SOULFLY is releasing its ninth studio album – ‘Savages’.
The album is the first to feature drummer Zyon Cavalera, frontman Max’s son, in a full time capacity after the departure of David Kinkade in 2012.
The album was produced by Terry Date, who had previously performed mixing work for Soulfly on 3, Prophecy and Dark Ages.
We talk to MAX CAVALERA himself.
an interview conducted by Vassil Varbanov
LISTEN HERE
HEY, MAX, WHERE ARE YOU NOW?
I am in Los Angelis today.
IT’S BEEN 14 MONTHS SINCE YOUR LAST SHOW IN BULGARIA – AT THE LOUD FESTIVAL IN JUNE, 2012 AND AS WE’VE BEEN FOLLOWING IN FACEBOOK YOU HAVE BEEN PRETTY BUSY THESE DAYS. ARE YOU IN THE MIDDLE OF A TOUR? WHAT ARE YOU DOING AT THE MOMENT?
Yes, we are waiting for the tour to start. We are waiting for ‘Savages’ to come out next week. We are starting a tour from America and Canada in October and then we are coming to Europe in the beginning of the next year.
It is going to be great. I can’t wait to be back in Europe, back in Bulgaria. We had a great time at The Loud Festival.
We have a new record which is really cool. I really loved ‘Savages’ and I think a lot of fans are going to love the album. I am just excited to be back on the road.
ON ‘SAVAGES’ YOU ARE WORKING AGAIN WITH TERRY DATE… TO WHAT EXTEND YOU CAN SAY THAT HIS WORK WITH YOU HAD GIVEN AN EXTRA POWER TO ‘SAVAGES’?
TERRY is a great producer. I think he is one of the best in the world together with ANDY WALLACE.
They are the top producers for this kind of music. It was so cool to work with him. He mixed three of my old records and we worked together with DEFTONES.
The making ‘Savages’ was an amazing process and I learned so much from it. And I think the sound of the record is my favorite sound of any SOULFLY record.
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THAT YOUR SОN IS PERFORMING IN A FULL TIME CAPACITY IN SOULFLY IN AN ALBUM. WHAT IS TO BE IN A BAND WITH YOUR SIBLING?
WE KNOW THAT YOU’VE BEEN TRAVELING AS A FAMILY FOR YEARS BUT DO YOU THINK HE UNDERSTANDS THE REAL RESPONSIBILITY THAT HE HAS NOW?
For me playing with ZYON is similar to playing with my brother IGOR when I was in SEPULTURA. There is a connection because ZYON plays very much like IGOR and he is family. I have played my whole life with IGOR, it’s the same. It is natural for me.
ZYON is becoming a great drummer. He is only 20 years old and he did amazing on ‘Savages’. I love what he is doing in SOULFLY.
Everybody is so impressed with him. We are very proud of him and we are happy he joined the band.
BUT HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT ALL OF THIS AS A FATHER? DO YOU THINK HE HAS MOMENTS OF BEING NERVOUS?
Yes, of course he is nervous but I encouraged him of just being himself, have the hunger for music that young people have. I love his energy. When he plays he brings a full amount of energy to the band that was not there for a long time.
WELL, THE SONG ‘PLATA O PLOMO’ FROM LAST YEARS’ ALBUM – ‘ENSLAVED’ WAS EMBLEMATIC WITH TALKING ABOUT PABLO ESCOBAR. AND YOU TOLD ME THAT SOMEHOW IT INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE YOUR OWN AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
IS THERE A SONG ON THE NEW RECORD THAT HAS A SIMILAR IMPACT THAT IS DEDICATED TO ANOTHER BIG PERSONALITY?
Yes, we have one song on the new album called ‘El Comegente’ which means the people eater. And it is the story of a cannibal – Vargas, who lived in Venezuela and used to eat people and make soup out of their eyes. He kidnapped and ate them. It was too good not to turn it into a song.
TONY and I did the song. I sing in Portuguese, TONY sings in Spanish. The song is actually 8 minutes long because there is a 3 minute outro with folk…flamenco…Led Zeppelin kind of stuff and when you listen to it, it puts you right on top of the Andes.
NEIL FALLON FROM CLUTCH HAS A GUEST APPEARANCE ON A SONG CALLED ‘AYATOLLAH OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLLA’ AND A COUPLE OF DAYS AGO WE HEARD THAT CLUTCH HAD TO POSTPONE SOME DATES IN THE U.S. BECAUSE NEIL HAD TO GO ON A SURGERY FOR HIS BACK.
JUST LIKE ARAYA FROM SLAYER AND MUSTAINE FROM MEGADETH. YOU, BEEN IN THE BUSINESS FOR YEARS, DO YOU FEEL ANY PAIN IN THE BACK BECAUSE OF TOO MUCH HEADBANGING?
Well, when we go on tour the first three days my head and my back always hurt. But that is just in the beginning after that I feel fine. I am surprised to hear about what happened to NEIL. It’s crazy that from some headbanging you can have any problems.
THIS TITLE ‘AYATOLLAH OF ROCK ‘N’ ROLLA’ MAKES ME THINK OF THE NEXT QUESTION… WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO HAPPEN IN SYRIA?
I really don’t know. It’s a big mess but I want to make one thing clear – the song is not Islamic on any meaning or form. It is taken from a movie – ‘MAD MAX’ and it’s just a phrase that a guy sais in the middle of the movie.
And I just heard they have the same phrase in ‘Heartbreak Ridge’ with CLINT EATSWOOD (1986). Some guy said ‘”I am the Ayatollah of Rock ‘N’ Rolla“.
I thought it was a powerful sounding phrase I didn’t do any Islamic connection or link to Al Qaeda, if you like.
I DIDN’T SAY THAT. BUT THE WORD ‘AYATOLLAH’ SIMPLY RANG A BELL AND SINCE YOU’VE BEEN VERY SENSITIVE ON WHAT’S BEEN GOING IN THE WORLD, SO AGAIN, WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN IN SYRIA? LOOKS LIKE TO BE THE BIGGEST ISSUE TODAY?
I think NATO need to interfere, because that’s there job. People get scared and apprehensive when American troops get involved because of what they saw in Iraq. And the whole violence and abuse of people. And some other American military that tend to be really brutal.
And I think people get very nervous about having them going down, but I think NATO – it’s their job – just to step up.
And if they are using chemical gas killing all these people – that needs to stop. That’s not right and it’s exactly why I am calling this album ‘Savages’.
This is the point I am making there. We are going in technology, in the future and the progress, but you have things like these – chemical gas and 1400 people dead. In this age it’s absurd – it’s insane and that’s why I called the album ‘Savages’ to tell the world that we are still savages – we are acting like barbarians.
So, I hope NATO interfere and get involved and stop this and do whatever they have to do to stop this kiliing, this bloodshed stop.
LAST QUESTION, SINCE ZYON IS NOW IN THE BAND AND I’M SURE YOU AND GLORIA DON’T HAVE TO MAKE FOR HIM BELTS WITH BATTERIES INSTEAD OF BULLETS LIKE YOUR MOTHER USED TO DO FOR YOU AND IGOR. DO YOU ENVY ZYON FOR THAT OR YOU THINK HE SHOULD ENVY YOU?
It’s a great question, you know. It’s two different worlds, man. The world me and Igor grew up in was a differen reality – there was no internet and it wasn’t in America – it was in Brazil.
…AND NO MP3s, NO FREE DOWNLOADS….
No, none of that. We were flat broke, pissed off and that was an alternative with the batteries to make us look like cool European bands – to have the bullet belts.
ZYON live in a completely different reality of internet, MP3s, a computer.
EVERYTHING IS ACCESSIBLE, LITTERALLY...
Yeah, so it’s different. Although, I have heard from ZYON which makes me very happy, you know, we offered them for LODY KONG to open for our Maximum Cavalera tour. And same for INCITE – it’s our kids.
And ZYON came to me and said: “Yeah, I’m happy with this tour, but in the future I want to do it on my own. I don’t want to count on you, guys, to make it. I want to make it on my own. And want to do it with my drumming and I want to do it myself like you did.“
“You made a name for yourself in Brazil, alone. And I want to make that too.”
And I thought that was really powerfull that he said that. I know it’s almost impossible to untide him from been a Cavalera – people will alwasy see him as a Cavalera, as my son, but he still wants to try to do it on his own. Wants to prove the world that he is his own person and a great drummer of his own.
And for that, I am very proud of him for taking this attitude.
WELL, IT IS NOT GOING TO BE EASY TO GET OUT OF YOUR SHADE. BUT, BASICALLY MY QUESTION WASN’T ABOUT THAT…
IT WAS ABOUT – WHEN YOU LOOK BACK FROM YOUR CURRENT PRESPECTIVE – DO YOU PREFER THE OLD AGES WHERE WE GREW UP WITH THE IMPATIENCE OF AN ALBUM TO BE RELEASED AND COUNTING BACK THE DAYS?
Oh, I thought it was more exciting.
YES, IT WAS. WE WERE ACTUALLY FIGHTING TO MAKE THINGS ACCESSIBLE – LIKE MAKING YOUR OWN BULLET BELTS. WOULD YOU EXCHANGE THAT PAST FOR ZYON’S REALITY?
No, I wouldnt change it. It was very cool to wait for the records to come out and then go to the record store. I remember wating for MOTORHEAD and IRON MAIDEN albums to come out and the day the came out, you go there and buy it and take it home and listen to it and go: ‘Wow. this is so great, this is so cool!’ – you waited all those month and all those years for it to come out.
All of that is lost now. With the internet, everybody gets the album before, there’s no more surprises. They kind of ruined it…I don’t know how kids even like just download the music on the computer and don’t have the actual CD or vinyl.
They are just happy with having the songs in their computer, it’s fine – no artwork…nothing… it misses the point..
YES, BUT YOU SAID IT – THEY ARE HAPPY WITH IT…
Well, they are happy with it, but I don’t understand. I thinks it was much cooler before…
OK, MAN. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THIS… GOOD LUCK WITH THE TOUR, HOPE TO SEE YOU NEXT YEAR IN BULGARIA.
LISTEN HERE
rights TANGRA MEGA ROCK