Mario Duplantier

Quick facts for kids Mario Duplantier
Duplantier in 2017
Background information
Birth name	Mario François Duplantier
Also known as	Evil Mario
Born	(1981-06-19) 19 June 1981 (age 44) Bayonne, France
Genres	Technical death metal progressive metal thrash metal groove metal avant-garde metal
Occupation(s)	Musician songwriter
Instruments	Drums
Years active	1996–present
Labels	Gabriel Editions Boycott Records Next Music Listenable Prosthetic Roadrunner

Mario François Duplantier (born 19 June 1981) is a French-American musician and artist. He is best known as the drummer for the heavy metal band Gojira. Mario is famous for his powerful and precise drumming. He uses complex rhythms and unique jazz-like drum fills. Since 2009, he has also been practicing painting and drawing.

Mario became interested in music early on and started playing drums at age eleven. In 1996, he helped start the death metal band Godzilla with his older brother Joe. After teaching himself for a while, he joined the Agostini drum school. In 1998, he also co-founded another band called Empalot. In 2001, Godzilla changed its name to Gojira because of legal reasons. They then released their first album, Terra Incognita. His side project Empalot took a break in 2004 as Gojira became more popular. Mario gained experience playing many different music styles. These included extreme metal, jazz, rock, and funk drumming. He showed his paintings in France in 2010. Mario has dual citizenship, meaning he is a citizen of both France and the U.S..

After touring and recording a lot, Mario Duplantier became known around the world. People have called him "one of metal's most creative and technical drummers." Music experts and magazines have listed him as one of the "world's best metal drummers." He was even voted No. 1 four times.

Growing Up

Mario Duplantier was born in Bayonne, France, on 19 June 1981. He grew up in Ondres, a town on the southwest coast of France. His family encouraged creativity and art. His mother, Patricia, was American and grew up in Los Angeles. His father, Dominique Duplantier, is a French painter and architectural drafter. His parents met in Europe in the early 1970s and settled in Ondres.

Their old family house and his father's art studio were in the Landes forest. His father spent his life painting and drawing buildings for cities in southwest France. Mario has a brother, Joe, and a sister, Gabrielle, who is a fine-art photographer. His mother described him as a "funny, lovable, carefree and open child." As a child, Mario spent a lot of time in his father's and sister's studios. Mario had many ear infections when he was very young. These health issues made him and his brother care a lot about the environment. His parents supported his choice to become a musician. However, they also encouraged him to get his diploma. He earned a French Baccalauréat in literature. He later said, "we had fulfilled the contract, we could do what we wanted."

Music Journey

Starting Out

Mario grew up listening to rock music, the Beatles, Tina Turner, and Michael Jackson. He said the first song that inspired him was "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen. Later, a Metallica cassette tape from his brother introduced him to heavy metal. He was amazed watching his brother play guitar. They both knew they would form a band together. Mario first tried drums by hitting a table with chopsticks while listening to Metallica. His mother was very supportive and bought him his first drum kit. He started playing drums at age eleven. At twelve, he formed his first band with a school friend. They played songs by Nirvana, Metallica, and Sepultura. Then he discovered even more extreme metal.

At thirteen, Mario started practicing double bass drums seriously. He became a death metal drummer in his band called Putride. He was known for being very mature musically. He said, "I was already a real perfectionist tyrant at thirteen." His brother Joe added, "they were ten times better than my band at the time."

Godzilla (1996−2001)

At age fourteen, Mario wanted to start a band with his brother Joe, who was nineteen. They wanted to play technical and melodic death metal. They put an ad in a local music store and soon met Christian Andreu and Alexandre Cornillon. In 1996, they named the band Godzilla. Mario said they played "in an extremely rigorous, almost obsessive way." He explained the band's goal:

"Our main goal was to show our feelings through art. It was music, but it could have been painting or theater. From the start, our music helped us express our emotions. The power of metal music fit our inner needs perfectly. Its tribal and raw sound helped us turn our anger into positive energy. The story of Godzilla, a giant monster born from nuclear radiation, matched our anger about human mistakes."

In 1996, Godzilla released their first demo tape, Victim. Even though it was made by amateurs, it showed a unique "syncopated groove." The band started playing in the underground music scene.

In 1997, the band released Possessed. By this time, Mario was developing his own drumming style. He had not yet taken drum lessons. With his mother's support, he joined the Agostini drum school in France. He spent seven years learning jazz, Afro-Cuban, and rock drumming. He learned to be precise and use dynamics. He also studied music theory and how to write drum sheet music.

In 1998, Jean-Michel Labadie replaced Alexandre Cornillon on bass.

Godzilla released two more demos: Saturate in 1999 and Wisdom Comes in 2000. These marked the end of their "amateur" period. Mario then started a very strict practice routine.

Empalot (1998−2004)

Empalot was a side project of the Duplantier brothers and their friends. It was active during Gojira's early years in France. The band had nine musicians on stage and toured France between 1999 and 2004. The project then went on a break.

Playing rock and funk music in Empalot helped Mario develop a "groovy aspect" to his drumming. He learned to use hi-hat openings and ghost notes. Empalot's music used very little double bass drumming.

Gojira (2001−Present)

In 2001, Godzilla changed its name to Gojira. Their first album, Terra Incognita, came out that same year. It already showed their unique "ultra-heavy, rhythmically precise crunching" sound.

In 2003, Gojira released their next album, The Link. This album showed more variety and focused on melody. It had a "quasi-industrial aesthetic and near-atonal brutality."

At that time, Mario knew he needed to improve his drumming. He created his own double bass drum exercises to play faster and with more control. Every day, he practiced two hours of paradiddles on the double kick, except on weekends. He also did a second daily exercise. This included thirty minutes of paradiddles and then one hour of constant double bass. He finished with "straight singles on each foot" for ten minutes.

Duplantier performing with Gojira in 2012

In 2005, Gojira released their very popular album, From Mars to Sirius.

In December 2006, Mario went on his first North American tour with Gojira. They were a support band for Children of Bodom.

Their fourth album, The Way of All Flesh, was released in 2008.

In 2009, the band started their first North American headlining tour. This showed them as a leading band in the French metal scene.

In 2012, Gojira released their fifth album, L'Enfant Sauvage. Mario's drumming on this album was more focused on raw energy. It also kept a "live" feel. When recording the drums, most songs were recorded in one take, with only small changes later.

In 2016, the band released Magma, which became a big commercial success. The band made their music less complex on Magma. However, AllMusic's John D. Buchanan said that "the music is still incredibly heavy." The album's overall sound came from a desire to "change the dynamic" and "go straight to the point." They also wanted to add "more colors" to their songs. By late 2016, Mario had completed seventeen tours around the United States with Gojira.

Mario focused on the groove for the album Fortitude. He still kept some polyrhythm patterns. He said that writing songs was more about the band working together than just drum performance. The way they recorded drums was similar to L'Enfant Sauvage. In 2021, he was still doing his daily double bass exercises. He also mentioned that drums would be more important on their eighth album. This album would have more technical and experimental drum patterns. In May 2021, Mario appeared on NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers. He played drums as part of his time with the 8G Band.

Most of Gojira's songs started with Mario's drum patterns. Examples include "Remembrance," "The Art of Dying," and "Explosia." Other songs were created when the four musicians jammed together. These include "Sphinx," "Born for One Thing," and "Amazonia."

Drumming Style

Mario Duplantier is known for his technical and precise drumming. He uses fast double-bass drumming, complex polyrhythmic lines, mid-tempo rock grooves, and precise tom fills. He also adds jazzy drum breaks and blast beats. Graham Hartmann of Loudwire said, "Mario is one of metal's most creative rhythmic and technical drummers." Sebastien Benoits of Batterie Magazine noted that his drumming style makes him stand out from other extreme metal drummers. Music journalist Spencer Kaufman of Loudwire commented that "his artful drumming provides color and shade to Gojira's signature light and dark sound." He can play everything from fast blast beats to groovy rhythms and even jazz elements. Laurent Bendahan of Batteur Magazine praised his "sense of experimentation" and "explosive strike." Revolver magazine described his drumming as going "from extreme-metal blasts to jazzy fills to huge stomping beats."

Mario plays drums in many different styles through Gojira's music. These include technical death metal, thrash metal, progressive metal, groove metal, and avant-garde metal.

He warms up for over an hour before each show. Gojira's live concerts often include his drum solos. Sometimes, Mario even plays guitar during live shows. This happens when he and his brother, Joe, switch instruments. He practices the drums alone for four to five hours every day.

Mario Duplantier says his musical influences include Death's Sean Reinert, Metallica's Lars Ulrich, and Sepultura's Igor Cavalera.

Personal Life

Mario Duplantier has dual nationality in France and the United States. This means he is a citizen of both countries. He has two passports, one from each country. He is married to Anne Deguehegny, a French videographer who creates Gojira's live visuals. They have a daughter together. The family lived in New York City for five years, and their daughter went to school there.

On 5 July 2015, his mother, Patricia Rosa Duplantier, passed away from cancer in France.

To stay in good shape for drumming, Mario runs for less than an hour every day or every other day. He also does abdominal exercises. This helps him stay physically fit and improves his cardiovascular endurance. When he is in the French Basque Country, he practices bodyboarding and surfing for an hour each day. Mario has been bodyboarding since he was a child. He sometimes surfs with Robert Trujillo in California and Biarritz when Robert visits.

In February 2022, Mario Duplantier said he lived in Biarritz, in southwestern France.

Artistic Side

Mario Duplantier has "developed his drawing, painting, and music skills in an environment of freedom and creativity." His mother, a yoga teacher, encouraged him to draw, paint, and do theatre.

His father was a photographer in the army. Mario's interest in photography started when he watched his sister Gabrielle take promotional photos for Gojira. In the darkroom, the "mystery of her photos" and the "beauty of her black and white" inspired him. When Mario was twenty-four, he started practicing art photography while on a Gojira tour in North America.

In 2009, Mario started painting on drumheads. This happened when the band ran out of T-shirts to sell and needed money from merchandise. That evening in Seattle, he sold ten drumheads he had painted that day.

His paintings and drawings were "unconsciously" influenced by his father's detailed drawings. He started painting while traveling between concerts in America. He said it was "a way of staying creative during the many dead times." He is interested in the unconscious as the source of his painting style. His art is described as having an "intriguing darkness." He said, "these are a bit gloomy paintings... both quirky and mystical, a bit in the spirit of Gojira's music." He admires the artist Hieronymus Bosch. In June 2010, Mario Duplantier had a one-night art show called Cocktail à Base de Goudron (Tar Based Cocktail) in Biarritz, France. In December 2010, he had a second show, Cocktail à Base de Goudron edition 2, in Bordeaux, France.

In 2016, he created custom artwork for the album Epitaphs by the Polish band Obscure Sphinx.

In 2018, Mario also worked with SceneFour, an art team in Los Angeles. This art publisher created "Art of Drums." This is a way to make visual art using long-exposure photography. It captures drum performances with LED-lit drumsticks, combining color, motion, and lighting. It took a year to create Mario's collection called Vers le Cosmos (Towards the Cosmos). It included ten limited-edition and signed canvases. Mario decided to donate some of the money from sales to The Ocean Cleanup. Through this project, Mario joined other drummers like Bill Ward and Chad Smith.

Equipment

Mario Duplantier uses Tama drums, Zildjian cymbals, and Remo drumheads.

• Drums – Tama SC Bubinga − White Pearl w/Diamond Inlay
• Drums Tama Superstar Custom- Black Hardware And Yellow Shell
  • 22"x18" Bass Drum
  • 22"x18" Bass Drum
  • 14"x6.5" Snare Drum
  • 12"x9" Tom Tom
  • 13"x10" Tom Tom
  • 16"x16" Floor Tom

• Hardware –
  • Speed Cobra (HP910LSW)
  • DW 5000 Bass Drum Pedals
  • Iron Cobra Lever Glide Hi-Hat Stand (HH905)
  • 1st Chair Ergo-Rider Drum Throne (HT730)
  • Gibraltar Rack And Clamps Hardware

• Cymbals – Zildjian
  • 13" A Custom Hi-Hats
  • 21" Z Custom Mega Bell Ride
  • 18" A Custom Projection Crash
  • 19" A Custom Projection Crash
  • 20" A Custom Projection Crash
  • 10" A Custom Splash
  • 20" A Custom China (x2)
• Other
  • Mario Duplantier Signature Sticks

Music Releases

With Gojira

Demos

• Victim (as Godzilla) (1996)
• Possessed (as Godzilla) (1997)
• Saturate (as Godzilla) (1999)
• Wisdom Comes (as Godzilla) (2000)

EPs

• Maciste All'Inferno (Gojira) (2003)
• End of Time (Gojira) (2012)

Studio albums

• Terra Incognita (2001)
• The Link (2003)
• From Mars to Sirius (2005)
• The Way of All Flesh (2008)
• L'Enfant Sauvage (2012)
• Magma (2016)
• Fortitude (2021)

With Empalot

• Brout (demo, 1999)
• Tous aux Cèpes (full-length, 2002)
• Empalot en Concert (live, 2004)

Awards and Recognitions

• Bernhard Castiglioni of Drummerworld (a top website for drummers) included Mario Duplantier on his list of "The Metal Drummers."
• In 2012, he won "Best Drummer of Modern Metal" by MetalSucks.
• In 2020, Mario was ranked No. 5 on Revolver magazine's list of the "5 Greatest Metal Drummers of All Time." He was also ranked No. 21 on Loudwires list of "The 66 Best Metal + Hard Rock Drummers of All Time."

See also

In Spanish: Mario Duplantier para niños