Ex-SEPULTURA Members MAX And IGOR CAVALERA Talk About The Role Of Family In Their Careers (Video)

On November 29, 2016, former SEPULTURA members Max Cavalera (guitar, vocals) and Igor Cavalera (drums) spoke to Metal On Loud magazine about their “Return To Roots” tour during which they are celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the band’s classic album “Roots” by performing the LP in its entirety. You can now watch the chat below.

Speaking about the importance of family in their lives and in their musical projects, Igor said: “Well, for me, it took a long time, but once I realized that success, it is doing what you do but also including people that you love to do [it] with you. And then once that hit for me, that was the moment and I was, like, ‘Okay, I’m successful.’ It’s not about the money, it’s not about the fame, it’s about feeding your kids, but also making sure that they’re part of all you do. And Max taught me that really well from the beginning. [He was like] ‘Man, you make sure your kids are a part of it.’ And this way, even if they go do something else, but somehow they experience what you do, and it’s much easier for them to understand what you do. ‘Cause sometimes, some kids, in their head, it’s, like, ‘Why my dad’s going away to do this?’ so they know exactly how it is to be on the road.”

He continued: “My youngest son, his first year, he traveled with CAVALERA CONSPIRACY for, like, four months, and nowadays if I tell him, ‘I have to do this,’ he knows exactly. He’s not even going, ‘Oh, dad…’ He’s, like, ‘Yeah, I know what you have to do. ‘Cause I’ve been there.’ And that’s very important for me. And for me, it’s super important the way Max does this, and the way I try to involve… I play in another project with my wife, and in the future, if I have a chance to do something with my kids, I also would love to do that. And it’s cool. And also, it’s very natural. Like, for example, Zyon [Max‘s son] playing in SOULFLY right now, I go see him play and I’m, like… It’s a natural progression, man. It’s the same way if I look at me when I was, like, 14 [or] 15, I’m, like, ‘I don’t need to tell him anything, man. He knows exactly what to do.’ And it’s the same way. He observes… When I go play a show, he’ll be observing, and I look at him, and it’s, like, ‘Yeah.’ We know. It’s a quite special thing. I never had to tell him, ‘Oh, Zyon, you should do this.’ Nah. He knows what’s up.”

Added Max: “We’ve always been big on family. Coming from Brazil, but also coming from an Italian family that’s really close… We had Sunday lunch… Every Sunday, the whole family would get together, and everybody would be screaming at the table. It was fun. It was something that we did all the time. For me, I totally agree with Igor. Success is being able to do what you love and share it with your family. So this is the coolest thing ever. I get to do that now, and I play with [Igor] now [on the ‘Return To Roots’ tour] and CAVALERA, and I get to play with my son in SOULFLY. So I can’t complain. Those [were] some of my dreams as a kid, [and they] came true. So it’s fantastic.”

Asked if their relationship has changed over the years, Igor said: “Yeah. And I think also that’s something that [can happen] only with time. I remember when we toured ‘Roots’, it was a lot of drama and a lot of stuff that, at that age, I didn’t realize how important the stuff [was] that we were doing, and I was just being an idiot most of the time. And also the whole atmosphere, the crew, everyone was kind of, like, [on edge]. Nowadays when I do a tour, I don’t wanna have any drama. I wanna come in. I wanna do my show. I wanna see the fans happy. I wanna hang out with my brother, exchange culture, exchange ideas. [I wanna] hang out with my family. I have my nephews, I have Gloria [Max‘s wife and manager] here. My wife comes all the time. That’s what it’s about. So it does change a lot. It would be a lie if I said, ‘No, nothing changed from twenty years ago.’ No, it did, and, I have to say, in a very positive way, because we do learn from a lot of mistakes and also try to redo some of the good things that we did. So I think it’s super important to have all those years and to be able to come back and do this. Like we mentioned last night, someone like PANTERA cannot do that; they already miss one of their guys. So, for us, I feel super fortunate that me and Max can still… We’re super healthy, we’re kicking ass, we’re doing our thing. So it’s a privilege.”

Added Max: “Almost like the ten years that we didn’t speak, I don’t say that it was necessary, but it was actually kind of important to when we came back and became brothers again. It made us realize that we really love our brotherhood; it’s something that’s very special that we shouldn’t take for granted. And looking at things like Dimebag and stuff like that, you do take it for granted sometimes. So we decided to enjoy every moment and try to make it as stress-free as possible, as you can control. Some things you can’t control, but some of the stuff that you can control, we do it like that, and that’s why it’s so fun. CAVALERA CONSPIRACY is fun. This thing [the ‘Return To Roots’ tour] is super fun.”

Max and Igor will embark on another North American tour in February to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of “Roots”. Several new cities will witness the performance by Max, Igor, Marc Rizzo (guitar; SOULFLY, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, ILL NIÑO) and Tony Campos (bass; SOULFLY, STATIC-X, MINISTRY, FEAR FACTORY).