Top 50 Max Cavalera Quotes

Sepultura was really close to my heart, it was like my baby.

The vocals are aggressive not because I want to create an evil voice or anything like that, but because when I sing about angry things that’s the way it comes out of me.

I love history and I love watching history movies, stuff like ‘Ben Hur’ and ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ and ‘Doctor Zhivago.’

I’m growing up backwards.

First and foremost: I’m a metal fan. I’m a musician, an artist, but I’m a complete fan and I’ve never grown out of the complete fan faze I had when I was 13 or 14 – that’s always stayed with me. I’m always trying to discover new bands.

The Soulfly logo was invented by a tattoo artist, Leo Zuleta; a lot of people don’t know that.

We were always big fans of Hellhammer, but when Celtic Frost came on with ‘Morbid Tales,’ to me it was a game-changer in the metal world.

If I’m feeling down, I’ll play stuff to get charged up – even better to hear heavier stuff.

I always wanted to do a song with a violin; I always loved the sound of the instrument, especially for melodic stuff.

I always love working with my peers.

For me, the fun part is riffs, and making the riffs is what I… that’s my world. I’m born for that. And when it comes to lyrics, it’s an agonizing process.

I think the older I get, the more psycho I get.

There are a lot of things about religion, especially Catholic religion, that bug me.

With ‘Psychosis’ we didn’t want to have any silence on the record so the whole record plays like this one song. We have noises and feedback and samplers and ambient stuff. Prurient did some stuff for the record which was great.

Life goes on, and we have to keep coming up with fresh ideas.

I’m very proud of ‘Arise.’

Argentina has the best fans actually. They’re amazing over there. Just loud and passionate and they sleep outside the hotel.

I see metal as really connected to tribalism. Like, even the way we dress and the way we love the music and are part of a movement, it’s like we’re part of a certain tribe, and we’re proud of that.

I think Sepultura, I have to say ‘Refuse/Resist’ is one of my favorite riffs. It’s really energetic and I love the song. If you were to find a way to put the word ‘chaos’ into a song, it is the riff of ‘Refuse/Resist.’ It’s chaotic, catchy, and heavy.

Nailbomb was never really a big record. It’s big in the underground. It’s huge and it developed a big cult following.

Chaos A.D’ is about chaos around the world. ‘Territory’ was about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It’s hard to get at first. I think the first time you listen to ‘Chaos A.D.,’ you’re not sure exactly what you just heard. You’re just kind of confused. I don’t think people fell in love immediately with the album. It was a learning process.

When we did the ‘Roots’ tour with Cavalera Conspiracy, it was more flashy. It was supposed to be a big deal because it was a big album.

We love the New York hardcore bands like Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, Gorilla Biscuits, Sick of It All – the whole thing.

My only regret is maybe with Nailbomb. And it’s that we didn’t do more. Because that project had the capacity to offer a lot more.

Chemistry is so difficult to explain. It’s there or it’s not. And I notice with people it sometimes is there and then disappears with time.

There must be something wrong with me, something wrong with my head.

I don’t know if people know this, but I kind of got Fear Factory signed with Roadrunner. I really bugged Monte Conner back in the day when I heard the demo that had ‘Big God’ on it.

There were bands like Iron Maiden, but we wanted it heavier. We wanted to go radical, we wanted to go extreme.

My favorite instrument is a bemrimbau. I play that every night.

Unfortunately, I think metal bands don’t have too much to say in their lyrics, and never care about it. We just decided not to be like that.

We know Faith No More from back in Brazil; when they played Brazil, we’d hang out with them and became good friends.

I never think about retirement or anything like that.

We treated ‘Psychosis’ like a labor of love from the beginning, from the selection of riffs – I spent like a month just doing riffs for the record.

Guerillas’ uses a snippet of ‘Procreation of the Wicked’ by Celtic Frost because I always loved that song.

I really don’t like writing lyrics. It’s totally a mandatory thing. It’s like homework.

I wanted to be a drummer but my brother Iggor was better at it, so I took up guitar instead.

Eye for an Eye’ is super-simple, super-catchy, but very effective.

We all have violence inside of us, but we try to channel it into what we do.

Music is never-ending, that’s what I love about it. Even after we’re dead, this music will still exist… that’s the best bit. That’s metal.

We’re not an American band, or a European band. We’re a Brazilian band.

I think the first Soulfly album is one of the strongest records I’ve ever made. It was definitely the most difficult album to record. There was a lot of pressure and anger going on at the time. It felt like a therapy session in many ways, but that’s why I think it’s such a truthful album. It holds up.

As far as recording equipment, we use everything! We don’t rely too much on Pro Tools like other bands.

A Clockwork Orange’ was one of my favorite movies as a teenager. I had a big poster on my wall in Brazil.

I’m not good at updating gear.

I liked Soundgarden, Nirvana, and Melvins. I didn’t really care much for Pearl Jam.

Sepultura had a political album like Chaos A.D. that concerned itself with politics and war. I continued that in some areas with Soulfly.

Me and Iggor come from poor upbringings. We’re broke, never had any money.

I’m not much of a writing guy to start with. I don’t write diaries.

I just try to make the best record I can make, without any ego or comparisons at all. I never sit there and tell myself it’s going to be a masterpiece or anything!