Live-Metal.Net - Interviews: Sepultura

After interviewing former Sepultura vocalist Max Cavalera in 2009 and now the man who has been successfully carrying on the band’s legacy—guitarist Andreas Kisser—perhaps my life is complete. OK, I hope not, but in all seriousness, Sepultura was a huge part of my youth and still is to this day. Their 1989 album, Beneath the Remains, was the first extreme metal album I ever heard, Arise (1991) was a permanent fixture in my tape deck, venting my frustrations during my teenage years, and I lost count of how many copies of Chaos A.D. (1993) I’ve had to buy from wearing it out.

And it’s not only the Max Cavalera Sepultura era I’ve been a fan of. I’ve closely followed the band since Derrick Green became vocalist in 1997, and was particularly a fan of 2006’s concept album Dante XXI.

So long story short:Getting to chat with Andreas Kisser for nearly 30 minutes was a huge deal for me. In one of our longer and more in-depth interviews on Live-Metal.net, Kisser talked with about the history of Sepultura, all the way from Bestial Devastation (1985) to their 2011 album, Kairos, which many are calling the band’s best since Chaos A.D. He defends the current formation of the band and gives his honest opinion on Max Cavalera’s post-Sepultura bands, Soulfly and Cavalera Conspiracy.

Live-Metal.net: So the new album, Kairos, has been out for a little while now and I think most of the feedback has been pretty positive. There have maybe been a few mixed reviews, but are you satisfied overall by the feedback of the album and its success so far?

Andreas Kisser: Very much, man. It’s been overwhelming. There’s been a very good response all over the place. We’ve been touring since April, and the album came out in July, and we’ve been playing Europe and playing new songs for awhile and they’re working great live. And we have a great label, as well, with Nuclear Blast, a great partnership that is working fantastic. The chemistry is really great. Since last year, we have been putting this together and everything is flowing according to. It’s great that the album is really causing an impact, and it’s just a privilege to be on the road and enjoy. It was great timing.

We’ve seen a lot of comparisons of this album to Chaos A.D. and Arise, as well. Were you trying to make an album in that vein because that’s what you felt the fans wanted, or were you just kind of following your own path?

It’s natural for us to try and find something new all the time, even though we are inspired on this album by ourselves. So a connection to any old album of Sepultura makes sense. Not that we are trying to do a specific album again, which I think is kind of stupid—it’s impossible. But Sepultura celebrated 25 years of a career last year, so that kind of vibe just took me around, to still touring the world and making albums. We look back and see the beautiful history we have behind us, and we respect so much of our past, but we’re not trapped there. We needed a little bit of the memories and all the influences that we had; the bands that we used to listen to and all the limitations that technology had during those days. On vinyl, you could only put a certain amount of songs, and we used to work in the studio and record on tape and everything. That kind of stuff brings back a lot of memories, and it kind of worked to provoke those feelings—to our families, to our relationship to the press, record labels, managers, the whole experience of touring the world and being onstage. So it’s a very intimate and very personal album, and I think the connection is obvious. Not that we were trying to do our A, B or C album, but I think everything is there. From Bestial Devastation (1985)to A-Lex (2009), every album is very important.

So you’re saying that Kairos is almost like a tribute to the band itself, like a celebration of Sepultura?

Pretty much, yeah—a celebration of the present of what we are today. There are a lot of people that have very different “Sepulturas” in their mind and I respect those. We have so many different fans, and it’s very hard to define a Sepultura fan. We lost and gained fans during the years regardless of the formation. If you put Schizophrenia (1987) and Roots (1996) together—which are the first and last album with that formation of Igor (Cavalera), Max, Andreas and Paulo (Jr.)—they are very different from each other. And it should be because we were different people after we started. And then, later, with touring and family and kids and everything, you change, you know? So I think change was something that was always very important for Sepultura. We were always trying to find something new to work with. And that spirit is still on. That’s why we’re still here as Sepultura, touring the world and playing everywhere, and still listening to new ideas and trying to do new stuff. And I think this album celebrates this moment; 26 years of a career, in the studio, enjoying what we are doing, and it’s a great feeling.

Yeah, I like what I hear so far. Like I said, I think it does sound a lot like Chaos A.D. In particular, I even hear riffs that bring songs like “Nomad” or “Territory” to mind when I hear the new stuff. Were there any old riffs laying around from back in the day that you reworked, or was this all completely new stuff?

Oh no. Completely new, man. “Territory” is old. (laughs) We wrote that in like ’93. Everything that we worked with that formation is out—we really squeezed the last drop of everything, especially on the compilations, Roots and the live album (Under a Pale Grey Sky, 2002). So we have nothing from that era. It was just everything from scratch. And like I said, the feeling of passing through those years and having those experiences, that was the kind of vibe that was there when we wrote this album. Not trying to do a specific, technical copy of any album—we’re not trying to repeat that, nothing like that. That’s like losing time and losing energy. We just went to work with what we had now. Plus, we have two different people from those days. (Drummer) Jean (Dolabella) and (vocalist) Derrick (Green) have been very much in the band for a long time—especially Derrick. And they have ideas together with ours, and that’s the chemistry we have.

You guys picked a couple of interesting covers for the album, with (The Prodigy’s) “Firestarter,” and in particular, (Ministry’s) “Just One Fix.” I find it interesting because both Ministry and Sepultura were reaching their height of popularity in the mid-'90s and you guys probably consider them your peers, right? Most of the time when bands do cover songs, it’s of a really, really old band that they admire, so why the decision to cover the Ministry song?

Yeah, Ministry was a really huge influence on our music. We toured with Ministry in ’92 in the States, alongside Helmet—it was Sepultura, Helmet and Ministry. It was a great tour for us, and they really inspired and influenced Sepultura a lot. You can see the difference between Arise and Chaos A.D. There is some Ministry there, as well, like the synchronized riffs and loops with the drums and more of the industrial sound. Ministry came and showed a different way to play industrial music, and it was something new to see. And, of course, they were such a huge influence on Sepultura. And we’ve done (covers) before, from New Model Army, Motorhead, Black Sabbath and hardcore and punk and Brazilian bands. So we sat down and tried to find stuff that worked before. We were talking about Sepultura history and everything that influenced us, and so it made sense to have Ministry there, not as a bonus, but as a part of the album. I think they were very important for us and we were very happy we could do that.

I’ve seen that Al (Jourgensen) is putting Ministry back together for some shows and a tour. I’m sure you would jump at that chance to tour up with Ministry again, right? Any chance of that getting hooked up down the road?

Yeah, that’d be great—fucking great! We shared the stage in ’92, and it’d be good to have a chance to do that again, especially in the States. I think if we have the chance to do something like that again, definitely—we’re in.

Speaking of touring, you’re going to be doing the Thrashfest Classics tour with Exodus. What else can you tell us about that?

Well, that’s a specific tour in Europe. It’s not like an idea of Sepultura or Exodus or anybody. (The inaugural tour was) last year when they did the tour with Kreator and Destruction, and it went very well. And now we get to do the Thrashfest Classics tour, also. We’re doing songs from Beneath the Remains, Arise and Chaos A.D. We’re going to do our set list out of those three albums, and I thought that was pretty cool. It was a great chance to tour with Exodus, Destruction and Heathen,and we’re all going to play classic stuff. And we’re going to have a blast. I think the concept is great to get into the style and idea of the sound, which I think, is growing, and we’re happy to be a part.

Even though we have a new album, we’re totally supportive of the idea of this festival. We’re not going to play anything new, but it’s going to be two or three weeks playing the old stuff. But it’s always great to go back and try to play songs that we don’t play for so many years and the fans have a chance to listen to that.

That was my next question: Are you guys rehearsing for this yet and have you found it hard to go back and play any of this old material, particularly from Beneath the Remains?

Not really. Last year for the 16-year anniversary of the Manifesto Bar in São Paulo, Brazil, we played the whole Arise album from beginning to end, and it was a great experience. We had to practice, relearn some stuff, some leads here and there. And for Derrick, he had to try and learn new lyrics that he didn’t write, but he’s very familiar with the songs, as well. He had listened to Arise during those days and he knows that kind of material. But it was great and we had a blast. And it was a great school for us, as well, to play those riffs, fast changes and some leads that I didn’t play for a long time. We got better, actually.

And we are ready to play any type of Sepultura, which is great. We are really ready to play any album in any circumstance, and we have improved our repertoire now. We’re going to play four songs from Beneath the Remains. For instance, maybe “Slaves of Pain” or “Primitive Future”—songs we don’t play for 15 years. So I think it’ll be fun to play that and jam onstage with our friends.

Talking about Derrick going back and learning the songs, he’s actually been in the band longer now than Max was, right?

Yeah, I think longer. He joined the band back in the end of ’97.

I don’t know how it seems to you from your point of view, but it seems to me that fans really cling more to the Max Cavalera era. Is it frustrating for you at all, now that Derrick has actually been in the band longer than Max, that the fans still look back to those earlier albums with Max on them?

Well, I think it’s really hard to say “fans.” I think it’s really hard to define a Sepultura fan. And it’s not everybody that thinks that way. I respect every type of opinion. You have a mouth, you have a brain, you might as well speak up, you know? But, of course, I don’t agree with all of them. It’s great that we have so many Sepulturas in many people’s minds. It shows that we’ve reached so many different people. And like I said, the formations we’ve had, and (through) so many different albums, we’ve lost and gained fans regardless of the formation.

And if they want to expect that, then they’re free to. There are a lot of people expecting for Jesus to come back. (laughs) Expectations are expectations—you’re free to expect anything you want. But at the same time, there’s room for what to respect in the present. We’re not trapped in our past. It’s kind of stupid to erase everything we did with Derrick, and go back and just play Roots and stuff like that.

You know, (Max and Igor) is not Sepultura. It was Sepultura for awhile, but they chose to leave the band; first Max and then Igor. It was their choice to leave, and they’re doing whatever they do. (After that) we went to different ways and different things, keeping the same Sepultura spirit. We still go out with new music and try to arrange and listen and write different music, using aggressive music in different ways. We have had the privilege to travel the world. We never really stopped. People can expect whatever they want, but Sepultura is what it is, like it or not. I know we’re going to hear those cries forever. We have the people that actually saw Sepultura before and want to see us again. But most of them have never seen (this formation) and they don’t know what to expect—they just listen to the (old) albums. But we still play all the songs, and like I said, we can play anything Sepultura. It is what it is, so I don’t see trying to repeat the past as a good way of doing things, especially with music. It could be a disaster if we tried to do something like that for the wrong reasons. We are very happy with what we have. We have a great label, a great album, a great plan ahead of us, and that’s it.

While we’re talking about the different formations of Sepultura throughout the years and fans having different viewpoints and respect for the lineups, do you consider Max’s other bands, Soulfly and Cavalera Conspiracy with Igor, part of the extended Sepultura family?

I don’t know, man. That’s a hard question because we don’t have that contact with each other that much. I don’t know. Musically, it’s kind of confusing for me in trying to see the difference of what is what. Soulfly has had so many different formations, so you loose kind of a characteristic sound there. Of course, Max and his vocals is what it is. I mean, he’s been writing the same stuff over and over again. And in that sense I don’t think he has really evolved too much. When working with different musicians all the time it’s kind of hard to have a characteristic sound or try to do something original.

And then with Cavalera Conspiracy, it’s weird to think that he can really work songs like that with just like a drummer there. So I don’t really see the partnership that they’re going. It’s just like a bunch of Max songs that have a different drummer. But, you know, it is what it is. I still think Max has a pretty cool characteristic way of writing and saying things, but I don’t see that much evolution.

I know you get the “reunion” questions all the time, so I won’t go all the way there, but let’s just say you were approached to play one show or one festival with Max and Igor. What would be the one most important thing that would prevent that?

I don’t know. I don’t like to think about that. I think that’s kind of ridiculous. (laughs) We can portray any kind of situation and give an opinion. It just makes no sense to me to try and picture something like that. It is what it is, and I’ve always enjoyed being in music. I don’t want to be a slave of something that’s not there anymore. I’m not a slave of my past. I respect my past, but I’m here now. Much (more) than anything else, I think that is what Kairos is all about—it’s in this moment, it’s a concept of time. Not the past, but this is a vision and concept of the future. Our fans try to create expectations, but that it’s totally empty.

And it has to be right, it has to be honest and it has to be Sepultura; otherwise, it’s not. And that’s why we’re still here as Sepultura, because the spirit is still well in our lives, very positive and very happy. And we’re growing, going to different directions, going to different places in the world still. We make sure everything happens in the best manner possible. We show respect to our fans, and we’re not trying to fool them. So I’d rather be myself than trying to fulfill expectations of people that they would normally expect for.

I actually interviewed Max in 2009 and asked him this same question. I would like to know from you what the highest point of Sepultura was, and then what you think was your lowest point of Sepultura throughout your career.

We’ve had many highs and many lows. I think the worst part was when Max left in the middle of Roots touring—just coming back and left. And we had to stay with the whole thing. He took the management. He took all the things that Sepultura took 10 years to build. He kept all the trust from the record label, he kept the same studio that we did Roots, the same producer, same mixer and everything. But at the same time, it was our highest point because from that point, we have grown upward so much musically, especially behind the scenes with managers and labels. We learned not to trust too much people, and we saw a lot of things that weren’t right and we had to deal with that. We got much stronger out of the situation.

Nowadays, we’re more relaxed towards everything. We’re more mature about our career and our things. We have our fan club, strong merchandising, we put out our own gear, clothing and many things. Many things like that we have control of, like ads here in Brazil. And we’ve learned to beware of things.

I have to consider the same point as the highest and the lowest because one is a consequence of the other. So it’s all here. We learned how to deal with those previous problems, and we changed those problems right away. We didn’t turn our back on nobody. We honored the contract we had with Roadrunner. We found a new manager, and we found new ways to work with different labels, and we’re finally here. We are good musicians, very positive musicians, and that’s what matters.

I don’t know if you care or not, but Max told me that one of the band’s highest points was a tour you guys did in Brazil with the Ramones.

Yeah, how high can it be, man—touring with the Ramones in Brazil. But Sepultura was much more than that. We did Rock in Rio, we played with Black Sabbath and their original lineup in ’92 in Costa Mesa, California, with Rob Halford singing for Black Sabbath. The “Territour” was one of the best tours ever, especially in ’94, touring the States (with Fear Factory, Fudge Tunnel and Clutch) with Brazil playing the World Cup.

We have so many different beautiful things—the Rock In Rio in 2001, the Nation tour, opening up for Iron Maiden. The Wacken Festvial, just like weeks ago, was something that was one of the highest points for us, playing that festival for the first time with a new album and the response that we got. So it’s great to see that we got so many different experiences to get to play with our idols and be respected by them. And then, of course, the Ramones. The Ramones are like legends, and to share that with them in Brazil was amazing, of course.

We’ll be there next year, early next year, because now we have Rock in Rio in September here in Brazil. We have a South American tour with Machine Head in October, then the ThrashFest tour in Europe in November and December. And then we’re planning to go in February or March to the States, play the new album and stuff, so we are looking forward. We did a tour here in April and May, but the album wasn’t out yet. But now with the response and everything, we are really excited to go back. It’s going to be great.

OK, Andreas. So I’ve taken an awful lot of your time, but I think it’s been great. I’ve learned a lot about Sepultura, but is there anything else you would like to say to our readers or your fans?

Just to thank you for the support from everybody. And we are very excited with the reaction we got from the States from this album, and we’re hoping to see everybody at the beginning of 2012 in the States with Kairos touring. Let’s have some fun, let’s have a blast and enjoy ourselves.