Blistering.com: Listening to Blunt Force Trauma and even recent Soulfly, it makes one think that this is how Sepultura would sound in 2011 if you were still in it. Is there any base to that notion? Do you think that’s how the band would sound if you hadn’t of left?
Cavalera: I think so. Those two bands fulfill my desire to make music. Any void that was left with me and Sepultura, those two fill that void completely. After I started playing with Igor again, a void was filled. Ten years since we spoke, and when we started making music again, it was really cool. I’m really proud of the two records we have made and I look forward to doing more in the future. I want to create more music with Igor and advance and hit even more new territories than we did with Sepultura.
Blistering.com: How rich would you be if you had a nickel for everytime you did an interview and someone asked you about a Sepultura reunion?
Cavalera: A billionaire [laughs].
Blistering.com: What can you do at this point to squash those rumors and/or questions?
Cavalera: There’s nothing you can do…I don’t know, man. If it’s going to happen, it will happen, if not, it’s not even in my power anymore. People still ask me the question. It’s cool there’s a huge interest in the band playing with the classic lineup again. It’s cool that people haven’t lost that curiosity, it’s positive. The negative is that I don’t know the answer for it, so I’m always telling people “I don’t know what’s going to happen.” What can I do? I don’t know what those guys think.
Blistering.com: Switching gears, you have some live dates coming up, so what are the plans for the setlist? Perhaps some Nailbomb or old Sepultura songs?
Cavalera: I know Igor was always a fan of Nailbomb, so he’ll pushing for us to do something. Maybe something we’ve never done like “Blind and Lost,” or one of the songs that have never been played except for the live album in Holland [1995’s Proud to Commit Commercial Suicide]. We’ll play a lot of stuff fromInflikted and a lot of stuff from Blunt Force Trauma since it just came out. We can play everything on the album except for the song with Roger [Miret, Agnostic Front] “Lynch Mob.” Apart from that, we can play the whole record if we wanted to. We’re going to try to make a long set for this. A lot of people would like me to play for more than an hour-and-a-half, so there will be a lot of music, a lot of songs. Of course some Sepultura, and I might see if I can get Igor to do some surprising Sepultura songs that people haven’t heard in a long time – maybe something from Schizophrenia.
Blistering.com: Like “Escape to the Void” or “To the Wall?”
Cavalera: Oh yeah, or “From the Past Comes the Storms.” I actually talked to Igor about doing something from the Bestial Devastation EP like “Bestial Devastation” or “Necromancer.” He laughed at me and said “That will be really fun.”
Blistering.com: Mold Breaker, the band with your two sons [Igor and Zyon] is doing a California show with you. What’s that going to be like?
Cavalera: They’re based out of Phoenix, really cool guys. Zyon plays drums and Igor plays guitar. They get possessed live. The natural energy when they play…when Igor steps on stage, he’s a different guy. It’s exactly how I was at the beginning of Sepultura. To see that happen again is a trip. It completely blows me away that the seed was planted right there and he just got it and it’s in them, what happened to me, and it’s passed through them. I’m very proud of it.
Blistering.com: What’s going on with the project that you and Greg [Puciato] from Dillinger Escape Plan started?
Cavalera: The project with Greg started a little bit ago. He came to Phoenix and spent a week writing songs with me. We did about 15 songs, really cool songs. He’s really fired up. He’s on tour with the Deftones now, so we have to put it on hold and I’ll be out with Cavalera, so it will be until later this year until we record. We’re still looking for the musicians. The only other one officially in the band is the drummer from the Mars Volta [Deantoni Parks], which is Greg’s friend. Apart from that, we’re still looking for musicians for the project. It’s going to be a project, like Nailbomb, just to put one album out properly. After that, it’s back to Soulfly. We’ll work on the new album, regroup the band, and get a new bass player.