“I’m ready to do a Sepultura reunion right now!”

How is it going, Max?

Good, man! I’ve got a little bit of a jetlag but I’m ok because it is going pretty good so far – great crowds everywhere!

It seems that you’re on tour most of the time…

Yeah, that’s right. I mean, we don’t tour like other people. Many other musicians come to me and say: “I’d never tour with you guys because you’re crazy! All the shit you do!” It also has to do with the places we go to – Tunisia, Bosnia. But I just love touring! To be in the studio is important, but touring means more to me – it’s so much fun!

As you’ve been to so many different interesting places – where did you meet the most extraordinary people?

Indonesia was really crazy. I was there with Sepultura, still very young. I didn’t know that they were Muslims. In fact, I didn’t know what a Muslim is. I was like: What’s that? Some kind of food? The whole crowds consisted of Muslims, all with turbans and everything. We’ve never seen that before, except in movies maybe. I remembered “Lawrence from Arabia” which was my dad’s favourite film. And the crowd there was up for a riot, it was great! I mean, I love riots! Sometimes it gets so boring on tour that I pray for a riot.

Well, we’ll do our best tonight. But did you have any problems to be allowed to perform in Indonesia?

Oh yeah, we had many problems. But that was kind of ok, because often everything is so easy. When we play at some venue in the US, the “House of Blues” for example, everything’s too perfect! I mean, this is a very nice place but it’s not interesting to perform there. Rock’n’roll should be dangerous and unpredictable. Europe is different, I think. Europe is so much apart from the States at the moment. I love to play festivals because they mean some kind of challenge. There aren’t that many festivals in the US. It’s also something special because you get together with artists you normally wouldn’t play with – artists I like, David Bowie, for example, and bands I don’t like: Hootie & the blowfish, Alanis Morissette. One time, we played at a festival somewhere in Europe, the promoter must have been high on crack or something because Alanis Morissette was put in the middle of Sepultura and Rage against the machine. I thought: “Are you nuts?” I expected a massacre! So, then she was due to play earlier which was good because I guess she did a good show for her fans.

Your music was always influenced by South American and African sounds. Did you grow up with this kind of music or heavy metal?

None, I have to say. I wasn’t interested in music at all until the age of ten or so. Believe it or not, but I thought that music is a complete waste of time. I loved football. I slept with a ball next to my head…

…as every Brazilian does?

Yeah, it’s true. The only exceptions are some metal bands who hate football – but I think they lie. They just say that to be cool. When we were kids, we went to the stadium every Sunday with our dad – sunshine, rain, thunderstorms, no matter what. Igor liked the drummers there who played samba rhythms. That was what made him become a drummer – long before getting into rock music. This is probably why he is as good as he is.

What do you think is Brazil’s biggest problem: crime, corruption, poverty?

Brazil is just a reflection of things that happen everywhere around the world, maybe not as much in some parts. It’s not a Brazilian thing, it’s a human thing. I’d like to think that all people are good people but there are about 20 or 30 percent fucked up people. You meet more normal people in rock music than in “real life” – this is a fact that astonishes many people.

Did you ever consider to take responsibility in politics at some point in the future?

I think I’m already doing it in my own way – with my music. As much as I like U2, but when I see what Bono does… I think most of it is so stupid. It’s the same with people like Angelina Jolie or other actors. Eventually, they use the promotion for their own good. When you really want to help the world, you don’t have to tell anybody, do you? Anyway, I don’t like that hero thing. Any time I get closer to it I make sure I do something fucked up. Then people say “Aaah, he’s a bastard!” At the end I’m a metal guy, you know. And we are that way, that’s how it is. I don’t like metal because it is polite, I’m into it because it is crazy. When your mother doesn’t like something, you start becoming interested in it. I was also always attracted to punk and hardcore because of that attitude those styles of music convey.

Who were your childhood heroes?

Pele was a big idol, although I was a little bit too young. I was born 1969, he was playing for New York Cosmos in the end – which did not work, that was stupid. But it wasn’t his fault, America just wasn’t ready for football at that time. I have some videos of his games and I am fucking happy that I met him once. That was on some tour with Sepultura, I can’t remember which one. We went to a kind of underground Brazilian restaurant / bar in New York. It was weird, kind of a mafia place. Pele was there and we took a picture with him. He was very nice, actually.

Do you think he knew who you are?

No, he didn’t. I’m sure he thought “Who let these guys in? Security!” But I remember him asking the name of our band. Sepultura means grave and I he was like “What’s wrong with you people?” – in a funny way. He had no idea about heavy metal, he’s just into samba and shit like that, you know.

How’s the situation with football – or soccer, as they call it – in the United States?

It’s getting bigger, I’d say. The situation has never been better. Beckham changed a lot, obviously. I mean, now you see many people walking in the street with his shirt on. But there is still a lot to do – I think we’re catching up later on. I mean, I live in Phoenix and there isn’t even one soccer team! This is ridiculous! And no disrespect to women, but – I laughed my ass of when I first heard that – in the US soccer is for girls! In schools girl teams play soccer. To me, soccer is quite a brutal game, not a game for little girls. When women play soccer in Brazil, you know that there’s something wrong with their head. So, for them [in the United States] it’s common, but to me it’s weird. Well, they won the last Women World Cup and beat the Brazil team, so…

Was your voice always as strong as it is now? How did it come that you became able to “sing” that way?

It just came, but I wasn’t supposed to sing anyway. In first place, we had someone else singing. I was on guitar although I liked the drums most. But Igor was a better drummer, I couldn’t compete with him. The singer, that bastard, stole our stuff one time – maybe to buy crack or something, I don’t know. When we came there, all our gear was gone. Then we thought about how to find another singer but my brother said to me: “Why the hell don’t you sing?” – and that was it! No technique, never really learned, never tried to sing melodic – not even in the shower. I can’t sing melodic but I sing like Max. and it’s cool because it works for me, it works for the fans.

What everybody wants to know: what’s your point on the rumours of a Sepultura reunion?

Well, I’d like to do a reunion. The problem may be that I see this in a different way than people of their camp. For them, there is just a Sepultura with four guys. For me, this band would contain so many more people, because they all would deserve it. Many people forget their roots and where all started before they got famous – I don’t. So I would fight to let a lot of people be part of this new project that had helped us along over the years. I am ready to do this right now but they are not. The keep delaying it which makes it very complicating. The good thing is that I met [brother and Sepultura drummer] Igor last year. After all, we have a great relationship again. We made a record last month which is fucking phenomenal. It’s the closest thing to a reunion but it happened natural – and that’s what I love. I am very excited about what we created and I am sure that not just our fans will love it. I think that many people who normally do not like metal will listen to it and will be impressed – because now Igor is showing again what he is capable of when it comes to drumming.

SOULFLY IM INTERVIEW, Picture On Festival (10. August - 11. August 2007)

“I’m ready to do a Sepultura reunion right now!” - Max Cavalera im Interview