Max Cavalera is undeniably one of the most influential architects of extreme music, having built the foundation of Brazilian heavy metal from the ground up before taking it to the global stage. But long before Sepultura or Soulfly became household names, the pioneering frontman had to navigate disastrous early gigs and rely on sheer, unconventional hustle to get his music heard.
During a recent career-spanning retrospective with Metal Hammer, Max Cavalera opened up about the wild, unlikely journey that shaped his life in the music industry. Bypassing the traditional route to success, his earliest experiences in the scene were marked by chaotic live shows and absolute rejection.
Looking back at the very first Sepultura gig in 1984, he admitted the band possessed zero technical skill and was immediately overshadowed by their polished local peers.
“I remember playing with this band Overdose and they were really good, like a Brazilian version of Maiden. The girls loved them. We were the opposite. The girls hated us, we didn’t know how to play. The guitar player from Overdose took my guitar and everything was out of tune. He said, ‘Let me tune the guitar for you, bro’, but it didn’t help my playing. It was just noise. But there were two guys wearing Motörhead shirts and they f**king loved the show! ‘You guys are the greatest thing ever! It’s noisy, it’s crap, and we f**king love it!’ Two guys out of a hundred. Ha ha ha!” Max Cavalera shared.
Despite their chaotic beginnings, the band quickly evolved. However, living in Brazil with no industry support meant that getting the attention of major international record labels required extreme measures. To secure the band’s first real global record deal, the frontman resorted to a brilliant, cost-saving disguise.
“I had a free ticket with a guy that worked for [airline] Pan Am. My mom bought this really cheap suit, I pulled my hair back and I wore a Pan Am tag so I looked like an employee of Pan Am. I had to fly like that because it was a free ticket. I had a bunch of [1987’s second album] Schizophrenia records with me, and I went to Noise Records and Metal Blade, Combat, and Roadrunner, too. Dressing up, wearing a tie and flying to New York, that’s hustle. Eventually we ended up getting signed. That was one of the greatest feelings of my life,” he explained.
As his career progressed into the late 1990s and beyond, the musician became known for his diverse and unexpected collaborative efforts. One of the most surprising partnerships occurred purely by chance on a commercial flight, resulting in a deeply personal track for the sophomore Soulfly album.
“All of them did in their own way, but one of the most exotic ones was Sean Lennon on ‘Son Song‘ [from 2000’s Primitive]. That was so off the wall! The way it happened was that we were travelling to Australia and we ended up sitting next to each other on the plane. I saw him drawing, and he was drawing the album cover from the first Soulfly album. I looked over and said, ‘Oh, cool! You’re drawing my first record.’ He said, ‘Yeah, I’m a huge fan.’ It was cool, writing that song about our dads and how we felt as people who lose their dads when they’re young and how they deal with it. He didn’t want to stay in a hotel, so he stayed here with us in our house,” Max recalled.
Beyond the wild industry anecdotes and celebrity encounters, his journey has also been marked by profound personal reconciliation. After a highly publicized and bitter split from Sepultura in 1996, he was estranged from his brother and founding drummer, Iggor Cavalera, for a full decade. The two eventually reconnected, repairing their fractured relationship and finding their way back to the stage together.
“He reached out to me but first he talked to Gloria, which I thought was really cool of him. He asked her for forgiveness for what happened. Gloria’s a very compassionate person and she totally accepted him back. After she talked to him, she gave me the phone and I talked to him. He was like, ‘Listen, man, I want you to know my kids and I want you to know my family. I don’t want to grow old not knowing your family, just because of something that happened 30 years ago.’ The first time he came to Phoenix, we picked him up at the airport. We had flowers and I was so nervous! I hadn’t seen this motherf**ker in 10 years, what the f**k?! I didn’t know what to do or say, so I just gave him a big hug. We had a show the same night and that’s when I asked, ‘Do you wanna play ‘Roots‘ with us tonight?’ And when we played ‘Roots‘, the whole place exploded. The universe was telling us that we needed to work together. So we started Cavalera Conspiracy.”
Cavalera Conspiracy will bring Chaos A.D. to fans all over Europe this summer.
Cavalera Conspiracy “Chaos A.D. MMXXVI” Tour Dates:
- 4 June – Gdańsk, Poland – Mystic Festival
- 6 June – Maxeville, France – Heavy Week-End
- 7 June – Maastricht, Netherlands – South of Heaven
- 11 June – London, U.K. – Electric Ballroom
- 12 June – Donnington, U.K. – Download Festival
- 14 June – Ferrara, Italy – Summer Sessions
- 18 June – Alkmaar, Netherlands – Victorie
- 19 June – Dessel, Belgium – Graspop Metal Meeting
- 20 June – Clisson, France – Hellfest
- 23 June – Gothenburg, Sweden – Filmstudion
- 24 June – Oslo, Norway – Tons of Rock
- 26 June – Tallin, Estonia – Helitehas
- 27 June – Riga, Latvia – Palladium
- 28 June – Warsaw, Poland – Progresja
- 30 June – Lyon, France – Transbo
- 1 July – Montpellier, France – Rocckstore
- 3 July – Viveiro, Spain – Resurrection Festival
- 4 July – Lisbon, Portugal – Evil Live
- 5 July – Barcelona, Spain – Rock Fest
- 7 July – Aix En Provence, France – 6mic
- 8 July – Bern, Switzerland – Bierhubeli
- 12 July – Istanbul, Turkey – Atakoy Marina
- 13 July – Sofia, Bulgaria – Maimunarika
- 14 July – Belgrade, Serbia – Dorcol Platz
- 15 July – Zagreb, Coratia – Boogaloo
- 16 July – Leoben, Austria – Area 53 Festival
- 17 July – Vizovice, Czechia – Masters of Rock
