Dead Rhetoric: Oh yeah. And you stick them to the wall because they’re adhesive.
Cavalera: Yeah! The skeletons of the songs was in those papers, so we knew what we were playing. At the end of the session, we had the papers all over the room, on the fucking floor and walls. So that was chaotic, weird. I had never done anything like that before. It helped me. Some songs I didn’t know where I was going to go next. I just had to look at the paper, and if it said, “Deftones riff,” I knew to go into that riff. Problem solved. I didn’t fuck up for the drummer to lose his part. It made for a nice, easy-going recording. I really enjoyed the recording process. I played a lot of the rhythm guitars. Greg didn’t want to record – in the end he felt I should do it since I was more used to the studio. I had the picking down. He did guitars on one song, “Dust to Darkness.” He wrote that entirely; everything else I recorded. I had never done so many guitars in my life. Not even in Nailbomb – it was a guitar fest for Max. [laughs] A wall of four-string guitars.
Dead Rhetoric: Moving off topic, you did the (Revolver) Golden Gods awards last night. You, coming from a small town in Brazil to something like this, what’s the best way to describe the experience?
Cavalera: You know, I have to say, I didn’t know what to expect. I did one two years ago where I played with Devildriver, but this was a lot bigger. There was more interviews going on and the “Black Carpet” was going on. It’s all for metal. That makes me happy, because I see metal growing. If metal is growing and taking over places where normally pop shit is playing, like the Nokia Theater – we took over the place with our long hair and tattoos, black vest…it’s fucking great. I was really excited to be a part of it. I had my family, I represented with my kids, and I did the thing with Suicide Silence, singing their first show with Eddie [Hermida]. It was honor to sing with them, and I was already connected to the band because I did the Mitch Lucker Memorial Show in the Pomona. We got to do “Roots.” A lot of energy. It was cool as shit. Nicholas Cage introduced Guns ‘N’ Roses, but I didn’t get to meet him. Ace Frehley was there, and I was like, “I have to get my picture taken with you.” I used to dress up as him as a kid in Brazil.
Dead Rhetoric: You’re a pretty recognizable guy. I’m sure a lot of people wanted their picture with you as well.
Cavalera: They did. It was fun. There were a couple of guys in the bathroom who were drunk, hugging me, and kissing me in the neck. Some Mexican guy started singing “Roots” to me in the bathroom and everyone was looking at us like, “What the fuck is going on?” [laughs]
Dead Rhetoric: What do you do in that situation?
Cavalera: I sang with him! [laughs] I thought it was really great and was happy to be a part of it.
Dead Rhetoric: The World Cup is coming up, and you were asked by ESPN to write some music for them. Any hints as to how it’s going to sound?
Cavalera: I was so nervous to do this because it was a big request from ESPN. The guy is a fan in ESPN; he’s a big-wig. He called me. When [Max’s wife/manager] Gloria told me the news, she was like, “You’re going to like this one! This is one going to be close to your heart: ESPN wants you to write ten two-minute songs with riffs so they can use it for the World Cup.” And I was like, “No way!” At first, it was excitement, but then the nerves kicked in. It’s a big order. What am I going to write? I jammed with my son Zyon, and we prepared some of the material and they loved it. They’re going to use a lot of it, even for stuff outside of the World Cup. I can’t wait to hear that shit. It was definitely weird, off-the-wall stuff I don’t do all the time.
I was also asked a few years ago to do the voice of the mummy on Mummy Returns with The Rock. I did a lot growls for that, and I can totally hear some of my screams. They put my name at the end of the movie, and I went to the premier. It was really fun, and again, it was a fan working the movie. From time-to-time, you get to do out of the ordinary shit like the ESPN thing, which was really cool. I was really happy. Marty Friedman did one for hockey for ESPN, and I was like, “It’s the World Cup, it’s Brazil.” I took it seriously and I did my best. In fact, some of the riffs could be used for killer Soulfly songs. I was like, “Ugh! I should have saved those!”
Dead Rhetoric: Wrapping up, what can you tell us about the new Cavalera Conspiracy?
Cavalera: It’s crazy shit. Igor, I want him to play fast like he was 18 years old again. I was on his case; I was his tormentor, and I think I drove him nuts, but it was for the good of the record. I was like, “Treat it like it’s Reign in Blood or Beneath the Remains. And fuck the groove.” It’s almost like we’re going to call it that, “Fuck the Groove.” Every time Igor went into a groove, I was like, “Fuck the groove. Get out of it and go into a fast part.” This shit is fast and brutal.