Max Cavalera living proof that you can transcend your circumstances. He was just a kid from Belo Horizonte when he helped put Brazil on the musical map as the frontman of Sepultura, while his next band, Soulfly, saw him become a cross-cultural lightning rod for likeminded musicians such as Corey Taylor and Chino Moreno, who wanted to step into his world.
As he brings Nailbomb, his recently reactivated cult industrial metal side-project, to Europe, he looks back on what he’s learned from his epic, if sometimes turbulent, life.
MY MUSIC CAME FROM MY DAD
“He was very musical. He played acoustic guitar, he sang Italian songs, there’s a photo of him singing on Brazilian TV. He died when I was young, so I didn’t really get to hang out with him enough that he got to see my music career kickstarted. I would have loved to have his advice. But he was a total music freak, which is where me and [Max’s younger brother] Iggor got it from.”
FUCK THE RULES
“When I was a kid, my mum tried to put us in military school. The first thing you have to do is get a buzzcut. I already had long hair, so that was out the window. There were so many fucking rules there – you had to have short hair, shiny shoes, there were uniforms. It was all about the fucking rules. Fuck that.”
EDUCATION AND ME DIDN’T MIX
“Me and Iggor got kicked out of three schools. We were angry, we were living in not-good conditions, we were trouble. There was military school, then there was Catholic school, with nuns and stuff… that didn’t work either. Then there was public school, and we got kicked out of that because us and a bunch of friends went into the bathrooms and destroyed all the water fountains. Pure vandalism! That was the last straw. We told our mum we were quitting to do music, and she said, ‘It’s against what I want, but if you’re gonna do music, you have to do it 1,000%. No quitting that in a month. Stick with it.’ And that’s what we did.”
ATTITUDE GOES A LONG WAY
“When we started Sepultura, we weren’t that good. I couldn’t play my instrument well, but there was a willpower and an attitude. Especially when we got into the heavier stuff. We noticed that the bands were not that technical, and that you didn’t have to be a virtuoso to play it. We learned that if you had a little bit of knowledge and a lot of attitude, you could do this stuff.”
BELIEF IS EVERYTHING
“Coming from Brazil, the odds are against you. There’s a one-in-a-billion chance of making it. But the challenge and the struggle becomes the main focus, and your gasoline. That’s your fire. That’s what got us where we got to.”
THE PAST IS PART OF ME
“I’m proud of the things we achieved in Sepultura, making such amazing records that had such an impact on people from so many different parts of the world and different walks of life. Many people love the catalogue from the Max era, and I’m super-proud of it. I learned a lot from it all. Even the bad times.”
NO REGRETS, NO GOING BACK
“One thing I’m proud of with leaving Sepultura is that I stuck to my guns. If I’d stayed with them, it would have been wrong for my integrity. I couldn’t sing those songs in that environment. It was killing me, so I had to make a stand and do something drastic. I’ve never regretted that choice.”
NO PAIN NO GAIN
“Soulfly played the Big Day Out in Australia in 1999, and it was the most amazing show. It’s where I realised Soulfly was gonna be good. At this same show, some drunk tossed a heavy flashlight onstage. It hit me dead centre in the forehead and split my forehead open. I was singing Tribe, I was in the zone, and I felt this pain exploding in my head. There was blood everywhere – I looked like this blood-faced caveman. It was metal as fuck. I remember the guys from Korn standing at the side of the stage, looking scared, but I didn’t want to stop. You have to play through the pain.”
TOUGH LOVE WORKS
“For a long time, my priorities were getting high and getting wasted. I’m not gonna lie, I enjoyed the shit of it, it was cool, I got to go to the dark side and see how it is. But I was on this path to self-destruction. Gloria [Max’s wife and long-time manager] was wise enough to see that – she saved me. She told me what I needed to hear. Most musicians, we want people to agree with everything we say, but she was like, ‘This is not gonna end good.’ That hit me – my priorities are family and music. Maybe someone like Kurt Cobain didn’t have somebody to show him that tough love.”
STAY TRUE TO YOUR PATH
“The people who embody rock’n’roll to me are lifers: Rob Halford, Klaus Meine from the Scorpions, AC/DC, Lemmy when he was alive. The people who stayed true to themselves no matter what the ups and downs or how unpopular you get. I see myself as a lifer, for sure. When I get a tattoo on my knuckles or my neck, that’s my way of saying I’m never going back to normal society. I can’t go back there.”
SUCCESS ISN’T EVERYTHING
“For me, it’s not about money or the charts or gold records. The material world doesn’t have the same effect on me as it does with some other people. I’m not interested in getting the biggest house in Bel Air or wherever. Creative things make me happy. Doing what you love with the people you love.”
FAMILY MATTERS
“Family is important because they’re people you can trust. We’ve a big family - kids, stepkids, everything. It was really cool when my sons got involved in music with me – I have Zyon in Soulfly and Igor does all the Cavalera stuff and Go Ahead And Die. But this was all organic, it wasn’t created in some studio where some guy said, ‘Let’s make The Osmonds of metal.’ I mean, I think we maybe are The Osmonds of metal, but that was purely by some crazy accident. None of it was planned.”
FAMILIES ARGUE. SO WHAT?
“Arguments exist. Being in a band with my sons, there’s times that they drive me nuts. They want to play songs that I want to play, but sometimes I have to bribe them to play them! But I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
FOLLOW YOUR HEART, AND LET OTHER PEOPLE DO THE SAME
“I did what I wanted to, and everybody should be free to do that. What would I say if one of my kids said, ‘I don’t wanna do music, I wanna work in a bank!’? ‘Do what makes you happy.’”
NIHILISM NEVER GOES OUT OF FASHION
“[1994 Nailbomb album] Point Blank is a nihilistic record. It’s more relevant now than when we made it. It fits the times we’re living in like a glove. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, especially here in the States. We like to think we’re civilised and that our leaders know what they’re doing, but sometimes I don’t think that’s the case. The guys that are in charge, most of them are morons. It’s fucking scary, but there’s a cool magic in the Nailbomb attitude of giving zero fucks. It’s got a true, primal anger.”
METAL EQUALS THERAPY
“I’ve been screaming at the world for 40 years, and that’s the best therapy you can have. Otherwise I’d probably be out killing people or doing dumb shit. Metal is a positive force.”
AGE IS JUST A NUMBER
“The 15-year-old Max would think it’s crazy I’m still doing this. I hope I’m still doing it when I’m 70 or 80. The worst thing that can happen to a person is not having a purpose. When that happens, life sucks. That’s why I’ll keep making music, creating, jamming with my family, jamming with my friends. I did it when I was 15, I’m doing it now. It’s all I want to do.”
DON’T FEAR DEATH
“I’m a spiritual guy. I like to think that you go somewhere special when you die, that it’s not over. There’s not a blackness or a nothingness, I don’t think that. And I really like the concept of reincarnation, coming back and starting a new life with other people. I’d like either. Anything except for total blackness. That’s boring. I need some more exciting shit.”
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