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March 11, 2012
Soulfly interview: Max Cavalera on 'Enslaved,' 'Revengeance'
Max Cavalera has been sitting on the concept for Soulfly's new album, "Enslaved," for 14 years, picking up on the slavery theme that ran through a handful of highlights on Soulfly's self-titled debut. He went off-topic for the final track, though, bringing in his kids for reinforcements on an angry cry for justice in the death of Dana Wells, his stepson, who died in 1996 in a North Phoenix car crash. Cavalera and his family believe another vehicle intentionally ran Wells off the road.The Brazilian rocker who first rose to fame in the '80s as the guitar-playing vocalist for heavy-metal icons Sepultura moved to Phoenix in the '90s after marrying Wells' mother, Gloria. Soulfly's latest effort is the first he's recorded in Phoenix, working with producer Chris "Zeuss" Harris at Tallcat Studios.Here's Cavalera on "Enslaved," to be released on Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Q: Speaking of home, how did Phoenix come to be your home ?
A: It was inspired by my wife. We met in 1989 when Sepultura played New York and she was managing Sacred Reich. She had a bar here called The Bootlegger. Bands used to play there all the time, like Nuclear Assault and Exodus. Even Poison, I think. So I met her and she started managing Sepultura. Then, eventually, we started going out and we ended up getting married. So my logical move was to move here with her. We lived in Paradise Valley, two blocks from where I live now, which is also in Paradise Valley. Then, we have a house in New River, which is kind of a weekend house -- very beautiful, seven acres. That's where I wrote the song with Sean Lennon for "Primitive," called "Son Song." I took Sean to the mountain house and we came up with all the riffs and most of the lyrics in this mountain house, which is really beautiful, surrounded by cactus and everything. So I love Phoenix, man. Outside Brazil, this is my home.
Q: That song with Sean Lennon is great.
A: He'd never been to Arizona his whole life so he was very excited. He'd never been to the desert, so I drove him around. And he didn't want to stay in a hotel. He wanted to stay in my House. I was like, "OK, if you can put up with my kids waking up at 7 in the morning and dogs barking" (laughs). He didn't care. He was here for, like, a week.
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