Devil's Island featuring Michel of Voivod.
We're back on our tropical desert island, in the middle of the ocean, hundreds of miles from anywhere. This is Devil's Island! Every week we maroon a band on the island and see what they get up to. It's not your average desert island and we'll see just how each band copes with the extreme conditions.
This week when we arrived at Devil's Island we were greated by Michel of Voivod. We had not seen the band for a while, we thought they was lost, search parties had found no trace! But now we've found Michel, if not the others, shipwrecked on our island!
How did they cope with life on Devil's Island? Find out now...
Welcome to The Razors'e Edge and our somewhat lovely, warm desert island. Don't worry about it's name I'm sure it's not as bad as that would suggest.
So you're marooned here on this island, but before you ended up shipwrecked you each chose one album that you couldn't live without. Which album did you each chose and why?
Michel: Oh my god, thats a real tough one. Probably Van Der Graaf Generator - H to He, thats the one I would grab. This album to me includes all the elements I like about music. It's proto-metal, proto-punk, prog, psychedelic all those and I just love it. Van Der Graaf Generator are my favourite band of all time.
Just behind that palm tree is a shack for each of you to stay in, with enough space for you to put up a poster on the wall of one album cover. What album cover do you each chose?
Michel: I would pick the first Iron Maiden Album, 'Iron Maiden'. Simply because the front cover influenced me the most. You buy the album even without knowing what kind of music it is, just by the cover. The first couple of Voivod albums I ripped off the Eddie idea for us.
There's also a bar on this here island. But alas each of you only get to chose one drink for the entirety of your stay. What's your tipple of choice?
Michel: [Laughs] I'm not a big drinker, so it would probably be apple juice or something like that.
Your suitcases were lost when your ship sank, but you each managed to salvage one item of band merch. Whats the merch and for what band?
Michel: Motorhead - the classc crest. And if it has "Everything louder than everything else" on the back, even better!
There's a walkman in your pocket, on the tape inside is the recording of the one live show that stands out for you. It could be any show, from any band, anywhere in the world. What show is on that walkman?
Michel: Probably Judas Priest when they came to Quebec City for Screaming For Vengance. If I had a bootleg of that it would be great. There was a riot outside, I was fairly young and for me it was the most memorable concert.
You're getting desperate, you decide the only course of action is to put a message in a bottle and hope someone finds it. Your message could be to any member of any band, but should be the one musician most suitable for a rescue attempt. Who is it?
Michel: I think Neil Peart from Rush would probably build a time machine or something and come and get us. [Laughs]
You've been stuck here a while and food supplies are running low. There's only one thing for it... which fellow band member gets sacrificed to help the others survive?
Michel: Snake is the chubby on these days [Laughs] A bit more than Chewy so it would be more efficient to sacrifice Snake.
Finally, when the ship sank you each managed to save one person from the wreckage. That person is the one musician that has influenced your career the most, shaped your way of thinking and your outlook on life. Who did you save?
Michel: Terry Bozzio the drummer from the band U.K. and Frank Zappa for the knowledge I learned from him. Ever since I saw U.K. open for Jethro Tull at 14/15 years old. I didn't know that you could play prog music with such energy so for me it was a lesson.
We left Michel on the island waiting for Neil Peart to build his time machine. We couldn't help but wonder where the rest of the band were... maybe he's already sacrificed them to save himself from starvation... we may never know.
