “5 Most Anticipated Albums of 2021.”
On 2016’s MAGMA, Gojira found strength—and crossover success—through a singular commitment to self-reflection. The intensely personal record, penned in memory of the Duplantier brothers’ late mother, was a painful significant turning point for the French group. The album earned the band two GRAMMY nominations – ‘Best Metal Performance’ and ‘Best Rock Album,’ and upon release, MAGMA took the #1 spot on BILLBOARD’s ‘Hard Rock Albums’ chart, a first for a French band. MAGMA also asserted itself as one of the most acclaimed albums of 2016, earning METAL HAMMER’s coveted “Album of the Year” title while also landing on ROLLING STONE’s “Top 20 Metal Albums of 2016,” and CONSEQUENCE OF SOUNDS’s “Top 50 Albums of 2016” / “Top 10 Metal Albums of 2016” lists.
Gojira’s widely anticipated tour dates supporting Deftones have been rescheduled for 2021. Check out the dates below, and for more information on Gojira’s international live schedule visit www.gojira-music.com.
ALBUM ARTWORK BY JOE DUPLANTIER
FORTITUDE TRACKLISTING:
1. “Born For One Thing”
2. “Amazonia”
3. “Another World”
4. “Hold On”
5. “New Found”
6. “Fortitude”
7. “The Chant”
8. “Sphinx”
9. “Into The Storm”
10. “The Trails”
11. “Grind”
ABOUT GOJIRA:
Gojira treat heavy music as a living and breathing entity, morphing, transforming, and changing in each iteration. After 2016’s MAGMA crashed the Top 25 of the Billboard Top 200, the history-making French band garnered a pair of 2017 Grammy® nominations, including “Best Rock Album” and “Best Metal Performance” for “Silvera.” REVOLVER cited its 2012 predecessor L’Enfant Sauvage as #2 among the “25 Best Albums of the 2010s.” Meanwhile, ROLLING STONE named their 2005 breakthrough From Mars To Sirius one of “The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time.” Handpicked to open for Metallica by none other than frontman James Hetfield, they have toured with Slayer, Slipknot, and more in addition to headlining tours around the world. The group’s forthcoming seventh full-length album, Fortitude, undoubtedly sees them push the envelope as they change heavy music once again in 2021.
2021 TOUR DATES:
August 12 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory
August 14 – Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Ballroom
August 15 – Sterling Heights, MI @ Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill
August 17 – Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion
August 19 – Toronto, ON, Canada @ RBC Echo Beach
August 20 – Laval, QC, Canada @ Place Bell
August 21 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
August 23 – Boston, MA @ Agganis Arena
August 24 – New York, NY @ The Rooftop at Pier 17
August 27 – Philadelphia, PA @ The Met Philadelphia
August 28 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Stone Pony Summerstage
August 29 – Washington, DC @ The Anthem
August 31 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Petersen Events Center, University of Pittsburgh
September 2 – Indianapolis, IN @ Amphitheater at White River State Park
September 3 – Nashville, TN @ Nashville Municipal Auditorium
September 4 – Atlanta, GA @ Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park
September 6 – Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
September 7 – Houston, TX @ White Oak Music Hall
September 8 – San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center
September 10 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
September 11 – Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheatre
September 14 – Phoenix, AZ @ Arizona Federal Theatre
September 17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre
September 18 – San Francisco, CA @ Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
September 21 – Seattle, WA @ WAMU Theater
September 22 – Portland, OR @ Theatre of the Clouds at Moda Center
FIND GOJIRA ONLINE:
