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No Rock-Star-Bullshit
18. Juni 2004
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| Soulfly- and Sepultura-Mastermind
Max Cavalera. Bild: SN/roadrunner |
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They look evil and brutal when they're on stage.
But the guys from Soulfly aren't that dangerous: FRITZ
met Max Cavalera for an Interview at the Aerdrome-Festival.
Max: We played Paris last night, so we had a
long travel, we stopped a lot. But I'm glad we made
it in time, even for the interviews.
Q: Did Dave (Elefsson, Ex-Member of Megadeth)
have any influence on the new record?
Max: Not much, because when Dave came, as a
guest, the songs were already written. I invited him
to come to the studio, saying: "I'm doing a new
soulfly record. Do you want to play in one song?"
And then it's been four songs, you know. Style by Megadeath-Dave,
it's really cool! His hand is going all over the base
and I was like "WOW!", you know, pretty exciting,
I can't do that!
Q: How did the idea come to you to have Dave
playing on the new record? He is known for his work
with Megadeth, which is totally different from Soulfly's.
It's straight, while Soulfly' is very rhythmic.
Max: Yeah, but I like working with other musicians,
knowing to make them feel comfortable, be part of the
Soulfly environment. It's the same with the song I did
with Christian from Ill nino, you hear him, but you
know, it's a soulfly song. With Dave it was really easy
to hook up. He lives in the same town. It was a really
non-stress- type of jam,.. If you want to do something
cool, just: No stress. If it starts getting any kind
of stress or bullshit, I say: See you later. It's not
supposed to be like that. It supposed to be fun. Serious,
of course, but without any rock-star-bullshit.
Q: Is that maybe because of your latin origin?
Max: Could be, we like to meet everybody. In
Brazil we make friends really easy. It's cool. I' ve
worked with different musicians for many years, from
Sepultura's early hours. Since the second record. So
I think, you are right. That's brazilian blood, we like
to meet everybody and don't give a shit. It's fun, it's
passion. It makes me happy to meet friends and make
some music. I've done a lot, from death metal to hardcore,
reaggy, word music, percussion, popular metal like slayer.
I didn't work with Ozzy, who is one of my main favourite
persons, but I sang with him in Japan, so that was really
cewl.
FRITZ: What does music mean to you?
Max: It's everything, you know. Like, even sometimes
it's annoying for people who live with me they don't
understand why I have headphones and music all the time
with me. But know they are starting to know better.
And I have the feeling that my son who is eight, is
going the same way. It's terrifying my life and my family
right now, (laughs) 'cause he asks for guitar-lessons
and of course, I'll give him.
He wants to follow me. The other one, Zyon, is into
sports: football and skateboards. He is eleven. Igor,
he's eight, is the one who's got diabetes, so he is
really been close to me, I work with him a lot, you
know, doing shit, take his blood out and things like
that, so we are tight. But his question about having
guitar-lessons came out of the blue. My chaw just dropped:
"Wow, you want to learn guitar?" And he just
said: "Yeah!" I didn't have to say anything,
I wouldn't anyway, I'd never say: "You have to
be a musician!" Never. The way to discover music
has to come from you.
FRITZ: Was it like this with your parents and
you?
Max: Yeah, like my mom and my dad never ever
tried to force music on me. Even my dad played acoustic
guitar, he'd never say: "Play guitar!" He
said: "The boy has to figure out, what he wants:"
And that's the way it went.
FRITZ: Is your family with you all the time?
Max: Not all the time, but when we can. They
are here on tour till the end of July, then we go back
to the states, when they have school, then I travel
and they stay home. So it depends, you know. But it's
cool, you know, I can take them and show them something
of the World. In America so many people only know America.
It's so sad. They don't know the rest of the world exists!
So I'm glad, my kids are not like that. They know Europe,
they know Brazil, that's good. They were with me in
Serbia too.
FRITZ: How did you get the Idea to go to Serbia?
Max: It's not really about Serbia, it's about
an adventure. It could have been somewhere else, it
could have been Romania too, just a part of the eastern
European block. It was exciting because many musicians
don't go to this part of the world. It was cool to go
to Belgrad because bombed just a couple of years ago,
they had this big war. I'm glad that I did some stuff
like that.
FRITZ: What was the most impressing thing?
Max: The buildings are pretty impressive. So
when you're driving downtown there are massive, huge
buildings destroyed from the war. They don't fix them,
that's quite hardcore actually.
And I went to the dentist there. And that was pretty
funny, because the first thing, they give you, is a
shot of vodka or whatever! I never saw that in my live!
(laughs) and then everybody's smoking cigarettes, it
was like "wow", very different! It was fun!
I came back home kind of drunken. When I told this my
friends back in America, everybody just laughed and
said: "No way!" He really got two shots of
vodka before he started working on my teeth! But it
was cool, different. I liked to experience that, got
to know the culture.
Q: You seem to be quite interested in social
items and politics. Do you try to get in touch with
the people of the countries you are travelling to?
Max: Yeah, I do. I go for a walk sometimes,
go to the neighbourhood. Maybe it can be a dangerous
situation sometimes, you know: "What the fuck are
you doing in the wrong neighbourhood?", but it
was never the case. Sometimes people have been yelling
at me in another language, but then I kept walking.
I did that in South Africa. I woke up one morning and
my wife was asleep and my kids were sleeping too, so
just took of walking and ended up in some streets with
a bazaar. And then I started talking to some people,
that was really cool. In Indonesia it was the same,
I went walking once, total ghetto-looking, cewl. But
everybody was nice. Once they see you there, they are
really cool. I like to see that side of a country most
rock-stars don't see. They only stay on a five star
hotel.
Q: Isn't that a problem because you are well-known?!
Max: Yeah, but it's cool. I don't care. And
in some places they don't know me. For example in South
Africa they think, I'm just another fucking crazy tourist
walking around. That's the cool part! In some areas
they don't know nothing about music! In some parts where
we got in Serbia, we travelled for hours in the countryside
and I felt like the world had stopped! They don't know
anything about what's going on in Iraq. There's a monastery
in the middle of nowhere and the priest with his big
beard until here (holds his hand next to his navel),
that's it. That's the world for them. It was quite amazing.
If I ever get tired of everything, that's where I'm
going. I'm moving with the priest right there.. (laughs)
FRITZ: It is said, that you're the Bob Marley
of Metal. Is that right?
Max: Naaa, you know.. I'm glad about the idea
what he meant, but you've got to be your own person.
That's the one thing I don't like about some bands:
"They gonna be the next ..blablabla.." I always
hated that! Even in the times when Sepultura was starting
getting big and some people were like: "Yeah, they
gonna be the next Metallica!" I hated that. They
were Metallica and they are great. And we were Sepultura,
completely different. We had our own ideology. And now
it's the same with Soulfly. You've got to be the one
you are
#martina "dini" lettner
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