Michel ‘Away’ Langevin
When Voivod guitarist Denis ‘Piggy’ D’Amour suggested his band cover Pink Floyd’s acid-edged trip into the solar system, Astronomy Domine, not everyone was on board with the idea. “Piggy wanted to do the long version from Ummagumma, because he was such a huge fan of David Gilmour,” says Voivod singer Denis ‘Snake’ Bélanger. “I listened to it and went, ‘Oh God, this is hippie-trippy stuff. Maybe it’s too trippy.’ It had a melody with harmonies, which scared me a little bit.”
Bélanger was already suspicious of the idea of a cover, not least because it had originally been floated by the band’s new label. After a run of four albums that had taken them from the primitive punk-thrash of 1984’s War And to the sci-fi-themed prog metal of 1988’s landmark , the Canadian band had been snapped up by MCA subsidiary Mechanic. Now, as they prepared to start work on their fifth album and major label debut, , Mechanic wanted to maximise their new investment’s chance of success. Hence the suggestion that they record a cover.
