and from Sepultura, Nailbomb and Cavalera Conspiracy...
As the face of Sepultura, Nailbomb, Soulfly and more recently Cavalera Conspiracy, Max Cavalera has been at the forefront of the metal community for well over 20 years and is considered somewhat of a musical legend. A true groundbreaking artist with vision and integrity, who has also helped to pen some of the metal worlds most enduring and recognisable albums, in the form of Sepultura classics ‘Chaos A.D’ and ‘Roots’ as well as Soulfly’s brilliant debut self titled album.
It was a great honour on the eve of the release of the latest Soulfly album "Omen" for me to be able to sit down with Max and discuss a number of different topics, while looking inside the mind of one of the greatest metal frontmen of all time.
Altsounds: Are you enjoying being back in the UK and playing some shows?
Max: Yeah, looking forward to it.
Altsounds: Is this (May 16th) the first show of the tour?
Max: This is the first UK show. We did a festival in Switzerland a couple of days ago which started the tour,it was very good but we’re excited to be here.
Altsounds: You’re playing some smaller shows as well, so you’ll be able to get right in there with the crowd.
Max: Yeah, we’ll be able to mesh with the crowd, right near the crowd. It’s good.
Altsounds: You have a new album "Omen" coming out. How would you describe the new album?
Max: I think its more a mix of metal and hardcore, kind of really combined both styles, they come together on a lot of parts on the album. The first song ('Bloodbath and Beyond') is very hardcore oriented and its also kinda like death metal/thrash metal kinda style, the style Soulfly went into on "Dark Ages" and then went into "Conquer" and continues on "Omen", more of a thrash style.
Altsounds: So have more of the world music elements been removed this time?
Max: Yeah, it's taking a break from that. I still play those songs live like 'Primitive', 'Eye for and Eye', but most of the material from "Omen" is faster and more aggressive.
Altsounds: Was "Omen" a difficult album for you to write?
Max: It was difficult in a sense that I tried to make it better than the last one, because "Conquer" was really well received and some people didn’t think we could go any further from that, but I think "Omen" does go further than "Conquer" and so in then sense it was difficult but also liberating when it was done, and when I listened to it I was very happy with the final result.
Altsounds: Is that where the album title comes from, in the sense that this is an 'omen' of things to come?
Max: The title actually came when I was touring the UK with Soulfly and I was in London and I saw a spray paint on the wall and it just said Omen. I said "that’s a cool title for an album", and so I put it in my book and said "when the time to make the album comes and I don’t have a better name I will have this name". I didn’t come up with a better name. (Laughs)
Altsounds: How would you compare "Omen" to the rest of the Soulfly back catalogue, where do you think it fits in?
Max: I think it's way up there, it's one of the best and the strongest. It's just a really explosive kind of album that’s strong all the way through it, doesn’t let up, like I say it's got a lot of hardcore and metal elements with death metal and thrash metal. In terms of energy I'd put it as one of the best ones.
Altsounds: The album features appearances by Greg Puciato (Dillinger Escape Plan) and Tommy Victor (Prong); how did those guys get involved with it?
Max: Tommy was on tour with me. I met Tommy in 1994 when I opened for Pantera. Sepultura and Prong both opened for Pantera. I met Tommy again last year when Prong opened for Soulfly and I invited to come sing on the new album and he was very happy to. I told him "I wrote a song especially for you, it has kind of a Prong vibe to it I hope you like it" and he did, and we came up with the words for 'Lethal Injection' and it was cool. Greg was a little bit different; I was at the Deftones show in L.A., I was singing with the Deftones, it was a benefit for the bass player Chi that’s in a coma. In the dressing room I saw Greg; I had met Greg on the Cavalera Conspiracy tour when they opened up for us in the U.S., so I said to him "Hey man, how you doing? Do you live here?", and he said "Yeah", I said "I’m in the studio doing some recording, would you like to do some screaming? Cos I’m doing a new Soulfly album and I think you’d be great on it". Because I’m a fan. I think Dillinger Escape Plan is one of the greatest bands to come out in the last couple of years, very original; Greg’s voice and lyrics are great. He was so excited about it that he sent a message to Gloria the night before we did it saying 'tell Max we are going to do something fucking epic'. So I was like 'cool, this guy’s really excited', and he was, he came in the studio and heard 'Rise of the Fallen', and we started working on it; he put the first verse on it and right there the song took off huge. We did the chorus, and then he did the last part all on his own. When we listened back I was like 'this is a great song!'; it just turned out fantastic, it was so strong that we decided it should be the first single, so we shot a video for it that should be out now.
Altsounds: You’re known for having done a few collaborations in your career, most notably as part of Soulfly. Do you enjoy doing collaborations and how does it change the writing dynamic?
Max; I like doing it very much, I think it's really cool for fans to hear artists sing in different bands, I always liked that. The same if I go do something, like I did with Dave Grohl on the Probot project: when I sing a Dave Grohl song it sounds different to what I normally do; It’s the same as having Greg on my song, 'Rise of the Fallen' doesn’t sound like a Dillinger Escape Plan song, it's structured very differently, it’s a Soulfly song but you have Greg’s voice on it, so it's really cool and exciting, it's something I like to do and will continue to do. On the new Cavalera Conspiracy album I’ve just finished, we have Roger from Agnostic Front singing one song, and to me he is one of the most legendary figures of New York hardcore; from the beginning of the hardcore scene in New York Agnostic Front were one of the first bands, and I sang him a song called 'Linch Mob', it's really very kick ass. I love doing collaborations and I want to do more of them.
Altsounds: Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with that you have never had a chance to?
Max: There was a guy who is a duduk player, duduk is this instrument from Armenia and I fell in love with it. It's on the soundtrack to the Last Temptation of Christ, it's very eerie sounding, a very middle eastern spooky sounding kind of instrument; I tried to get a hold of him and it was very difficult, he is from a very different kind of world; he’s very old, like 70 years old, for a year I tried to get hold of him and obviously I could not. I kind of gave up, but I am going to try again because I would still like to have him on my album. Juvan Gasparyans is his name.
Altsounds: You recorded two bonus tracks on "Omen" with your two sons. Was that an important experience for you to share with them?
Max: Yeah! It was kinda fun too, In a punk rock way, to involve my kids in the process, because they are drummers as well and they play in the house all day long, I listen to them play and they think they are ready to record because they sound really good, they bang the drums all day long. So I let them pick their own cover song: Zion picked 'Refuse/Resist', which I think fits him really well because his heartbeat opened the original Sepultura "Chaos A.D" album, that’s his heartbeat on the beginning; Igor picked 'Excel', kind of like a thrash punk skate Venice band from the 80s, so that was fun having them in the studio.
Altsounds: With you and the other members of Soulfly having different projects away from the band, do you think that helps with creativity when you all get back together to write as a band?
Max: Yeah, I think it adds to it, because the more projects you do the more experience you get, like Mark does his solo project which is really cool, I really support that. I love his solo albums, they are full of killer guitar playing and a lot of flamenco stuff, and he grows a lot as a player, so when he comes in to do Soulfly he’s more experienced and he’s got more to offer because of doing these solo projects.
Altsounds; You have just finished Recording the second Cavalera Conspiracy album. What can you tell us about it?
Max; It's going to surprise a lot of people. Igor is playing really fast, a lot of the songs are going to be really fast: they have got that kind of 'Arise' vibe to it, it’s a very adrenaline driven album. The songs are shorter too, they are like a minute and a half to two minutes, which is something I wanted to do to for a long time because I was kind of bored of four to five minute songs; I wanted to take it back to being shorter, and then there’s the song that I mentioned with Roger from Agnostic Front. It’s a pretty good album.
Altsounds: I read that you guys were considering a remix album. Would that be out before or after the new album?
Max: Probably afterwards because I have no idea on that, so maybe something for the future.
Altsounds: How does the writing process for a Cavalera Conspiracy album differ to writing a Soulfly album?
Max: I write different for Cavalera because of the way Igor plays, he has a style that is his own, so I write my riffs to fit more of Igor's style of drumming which is a little bit different; when I write at home, I know what goes to what, I hear a song and know that it's Soulfly material or Cavalera material so I divide them. The way I write is the same, me with my guitar, a four track and a drum machine.
Altsounds: Soulfly are headling Graspop festival alongside Kiss and Aerosmith. How did it feel being invited to do that?
Max: It's cool, it's exciting. It’s a festival I’ve been a part of the last couple of years, and it's getting bigger and bigger. We have this chance to headline which is huge for us, so we’re kind of nervous and excited. Soulfly normally does good in festivals, we have a set that’s specially built for festivals that has a different vibe to it, so we’re gonna go out there with that, in festival mode; I think it should be good, it’s a huge festival and headlining with big names like that is cool.
Altsounds: How do you feel about being considered a musical legend?
Max: Old. (Laughs) It's cool, something I didn’t really think much about, I didn’t think I was gonna last this long. I thought I would be dead by 30, that’s the way I was thinking when I was 20, so I didn’t give a shit 'cause I thought I'd be dead, but I did not die I tell you. (Laughs) Now I’m 40 and still playing, I’ve done a lot with Sepultura, with Nailbomb and now Soulfly, 7 albums with Soulfly...I guess people tend to call you a legend, it's cool, it doesn’t affect me.
Altsounds: After so long in the business, what do you think of the current state of metal and the younger generation of bands?
Max: Yeah I actually like Dillinger Escape Plan, together with Gojira, Warbringer and Municipal Waste, the revival of thrash metal is really cool that happened last year. I think it's good, the thing about metal is it never really dies, it goes less popular sometimes, more popular others, but it never dies because there’s always going to be someone putting something out, whether it’s a band carrying on or a new band coming through showing some new blood, there’s always something going on.
Altsounds: After being the face of four influential bands, what have been your career high points?
Max: Survival, being able to survive the trend, like when I was in Sepultura and we survived grunge, everyone was talking about Nirvana and Pearl Jam and we were making "Chas A.D", that was our statement and our state of mind at the time. Survival is the best thing.
Altsounds: You were one of the faces that helped build Roadrunner Records into the label it became as part of Sepultura, and you have had a career long relationship with them ever since. Are you proud of all you have accomplished alongside them?
Max: It's been a long but really good relationship; they let me do what I want to do which is great because I’ve got freedom. I’m not on a label that wants me to change or expects a pop album, they don’t want that. They let me do what I want to, so I do Soulfly and Cavalera Conspiracy albums exactly like I want them to be; with that freedom I have we work well together, and they know the value I have for being on the label for so long and they respect that, so it is a good relationship I have with them.
Altsounds: How do you feel about the constant question of whether the classic Sepultura line up is going to reunite?
Max: It almost happened last year; I actually called Andreas myself and talked to him about it because I wanna do it, and I said 'we should do it man, it’s the time', and he said 'let's do it'. The next thing I know he has all these crazy demands, involving all these people that work for them and having him be the boss of everything, and I said 'that’s not how it's gonna be if it's gonna happen', and he started talking a lot about money and shit like that so I backed off. It's not about the money, it's about the name of the band and showing people what we were about when we were together, so now I'm not so sure. I don’t know if it's gonna happen, I’m not worried about it, I think once people hear the new Cavalera Conspiracy album they are going to forget about the reunion, because it's really powerful stuff.
Altsounds: How do you feel about the band doing a 20th anniversary tour without you being attached to it?
Max: It's weak. At least when Igor was there, there was still a founding member; when Igor left it was kind of a joke, no one original is in that band that started it so It's like a cover band and it's kind of a joke.
Altsounds: What things are left that you would still like to accomplish in your career?
Max: To continue to keep doing this is important, I want to keep playing music until I drop dead. I don’t have any specific plans like world domination (laughs) I just keep playing, I love playing and making records and going on tour, I never get tired of this.
Altsounds: So this is something you can still see yourself doing in your 60s?
Max: Yeah, like I said until I drop dead.
Altsounds: Is there anything else you would like to add for the readers of Altsounds.com?
Max: Thank you for the support, I hope I will see everyone on this tour. The UK has always been great to Soulfly. So thank you!
It was a great honour on the eve of the release of the latest Soulfly album "Omen" for me to be able to sit down with Max and discuss a number of different topics, while looking inside the mind of one of the greatest metal frontmen of all time.
Altsounds: Are you enjoying being back in the UK and playing some shows?
Max: Yeah, looking forward to it.
Altsounds: Is this (May 16th) the first show of the tour?
Max: This is the first UK show. We did a festival in Switzerland a couple of days ago which started the tour,it was very good but we’re excited to be here.
Altsounds: You’re playing some smaller shows as well, so you’ll be able to get right in there with the crowd.
Max: Yeah, we’ll be able to mesh with the crowd, right near the crowd. It’s good.
Altsounds: You have a new album "Omen" coming out. How would you describe the new album?
Max: I think its more a mix of metal and hardcore, kind of really combined both styles, they come together on a lot of parts on the album. The first song ('Bloodbath and Beyond') is very hardcore oriented and its also kinda like death metal/thrash metal kinda style, the style Soulfly went into on "Dark Ages" and then went into "Conquer" and continues on "Omen", more of a thrash style.
Altsounds: So have more of the world music elements been removed this time?
Max: Yeah, it's taking a break from that. I still play those songs live like 'Primitive', 'Eye for and Eye', but most of the material from "Omen" is faster and more aggressive.
Altsounds: Was "Omen" a difficult album for you to write?
Max: It was difficult in a sense that I tried to make it better than the last one, because "Conquer" was really well received and some people didn’t think we could go any further from that, but I think "Omen" does go further than "Conquer" and so in then sense it was difficult but also liberating when it was done, and when I listened to it I was very happy with the final result.
Altsounds: Is that where the album title comes from, in the sense that this is an 'omen' of things to come?
Max: The title actually came when I was touring the UK with Soulfly and I was in London and I saw a spray paint on the wall and it just said Omen. I said "that’s a cool title for an album", and so I put it in my book and said "when the time to make the album comes and I don’t have a better name I will have this name". I didn’t come up with a better name. (Laughs)
Altsounds: How would you compare "Omen" to the rest of the Soulfly back catalogue, where do you think it fits in?
Max: I think it's way up there, it's one of the best and the strongest. It's just a really explosive kind of album that’s strong all the way through it, doesn’t let up, like I say it's got a lot of hardcore and metal elements with death metal and thrash metal. In terms of energy I'd put it as one of the best ones.
Altsounds: The album features appearances by Greg Puciato (Dillinger Escape Plan) and Tommy Victor (Prong); how did those guys get involved with it?
Max: Tommy was on tour with me. I met Tommy in 1994 when I opened for Pantera. Sepultura and Prong both opened for Pantera. I met Tommy again last year when Prong opened for Soulfly and I invited to come sing on the new album and he was very happy to. I told him "I wrote a song especially for you, it has kind of a Prong vibe to it I hope you like it" and he did, and we came up with the words for 'Lethal Injection' and it was cool. Greg was a little bit different; I was at the Deftones show in L.A., I was singing with the Deftones, it was a benefit for the bass player Chi that’s in a coma. In the dressing room I saw Greg; I had met Greg on the Cavalera Conspiracy tour when they opened up for us in the U.S., so I said to him "Hey man, how you doing? Do you live here?", and he said "Yeah", I said "I’m in the studio doing some recording, would you like to do some screaming? Cos I’m doing a new Soulfly album and I think you’d be great on it". Because I’m a fan. I think Dillinger Escape Plan is one of the greatest bands to come out in the last couple of years, very original; Greg’s voice and lyrics are great. He was so excited about it that he sent a message to Gloria the night before we did it saying 'tell Max we are going to do something fucking epic'. So I was like 'cool, this guy’s really excited', and he was, he came in the studio and heard 'Rise of the Fallen', and we started working on it; he put the first verse on it and right there the song took off huge. We did the chorus, and then he did the last part all on his own. When we listened back I was like 'this is a great song!'; it just turned out fantastic, it was so strong that we decided it should be the first single, so we shot a video for it that should be out now.
Altsounds: You’re known for having done a few collaborations in your career, most notably as part of Soulfly. Do you enjoy doing collaborations and how does it change the writing dynamic?
Max; I like doing it very much, I think it's really cool for fans to hear artists sing in different bands, I always liked that. The same if I go do something, like I did with Dave Grohl on the Probot project: when I sing a Dave Grohl song it sounds different to what I normally do; It’s the same as having Greg on my song, 'Rise of the Fallen' doesn’t sound like a Dillinger Escape Plan song, it's structured very differently, it’s a Soulfly song but you have Greg’s voice on it, so it's really cool and exciting, it's something I like to do and will continue to do. On the new Cavalera Conspiracy album I’ve just finished, we have Roger from Agnostic Front singing one song, and to me he is one of the most legendary figures of New York hardcore; from the beginning of the hardcore scene in New York Agnostic Front were one of the first bands, and I sang him a song called 'Linch Mob', it's really very kick ass. I love doing collaborations and I want to do more of them.
Altsounds: Is there anyone you would like to collaborate with that you have never had a chance to?
Max: There was a guy who is a duduk player, duduk is this instrument from Armenia and I fell in love with it. It's on the soundtrack to the Last Temptation of Christ, it's very eerie sounding, a very middle eastern spooky sounding kind of instrument; I tried to get a hold of him and it was very difficult, he is from a very different kind of world; he’s very old, like 70 years old, for a year I tried to get hold of him and obviously I could not. I kind of gave up, but I am going to try again because I would still like to have him on my album. Juvan Gasparyans is his name.
Altsounds: You recorded two bonus tracks on "Omen" with your two sons. Was that an important experience for you to share with them?
Max: Yeah! It was kinda fun too, In a punk rock way, to involve my kids in the process, because they are drummers as well and they play in the house all day long, I listen to them play and they think they are ready to record because they sound really good, they bang the drums all day long. So I let them pick their own cover song: Zion picked 'Refuse/Resist', which I think fits him really well because his heartbeat opened the original Sepultura "Chaos A.D" album, that’s his heartbeat on the beginning; Igor picked 'Excel', kind of like a thrash punk skate Venice band from the 80s, so that was fun having them in the studio.
Altsounds: With you and the other members of Soulfly having different projects away from the band, do you think that helps with creativity when you all get back together to write as a band?
Max: Yeah, I think it adds to it, because the more projects you do the more experience you get, like Mark does his solo project which is really cool, I really support that. I love his solo albums, they are full of killer guitar playing and a lot of flamenco stuff, and he grows a lot as a player, so when he comes in to do Soulfly he’s more experienced and he’s got more to offer because of doing these solo projects.
Altsounds; You have just finished Recording the second Cavalera Conspiracy album. What can you tell us about it?
Max; It's going to surprise a lot of people. Igor is playing really fast, a lot of the songs are going to be really fast: they have got that kind of 'Arise' vibe to it, it’s a very adrenaline driven album. The songs are shorter too, they are like a minute and a half to two minutes, which is something I wanted to do to for a long time because I was kind of bored of four to five minute songs; I wanted to take it back to being shorter, and then there’s the song that I mentioned with Roger from Agnostic Front. It’s a pretty good album.
Altsounds: I read that you guys were considering a remix album. Would that be out before or after the new album?
Max: Probably afterwards because I have no idea on that, so maybe something for the future.
Altsounds: How does the writing process for a Cavalera Conspiracy album differ to writing a Soulfly album?
Max: I write different for Cavalera because of the way Igor plays, he has a style that is his own, so I write my riffs to fit more of Igor's style of drumming which is a little bit different; when I write at home, I know what goes to what, I hear a song and know that it's Soulfly material or Cavalera material so I divide them. The way I write is the same, me with my guitar, a four track and a drum machine.
Altsounds: Soulfly are headling Graspop festival alongside Kiss and Aerosmith. How did it feel being invited to do that?
Max: It's cool, it's exciting. It’s a festival I’ve been a part of the last couple of years, and it's getting bigger and bigger. We have this chance to headline which is huge for us, so we’re kind of nervous and excited. Soulfly normally does good in festivals, we have a set that’s specially built for festivals that has a different vibe to it, so we’re gonna go out there with that, in festival mode; I think it should be good, it’s a huge festival and headlining with big names like that is cool.
Altsounds: How do you feel about being considered a musical legend?
Max: Old. (Laughs) It's cool, something I didn’t really think much about, I didn’t think I was gonna last this long. I thought I would be dead by 30, that’s the way I was thinking when I was 20, so I didn’t give a shit 'cause I thought I'd be dead, but I did not die I tell you. (Laughs) Now I’m 40 and still playing, I’ve done a lot with Sepultura, with Nailbomb and now Soulfly, 7 albums with Soulfly...I guess people tend to call you a legend, it's cool, it doesn’t affect me.
Altsounds: After so long in the business, what do you think of the current state of metal and the younger generation of bands?
Max: Yeah I actually like Dillinger Escape Plan, together with Gojira, Warbringer and Municipal Waste, the revival of thrash metal is really cool that happened last year. I think it's good, the thing about metal is it never really dies, it goes less popular sometimes, more popular others, but it never dies because there’s always going to be someone putting something out, whether it’s a band carrying on or a new band coming through showing some new blood, there’s always something going on.
Altsounds: After being the face of four influential bands, what have been your career high points?
Max: Survival, being able to survive the trend, like when I was in Sepultura and we survived grunge, everyone was talking about Nirvana and Pearl Jam and we were making "Chas A.D", that was our statement and our state of mind at the time. Survival is the best thing.
Altsounds: You were one of the faces that helped build Roadrunner Records into the label it became as part of Sepultura, and you have had a career long relationship with them ever since. Are you proud of all you have accomplished alongside them?
Max: It's been a long but really good relationship; they let me do what I want to do which is great because I’ve got freedom. I’m not on a label that wants me to change or expects a pop album, they don’t want that. They let me do what I want to, so I do Soulfly and Cavalera Conspiracy albums exactly like I want them to be; with that freedom I have we work well together, and they know the value I have for being on the label for so long and they respect that, so it is a good relationship I have with them.
Altsounds: How do you feel about the constant question of whether the classic Sepultura line up is going to reunite?
Max: It almost happened last year; I actually called Andreas myself and talked to him about it because I wanna do it, and I said 'we should do it man, it’s the time', and he said 'let's do it'. The next thing I know he has all these crazy demands, involving all these people that work for them and having him be the boss of everything, and I said 'that’s not how it's gonna be if it's gonna happen', and he started talking a lot about money and shit like that so I backed off. It's not about the money, it's about the name of the band and showing people what we were about when we were together, so now I'm not so sure. I don’t know if it's gonna happen, I’m not worried about it, I think once people hear the new Cavalera Conspiracy album they are going to forget about the reunion, because it's really powerful stuff.
Altsounds: How do you feel about the band doing a 20th anniversary tour without you being attached to it?
Max: It's weak. At least when Igor was there, there was still a founding member; when Igor left it was kind of a joke, no one original is in that band that started it so It's like a cover band and it's kind of a joke.
Altsounds: What things are left that you would still like to accomplish in your career?
Max: To continue to keep doing this is important, I want to keep playing music until I drop dead. I don’t have any specific plans like world domination (laughs) I just keep playing, I love playing and making records and going on tour, I never get tired of this.
Altsounds: So this is something you can still see yourself doing in your 60s?
Max: Yeah, like I said until I drop dead.
Altsounds: Is there anything else you would like to add for the readers of Altsounds.com?
Max: Thank you for the support, I hope I will see everyone on this tour. The UK has always been great to Soulfly. So thank you!
