The Metal Web - Cavalera Conspiracy

w/ Max Cavalera

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: You’ve been quoted as saying that the Cavalera Conspiracy feels like a different project than anything you’ve ever done. What of the project in particular makes you feel this way when you compare to past projects?

Max Cavalera: I think the main thing of that is the actual situation. Before we even get to the music, the fact that me and Iggor are playing together after a twelve year silence is quite amazing to me. It would have been a perfect marketing tool and I’m sure it is in some way, but, it’s not made like that. This is truly a twelve year silence that we didn’t speak, talk, see each other and to me, it’s emotional as hell. The last time I saw Iggor on that tour bus in England after a killer sold out show and then I don’t see him for twelve years and I see him in Phoenix. It was during a Soulfly show and we played together and this whole project was born from that. So, I’m still kind of learning to live with the whole thing. It’s still new even for me and I’m sure it’s new for Iggor as well. It’s a long time without seeing each other, but, it’s been really good. I love the record. I love the fact that the fans love the record. They really dig what we put on the CD. So, it’s cool.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Speaking of your brother, obviously, you reunited with your brother Iggor to collaborate on your current release Inflikted. When the writing sessions began, do you feel it was a smooth transition or did you feel apprehensive, especially, being that it was 12 years since you’ve worked with him or had any sort of a relationship? That had to be a little tough in the beginning.

Max Cavalera: It was and it wasn’t. A lot of things with me, and I’m not particularly too fond of it sometimes, but, they seem to work good, is the pressure. Like, the first time I spoke with Iggor, the next day I’m actually on the stage with him doing Roots Bloody Roots. You know if this whole thing isn’t going to work, it’s not going to work, not in secret, but, in front of a bunch of people. (Laughs) It’s kind of one of those things. You’ve got to make it work somehow. I kind of like that. It’s not really “fun” to do it, it’s pressure as hell, but, you get through it and when you get through it, you get a different flavor. You make it through and you feel like you conquered something. So, it’s not been smooth, but, it’s been awesome with the pressure and all. I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. We’re kind of getting use to each other again, but, we’re getting there little by little. Every time I see him again, we get closer, we talk more and we avoid the things that made us not speak. I’ve been really defensive from all that bullshit. I stay away from all that. Anything that can eventually turn into a break-up again, I’m like, no, I’m not going there. I’m not touching those subjects. So, it’s been a better relationship now.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Well, beyond the music, you guys are family. To hell with the industry. To hell with all that.

Max Cavalera: Yeah, but, it’s not that easy. (Laughs)

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: No, I know that. Things are said sometimes out of anger.

Max Cavalera: Everybody always said, oh, you should just grab the phone and call him. You know how many times I wanted to do that, but, it’s not really that easy. It’s just like watching a movie, it’s so easy to watch a movie, like at the end of Gladiator, and say, just kill the guy! (Laughs) Your sitting on your couch with your popcorn, it’s easy to say, kill the guy. But, to actually do it, man, that’s another thing, that’s completely different. I’m kind of glad in a way that we did spend this time apart because I think our relationship is stronger now. It made our life a little bit more interesting in a weird way. It’s more interesting to be playing with him again. If we never would have split up, I think it eventually may have been just another album, another tour, just like a thousand of them that we did. It becomes just another day job.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Well, in that time, you guys have grown as people yourselves too. You’re a little older.

Max Cavalera: Older, not wiser! (Laughs)

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: You said it, not me. (Laughs) Ok, how did the guest appearance of Rex Brown on the track Ultra-Violent (Down, Pantera) come to be?

Max Cavalera: Rex. That was wild. That was from nowhere. There wasn’t any plan of him or nobody. As we were in the studio, a friend of ours showed up and said Rex was in town. I said, really. Give me his number and let me call him, me and Iggor want to say hi. So, we called him and Rex was like, what’s up? What you guys doing? I said we were in the studio making a record with Iggor and Rex was like, yeah, I heard all about it on the internet. (Laughs) So, I said, well, since we don’t have a bass player, how would you feel about coming down here and giving us something, play a song or hang out or whatever and Rex was like, yeah, of course, that would be great. I would like to see you guys again. I haven’t seen Iggor for a long time since Sepultura. The funny thing was, when we booked the studio, I said, let’s book like 10 hours to record the bass because I didn’t know how much time he would need and Rex did everything in a half hour. So, we had 9 ½ hours to do whatever. (Laughs)

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Wow! Well, that was cool!

Max Cavalera: That was cool! We got to bullshit a lot about old tours and the miracle that we didn’t die on the Pantera and Sepultura tour from alcohol poisoning. All really important conversations like that. But, it was awesome. I think he kicked ass on the song. He did some crazy, sliding bass stuff on the song. Overall, it was a cool jam session with an old buddy, which had a good feeling. It was cool.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: When completing the line-up, what specifically led to the decision of having guitarist Mark Rizzo (Soulfly, Mark Rizzo Band) and bassist Joe Duplantier (Gojira) and how do you feel each of these guys enhanced Cavalera Conspiracy by their contribution? Mark I know you’re familiar with from playing in your other project, Soulfly.

Max Cavalera: Mark I think is great. I think everybody had a lot to do in this project. Of course, everybody’s looking at it as, Max and Iggor, but, we couldn’t do it by ourselves. So, a huge credit to Mark and Joe. They played their heart out in every song. They did more than expected. I even got Mark and Joe to sing some shit because I was getting burnt out from singing this whole record. I was tired, so, I was like you guys sing something. So, I gave Mark some parts off Inflikted and I gave Joe and Mark little pieces in Black Arc. It was great. Mark, what can I say? The guy sleeps with a guitar. He’s a true guitar player. I’ve seen people that say their guitar players, Mark is a true guitar player that I’ve seen have a relationship with his instrument that can make his girlfriend jealous and he’s a great guy. Awesome guy. Funny, weird, black humor kind of person and I really dig those things about Mark.

Now, with Joe Duplantier, it was a little bit different. (Laughs) I didn’t know the guy. I never met him before. So, it was a little bit of a suicidal attempt. We were like, man, what if we don’t like this guy. But, it was one of those risk things that you just kind of go with your gut feeling. I had a good feeling that it was going to be cool. He’s a fan of Sepultura. His band is awesome. I love Gojira. I think it’s one of those things, you cross your fingers when he gets to the studio and hope he’s cool and we do a good record and it was. He came with a very cool attitude of respect, honor and contribution. He showed me riffs, ideas, vocal ideas. So, you got four guys trying to make a good record. If there was any egos at all, which I don’t think there was, it was left outside the studio anyway because when we got to the studio, it was serious jam sessions, just throwing down one song after the other and that’s what’s on the record.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Tell me a little about the writing process. Did every member have an equal share as to the direction of the music?

Max Cavalera: I wrote the skeleton of the songs like I normally do with Soulfly and Sepultura. So, it’s a way of recording and working that Iggor’s familiar with for a long time and Mark is familiar with from Soulfly and Joe was introduced to it, but, really liked it. Pretty much what it is, it’s a skeleton, a starting point where, ok, this is two or three riffs and some vocals with what I call, English that don’t exist because I do mumbo jumbo stuff, but, I don’t have lyrics yet because that’s later and they pick up on that. Mark will change a little bit of the riffs to fit his style. Joe will do the same and Iggor’s a little bit different. Iggor has this thing that I have with him, where he will listen to my riffs and put different drum beats that I could never imagine and that’s the magic about playing with Iggor. He’s always come up with crazy drum beats, where I have no idea he was going that way. It’s exciting to me as a musician to watch all that shit unfold in front of me. Then later, we listen to the original tracks, the little riff that started in my house turns into this monster jam song. That’s great and everybody’s apart of it. But, it’s not like it’s “my song, don’t do anything. Don’t do it like this”. I would never do shit like that. I let everybody be really free and creative.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Lyrically, what do you want Inflikted to convey?

Max Cavalera: It’s pretty pissed off and mad to the point of being almost like schizophrenic. It was intentional. I was like, everybody knows the Max of the last 10-15 years, you know, positive and this and that. I’m still the same guy, but, I let my other self, my dark character come out on this album a little more.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Max 2! (Laughs)

Max Cavalera: Yeah, the one most people don’t know. (Laughs) Kind of like twin pigs, Blue Velvet or Apocalypse Now. In fact, a lot of the lyrics are inspired by movies, which a lot of people don’t know this. I was watching a lot of movies. Like Apocalypse Now is probably my favorite movie ever, City Of Gods, which is a Brazilian movie that I dig, I think it’s insane and Clockwork Orange 2.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: God, I remember that movie from when I was a kid.

Max Cavalera: Crazy, right? Just complete insanity.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I never understood it. (Laughs) But, it was freaky.

Max Cavalera: Yeah, beating of bums on the street. So, that was the mood. Also, I’m trying not to do the usual thing like I do in Soulfly or Sepultura. So, these movies also really helped with a lot of cool song titles, like Hearts Of Darkness, which is the book that gave birth to Apocalypse Now. Ultra-Violent is what they call it in Clockwork Orange in terms of what they do. Inflikted actually is not from a movie, but from my experience of watching a full Voodoo ritual in Indonesia with my brother in 1992. It scared the shit out of us. So, that gave birth to the name Inflikted and I really liked it. A little bit of all these things together shaped the lyrics on the album. It’s quite different from what you normally hear in Soulfly, which I think was good. I didn’t want to show the same Max. I wanted to do something different.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: With regards to the recording, what do you feel Logan Mader (ex-Soulfly, ex-Machinehead) brought to Inflikted because you were quoted as saying, “It was good to have a musician engineer. I had never done that before”?

Max Cavalera: Right. All the other producers that I used, apart from me being a producer, were not musicians. So, they have a different output. Having Logan, which also worked with me in Soulfly, made it a little bit easier I think for things to come to shape and easier to get from A to B. I’m not discrediting any of the other producers because I think their all great and did great work. It’s just in terms of what we were going to do with this record, Logan was really ready to capture the rawness, live of this band and that’s why this album was made in the analog way, which is the old way. We used very little pro-tools and very little digital effects.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Did you really? Wow, it came out great!

Max Cavalera: You have to play or you don’t play. No fixing with pro-tools. Nobody was into that anyway. Iggor was like, I don’t play with click tracks. I don’t play with pro-tools.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: You hear all these monster drummers on these albums nowadays and if you go to see them live and you look at their feet, their not moving. (Laughs)

Max Cavalera: Right. While we were in the studio, Logan said, well I must say something here, the song is going to start in one speed and end in a different speed. Are you guys bothered by that? We were all like, nope. Logan was like, cool, I’m good with that. I just have to let you guys know that that’s going to happen. (Laughs) I think that was cool. He was just trying to make us aware of how we’re recording and as long as we’re cool with it, we’ll go for it. But, I think he did an awesome job recording. It’s hard. To capture a live energy of the band in the studio is difficult because as Iggor said, a studio could feel more like a classroom or a doctor’s office, than a live place. It’s clean sometimes or has a sterilized feeling to it. So, we tried to block that. We put some posters on the walls and had some incense going and then just went for it. I think we achieved it pretty good. At one point during the recording, we were jamming one of the songs and my headphones fell off from jumping in the middle of the session, which is always a good sign. I also had a nose bleed. That was great. I looked at everybody and I said we’re getting there. We’re getting the live action that we need. (Laughs) When you listen to the record, it almost makes you feel like your right there with the band and that’s what we wanted.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Speaking about live, is how something will sound live a thought when you’re writing?

Max Cavalera: Not all the time, but, in some parts. A perfect example would be at the end of Sanctuary, there’s a new part that comes in where Iggor does a buildup of the drums and I’ve always said I can’t wait to do this part live. This has been in everything I’ve done though. We can go back to Chaos AD, something like Refuse/Resist, the middle section was always like, I can’t wait to play this and I feel like when this part comes in it’s going to be complete pandemonium. It’s created with that in mind. Then there’s other parts that I don’t pay attention to and I think is a stupid bridge and it becomes this most amazing thing live. (Laughs) That stupid little part is that cool live? I almost throw songs away, that later people go, I’m glad you didn’t throw that song away. Like Desperate Cry from back in Sepultura days or Nail Bomb’s Wasting Away, I said, I don’t know about this song to open an album, it’s not that strong. But, man, was I fucking wrong. It was pretty good live. (Laughs) I only notice afterwards when you’re actually playing live because the songs take on a life of their own.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Well, that’s normally when you see what song or songs will pull off live because the kids go crazy over certain songs. You’re not going to really know as far as a live element until you play the songs live.

Max Cavalera: Right. It’s so funny because a lot of times you’re wrong on that. (Laughs) Your perception of what is good is not always what everybody thinks. But, that’s cool and part of the magic. It keeps it interesting. I can’t wait to go on tour with Cavalera Conspiracy because we haven’t tried any of this live. A year ago we played and it was so fast. People didn’t know the songs. Now with the album being out, it’s going to be a trip. I think we’re doing Europe and then a US tour, so US fans get to see us too.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Oh, cool! I have to tell you, I covered the Testament show this past Saturday and did live photography for them.
Max Cavalera: I love Testament! Chuck Billy, I love that guy!

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Well, right before they went up, I was outside and had a couple of fans of the site that were there and I was giving out some posters and while I was doing that, a fan asked what interviews I had coming up and I told them I will be interviewing with Max and they were like, oh, my god, I love his new stuff with Cavalera Conspiracy! Like three or four kids. They also said they think it’s better than Sepultura! (Laughs) They we’re going crazy when they heard I was interviewing you.

Max Cavalera: Ah, that’s cool. That’s what I like to hear. I only get to see that firsthand when I go on tour unfortunately because when it comes to internet stuff I’m not internet savvy. I don’t even know how to turn it on. (Laughs) People always tell me about the reviews and about the fans talking on the web. But, when I go on tour, I talk to a lot of them. I’m very glad to hear that they like the album a lot. This project hasn’t been easy. It’s been pretty amazing to do, but, not really easy. Though, it makes it worthwhile when you hear comments like that. It’s why we do it. It’s awesome.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: They were like, I think it’s better than Sepultura’s stuff! (Laughs) I thought that was funny. I’ll have to tell Iggor

Max Cavalera: I’ll have to tell that to Iggor. (Laughs) So, I’m really looking forward to playing this live in the US. I haven’t played here in the US with my bother since opening for Black Sabbath in 1996. Then we split up and I did Soulfly. With Iggor, this is going to be the first time, so, I’m very excited.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Normally, it’s a particular track that best sums up an album, but, with this, I think it’s the back cover art. Would you agree and who’s idea was it? Great message!

Max Cavalera: I don’t know. I heard that before and even some people wanted it to be the cover, but, it we ended up not using it. I think it’s better for the back cover because it doesn’t make it too obvious. I’m pretty sure it was Gloria’s idea. She was really into the whole brotherhood. My idea didn’t quite make it. I wanted to put Iggor’s and my blood on the cover. My brother’s a little more of a clean freak. (Laughs) He’s all about germs and he was like, no, I’m not putting my blood on an album cover! (Laughs) I’m so opposite of him. I was like, man, I have this great idea! We’ll cut our arm a little and let it bleed and he was like, I’m not cutting my fucking arm for the cover! I’m doing something else. (Laughs) So, we ended up doing the other thing. Less painful and the message is there.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: What’s next for Cavalera Conspiracy? I know you said you have some tour dates coming up. When are you going to be in the US because I would definitely love to cover your show.

Max Cavalera: It looks like we’re doing a tour for the festivals in Europe first. I’m the worst guy to ask these kind of things because I’m the last to know. I think Dillinger Escape Plan is on the tour with us. I’ve never met them. But, I think Iggor knows them and is really stoked. We’re probably going to be on the Ozzfest and maybe something else. I’m ready to play anywhere. Give me a case of Red Bull and it’s on! (Laughs) I love touring.

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Max, it’s been a pleasure. Though, I want you to rejoin Sepultura … (Laughs)

Max Cavalera: It’s going to happen. We’re just waiting for the Armageddon. I’m waiting for the end of the world and we’d like to be the opening act. (Laughs)

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: Don’t worry, we’ll just tie up Derrick Green and hide him somewhere. (Laughs)

Max Cavalera: Yeah, we’re just waiting for the end of the world thing, and then we have the conspiracy. (Laughs)

Dawn/TheMetalWeb.com: I will defiantly settle for this, great stuff! (Laughs) With that said, do you have any final words for The Metal Web!?

Max Cavalera: I want to thank all the fans. I can’t wait to get out there to fuck shit up with you all. It’s been a long time. I’m really itching to go on tour and ready to do this. Thank you and thank you for all the support. You guys rule!