Max Cavalera - We finally catch up with a Metal legend for a chat!!!

Talking about things Metal with the infamous Sepultura / Soulfly / Cavalera Conspiracy frontman!

Joe Denby manages to get hold of the eternally busy Max Cavalera to talk about...well pretty much everything!

Music Trespass: How are you today?

Max Cavalera: I'm good and you?

Music Trespass: Good thanks, are you at home?

Max: Yeah, in Arizona

Music Trespass: First thing, lets talk about the new Cavalera Conspiracy album 'Pandemonium', I listened to it today and it's awesome. A great addition to your catalogue and the most "Extreme" album you have put out in a long time.

Max: Yeah! it's a really cool record. I really like the whole concept behind 'Pandemonium' because we went back to the underground feeling we had, the was the idea we had for the record. I produced it instead of using a big name and we went into a house instead of a studio. The studio was set in the guys garage. Those things gave the album a very underground feeling. Another thing was that I really wanted to make a fast album with my brother. I proposed it to Igor and he liked it. We wanted to go back to how it was when we started out.

It's been thirty years since we started in Sepultura and that early stuff was so fast. Some of my favorite Sepultura stuff is the fast stuff, Arise, Beneath the remains. I wanted to go back to that with my brother. We came up with that concept and we just went for it, I started gathering riffs from November and December and we started recording in January. We just went for it, we turned the riff's into songs. We came up with the concept 'Pandemonium'. I had the idea for the name and everyone liked it and it just came to life after that. That's what happens with records you never really know how it's going to develop. You have an idea, you start working on it and as things go along it changes and surprises you. I'm just really with Pandemonium we stuck to our formula, we stuck to our guns and the end result is all 10 songs are fast and brutal and I love it! It's the perfect record for Cavalera right now.

Music Trespass: It's the album that Cavalera Conspiracy always threatened to make. It feels it's found it's feet as it's own project.

Max: It was fun making 'Inflikted' and 'Blunt force Trauma', but 'Blunt force Trauma' kind of felt like a part two. We needed to do something different. We needed to do something a little more, more something. Be it more melodic or groovy. I decided to go more brutal! I think we took the right path. There's something very gratifying from working with my brother. There's a magic that connects us that goes back to our childhood. I'm fourty five years old now and playing fast with Igor strips the years away. Joy is the word.

Music Trespass: I hear the police were called while you were recording...

Max: That's a true story! Like I said earlier we were recording in a house. It was a regular neighborhood in Phoenix and Igor's drumming was so loud it was shaking the walls and the guy next door couldn't sleep so he called the police. The cops showed up and I thought that was brilliant. When I saw them at the front door we told them we were making a metal album. All my years of doing this nothing like that ever happened! That was really cool. My only regret is that we didn't record it, if I had an iPhone or something near by we could have recorded it and used it as an intro or something that would have been perfect!

Music Trespass: So what's the line up on this record?

Max: It was me, Igor and Mark Rizzo (Soulfly). We made the album we worked everything out and we sent everything out to Nate Newton (Converge) bassist and he added his bass to everything. He also sang on the crucible because he's got a great voice. He's a great guy, I love Converge and it was great having him on the record.

Music Trespass: I remember reading back when you were preparing for this record you said you wanted to make a Grindcore album.

Max: That was the original starting point because at the time I was listening to a lot of Grindcore. A lot of Nails and Pig Destroyer.

Music Trespass: The thing is although it's not a flat out Grindcore album the energy and the feeling of one is there and if you take the opening track 'Babylonian Pandemonium' it sounds like Mitch Harris (Napalm Death) is playing guitar on that track!

Max: I'm glad, I think songs like 'Scum' and 'I, Barbarian' really capture the Grindcore spirit. Especially 'Scum' the name pays homage to Napalm Death.

Music Trespass: Any plans for any tours?

Max: Yeah we're actually starting a tour in February in America then from there we're going straight to Europe. We will be in Europe around March and April and of course there is the festivals for the summer. The UK of course. I love playing in the UK. I am also going to be part of the Metal Allstars at the London, Brixton o2 Acadamy.

Music Trespass: So when your writing music how do you separate ideas for your different projects?

Max: I write riff's at home so that part is always the same and I'm writing right now for the new Soulfly. When I was writing last year I wrote just for the Cavalera album I knew what that was for. I wrote with that album in mind so I kept if fat and heavy, with Soulfly I keep put more variation in there. I like taking my time and writing in stages. we will start properly working things out for the next album next year.

Soulfly (Pictured Above)

Music Trespass: That next Soulfly album will be the tenth album. How does that feel?

Max: It's incredible, yesterday we were playing 'Eye for an Eye' and the first Soulfly album came out in 1998 and it's 2014 and we're working on the tenth album it's mind blowing. It's a great feeling. Watching songs come to life and seeing them become classics. Songs such as 'Primitive' or 'Prophecy'. Music is limitless, it does so much for people. It helps people and making it is a wonderful feeling.

Soulfly (Pictured Above)

Music Trespass: Lets talk a little bit about Killer be Killed. How did that project come to fruition?

Max: That was Greg Puciato (Dillinger Escape Plan) Idea. He started the project and asked me to be part of it. He invited his friend Dave to play drums then he got Troy Sanders (Mastodon) Involved and it became a super group. It was fun. hat was one record where I had no idea what was going to happen to it. A lot of the Soulfly records I kind of now where I want things to go but with Killer be Killed had no Idea what was going to happen. I wrote some riffs and I knew the guys and there was so much input from everyone involved and you look at the people involved it shouldn't work you know? but it came out great. It's one of my favorite albums that have done I played all the rhythm guitars on the album. I think the record is really powerful and I love that we have three singers, all the songs went in different directions and had different sounds it was great. You don't hear that often.

Killer be Killed (Pictured Above)

Music Trespass: you just hit on something actually because it was quite a common things in the 70's to share vocal's but that doesn't happen very much at all nowadays. Mastodon springs to mind but generally it doesn't happen much today.

Max: Yeah that was the idea to split to vocals three ways on each song. One song I did lead vocals on another I might just do a bridge, but the best of the musician and the song came across doing that. We really reached into ourselves on that record. can tell you I worked my ass off on that record. The 'Killer be Killed' record was harder to make for me then a Soulfly record. I wasn't comfortable I know where everything is but with Killer be Killed had to adapt to everyone else. I was happy to do it, it was a great challenge. We're looking to do a small tour in January and we've looking to work out some dates in the future also. We are also planning in a few years from now to do a second record.

Music Trespass: So when do you sleep?!
Max: Never!

Aborted (Pictured Above)

Music Trespass: What Music have you been listening to recently?

Max: A lot of Metal. Aborted's new album, a lot of Nails. Psycroptic a band from Tasmania I really like them. Abysmal Dawn have a new album out called 'Obsolescence'. I've been listening to that I love it.

Music Trespass: I've just got that album actually. It's great.
Max: It's an amazing record. I know Charles Elliott (Vocals / Guitar) he does press for Nuclear Blast so...when I see him I hit him up for t-shirts!

Discharge 'Hear Nothing, See Nothing, See, Nothing, Say Nothing' album cover (Pictured Above)

Music Trespass: I have to know your top five albums.

Max: Black Sabbath 'Sabatage', Motorhead 'Ace of Spades', Discharge 'Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing', Plasmatics 'Coup D'etat' and Nails 'Abandon all Life'.

Music Trespass: Iron Maiden or Judas Priest?
Max: I'm going to go with Iron Maiden!