Interview: Max Cavalera

Max Cavalera
Interviewed by Ryan Buege
On May 10, 2003

Max Cavalera: Hello.
Ryan Buege: Hello. Hi Max.

MC: Hey, how you doing?
RB: Pretty good. It's so cool to be talking to you.

RB: I saw you guys in concert on April 26th in Minneapolis, and I was wondering, how are fans responding all over the country to the tour so far?
MC: I think really good. Most of the shows are really packed. They love the new stuff just as much as the others. We've been on a long tour, you know. We worked, we came from Europe, we did 21 countries there, and now we are starting in the U.S.. Yeah, it's great, man, it's a great tour. Soulfly's kicking ass.

RB: Yeah I could tell at the show. Is there any cities that you feel that you have to hit when you tour the U.S.?
MC: No, we want to play anywhere that there is fans ready for us, and there is a lot of them actually, you know. We got a very, very awesome fanbase that's stretched out to many different countries. Um, here in the U.S. too there is great, a lot of fanbase. So, it's a matter of if we have time to do it more than anything else. And we're finding the time, I think we're covering really good places, really good spots, and the tour goes on for a while. And we've still got to go back to Europe and stuff so we just want to playing and keep it on the road.

RB: Yeah, everyone at the concert was really into it, so it was really cool. Is there any bands you'd still like to tour with that you haven't yet?
MC: Not by mind now, no. I'm sure there's always going to be something. I think we could do something with the Deftones. Yeah, I've played with them in some festivals, but we've never done a full tour. I think that would be awesome. Yeah, you know we did the Slayer tour, which was great. We did the Static-X tour, the Pantera tour. All of those are great. But you know, on the top of my mind right now is something with the Deftones. That is something that I suggest that would be pretty cool.

RB: Who's idea is it to play the covers that you do? Like I know you did a "Territorial Pissings" cover for Nirvana recently.
MC: I do. Most of the time I spend a lot of time in the bus, in the back of the bus listening to music, and sometimes I hear a song and I think, 'man it would be fun to cover this'.

RB: How do you feel about bands that used to open for you like Papa Roach, System Of A Down, and Incubus going on to platinum status?
MC: I'm happy for them, you know. Like I'm happy for System Of A Down's success, and, you know, we toured with them, you're right. I don't remember Papa Roach. I don't remember if I played with them or not (here is the link proving they did). But definitely System Of A Down. I'm glad they're doing good, and they're friends with our band, they're friends with all of us, and I think that's really cool as long as they don't turn into dicks, but I don't think that's going to happen, you know. Like Fred Durst's case, he's like one of a kind. We worked with him and it was cool, but nowadays he's just a dick. It's like nobody even wants to see that guy. We have no respect for people like that, and I'm sorry, I really apologize to Soulfly fans that I put him on my record. It won't happen again.

RB: What would you say the difference is between Soulfly live and Soulfly in the studio? Like how do you work differently?
MC: We are more, kind of like scientists, mostly me. More of a scientists type music person, always looking for these wierd sounds and intruments. And on the tour we are more militar. You know, more like I want to make sure that everbody plays as good as they can every night. You have to kick ass every night, no matter what, no matter how many people. So it's like two Max's. One is more experimental, in the studio, and the other is more militar, on the road.

RB: Have you gotten anything written for the upcoming album?
MC: I got some stuff written that sounds really cool. I think it's going to surprise a lot of people. There's some stuff that's going to be super heavy, and heavier than what people expect. Kind of like Hell Hammer heavy style. Very, very minimalisc. Very, like, two riffs, two chords. But, you know, it's just so brutal. I've been flirting around a lot with dubbed music, and I think some of the jams you'll hear on the Soulfly albums are Brazillian style jams. On the new album, you'll hear a lot more dub on this album, which is going to be pretty cool. It's going to really take it to another level.

RB: I think that's what the fans are looking for. When you write the songs, does everybody get involved? Or is it just you that sits down to write?
MC: I write the main part of the song, the core, the original idea. When I translate and show it to the rest of the band, then everybody gets involved and contributes and that's the beauty of it. And now there has been three albums that Soulfly has done like that, and it works amazing for us because the guys come with their musicianship which is really good. Then Roy, Marcelo, Mikey, they're really great players, and I am a songwriter. I've been a songwriter for my entire life, I wrote everything on all the Sepultura classic stuff and all of that. So it's like it works for us. I spend more time then them in the music cause I have to come up with the main idea, and they don't have to do that. What I ask from them once I give the idea to them, is to do the best that they can making my idea skyrocket into something much bigger than what I have in mind, and they do that. A good example of that is Jumpdafuckup. I wrote the song, but when you hear the song with all of the other effects that are going through the song, the ending of the song with all the ambient effects is something that the guys put on, and I really like that. And that's why. On the new album the song One is a perfect example. All the little details the drums are doing and the guitars are doing, like some really cool sounds, that's all from the guys and I have nothing to do with that. I just wrote the song.

RB: Last Of The Mohicans was my favorite song off of 3, and I was just wondering what made you kind of take a step back in time and write something that was a lot thrashier than you had on the previous two albums.
MC: I felt that was just like this new song that I'm writing which has a Hell Hammer influence. I felt Last Of The Mohicans had a Nailbomb and Arise influence to it, and it was really fun to go there. I was encouraged by the band to explore and to go back to rewrite one of my classic types of sounds, and it was fun. It was really fun. And I can't explain how much, you're not the first person to say that. There has been a lot of people who have said that it is their favorite song off of it. They wish there was even more songs like that on the record, but I think that more of that will definitely come in the future. It's just really cool for me to go back in time, like you said, and I have those riffs in me. I was built up with those kind of riffs in me like Arise and Beneath The Remains type of riffs. They come out of me instantly, I just have to grab my guitar. And once I did that the guys in the band were like, "Well man, you still can write fast shit." And I look at them like, anytime man. (Laughs) Anytime you guys are ready for this. I always got riffs coming out of my ears from stuff like that. So in the future we'll hear more songs like that cause I love doing that shit anyway.

RB: Was it easier for you to start your career with Soulfly knowing that you had the Sepultura fanbase to build off of?
MC: It wasn't easy, but I think I have two things in my mind that were essential. One thing was the writing. The ability to write material that the fans listen to and they go, 'This is the same Max that we loved in the Sepultura days'. And the fact that we all believed in Soulfly and never gave up. Even though it was hard, we all thought from the beginning we will believe that Soulfly will make it and that we will go against the odds and survive all the troubles that came from Sepultura. And with that with us, and the fans acceptance when they heard the songs. Some people still come up to me and say that the first Soulfly album was one of their favorite records because it just had a huge amount of powerful songs on it. Eye For An Eye, Tribe, and other really powerful stuff on the record. And without that, without those songs it could have been a different story. Soulfly probably never would have taken off. So it has a lot to do with the songs being so strong and I'm really happy with that. It was the right thing to do was to write those kind of songs.

RB: How is your current relationship with Sepultura?
MC: I think we should just talk about Soulfly, but I got to get going to another interview so we'll have to cut this short. It's been cool talking to you.

RB: Yeah that's cool. Thanks for everything. I love the band and everything that you've done and thanks for the interview.
MC: For sure man, thanks for the support. Can't wait to see you next time around.