Max Cavalera (Cavalera Conspiracy)
February 2008
When and how did you get the idea of forming Cavalera Conspiracy?
It dates back to 2006 when I played together with Iggor at the D-Low Memorial Show. It was the first time we played together in ten years and it was a really great and powerful feeling. I just finished working on Dark Ages and already started working on a lot of other music at that time. It was a great time and we both were willing to work together. Iggor was ready and I was ready. It was time to make a record together after so many years. It took a really long time to happen but it's finally happened and we both think the record we made together is really special.
What was your musical vision when you put this together?
It's metal, man. With me and Iggor playing here, it had to be done with a great feeling. It comes from metal of course but we think we have a style that is unique. When you hear a drummer like John Bonham or Dave Lombardo playing you know it's him and it's the same with Iggor's playing and it's the same with my voice as it's very distinct. If you ask me about comparisons, then of course I think this album is closer to Nailbomb and Arise than Roots. That's more like a thrash kind of core sound.
Do you see Cavalera Conspiracy as a band or more like a project?
Neither, man! I'm telling people this as I'm asked this many times and I was just talking to Iggor about this... it's more than a project because it's not really electronic. We do play everything, we write songs like a real band and we're gonna go on tour. But it's not entirely a band like Metallica. We'll tour a little bit after the release of the album and then we stop. And who knows what we do next. We don't know about the future but at the moment we see this more of a band than a project.
The initial name for the band was Inflikted. Why did you change?
We found out that there was a record label called Inflikted and they were quite well known. I didn't know about that when naming the band like that. We tried to avoid any legal problems so I decided that we get a new name instead of getting into trouble. I suggested Cavalera Conspiracy to Iggor and he really liked it. I think it's cool in a way and it's stronger than Inflikted. It fits better as it represents the Cavalera brothers together. But we called the album Inflikted because that was the first song I wrote for the band. I also really like the logo Iggor draw, it's very Black Flag influenced. (Laughs) I think the whole package is really good, man. I'm happy with it.
How was working with Iggor again?
It was great, man. I played with Iggor from the beginning, even before Sepultura. It was Max and Iggor in a room in Brazil and nothing else. We have this really deep connection and even this ten years break made us closer now than ever before. We are really into the music and nothing else, fuck the bullshit, fuck the politics and fuck all that shit, just make music and that's what we do. So it's better now than it was before. It's less stress and less bullshit and more music. That's what we want to do.
Was it obvious that you'll get Marc as the second guitarist?
He was the first choice because he's a good friend and a great guitar player. He really loves this thrash sound we do. When Iggor came to do the D-Low Memorial Show he met Marc and I think he liked Marc a lot too. To me it was like a privilege and also Marc is a huge Max and Iggor Cavalera fan from the beginning. He's been to many of my shows, he knows the albums Arise and Beneath the Remains by heart. He knows every solo on those albums. So I would say that it was my present to Marc as I told him, "Man, you should play on this because you're such a big fan." And Iggor liked the idea too. I think Marc knows how to play differently in Cavalera Conspiracy than he plays in Soulfly. There's definitely a difference in his playing, so it's really good.
And how about Joe? How did you hook up with him?
We played with Gojira during the Dark Ages tour and one of their CDs ended up in my tourbus where I have listened to it. I was looking for somebody that is not from Brazil and not from America. I needed someone from somewhere else that would give the project some kind of an international feeling because the music is international. After listening to the Gojira CD I thought that the band was really good. The funny thing was that I called Gojira to get the bass player but Joe is such a big fan and he said, "Sorry, my bass player can stay here, I can play bass so I'm coming." (Laughs) So maybe he had a little trouble in his band by telling his bass player that he can't go but he came and played great bass. I got him sing on some songs and he also plays some guitar on the album. I asked him to do some kind of Eastern melody on the song Inflickted and he really liked the idea so he put some Eastern guitars there. I think together we have a good chemistry, me, Iggor, Marc and Joe, it's a strong team and I can see through the music now that it was a good choice.
Did all four of you contributed to the writing or were these mainly your songs?
Well, the songs were already written because I write all the time. But what I like is to bring the song to the studio and let other musicians to add their own interpretation into the songs and let's see and hear how they would like them to sound like. For example Iggor added new drums because I recorded it with a drummachine. Also Marc was adding new guitars and Joe adding new stuff on bass, so the song is shaping differently. But yeah, the songs themselves were made by me because you have to start from something. I'm good for starting things, I'm good for creating a vision and then everyone else helps to make that vision better.
Did you write all the songs especially for this album or you had some leftovers from previous Sepultura or Soulfly sessions?
It was all written for this. The title track Inflikted is the only one that was written before the project. When I wrote it I didn't know where it was gonna go, maybe I thought it was to be a Soulfly song but not entirely. But once I got connected with Iggor it was clear that I'd use it for our album. I got a huge inspiration from playing with Iggor again, so I started writing songs every day like a madman. It was great. I was there just with my guitar and I was just writing, writing and writing. I wrote it the way that Iggor could make some really good drums on top of it.
One of the songs features Rex Brown (Down, Pantera) on bass. How come?
Well, actually I just called him up and told him that I was doing an album with my brother and I invited him over to check out the songs since we were good friends from the Pantera days. And when he came over I just put him on spot and gave him a bass guitar and told him, "As you can see we have three guitar players and a drummer. We don't have a bass player so you think you could put some bass on this song for us?" (Laughs) He liked it and of course he did it. Actually that's one of my favourite songs, Ultra-Violent. We had some really good time. We stayed up really late that night talking about the tours and Dimebag, Pantera, Sepultura, Soulfly and Down.
There's another special song on the album featuring three singers...
Yeah, that's the most different song for sure called Black Ark. Even the name of the song is crazy. Black Ark is the nickname for my book of CDs. I don't have iPod I have CDs still and I bring with me something like 300 CDs when we go on tour. Everything from Hellhammer to hardcore to dub. And the nickname for my book of CDs is Black Ark and I wanted to make a joke and name one of my songs after my CD book. But we started taking it seriously when everyone started singing and putting lyrics to it. I really like what Ritchie (Ritchie Cavalera) did to the vocals and what Joe did. My favourite line of the song is actually is "Whatever you are we're against it." I got it from somewhere, I can't remember but I really think it's what this project stands for: the society and bullshit and propaganda. Whatever is it the conspiracy is against all that. I think it's really cool.
Your first single off the album is Sanctuary. Was it your choice or the label's?
It was my choice. Everyone else wanted to do Inflikted. I love Inflikted but I think Sanctuary was more on fire, man. The reason really that we played these four songs – Sanctuary, Inflikted, Bloodbrawl and The Doom of All Fires – live and we got the best response from the crowd for Sanctuary. We had like 6 moshpits at the same time. To me it's a real true fire Max and Iggor song. This is Max and Iggor on fire, this is Sanctuary, this is what I would recommend to people. Maybe we'll do another single and video for another song but my first choice voice Sanctuary.
So how about the video shooting for Sanctuary?
The video shooting was cool. We didn't really have a lot to do with it other than showing up and play, to be honest with you. It was Iggor who had some friends in Paris that are working for a company that do videos and things like that. It was more like a photo shoot with the whole band playing and then this voodoo creature that we choose for Cavalera Conspiracy gets loose and going up to the whole crew and kills the photographer and the whole crew. There's a lot of blood and gore but it's kinda funny too. It's very different from what I normally do but it's very cool.
I know you are going to do some festivals in the summer. What else is in the plans?
Yeah, we have some gigs booked. We're going to do the biggest festivals in Germany, England and Italy and we're also doing some other festivals in Europe. It will be very great to play for the fans and show this album live. I'm sure a lot of fans would like to see me and Iggor playing together again. We are ready to do our best.
Are you planning to play any Sepultura or Soulfly songs?
My own son asked me if we could play some old shit. He was like, "Play some shit from your first EP, songs like Necromancer and Bestial Devastation." I thought that would be great and told it to Iggor if we could play some really really old stuff. Iggor liked the idea so probably we'll play some of that.
Do you have any memories of your gig from the Sziget festival?
I think it was great, man. Hungary is a full metal country. I love to play there. Everyone knows that I love to tour a lot and visit as many places as possible and I have great memories of the show and I would love to do that again, especially with Iggor, it would be even more exciting.
What can you tell me about the upcoming Soulfly album?
I already started working on the new Soulfly. I had a really great recording session with the guys. We even had some guests dropping by. We had Evil D from Morbid Angel singing one song with me called "Blood Fire War Hate". I know David from the early Sepultura times. I wore a Morbid Angel shirts at the Morbid Visions photo shoots and we knew each other from those times. I think the new Soulfly album will be full of good surprises for the fans because it's gonna be a continuation of Dark Ages but it'll have even stronger songs. I wouldn't say heavier but stronger. I think we have strong choruses and strong riffs, everything we did we did with a lot of fire.
You also recoded a bonus track for the new album. It's Exorcist from Possessed. How did you end up covering this one?
That was actually Iggor's idea. I think he just wanted to really go back in time, right into our bedroom, the time when we were kids and lived in the same house sharing the same music. And Possessed's Seven Churches was one of our favourite records that we listened to all the time. So Iggor suggested the Exorcist from this album and I loved the idea so we went and did it. I really love to play this song, it's a really cool and strong one and I wanna do this live too.
Btw, what is Iggor up to these days? Is there any projects he's working on right now?
Iggor is always doing a lot of stuff so it's difficult for me to even keep up. (Laughs) Every time I talk to him he's doing something with Brazilian guys. He's recording with Brazilian people all the time, so he's always busy. He's a good musician, he should kept busy with music. But I definitely see him happy with Conspiracy, man and I'm really happy about that. I'm very excited to see and hear him playing drums again and that he's even back to metal. After Sepultura he wasn't too much involved in metal.
You were doing a guest appearance on the latest Apocalyptica album last year. How did you hook up with them?
I saw them at some festivals and I loved the version they did for Inquisition Symphony, which was probably my favourite one. One day I got a call from them as they asked me if I would do a guest appearance on their new album. I think they are nice guys and they are really good so I said yes.
And for closing could you tell me your three favourite albums from last year?
Yeah. I like Napalm Death's Smear Campaign (2006!). I really like the Gojira album From Mars To Serius (2005!) and I also really like the new Bad Brains Build a Nation. I think it's brilliant. Probably the Bad Brains album is my favourite of the three.