Max Cavalera Talks ‘Roots’ Tour

The excursion – “Max & Iggor Cavalera Return To ‘Roots’ Tour” – features Sepultura’s sixth studio album performed in full, from start to finish.

The Cavalera brothers highlighted their heritage on Roots by incorporating native Brazilian rhythms with a mix of groove and death metal. In addition to guest appearances by Jonathan Davis and Mike Batton, the LP features a recording of a tribe of indigenous Xavante people on the instrumental track “Itsári” and a collaboration with Brazilian musician Carlinhos Brown on the track “Ratamahatta.” The lyrical subject matter ranges from the 1964 Brazilian coup d’état in “Dictatorshit” to Sepultura’s dealings with the music biz on “Cut-Throat.”

In addition to leaving a mark on the metal scene, Roots is significant because it was the last album to feature Max Cavalera. Iggor Cavalera departed the lineup in 2006.

After a falling out that led to the siblings not speaking for 10 years, the Cavalera brothers founded the band Cavalera Conspiracy in 2007.

The rest of the Cavalera Conspiracy lineup – guitarist Marc Rizzo and bassist Johny Chow – are helping Max and Iggor show off Roots on the “Return To Roots” tour. The outing began Sept. 12 in Las Vegas, with support from Black Dahlia Murder, Combichrist, Allegaeon, All Hail The Yeti, and Oni on select dates.

The last confirmed stop of the tour is a performance at Monster Energy Aftershock Festival in Sacramento, Calif., but Max promises more dates are coming.

Pollstar chatted with Max earlier this month before the band began its sound check in Knoxville, Tenn.

What was preparation like for the tour? Did you have to relearn any of the tracks from Roots?

We actually couldn’t really practice because Iggor broke his ankle like 10 days before the tour started. So, that was bad. … We had rehearsal set up but he couldn’t do it, so we ended up canceling that. But he’s OK. His ankle is better now. They put him in a cast for 10 days and so now he’s off the cast. So … as we say in our world, we wing it (laughs). Trial by fire. We went on with what we knew … Everybody knows their parts. Get in there and do it.

I think the energy is more important in this kind of music. It’s not really about playing exactly perfect like the CD. That’s more for a band like Rush. For Sepultura, it was always about the energy and the vibe. And we have that with us. The energy is there, the vibe is there. The show is really cool now because we are playing everything, including “Lookaway” and “Itsári,” which is the Indian song. So it’s full on. … It goes on for about an hour and five minutes, which is the length of the record, without “Canyon Jam.” And “Canyon Jam,” we use that for walk out music when people are leaving the venue. So it’s a full experience of the record, which is great.

Were there any tracks on the album that you’d hadn’t played live before?

Yeah, “Lookaway,” “Itsári,” “Endangered Species,” “Ambush.” I believed “Born Stubborn” we never really played. When we were on tour with Roots we had the other Sepultura songs to play from all the other records so the setlist was kind of mixed. We ended up only playing the songs on Roots that were kind of famous like “Roots” and “Attitude” and “Ratamahatta.” So now we play everything, which is really, really cool. I think it’s a lot more interesting to play the whole thing like this because I found out the obscure songs they are actually really cool. They translate great live.

People are really digging it that we’re showing all these songs that we never played before. Especially when we do stuff like “Lookaway,” which is kind of like a jam song. … And then “Itsári,” which is the tribal song. It’s just Iggor on the drums doing beats with – it’s almost like a drum solo but with the music of the Indians on the background. So it’s really interesting. It’s a really cool show. I think it’s something that’s kind of an experience. You have to experience the whole show to be part of it. It’s working out really good. I think by the end of the hour, everyone is really happy and satisfied. And they got to hear a whole record, from beginning to end. I’ve never done a whole record before so for me this has really been a really exciting, interesting thing to do. I’m really, really enjoying playing this whole record like this. It’s really fun.

Do you play the songs in order, from start to finish?

Yeah. I do the berimbau on the beginning of “Attitude” with a real, live berimbau. So we don’t really use the one from the record. I actually do a live one, which is really more organic and it becomes more interesting for the fans to see that.

Well, that’s lucky for fans that Iggor’s ankle healed in time.

Yeah, when I got the news I was really freaked out. I was like, “No, don’t tell me you have to cancel the tour. I’m going to freak out!” He was like, “No, I’m going to be OK. I’m in a cast right now but the cast comes off in a week.” Just in the nick of time. But he’s a trooper. I mean, it’s still broken. The bone is broken in his feet but he’s still playing every night, which is awesome. I think that’s really cool of him to do that and go through the pain for the metal. (laughs)

How have fans been reacting so far to the tour?

Aw, really great. You know, like they sing [along to] all the biggest songs and the other stuff they kind of just watch, which is really interesting, like “Lookaway” and “Itsári.” They just really pay attention. They’re really watching everything.

The album also has dynamics, which I think is cool. It’s not only one tempo. It changes. You have some songs that are like more groove. … “Endangered Species” is almost like doom metal and “Dictatorshit” is more like hardcore, punk hardcore. “Spit” is more punk hardcore. So there’s all these different vibes going throughout the whole show. I think the fans really enjoy that. We’re giving 1,000 percent every night. I told Iggor we are here to conquer them and show them why this record was so important 20 years ago, to do justice to the album. So we have to go out there and give 1,000 percent every night. And we are doing that and it feels great.

Is it hard to believe the album was released two decades ago?

Yeah, it went pretty fast (laughs) actually. It seems like it was just yesterday, to me, at least. But a lot has happened in those 20 years. I mean … I didn’t speak to Iggor for 10 of those 20 years. So it’s very special that we are doing this, for us as brothers.

And then I think it’s really cool our peers in metals, other bands, are really excited to see us doing this and they are coming to see us. We had we just played a festival in Pennsylvania, we had the guys from The Cult watching our show and Skindred and then yesterday the guys from C.O.C. [Corrosion Of Conformity] came to the show in Virginia. So it’s pretty fun to see guys from other bands that are really digging that me and Iggor are doing this.

And then we have the opening bands, which are really cool too, Combichrist and Allegaeon, they are really nice guys in really cool bands. It’s a really cool package tour that really works. We are very excited for it.

We have really cool merch, new shirts designed by me and Iggor. We used this company called Blanca, from Spain. They do a lot of stuff for Convergence, so they designed a really cool merch line for us. And we do a meet & greet after the show every night. We get to meet some fans, they come to the bus and hang out with me and Iggor for a while, which is also really cool for the fans. … [It has] been very, very special.

Do you usually offer a meet & greet with your shows, or is this something different for this tour?

We are doing it on this tour because it’s me and Iggor so we thought people would like to meet us together. … You get a full treatment, come in the bus, get a picture, hang out, get everything signed. We get about 10 to 20 people every night after the show. So it’s pretty fun. And then we get to ask them what they think of the show, which for me is the best, hearing from the fans. A lot of them really are just speechless that we’re doing this. They think this is the coolest thing that ever happened in their lives. (laughs) For us to hear that, coming from the real fans, means a lot to us.

Roots is significant for a number of reasons. Not only just as a contribution to the metal world, but it also marks the last Sepultura album you recorded before leaving the band. Did you want to add anything about what the album means to you?

Yeah, I think it was a very interesting record because of the experimentation with the Brazilian elements and the percussion and going to the tribe and recording. That’s never been done in metal before. So the record was really kind of the originator of the whole thing that started after that. Then I continued with Soulfly. I think Roots is the pioneer of that ideology of mixing elements, tribal stuff with metal and things like that. I’m really proud of the record. I think it was really cool that we did that and I think it’s even cooler that we are playing [it] 20 years later. The songs  … they became really huge classics and it’s a lot more fun to play them now than when we first went on tour, people didn’t know them that well. It’s a lot more fun to play them now, 20 years down the road.

It must be really special to be performing these songs with your brother.

It is and we’re just excited and happy to be together and doing it all over again. We’re going to take this all the way to Christmas. We go to Europe and South America and I think next year we’re going to do a little bit. Even though it’s 21 years it still goes on and we’re still going to do a little more. Other places we never got to go on this one like New York. There’s some other places in America that we didn’t get to go on this tour so we’re going to do one more run next year. So it should be a lot of fun.

Do you still keep in touch with your old bandmates from Sepultura – Paulo Jr. or Andreas Kisser? Was there a conversation had that you were going to do this tour?

Nah, nah. We just did it. I mean, we don’t really keep in touch. It’s really kind of a separate world of what we live in and what they live in. We just decided to do it because it was me and Iggor because we were there from the beginning and we think it’s really cool for the fans to see that we are doing this. I mean, I don’t think there will ever be a reunion so I think this is the closest to a reunion (laughs) that we’ll ever get to see.

Do you have any favorite tracks from the album to perform live?

I like “Spit” just because it’s just raw, punk power, high energy. I’ve been really getting into it. “Born Stubborn” and “Ambush” and I think last night “Lookaway” was really cool.” We did kind of a jamming in the end that went on, which was a little bit different from what we did at sound check. So was kind of an improvisation type of thing that really worked out really cool. So hopefully we’ll do more of that every night, improvise a little bit and get something that’s not so mechanical and like robotic. Because you’re playing the album in the order of the album it’s a little bit mechanical and it’s a little bit robotic that every night is the same songs. But when you get to do these little jams like “Ratamahatta” and “Lookaway,” it breaks down a little bit of that robotic, mechanic feeling. It makes it more organic, which is nice.

I was wondering if you play the tracks pretty much as they were recorded or if you perform different versions of any of the songs?

We play pretty similar, pretty close to the record. I kind of talk a little bit. The other day I said “Cut-Throat” was about all of the assholes … people in the music business. And then the other day I said “Ratamahatta” is about the folklore of Brazil. So, you know, I explain a little bit to the fans what some of the songs are about. I think that’s kind of nice so they get an idea about what the song is about. Some of them don’t need it, like “Roots” and “Straighthate” is pretty much about hate. (laughs) You don’t need to explain that one.   

What’s next for you?

Well, next year is a big year for Soulfly. We are commemorating 20 years for Soulfly so we’re going to try to release a record, actually. We’re going to work on a new album. Hopefully [we’ll] be in the studio sometimes before the middle of the year so the album can come out before the end of the year, to commemorate the 20 years of the band. I was hoping to do a little bit with Killer Or Be Killed too because that’s another cool project that I think we need to do something a little bit more with. We only did one record so far but it was really well received. And then later, down the line, maybe the year after next year, work on another Cavalera [Conspiracy] record, our fourth one. So there’s a couple things planned. (laughs) And then we have to tour a little bit more for Roots, so that’s going to be nice.

Upcoming dates for “Max & Iggor Cavalera Return To ‘Roots’ Tour”

Sept. 30 – Jacksonville, N.C., Hooligans Music Hall            
Oct. 1 – Saint Petersburg, Fla., State Theatre
Oct. 2 – Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Culture Room
Oct. 6 – Chicago, Ill., Reggies Rock Club    
Oct. 7 – Detroit, Mich., Harpos Concert Theatre
Oct. 8 – Dayton, Ohio, Oddbody’s Music Room     
Oct. 9 – Pittsburgh, Pa., Rex Theater            
Oct. 10 – Ottawa, Ontario, Mavericks          
Oct. 11 – Toronto, Ontario, Opera House Concert Venue    
Oct. 12 – Montreal, Quebec, Les Foufounes Electriques      
Oct. 14 – Quebec City, Quebec, Imperial De Quebec
Oct. 15 – Worcester, Mass., The Palladium (Rock and Shock)         
Oct. 16 – Cleveland, Ohio, Agora Ballroom
Oct. 17 – Sauget, Ill., Pop’s   
Oct. 20 – Los Angeles, Calif., The Regent Theater   
Oct. 21 – Mesa, Ariz., Club Red Theaters (D-Low Memorial)
Oct. 23 – Sacramento, Calif., Discovery Park (Monster Energy Aftershock Festival)

Visit MaxAndIggorReturnToRoots.com for more information.