He is surrounded on stage by a trio of hard rocking veterans called Snake, Away and Blacky on a night in/night out basis, blasting vintage metal with a progressive bent. He took up the mantle for a fallen mentor and Canadian guitar god named Piggy. His name… is Dan. With his first ever trip to Europe winding down, Voivod guitarist Dan Mongrain took time out prior to the group’s date in Oslo to talk one-on-one with WTDP? about the band’s current tour, their most recent album Infini, plans for the future and some of his very un-metal guitar heroes.

Canadian heavy metal veterans Voivod closed their current European festival tour with a non-festival date in Oslo, Norway this past weekend. The four-piece, fresh from a show at the Hole In The Sky festival in Bergen, played an inspired set of classics from their catalog with most of the tunes ranging from the War & Pain – Angel Rat period. The group released a new record earlier this summer called Infini. The album represents the last songs written by late guitarist and founding member Denis ‘Piggy’ D’Amour, who lost his battle with colon cancer in 2005.