It's quite possible that Max Cavalera is the busiest man in metal. When Revolver catches up with the Brazilian singer and guitarist, he's on the road with Soulfly, for what is already their third tour across the U.S. in this year alone. He also recently released an album with Killer Be Killed, a supergroup featuring the Dillinger Escape Plan's Greg Puciato and Mastodon's Troy Sanders, as well as the searing, grindcore-influenced Pandemonium, the third record from Cavalera Conspiracy, his band with his brother, Igor. Then there are the myriad collaborations he's been involved with; the autobiography, My Bloody Roots, he released a few months back; and of course, his history as the co-founder (along with Igor) and frontman of Sepultura, one of thrash metal's most legendary bands.
"I'm going for first place in the Most Working Metal Man in History category!" Cavalera says with a laugh. "I'm competing with Jamey Jasta right now."
As for why he stays so busy? "About six years ago, I stopped drinking and taking drugs," the 45-year-old Cavalera explains. "And music became my main priority. So I told Gloria [Cavalera, his wife and manager], 'Let's just go for it. I don't want to stay home doing nothing. I don't want vacation time. We can do that later, when we're older. Let's use our time now and produce a lot of stuff.' So Soulfly is still my main thing, and I love it, but I couldn't just do that. I need more things!"
One thing that Max clearly does not need is Sepultura, from whom he split in 1996 after, among other issues, the band notified him that they wanted to fire Gloria as their manager. "I was left with nothing," Max says. "They took all the gear, they took the name. I just had my art and my ability to write songs. And that's what I armed myself with when I started making the first Soulfly record. That was the hardest thing I've ever done."
So while he and Igor—who exited Sepultura in 2006—still spike their Cavalera Conspiracy sets with songs from their old band, the singer is only looking forward. Which, of course, doesn't stop fans from constantly inquiring as to whether a reunion is in the works.
That very question, in fact, was asked by multiple Revolver readers for this installment of Going Postal. As for what Max thinks about it? Not very much, apparently.
"Ehh," he says in response to all the queries. "Burn 'em all!"
You originally wanted to name the new Cavalera Conspiracy album Fuck That Groove. Why?—Aaron Chisholm
It was kind of a joke that happened in the studio. I would be jamming with Igor and Marc [Rizzo, Cavalera Conspiracy and Soulfly guitarist] in the studio, and the riff I would choose would be real fast. And then Igor, halfway through the fast riff, he would break it down and go into a groove part. When that happened, I would stop him and say, "Igor! Go back to the fast part! I didn't say you could go to the groove!" So I was a bit of a dictator. I was a bit of an asshole. But I had to be because I had a vision for the record. I wanted the record to be fast and aggressive and have this raw vibe about it that you don't really hear today unless you go really underground. I thought it would be cool to make a really fast record. So in the studio, I kept saying, "Igor! Fuck the groove!"
What was the craziest thing you saw growing up in Brazil?—J.J. Miscio
I used to see three year olds on the street in diapers begging for money. I saw a lot of violence. I went one time in Rio to score coke with some friends and we wound up with machine guns pointed at our heads. And we were really scared of the police. We used to joke that we were more scared of the police than we were of the devil. You had to have I.D. with you all the time or else the police would throw you in jail. I got thrown in jail twice for not having I.D., and walking in there was like walking through the gates of hell. There were rapists, murderers, all that shit. And I was young, like, 14 or 15 years old.
Is it true you provided screams for The Rock's character in The Scorpion King?—Rob Suria
I did. I was approached by somebody in the movie that was a big Soulfly fan. They contacted Gloria, and we flew to L.A. and went to a big studio and saw a cut of the movie. And then I did the easiest work I've ever done. It was like two hours of screaming, and I had to say some stuff in Egyptian. They ended up using it all over the movie, and they gave me a credit at the end. So it was pretty cool. But it was a different world. Not really my world. It was fun to do, but I wouldn't say I really dug it that much. I prefer the music world.
How do you not punch people in the face every time they ask if you will be going back to Sepultura?—Dave Lindo
Because if I did, I'd have really bloody knuckles! But I understand it. It's connected to my life, my career. But it gets old, the subject. I think people should move on. On this Soulfly tour we're only doing Soulfly songs, and one of the reasons for that is to distance myself a little bit from Sepultura. But more and more, I think people are understanding. They understand why I left. And most people say to me, "I would have done the same. I wouldn't have stayed with those guys." So it's getting better and better. But here and there, you still get the same questions and it just drives me a little crazy.
Would you and Igor ever do re-recordings of Sepultura songs and put them on a Cavalera Conspiracy album?—Mike Lennex
I don't think so. And the reason is, I think the way those records were created, there was a magic and you can't really go back to that. There's something about the time and the vibe that you can't recapture. But we still play a lot of that stuff live. If people want to hear the classics with me and Igor, the way it was, the easiest way is to come see a Cavalera Conspiracy show. You'll get to hear a lot of cool stuff, because we play a really divided set of Cavalera stuff and Sepultura stuff. And I think it's cool to leave it like that.
Are there any projects you've been involved in that you weren't happy with afterwards?—Stefano Zoria
Not really. My only regret is maybe with Nailbomb. And it's that we didn't do more. Because that project had the capacity to offer a lot more. It was a kickass idea that Alex [Fudge Tunnel's Alex Newport] and I created. But at the same time, kind of what makes it cool is it went away and became a cult record, a little bit like S.O.D. You had to be there at that time to see it, otherwise you missed the boat.
What's the deal with some of the guitars on [Sepultura's 1986 full-length debut] Morbid Visions sounding out of tune?—Cain Barker
I didn't know I had to tune my guitar! So I'm out of tune with the rest of the guys. I'm playing the same riffs as them, but it's not the same. Especially when you hear open notes, you can hear this really weird, dissonant sound. It's noisy. It's not right. And that's all my guitar. Because Jairo [Guedz, then-Sepultura guitarist] recorded all his parts first and then he left. I was in the studio by myself and I didn't think about tuning my guitar. And the engineer didn't think about it, either. So we went straight to recording. So it's out of tune because we were idiots. But it's kind of cool in a way. It's punk rock. You listen to it now and it's dissonant. It sounds crazy because of that. But there's a joke we've always said: When we were in the studio, there was a big red button in the middle of the soundboard that said, "Do not touch." Well, our last day there, we touched the button and the album turned to shit.
Are you a religious man?—Karam Miller
Not really. There are a lot of things about religion, especially Catholic religion, that bug me. So I would say "spiritual" is probably a better word for it. I don't really go to church every Sunday and that kind of stuff, but I do believe in a higher power and I do believe in God. But my God, I don't ask him for money, and he's not interested in pedophile priests. I'm actually closer to Russian Orthodox. I think it's a cooler religion. Actually, we have a lot of priests who are friends of ours that come to Soulfly shows when we play Russia. America, too. When we play Kansas City, there are full-on Russian Orthodox priests that come out and who love Soulfly. They wear our shirts. And they have really big beards. They look like monks. It's wild. If you go to a Soulfly dressing room in Russia, you'll see five priests hanging out. Like, What the fuck is going on here?
