Max Cavalera

For other uses, see Cavalera (disambiguation).

Max Cavalera
Performing with Cavalera Conspiracy at the Eurockéennes festival in Belfort, France on July 5, 2008
Background information
Birth name	Massimiliano Antonio Cavalera
Also known as	Max Possessed
Born	August 4, 1969 (1969-08-04) (age 42) Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Genres	Groove metal, thrash metal, death metal, alternative metal, hardcore punk, nu metal
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass, berimbau, percussion, sitar
Years active	1984–present
Labels	Roadrunner, Cogumelo
Associated acts	Sepultura, Nailbomb, Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy, Deftones
Website	soulfly.com
Notable instruments
ESP Max Cavalera AX signature model

Massimiliano Antonio "Max" Cavalera (born August 4, 1969) is a Brazilian singer, guitarist, and songwriter. He was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the heavy metal band Sepultura, before forming Soulfly in the late 1990s. Cavalera was also involved in a short-lived side project, Nailbomb, and is currently performing with Soulfly and another project, Cavalera Conspiracy.

Biography

His father, Graziano Cavalera, was an employee of the Italian Consulate in São Paulo and died at 40 years of age and is buried in Belo Horizonte; Max was only 9 when his father died.

Max's family was in a state of financial crisis and family turbulence when he formed Sepultura with Jairo Guedes, Paulo Pinto, and his younger brother Igor Cavalera.

In the early 1990s he relocated to Phoenix, Arizona. He did not begin to make "spiritual" music until after he quit Sepultura. His earlier lyrics for Soulfly were influenced by religion and spirituality, though he is very critical of religion. His later albums, starting with Dark Ages, began to incoporate lyrical themes of violence, warfare, anger, and hatred. His albums have all been dedicated to God, and he has often been depicted by the press as a man of religion, especially in America, something that Cavalera himself says he does not understand. As he himself put it:

“

I do hate a lot of 'religion' but people like Christ - yeah they inspire me. I mean if you look at Christ, He was hanging around with the lowlifes, prostitutes and the losers you know, not going around with those high society motherfuckers you see trying to sell Jesus today![1]

”

When asked in an interview whether he was a Christian and whether Soulfly was a Christian band, he said:

“

No. I mean, if I was a Christian I would wear all these different kinds of omens. Because Christian people are so close minded. A priest would not accept that. So I don't like the concept of Christianity in terms of being so close minded. It is the same with music. Sometimes I compare preachers to close minded musicians or close minded listeners, who only like one kind of music. Some preachers are the same. And they don't tolerate Hindus, Buddhists or whatever. Only them. It's bullshit. So Soulfly is not a Christian band at all. Very much opposite. But we are very spiritual. Spiritual has nothing to do with Christianity anyway. It has been here since the beginning of time.[2]

”

He also stated that he does believe in God, "But it might be different than the God the preacher preaches about."

Of enduring influence to his music is the untimely death of Dana Wells, his stepson, who was killed after the release of Roots in 1996. The songs "Bleed", "First Commandment", "Pain", and "Tree Of Pain" are tributes to Wells, as well as Deftones' song "Headup", in which Cavalera co-wrote and was featured.

He has reunited with his brother Igor, in their band Cavalera Conspiracy, and wrote and performed on Soulfly's Conquer, which was released in 2008.^[3]

Instruments

With Sepultura, Cavalera played a B.C. Rich Warlock, and now plays a custom ESP 6 String signature guitar. Designed to his specifications and based on the Viper design, the guitar features a Seymour Duncan SH6 Distortion pickup. A budget version (with a stock pickup) is sold under the LTD moniker. Another signature guitar produced by ESP, based on the AX model, is white with a Soulfly logo inlays. He also used a series of Gibson SG guitars during his later years in Sepultura and on the first two Soulfly albums and the tours that supported them. For 2011, ESP did a new signature model for Max, called the Max Cavalera EX, which consists in a single Seymour Duncan distortion and Soulfly logo inlays. He plays through a Peavey 3120, and also used Peavey 6505.

Cavalera's own guitar is only strung with four strings, as he has claimed that he never used the highest two strings. Besides the guitar, he also plays a berimbau, a Brazilian one-string instrument (cordophone family), a sitar and sometimes percussion on stage and studio recordings.

Collaborations

Cavalera has collaborated with many different artists while in Sepultura and Soulfly. In 2003 he joined forces with former Nirvana drummer and Foo Fighters' frontman Dave Grohl to produce "Red War" for the self-titled release of Dave Grohl's metal project, Probot.

Musicians

Cavalera has worked with the following musicians:

Rhys Fulber (Front Line Assembly, Delerium) - live keyboards for Nailbomb Tom Araya (Slayer) - guest vocals and bass on "Terrorist", on Soulfly's Primitive Grady Avenell (Will Haven) - vocals on "Pain", on Soulfly's Primitive Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory) - vocals on "Eye for an Eye" Jello Biafra - on "Biotech is Godzilla", for Sepultura's Chaos A.D. Ill Bill / Immortal Technique - vocals on "War Is My Destiny" on Ill Bill's The Hour of Reprisal Eric Bobo (Cypress Hill) Carlinhos Brown - "Ratamahatta", on Sepultura's Roots Rex Brown (Pantera) - bass on "Ultra Violent", on Cavalera Conspiracy's Inflikted Mario Caldato Jr. - producer on Soulfly's debut album Dino Cazares (former Brujeria, current Divine Heresy, Fear Factory and Asesino) - guest guitarist on Nailbomb's Point Blank and Soulfly's "Eye For An Eye" Jonathan Davis (Korn) - "Lookaway" on Sepultura's Roots Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit) - "Bleed" on Soulfly's debut album Dave Grohl - vocals on Probot's "Red War" David Ellefson - bass on Prophecy Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, Tomahawk) - "Lookaway" on Sepultura's Roots Dave Peters (Throwdown) - guest vocals on "Unleash" from Conquer by Soulfly Sean Lennon - on "Son Song", from Soulfly's Primitive DJ Lethal (Limp Bizkit) - "Bleed" and "Quilombo" on Soulfly's debut album, "Lookaway" on Sepultura's Roots Cristian Machado (Ill Niño) - "One" on Soulfly's third album 3 Roy Mayorga (former Nausea, Thorn, Medication, Soulfly and current Stone Sour drummer) Chino Moreno (Deftones) - guest vocalist on "Pain" from the album Primitive by Soulfly and also "First Commandment" on Soulfly's debut self-titled release; Max performed guest vocals on the Deftones song "Headup" from the album Around the Fur D.H. Peligro (Dead Kennedys) - drummer on Nailbomb's Point Blank Alex Newport (Fudge Tunnel) - co-founder of Nailbomb Ross Robinson - producer on Sepultura's Roots and Soulfly's debut album Evan Seinfeld (Biohazard) - guest bassist on Point Blank by Nailbomb Corey Taylor (Slipknot, Stone Sour) - guest vocalist on "Jumpdafuckup" from the album Primitive by Soulfly Matt Tuck (Bullet for My Valentine) - vocals on "Repressed" by Apocalyptica David Vincent (Morbid Angel) - guest vocals on "Blood Fire War Hate" from Conquer by Soulfly David Silveria (ex-Korn) - Additional percussion on "Ratamahatta" on Roots by Sepultura Hornsman Coyote (Eyesburn) - Vocals and Trombone on "Moses" from Prophecy and "Innerspirit" from Dark Ages Greg Puciato (The Dillinger Escape Plan) guest vocals on "Rise of the Fallen" from Omen by Soulfly Tommy Victor (Prong) guest vocals on "Lethal Injection" from Omen by Soulfly Roger Miret (Agnostic Front) guest vocals on "Lynch Mob" from Blunt Force Trauma by Cavalera Conspiracy Benji Webbe (Dub War, Skindred) - vocals on "Quilombo" and "Prejudice" on Soulfly's debut album

Bands Cavalera has collaborated with the following bands: Probot Ill Bill Sepultura A.N.I.M.A.L. Soulfly Sangresabia Deftones Eyesburn Roadrunner United Snot Titãs Apocalyptica Nailbomb Fudge Tunnel Cavalera Conspiracy FAQ (Russian band)

Cavalera appeared in The Scorpion King in an off-camera role, providing the guttural screams for Dwayne Johnson.^[4] He also appears in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned as a DJ for the radio channel LCHC.

Discography

Sepultura

• Bestial Devastation EP (1985)
• Morbid Visions (1986)
• Schizophrenia (1987)
• Beneath the Remains (1989)
• Arise (1991) US#119
• Third World Posse EP (1993)
• Chaos A.D. (1993) US#32 US Gold
• Refuse/Resist EP (1994)
• Roots (1996) US#27 US Gold
• The Roots of Sepultura (1996)
• Blood-Rooted (1997) US#162
• Under a Pale Grey Sky (2002)

Nailbomb

• Point Blank (1994)
• Proud to Commit Commercial Suicide (1995)

Soulfly

• Soulfly (1998) US#79 US Gold
• Tribe EP (1999)
• Primitive (2000) US#32
• 3 (2002) US#46
• Prophecy (2004) US#82
• Dark Ages (2005) US#155
• Conquer (2008) US#66
• Omen (2010) US#73

Cavalera Conspiracy

• Inflikted (2008) US#72
• Blunt Force Trauma (2011) US#123

Personal

Cavalera, a dedicated soccer fan who supports Brazilian football club Palmeiras, still lives in Phoenix, Arizona with his wife Gloria and his 4 children, Zyon, Igor, Richie, and Roxanne.

References

1. ^ "Soulfly : interview". Musicomh.com. http://www.musicomh.com/interviews/soulfly-2_0306.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-02. 
2. ^ [1]^{[dead link]}
3. ^ Exclusive: Talking Music & Horror with Max Cavalera of SOULFLY
4. ^ "Full Cast and Crew for The Mummy Returns". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209163/fullcredits#cast. Retrieved 2009-04-07. 

External links

• Soulfly official site
• Cavalera Conspiracy
• Roadrunner Records' Soulfly site
• Roadrunner Records' Cavalera Conspiracy site
• Max Cavalera at the Internet Movie Database
• Phoenix New Times article on Max
• NY Rock interview
• Asice.net interview

Persondata
Name	Cavalera, Max
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 4, 1969
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death