March 17, 2005
Buffalo Soldiers, Part 1: Wherein Max Cavalera, leader of the Soulfly tribe, formerly of Sepultura, talks spirituality, electronica music, Marvin Gaye, and everything in between with Josh Jabcuga on a recent tour stop in Buffalo, New York.
The scene: The Buffalo Icon, 391 Ellicott St., Buffalo, NY.
The date: March 03, 2005
The occasion: An interview with Max Cavalera, the musical force behind SOULFLY and SEPULTURA.
In typical Buffalo fashion, the weather was frigid. The landscape was pallid, a dusty figure from a wax museum or maybe a two-day-old corpse, I’m not sure which. A strong wind blew off Lake Erie, creating a wind-chill that would whip through the industrial wasteland of smokestacks and vacant buildings, turning the cityscape into enormous post apocalyptic wind chimes.
I was invited onto the SOULFLY tour bus, several hours before the show was scheduled to begin. At that point, I just wanted to get somewhere that offered heat. I made my way past a couple of lap dogs yipping at my ankles. I found out later that one was named after “Rick James.” Max laughed when I told him the late Rick James was a Buffalo native.
Max’s agent told me that the artist was waiting at the rear of the bus. I’d go straight to the back of the bus, where Max would be waiting for me behind a closed sliding door. My photographer was not welcome. Max likes to chill before hitting the stage, and I could respect that. “Just you and Max.” I was cool with that. “Oh, and you can get everything you need in fifteen minutes or less, right?” I wasn’t about to say “No.” Would you? This would be irrelevant anyway, as Max and I seemed to hit it off from the get-go, and our interview would go well beyond the allotted fifteen minutes.
I sat on a small couch on the opposite side of Max in the back of the bus. There were several stacks of CDs, and some reggae was playing quietly. We introduced ourselves, and Max immediately struck me as a warm and generous soul. Was this the same possessed man I heard on all those SEPULTURA and SOULFLY albums? Was this the man who screamed his guts out and played until his fingers bled on all those legendary albums I listened to religiously?
Since it was Buffalo here, I had the typical uniform of layer upon layer, economical, but comfortable. Max’s eyes were immediately drawn to the T-shirt I was wearing. It was a brown shirt with an orange imprint of Marvin Gaye’s face, with the phrase “War is not the answer.”
“What’s on your shirt there? I like that? Where’d you get that? That’s cool.”
I explained the origins of the shirt. I had found it on Ebay. “War is not the answer” are lyrics from one of my all-time favorite albums, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin’ On.
And the tape starts rolling here:
Max Cavalera, lead singer of SOULFLY, formerly of SEPULTURA: I don’t have anything of him (Marvin Gaye), you know. I heard it. I heard his stuff before.
Josh Jabcuga, www.moviepoopshoot.com: You’ve never listened to him?
Max Cavalera: I don’t own anything, no, it’s a shame. I should go get some.
Josh Jabcuga: Yeah, his best album, well, the one he’s most famous for, it’s called What’s Goin’ On.
Max Cavalera: Yeah.
Josh Jabcuga: I mean, you play that once and it’ll blow your mind.
Max Cavalera: That’s right. I heard of that. When I did (the album) Primitive, the producer was Toby Wright. And he did ALICE IN CHAINS and METALLICA. He told me about this record. I just never went and got it. And somebody told me about JIMI HENDRIX.
Josh Jabcuga: Yeah.
Max Cavalera: Uh, Ladyland-something.
Josh Jabcuga: Electric Ladyland.
Max Cavalera: I never heard that either. Somebody told me that it sounds like, it reminds them of SOULFLY.
Josh Jabcuga: Definitely.
Max Cavalera: And I was like, wow, that’s crazy, you know.
Josh Jabcuga: Oh, totally.
Max Cavalera: It’s a shame that I never went back. Some of that stuff, I never went back and discovered, but it’s good that I still got time. (both laugh.)
Josh Jabcuga: Well especially on the new album Prophesy, the track “Moses,”—
Max Cavalera: Yeah.
Josh Jabcuga: I mean, on all your albums you have all these influences, they all sound beautiful together.
Max Cavalera: Yeah.
Josh Jabcuga: It’s like you’re a sponge and you’re incorporating these things…you never know what to expect when you get a SOULFLY album.
Max Cavalera: Yeah.
Josh Jabcuga: I mean, fans always have an idea, but it’s your unique recipe, and you’re always tossing in a new ingredient. I can definitely pick up on some HENDRIX in your work. Somebody said you’re like the BOB MARLEY of metal.
Max Cavalera: I’ve played a lot of that stuff. And DEAD CAN DANCE, and MASSIVE ATTACK. I’m a huge PRODIGY fan.
Josh Jabcuga: Really?
Max Cavalera: I think PRODIGY is awesome. I think they’re the only band of their kind. I have huge respect for whatever they do, it’s, I think it’s so well done.
Josh Jabcuga: What is it about them that appeal to you? It’s electronica.
Max Cavalera: Yeah, it’s electronic, but I think it’s got the same attitude, intensity, the metal, or whatever, of SOULFLY. You know, stuff that I listen to. I like it a lot. I think it’s called “Voodoo People,” they had a song called “Voodoo People.” And they had a song called, uh, it’s before Fat of the Land, it’s called “Poison.” (Both from Music for the Jilted Generation.) This song is awesome. It’s like a heavy jam with percussion. It’s like what you hear with SOULFLY but they made it even heavier.
Josh Jabcuga: Well you did the one disc, a bonus disc with the first SOULFLY album, where it’s your stuff remixed.
Max Cavalera: Yeah, we do stuff with THE ROOTSMAN.
Josh Jabcuga: Right. Is that something that maybe for the next album, you could see more electronica?
Max Cavalera: I’d like to work with somebody like that, you know, but there’s just a few people that, you know, like when I hear electronic stuff on MTV, I don’t like it. I think it’s boring and repetitious. But there’s something like PRODIGY and THE ROOTSMAN that’s pretty cool, pretty unique. I can see me doing stuff…ROOTSMAN is a little bit unusual. He’s Muslim…very great guy.
Josh Jabcuga: I’m not too familiar with him.
Max Cavalera: Yeah, he’s from England. He’s Muslim and a lot of his records have a lot of Muslim references, you know, so I think it’s not the right time for that kind of shit. Although I think Middle Eastern music is really cool, it’s really exciting. But yeah, I’d love to do something with THE PRODIGY, man, because I really think some of their stuff has full-on attitude. Some really great shit.
Josh Jabcuga: You’ve heard their most recent album (Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned)?
Max Cavalera: Yeah, yeah, I kinda like that almost as much because I think, I don’t know, it seems like the record has less pop songs. You know, it’s more weird even. I don’t know, I think it’s less commercial, you know, than the other stuff.
Josh Jabcuga: It’s a little more risky.
Max Cavalera: Yeah. I like the first song a lot (“Spitfire”).
Josh Jabcuga: Did you ever hear SKINNY PUPPY?
Max Cavalera: Yeah.
Josh Jabcuga: That’s like industrial, but you can see some of their roots in PRODIGY.
Max Cavalera: Yeah, SKINNY PUPPY. I remember those guys. MINISTRY kinda stuff, right, from the same area.
Josh Jabcuga: Your latest record, Prophesy, there’s obviously some very spiritual lyrics on that CD. How much has religion played a part in your life?
Max Cavalera: Well I don’t know. I think what I’m doing with SOULFLY, even with SEPULTURA, because I discovered spirituality throughout with SEPULTURA, but I don’t like, I’m not a big fan of religious stuff, preaching religion, things like that. And I think it’s a big misconception because people, a lot of people look at me and what I’m doing…I dedicated the record to God, as being a religious record, Christian even, when I don’t think, I think it’s spiritual, anybody can have it. People from all over the world, people from all different cultures, spirituality…like the guy that believes in Buddha, and maybe the other guy believes in Jesus but they share the same common belief to God, which is the higher force. So I kind of look at myself more of a spiritual, if there’s such a thing. It’s not a religion, you know, I guess there’s not a religion called “Spiritual.” You find spiritual people. But yeah, I think the little bit that has entered my life and I felt was rightfully to put on the songs. I felt strong enough to put it on the songs. But I don’t like when people confuse me with actually being religious.
Josh Jabcuga: You’re not a Christian?
Max Cavalera: I’m not like, I’m not like (Christian rock band) P.O.D. I’m very different than that.
Josh Jabcuga: How would you define yourself? I mean, I hate to label musicians, especially a group like SOULFLY, but how would you label your music, if you had to categorize it?
Max Cavalera: Well, it’s like, I wish I could find a name. I could name it myself. People call, they call it all kinds of things, metal this, metal that, you know, like you said, “BOB MARLEY of metal,” this and that, I don’t really have a name. I think it’s a big collage of different things plastered together into one. I don’t know. It’s…different people have different views. Some people that have seen this tour have mentioned that they thought SOULFLY was like a new millennium BAD BRAINS, you know, because it was intense like BAD BRAINS, and then we’d have the reggae with music in between songs. We go from something super hardcore or metal to something like a flamenco reggae jam. I think there’s not a lot of bands that can do that and get away with it, to the point that the most death metal fan stands there and just kinda enjoys that shit and doesn’t get mad.
Next week: More with Max!
Praise for the writing of Josh Jabcuga, who pens Squib Central with ink made from his own blood, published every Thursday, exclusively at www.moviepoopshoot.com:
“Josh Jabcuga can take the 26 measly letters of our crude alphabet and capture the bi-polar soul of all that is classically yet disturbingly American. Then, when his typewriter is left to cool, he can turn right around…completely ready to trounce any drunk punk that’s got me backed into a corner.” –The Colonel J.D. Wilkes of The Legendary Shack*Shakers.
Press kits, promos, items for consideration to be reviewed in Squib Central should be sent to:
Josh Jabcuga
3910 Sharondale Dr.
Hamburg, NY 14075
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