Gojira is a progressive death metal band from Bayonne, France. Their lyrics focus on life, ecology, and spiritual themes. They were formed in 1996 by brothers Joe Duplantier (vocals and lead guitar) and Mario Duplantier (drums), Christian Andreu (guitar) and Jean-Michel Labadie (bass guitar). They had initially named their group Godzilla, but due to legal constraints had to change their name. They therefore chose to re-name their band Gojira - the original Japanese version of their name (in Japanese Gojira means gorilla-whale or gorilla the size of a whale).