Words by Rod Whitfield
Max Cavalera. It's a name that, in Heavy Metal circles at least, is a household one and one that needs minimal if any introduction. A quarter of a century of making some of the most brutal and influential Metal music ever heard, as a main member of the seminal Brazilian band Sepultura, the main member of current long running act Soulfly, contributor to such major side projects as Nailbomb, The Cavalera Conspiracy with his brother Igor and Dave Grohl's 'Probot' band from a few years ago, and collaborator with what could be deemed a who's who of Heavy (and non- Heavy) music personalities, from Slipknot's Corey Taylor to Faith No More's Mike Patton to John Lennon's son Sean. The man has pretty much seen it all and done it all in Heavy Music.
He's also been ridiculously prolific in the last 25 years, releasing 10 albums with Sepultura between 1985 and 1996, two albums with Nailbomb, and now he unleashes his eighth studio album in twelve years with post Sepultura project Soulfly, entitled Omen. He's maintained this prodigious schedule whilst remaining a committed family man with a wife and two kids, and actually managing to stay a pretty damn nice guy as well. This was my fourth time interviewing the great man, and as always he was a pleasure to speak with. He shone some light on his work ethic, the inspiration behind his prolific creativity and how he's been able to create such a massive body of work over such a long time. “Well, most of it comes from my own excitement to play live,” he begins in his familiar Latin American lilt, “to deliver it to the fans. I feed off the fans, and the excitement and energy from them, that they give to me live. I end up making all these records, with that in mind, because I make them with the intention of playing those songs live, and to share those songs live with the crowd. We want to have a mosh pit, a circle pit, stage diving and they're singing along, and have a great time together. So that's where all the energy comes from.
“When I make a record I drop everything that I'm doing,” he continues, “and I dive into the record, and just think about the record the whole time, 110%. Once it's done I go out on tour and I think about the tour, so I'm concentrating on that. But I divide that between the family and my own private life. My family are with me most of the time on tour. They travel with me and it's really fun to have them around. They love what I do, they understand what I do, so it's cool. They get to see the world with the Rock band, so it's really cool for them.”
Underpinning his career for so long has been his almost otherworldly voice, and on the new album it remains as harsh, raspy and powerful a bark as it ever has been, even after twenty five years of abuse. It's a minor miracle that it has held up so well, and still sends shivers coursing down your spine when he bellows his lungs up. But according to the man himself, there is no special treatment or health regime that has kept it in such howling shape for so very long. “I really don't do anything with it man,” he quipped, possibly indicating that this surprises even himself, “I've never been to a doctor to see if it's doing ok or not. It's still working so I'm still going! I do a little bit of a warm-up before the show, I do a couple of screams in the bus. Then I'm off to play live and I let it take control. It's like I become possessed. My voice just takes over me, and becomes the 'Max voice', and I just start shouting, and it just happens. It's just like a magic thing, I dunno how it happens, but it does and I don't question it, you know, like why is it happening and why do I have that voice. I don't know, and I don't care, I don't wanna know! As long as it's there and it's workin'!”
After some world music, hip-hop and other types of experimentation on some of the previous Soulfly releases, especially 2000's Primitive and 2004's Prophecy, Omen returns to more traditional Soulfly territory. It's raw, it's primal, it's balls-out thrashy at times and generally encapsulates what post Sepultura Max Cavalera is all about after said experimental excursions. It's all about giving the fans what they want these days, as well as satisfying Max's lust for a more brutal sound. “Yeah, because it's like, after Dark Ages,” he explains, “I decided to go heavier and more aggressive with my music. What I want to give to the fans is what I want to get myself, as a Soulfly fan. You end up enjoying the same things. So it's a great thing when you make music like that, you're enjoying it and you know your fans are enjoying it, and everybody's in the same boat. It's great for everybody. So it seems that the heavier and heavier I got, the more fans we got, and I think that Omen is gonna get even more fans, so I'm excited.”
Another possibility that has many Metal fans around the world excited is that Max would reunite again with his brother and another former Sepultura member Igor. Formerly estranged, as brothers and band mates, after a major disagreement over Sepultura's management in the mid 90s, the pair patched up their differences in 2006 and formed a new band called the Cavalera Conspiracy. The new band released an album called Inflikted in 2008, which was a creative, critical and commercial success, and plans are now definitely afoot to record and release a follow up, although as Max explains, fans have a little while to wait yet: “Yeah, that's gonna wait til next year. Some time during next year that will come out. I'm really excited to work with Igor again; it's always great to work with him. We're gonna make an even better record than the first one, and even stronger one. But that's something for the future, something for next year. So fans have to wait for that one!”
Max appears to have a special affinity with our wide brown land Down Under, touring here numerous times over the last 25 years, “I always have a great time in Australia,” he enthused. The band hopes to get back here by the end of 2010 for a tour in support of Omen, after a lengthy run through the UK and Europe, which culminates with an appearance at the famed Wacken Festival in Germany in early August. “I hope we can come to Australia with the new album,” he says, “The tour we did with Megadeth was a great tour. I love all the shows we've done there, all the festivals, all the Big Day Outs we did, all the headline shows. The Soulfly/Hatebreed tour we did was great. So I look forward to come back, and hopefully it will be some time this year, hopefully we can come over and do some kind of big tour there, that'd be great.”
Soulfly's latest album, Omen, is out now on RoadRunner Records through Warner Music Australia. For more information on Soulfly check out www.soulfly.com.
