Metal Underground recently conducted an interview with SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser, who talks about former singer Max Cavalera’s comments about reuniting with the band and the possibility of future material, which would be their debut with new drummer Eloy Casagrande, who joined the band last November.
Max was recently asked in an interview about his feelings on a possible future reunion with you and [bassist] Paulo. Here’s what he said: “I’m just waiting to see what happens. If it’s meant to happen, it will happen. Right now, I feel like it won’t happen. I’m not counting on it. If it happens, great – I’d be excited to do it.” What’s your position on that?
None. [Laughs] I mean, there’s nothing going on. Since he left the band in ’96, this kind of shit has been going on, this “reunion” talk. Especially in the “age of reunions” that was the 2000s, y’know? Everybody came back except the dead people who couldn’t be here to play together. [Laughs] So we felt a lot of pressure, but it’s just not part of us. If we did something like that, just for business purposes, it could really destroy our past, present, and future. That’s something we never plan to do. This is coming one hundred percent from HIS side. Whatever he’s talking about in interviews, or whatever magazine is giving him a “way of talking” and trying to create a mess through the press, it doesn’t concern us. I’m not interested in that. Whatever he has to say is just like any fan’s opinion. He’s entitled to it and can say whatever he wants. People have so many different expectations, y’know? Some people are waiting for Jesus to come back to Earth. But we’re working so hard to keep the spirit of Sepultura alive, and doing something forced just makes no sense.
Do you consider it selfish of people to keep demanding something like that, ignoring the hard work that Derrick has put into the band, and all he’s been through with you?
I don’t really understand why it’s still such a big controversy. We’ve seen so many different stories like that, and it seems that only Sepultura isn’t allowed to have a breakup like we had. [Laughs] Let’s see, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Metallica… For whatever reason, y’know? A death, or different ideas and stuff. Bands change! I didn’t choose for it to be this way, but it happened. We couldn’t really handle the way things were. And then we had the changes with [former drummer Jean Dolabella] and stuff, but at the same time we lost a great musician, we found someone fucking amazing as well. It happened with Derrick, it happened with Jean, and with Eloy, and like I said, the spirit of Sepultura is still very much alive and well. I think people who decided to leave us a long time ago should stay there and accept their own choice, [Laughs] and not try to reproduce something that isn’t there anymore.
On a forward-looking note, Sepultura is playing on the Barge To Hell later this year, again with Krisiun. Have you guys ever done a show on a cruise ship before?
We did in Brazil, like two years ago, off the coast of Rio. It was great! A great experience for us, and we really enjoyed having a lot of rock ‘n’ roll and metal people around. I’ve heard these kinds of cruises are going on everywhere now, and I think Barge To Hell will be great. A lot of different bands, good friends, and it’s gonna be fun to end the year with a party. [Laughs]
And how about future music? Any songs written?
Well, we have ideas floating all the time, and demos and stuff, but we’re pretty much focused on what we’re doing right now. We’re preparing for the Rock In Rio show in Lisbon on May 25th, where we’re playing with Les Tambours du Bronx, the percussive group from France. We’re gonna do versions of Sepultura music with them, old Sepultura music, and we’re gonna play their music and stuff too. So we’re working on that, and I don’t know… Pretty soon, we’ll start working on something new with Eloy, and see if we can get ready for new music early next year.
And lastly, what can I expect from the setlist tonight?
Well, of course we’re playing a lot of the new stuff, but we play the whole history. Like I said, we try to play songs from every album. We’re playing some B-sides from “Arise” too. But basically, we play a lot of the new stuff that mixes well with the old stuff. I think it’s gonna be an interesting show for a Sepultura fan!
You can read the rest of the interview here.
SEPULTURA live:
