SEPULTURA
by Christine Natanael

LINKS:

sepultura.com.br

When it comes to the stuff that’s loud and fast, well, I think you guys know I have to be right in the thick of it. And when it comes to the band Sepultura, I have to admit that I have a big ‘ol smushy soft spot for the guys that dates back to 1989.

They were the new hot band signed to Roadrunner then. And the label was really pushing them. Inevitably, I would get a call from the publicist every morning…because he knew I had been out very late the night before and this was his bit of morning entertainment.

CHRISTINE NATANAEL: I like more underground things, I always did. I mean that’s why I liked you guys. In the beginning you guys were probably as underground as could be.

ANDREAS KISSER: It’s true.

CN: At that time because--what did they even classify your music as then? Because there was Death…

AK: Um, ‘metal from the jungle.’

CN: Yeah.

AK: Pretty much.

CN: But of the bands that were doing more…

AK: We were more like thrash metal, I think.

CN: …I think that was the only category they could call you was thrash, they also put Death into thrash metal, and I think Deicide was the only other band doing stuff like that at the time, really.

AK: Yeah.

CN: You know, besides, earlier the Venom’s and the Bathory’s and stuff…

AK: Yeah, beautiful stuff.

CN: Ah, I love Bathory. Love that guy. But I never was a Venom fan, at all.

AK: Really?

CN: No, the Satanist imagery just, I just laugh at it…

AK: Yeah, yeah.

CN: …oh how positively goofy can they be?

AK: Well they did the impossible…

CN: Well, you guys, the name of your band is what, like, ‘from the crypt’ , Sepultura, right?

AK: Yeah, Sepultura means ‘grave.’

CN: Grave, yeah. Crypt. So.

AK: There’s a lot of that influence, you know? Celtic Frost, and Hellhammer, and Venom, and Slayer. All evil bands.

CN: Celtic Frost’s To Mega Therion was awesome.

AK: Classic.

CN: It’s an amazing album. When they were here, I used to go, I used to take Curt Victor Bryant with me to a lot of the concerts and stuff. We hung out quite tight. He’s a nice guy.

AK: Cool.

CN: He had his own little label going and then he came to New York, I heard something from him and then he was poof gone again. Uh, what kind of things are you listening to, as far as personal music right now, that’s influencing you?

AK: Well, I really love the Audioslave album and Queens of the Stone Age, I really thought it was something very special for both of them. You know?

CN: mm-hmm…

AK: David Grohl is an awesome drummer. He has such a style, you know, and he really did make a difference on that album. And the songs are great--awesome. The four, the first four songs on the album, he holds you there, such great music and stuff, and I really was impressed about this new Led Zeppelin, new/old Led Zeppelin.

CN: The box set?

AK: The box, and the DVD.

CN: Yeah.

AK: I was amazed by the energy. It was awesome.

CN: That’s what I used to listen to in high school.

AK: Yeah, but still it’s so powerful and so unique. It’s great.

CN: It’s bombastic is what it is. That’s the only word to describe Led Zeppelin—bombastic.

AK: Yeah. And some other stuff like The Haunted and Killswitch Engage, and Every Time I Die, like new bands, you know, with a new energy.

CN: Right.

AK: We’re trying to get a package with Chimaira, you know, stuff like that. To tour your ass with those young, nice, you know, powerful energy bands you know?

CN: Right.

AK: Which brings new people, and it’s a great mixture, to have their energy, young energy, with our older but still very much powerful energy.

CN: Yeah, there’s nothing--you might be older but you’re not tired.

AK: Definitely.

CN: You’re not slow, OK? Because the show at Birch Hill, I came out of the back stage and me and Piggy were standing on your side of the stage over by that bar, and then the bouncers were standing on the bar.

AK: Yeah, yeah.

CN: The next thing I know, this guy, I don’t know, I guess he was feeling froggy, because he jumped, and he…

AK: Froggy [laughs].

CN: …right over my head and he kinda kicked me in the head and I banged into Piggy and the beer goes flying, and, I guess they didn’t like the way the kids were moshing during your song.

AK: I see.

CN: But next thing I know, these bouncers just jump in but the crowd is going in and Piggy’s holding my hand and he’s getting dragged into this pit against his will, and I’m like, ‘wait come back here.’

AK: Yeah, it’s cool, I mean, this kid has a lot of energy flowing, you know? Which is great. That’s why we’re still here, you know, enjoying what we do. It’s awesome.

CN: A lot of power and fury with the singer you have now.

AK: mm-hmmm….

CN: Different from Max, totally.

AK: Oh totally, I mean, we knew from the start that we couldn’t really find somebody to copy Max and to replace him, you know? We didn’t want to find a singer just to do one album, the next one like, Against, you know? But Derrick was really the only one that showed us a future really, and I’m glad we made the right choice, you know? Because he can really grow up to be a very special character, a very special singer, he’s proven his presence on stage and stuff like that.

CN: He has personal charisma.

AK: Yeah, definitely, and you know, he’s more and more comfortable to express what he thinks, and to do stuff in his own way, and stuff. And right now we feel pretty much very united, you know? I think it’s the fourth album so what do we need?

CN: And he’s the only American in the band, right?

AK: Uh huh. The only Gringo.

CN: The only Gringo. The only one, has he learned any Portuguese?

AK: Yes, definitely.

CN: Can he get along?

AK: He’s living in Brazil. He’s not fluent, but he can understand a lot, and he can express himself pretty well. But he likes Brazil. He likes to be there. He has a house there now. We’ve been living all together, well not together in the same house, but all together in the same city for the last four years, and it’s great.
It’s really important for us that he feels good in Brazil.

CN: And that’s Sao Paulo, right?

AK: Sao Paulo, yeah.

CN: I know you came from there, but, some people when they get older, and they get a little money, they decide to leave where they grew up….

AK: Yeah, I have my young kids now. They are going to school and stuff, and you know? I wish I could move from Sao Paulo, because it’s really a big city. It’s very chaotic, you know?

CN: Like New York?

AK: Yeah. Pretty much.

CN: It’s near the beach too.

AK: Yeah, it’s near the beach. But it’s a good place to work.

CN: I’ve always wanted to visit there. I especially would like to go to the parts of the city where they have—it looks like the hills go up and they’re all like…

AK: The favellas?

CN: Yeah. I think those would be cool just to go check out and go in.

AK: Yeah, there’s some nice, uh, yeah of course in the favellas yo have the organized crime and stuff and drug dealing and especially in Rio, you know?

CN: Right.

AK: But also in the favellas comes the Carnivale and the big parties and a lot of football players came from the slums and from the poor parts of the town and stuff. And of course we know people that are from the favellas and we could go inside them and meet them and see the stuff, you know? It’s interesting, and even the favellas are growing, you know?

CN: Yeah, it’s not so fucking broke.

AK: I mean, drug dealing brings a lot of money too. Yeah it’s a very interesting place, to say the least.

CN: You have to have some stamina to get home too, because they’re hills—worse than San Francisco. And you gotta have a good memory, you can’t smoke too much pot because…

AK: Yeah, they, they know where…

CN: …everything’s twists and turns. You could go in there and not come out for years.

AK: Yeah, when the police invade certain parts of the favellas to try to find the heads of the drug dealing and stuff, they have holes and they have special labyrinths, you know, mazes inside so they can run away.

CN: Well the streets and sidewalks are like the mazes…

AK: Yeah true.

CN: …but also the backs of the houses actually just connect.

AK: It’s true…and interesting.

CN: What’s it like in the part of the city where you live in?

AK: Well the parts that I live, it’s pretty populated too, of course Sao Paolo is big. It’s nice. It’s not a rich area. It’s a middle class area, and I feel safe there. It’s like, I know everybody around. They’re very simple people, and stuff. I don’t like to be inside like, a gated community and stuff like that, you know? Kind of running away from stuff, from, from violence and shit, but I, I don’t think that’s the--I’m not doing anything to help the situation doing that, you know? But, I have a nice house and everything. I live together with my wife and my whole family, you know, her father and her mother.

CN: Right.

AK: And it’s cool. I feel good there. My kids really like the place and stuff. They’re growing up healthy and shit.

CN: How old are they now?

AK: Daughter’s eight and my son will be six in October.

CN: Mine’s ten.

AK: Ten. Grows fast.

CN: Don’t they? Yeah, I took him to Lollapalooza. I took him to Warped, and inevitably after one hour, ‘Mom, I’m bored. Can we go home?

AK: (Laughs)

CN: I’m like, ‘No, I’m working.’

AK: That’s good stuff for them, definitely--such a big day, special big festivals and stuff. It’s hard for us, imagine for them.

CN: Well, the hard part for me was running from one stage to the next…

AK: Yeah, that’s really rough.

CN: I had the first three songs to take the pictures because I had no photographer that day, so I had to do it myself, and … they only did half-hour sets, so I didn’t get to see what was going on, and it was just time to just breathe. Breathe that’s all.

AK: Yeah, yeah.

CN: I think that’s why I liked Ozzfest better, because they put each band on the second stage one after the other and then did the main stage, but on Warped and Lollapalooza, they had both stages going at the same time.

AK: Oh shit. It sucks.

CN: Yeah, so I missed Queens Of The Stone Age because I was watching The Music. My theory on that is, much as I’d like to see them, because I haven’t seen them, The Music is not as big as Queens Of The Stone Age and the smaller bands need the press more..

AK: Sure yeah, makes sense.

CN: So that’s why I make the choices I do. I guess some people think it’s, oh, it’s status to get the interview with the bigger bands, but even when I was doing all those different magazines that I wrote for, you very rarely saw me write about the big BIG bands.

AK: The established bands that are everywhere pretty much.

CN: Yeah, why? They don’t really need press; it’s self-perpetuating at that point.

AK: And some of them don’t even give a shit about, you know, smaller whatever…

CN: I mean, I did Ace Frehley, I did Winger, I did Metallica, but that was ‘89.

AK: Yeah, on the way up.

CN: It was around Ace Frehley’s solo record, and it was about the same time when I first interviewed you.

AK: ’89?

CN: Yeah, remember, you came to the apartment with the pizza and all that. But the new album, Roorback, you recorded it a while ago?

AK: We recorded in January (2003). It came out in Europe two months ago.

CN: It has the U2 song on it, right?

AK: Yeah. And, it’s only coming out here because of the deals, you know? Like, we closed the deal first in Japan, then Europe, and then we are looking for different deals here and South America. And we talked to everybody and stuff, and again, the best choice for us was to keep SPV here, you know? Especially because they’re doing a good job in Europe. They are very excited to have Sepultura to work with them, and vice versa.

CN: You were on Roadrunner, how long?

AK: Since ’88.

CN: Yeah, I mean…

AK: Too long.

CN: …almost unheard of for a band to have one label that long.

AK: Yeah, because we signed a contract for seven albums, which was kind of like signing a contract on the crossroads, you know? Selling your soul.

CN: Yeah, they got you.

AK: In the short run, it was great, because Sepultura was released worldwide, and we had the chance to tour, and to do stuff, but we could do a lot more if we had, like, room to re-negotiate stuff, to be treated decently and stuff, I mean, in the long run.

CN: Ultimately I think the direction of your label changed…

AK: Do you?

CN: …along the way because I remember when they first signed you, you were priority number one when you were signed.

AK: Yeah.

CN: They would call me at 8:30-9o’clock in the morning, and wake me up, pitching you.

AK: I think we were the biggest band for Roadrunner ever, pretty much, you know? And Type O Negative…but you know, compared to the rest of the world, they never even came close, you know?

CN: Then they got Nickelback and the whole thing changed..

AK: Everything that happened was lucky for them.

CN: But the whole direction of the label changed.

AK: Yeah, yeah, but besides all that, it’s too long to be together, you know, with the same people. Especially after Max left the band and Soulfly has the same label, the same people working, you know?.

(at that moment Paolo and Igor walk into the bar and my job transcribing this interview became infinitely more difficult…)

CN: Paulo!

PAULO JR.: How are you?

CN: I’m good, how are you?

PJ: Doing good.

DERRICK GREEN: Hi, good to see you.

CN: Good to see you, too. Finished your dinner?

PJ: Yeah.

CN: What’d you have?

PJ: Scallops.

CN: This is the first time I’ve interviewed you since ’89.

PJ: Whoa.

AK: I didn’t know, that long...

CN: Long time, baby. Hi, Igor.

IGOR CAVALERA: Hey, how’s it going?

CN: Good, how are you?

IC: It’s good.

CN: Wow, the whole band came and visited.

AK: Yeah.

CN: It’s nice to see people we know.

AK: Definitely.

CN: It’s good, because I hate when they say, ‘Send me five e-mail questions.’ I don’t do that.

AK: I hate e-mail questions.

CN: And not only that, but only five e-mail questions?

AK: Yeah.

CN: And they’re so dry, sometimes you can get a few small answers, you know?

AK: There’s no way to answer them well.

CN: What does the shirt say? “Death to…

DG: ‘Death to Nu Metal.’

CN: ‘Death to Nu Metal.’

Pj: Why not?

CN: It has no guitar solos.

AK: That’s the nu metal.

CN: No, that’s called fifth-graders playing the same thing over and over.

AK: Fifth-graders…(Laughs)

CN: I could play better than that. Great, you know? Where’s the bridge, you know? You need a solo to break it up.

AK: Spice it up.

CN: Well it also shows, yeah you can play the same thing over and over, but do you have any virtuosity at all? Maybe not….Where were we? You were getting out of your deal. Got the SPV.

AK: So long with them and stuff, we spent like, two years looking for a different label, and we decided to divide, like the territories, instead of getting one worldwide , like we did with Roadrunner..

CN: Yeah, but most people do territories now.

AK: Yeah, for us it’s different, you know? There’s an option that we’ve never tried before. So far, besides having this problem and not releasing the album at the same time, I think it’s cool because people know more about their territory, then there’s more control over different places.

CN: Well, also, if they don’t release it worldwide, they stagger it for different markets, to give the album a longer life. It makes people in another market that knows so-and-so has it already, want it.

AK: It’s true.

CN: It’s like back when I was young, in South Carolina, we’d go to the record store, and bother the guy mercilessly for imports.

AK: Yeah. Same in Brazil, for us.

CN: So you remember that, right? Or like the tape trading--they don’t do that anymore.

AK: No.

CN: Yeah, I still do unsigned bands.

AK: Awesome.

CN: Have you ever thought of taking an unsigned band on tour with you? Like, taking somebody under your wing?

AK: Well it’s difficult because the bands don’t have the support you need to be on the road.

CN: True.

AK: And we cannot really do that, you know, we cannot-- I don’t know how you call it.

CN: Yeah, yeah, with the per diems and the travelling, it’s true, that’d be outrageous.

AK: And the gas for transportation. Well we do, like, locally—we put local bands and it doesn’t matter if they have a deal or not.

CN: Yeah.

AK: It’s not the point for us. I mean locally, they bring the people back together again, you know, like friends or whatever, and most of the time we have really nice surprises, you know? Really good bands and stuff, and maybe we are helping them to get a deal. Playing with us. Which is—

CN: Always helps to have that on your resume.

AK: Yeah.

CN: But I know the thing now is, like, it seems as soon as every band gets to a certain level, they all have their own label. What do you think about that?

AK: It’s actually what we were thinking about doing in Brazil, because in Brazil--the business is very, very bad worldwide--but in Brazil it’s even worse.

CN: I don’t guess Congomelo still exists. (Sepultura’s original Brazilian label…)

AK: Well they do, but they don’t mean shit, you know?

CN: I think they lost you.

AK: Yeah. And so, that’s a very good option, and I think we will try to do that, you know? I know it’s going to be a lot of work and stuff, but the name that we have in Brazil and the support that we have from our fans--and we know people everywhere in the media and stuff, I think we could do something like that.

CN: Yeah, well I know—

AK: Control a lot more of our own stuff….

CN: So Derrick, how did you start singing?

DG: How did I?

CN: Yeah, what age?

DG: Fifteen. Yeah, my friends that played with a band, they--I was like, a roadie for them, like "Hey! Our singer's gone! You gotta do this." And I knew all the songs so it was very easy.

CN: Yeah, well being the roadie you're there every night, you do know all the songs.

DG: It was like, a hardcore band. It was a lot of fun.

CN: Which one was it?

DG: It's called Outface.

CN: What town was that in?

DG: That was in Cleveland.

CN: That’s why I don't know 'em.

DG: Yeah.

CN: I'm a New York Hardcore girl. It’s a whole different scene.

DG: Oh, I know, I have many a, a lot of the same. Sean (Kilkenny from Dog Eat Dog & All Boro Kiings) I know who works at Seven B, I just saw him a week ago. So.

CN: Yeah.

DG: I'm sure we know a lot of the same people.

CN: Probably do, probably do. But from that, from singing for them?

DG: Well what happened from that, from singing for them, there were a lot of bands from New York that would come across Cleveland.

CN: Right.

DG: And so, a lot of times my band would open up for them, like Murphy's Law and stuff like that, or Government Issue, or Dag Nasty, a million different bands--Youth of Today, Gorilla Biscuits...

CN: Yeah, I remember them. Whole different scene than what you were into, right Andreas?

AK: Yes. Well we do have a scene in Brazil, I mean, it was just like, albums, I mean, we never had shows and stuff.

CN: Well also when you were here in the US, you were touring, so you weren't necessarily hanging out.

AK: Yeah. It could be a late night for a first time. A bit tired.

CN: It was.

DG: Yeah it was.

CN: It was all good except for how abruptly I was awakened to find out that youwere on their way to my apartment. Everything was good until that happened. Then I was forced to write about it. I don’t know, this band from Brazil.

AK: The jungle boys.

CN: Jungle boys. I remember this interview specifically, because I said, “you guys are all like really blonde except for Paulo,” and you said, “yeah, he’s the fucking monkey,” and I was like , “OH GOD,” that’s so mean, you know? When he was just like' neeeeegh.' Yeah but he’s not as tan as he was then.

DG: He looked totally different—say it. Say it.

CN: He did. He looked almost Puerto Rican then….

AK: Menudo. Puerto Rico. (Laughs)

CN: Yeah he did. I live in Spanish Harlem, so yeah, he looks like all the neighborhood kids. Or kind of like a…

AK: Paulito….

CN: …or kind of like a metal version of that guy in Mars Volta.

DG: Oh yeah, yeah yeah, they’re good.

CN: Yeah, they are good. They’re a little different, but they’re good. So Andreas, how old were you when you first started playing music? I don’t think I’ve ever asked you that.

AK: It was 13, something like that. I started playing guitar, acoustic guitar. My Grandmother had an acoustic guitar and she…

CN: Did she play Flamenco style?

AK: No. No. She’s still alive. She had a beautiful voice and stuff. She had eight sisters, you know, Slovenian, and they all sang.

CN: From Slovenia?

AK: Yeah. The remotest parts of Slovenia.

CN: Oh really?

AK: Yeah. They sing so beautifully, you know, deeply, voices and stuff. She had an acoustic guitar and I started learning, from a neighbor of hers.

CN: Right.

AK: But then I started listening to Queen and KISS and Iron Maiden, getting more distorted and heavier.

CN: I think that happens to everyone.

AK: I got my first guitar, and my mom bought my first guitar and my first distortion pedal. And the rest…

CN: Driving the neighbors crazy…

AK: (Laughs) Pretty much.

CN: That’s a guarantee.

AK: I’d practice in my room, you know? Very early days--Sepultura was very lucky because of the family, you know? They had the family support, not only my family, but Paulo’s family and Max and Igor’s families.

CN: Obviously Max and Igor’s families because they were together in the same band.

AK: Yeah. Yeah, we practiced in Paulo’s home when we moved, when I moved to Belo Horizonte and stuff, and they were always very supportive. If it wasn’t for them, it’d be very difficult, because people at our age in those days were already looking for jobs, trying to at least have some money to go out on the weekends and stuff like that. We never really had to do that. We spent our time practicing and playing and going to school in the mornings and in the afternoons just jamming. And without their support it would be very difficult to have our instruments and to keep us alive through that. So these were very important, special human beings.

CN: It’s very good, because a lot of American kids, their parents don’t want them to be in music and they end up having to leave the house, and live together like eight kids to an apartment…

AK: Well here the culture is for the young American to leave the house early, right?

DG: Yeah, yeah.

AK: “Get out,” yeah pretty much.

CN: I think that parents just don’t pay attention to them anyways. They’re basically alone from a young age anyway, whether you’re at home or not, doesn’t matter to the parents.

AK: In Brazil we stay at home until we get married, pretty much.

CN: So you’re saying you’re Latin, that’s all.

AK: There’s a lot of the European influence too, as well where things are—

CN: Sure, Brazil’s very European influenced. It’s like the destination—besides Ibiza…

AK: (Laughs) Especially after the wars and stuff, both wars, a lot of people came down to Brazil.

CN: I read something recently, somebody sent me an email, somewhere along the way that said you guys are now the most important etc. etc. metal band ever to come from South America.

AK: Oh, that’s true, because there’s--

CN: I mean, Tom Araya is South American, but I don’t know if he was born here or born there.

AK: I think he was born in Chile.

DG: And he moved at a really young age.

AK: But I think he got a pretty bad image of Chile because of Pinochet, you know? They had to live in very tough times. Maybe he knows a lot of people that died because of the military coup, and then the military dictatorship. And in Brazil we had a dictatorship, but compared to Chile and Argentina and Columbia it was like a vacation dictatorship, you know?

DG: It was backed dictatorships, that’s why.

AK: Yeah, it was like, all of them--CIA and all that stuff.

CN: Killing machines…

AK: Oh yeah.

DG: Especially Pinochet.

AK: Pinochet was ruthless.

PJ: He was ruthless.

AK: Motherfucker, I mean, killing people in the streets and stuff, it was really bad, really bad because that happened.

CN: Well in Brazil they do have the problems of the police brutality against the homeless street kids.

AK: Yeah, yeah.

CN: Stuff like that.

AK: It’s a much wider problem, but the specific dictatorship was very—very-- I would say like, bad, you know like, hurt the whole country, you know? And in Brazil was--we had torture and stuff, really bad stuff, but compared to all the rest it was really mild.

CN: Well I had, my friend was at the house last week, and we got to talking, and one of my writers was there and I mentioned that I was gonna interview you guys. I forget how we got on the topic--and he said something about this public torture that they do in Brazil for people who are accused of rape against children, something about a lead pipe and barbed wire. Do they do it in the streets?

DG: What do they do?

CN: They take a lead pipe…

DG: Uh-huh, ok.

CN: …in the tail end, put barbed wire in it, then pull the pipe out.

DG: I never heard of that one.

AK: It can be possible. I mean, the north of Brazil, it’s very…

CN: This is not by the police or anything, it’s by the people.

AK: Yeah, people in the community, yeah.

DG: That’s like South African stuff. They do that to drug dealers; they burn them alive at the stake and stuff.

AK: I don’t think in Brazil we have that feeling, you know, that stuff of seeing people suffer. Well George Bush went down to Brazil, George Bush, Sr., to teach how to torture people in Brazil when he was the head of the CIA. So, to really introduce some feelings, you know, to enjoy the torture, or something like that...

CN: Let’s make a happy face...(laughs)

AK: ...the sadist….(laughs)

DG: You have to feel comfortable about yourself.

CN: You have to feel comfortable with your pain.

AK: Nowadays the organized crime, like drug dealers, they’re pretty brutal. They’re pissed off that it’s unbelievable. I mean, really cutting fingers off and shooting people.

CN: Well, they do that here, too.

DG: Yeah but it’s, but this is real. They’ve got nothing to lose. Here they’ve got like, options, choices, and opportunities. It’s a big difference. Well that’s what somebody told me there, you know, from Brazil, that’s a big difference.

CN: People here do have a lot of opportunities.

DG: They just don’t take advantage of them.

CN: They don’t. I live in the 'hood, and people do not live outside of a four-block radius.

DG: No, I know.

CN: That’s their world. So they’ll have wars with guys four blocks away.

AK: How is the...?

CN: Oh, you’ve got a time constraint going?

DG: This is the next: 9:15--you and Paulo in person. And then I have a phoner at 9:30. That’s it, just 9:30.

CN: You’re on the press junket from hell. How many have you done today?

AK: Well we did a lot. I don’t know how many.

DG: Yeah, but you’re at 9:15.

(At this point Andreas leaves and I’m alone with Derrick…)

CN: So, who are some vocalists that influenced you in your childhood? Besides the other people you worked with?

DG: Growing up, like, one of the first shows I saw was HR, Bad Brains. And that was a big, big influence to see them. I just thought it was kinda cool that there was a hardcore band, punk band, and they were all black. You know, there weren’t many black kids going to shows.

CN: Very few--even now.

DG: There weren’t even Latino kids or anything but white kids, but it didn’t really matter in that scene. You know, it wasn’t about that. The scene back then was very open-minded.

CN: The hardcore scene has always been more combined racially.

DG: Yeah, and the lyrics are about social issues or dealing with fitting and things like that and I could relate to them. So I was like, ‘Wow! I don’t want to hear any other music but this.’ And I really started going to every show I could. But I was influenced by that. Even like my friend John, who sang in Cro-Mags, you know, was like a huge influence.

CN: John Joseph. Oh yes. Even now there’s not enough blacks, there’s you, there’s Howard from Killswitch Engage, the guys in God Forbid, and there’s LeJon from Sevendust...

DG: Yeah, I think, he’s from Atlanta. Yeah, there aren’t that many. There are a few. There’s that guy in P.O.D. that plays bass.

CN: It’s like the conversation I had with Nathan, the singer from Boy Sets Fire. We both know about country music, and I was like, ‘Charlie Pride--only black man who knows anything about Country music outside of Ray Charles.’

DG: Yeah.

CN: Why? You know?

DG: I don’t know.

CN: I think the metal scene had a lot more…it wasn’t as open as the hardcore scene...

DG: No.

CN: …as far as diversity. The audience probably wouldn’t care, but it seems like people in bands were—well, Slash was about as dark as you got.

DG: Yeah.

CN: And Lenny Kravitz. And they’re very commercial, so. I would love to see another all-black hardcore metal band.

DG: Yeah. It would be pretty cool.

CN: I think a lot of the young African American youngsters are just so hardwired into that hip hop right now.

DG: It’s definitely like, a lot of things are thrown in people’s faces where you’re forced--where you live, and stuff. When I was in school, just like most kids, I got made fun of by black kids and white kids, you know, it wasn’t just…I mean, when I grew up in Cleveland it was totally, a mixed neighborhood. It was like, Jewish, black, white, pretty middle-class, but it was the fact that I was gonna do dreads when I was fourteen, I stopped combing my hair, they were like, ‘what the hell?’

CN: No! Too Afro-centric for the middle class?

DG: No, I don’t think I got anything from white people, it was mostly black people who were like, ‘Why don’t you comb your hair? What’s wrong with you?’

CN: Oh really?

DG: And it was like, ‘Whoa!’ ‘Why do you listen to that white music?’ and I was, ‘What are you talking about white music? I mean nobody’s saying that--only you. And how come?' They’re like ‘You’re not normal.’ And then there were like, white kids who were like, ‘This isn’t normal, period.’ You know, whether you’re black or white, you’re just a freak, you know. And that’s how it was back then, even going to shows outside of the state. Like, I would travel around and go to shows.

CN: Is it north of Cincinnati ?

DG: It’s on the lake, Cincinnati is by Virginia. Cleveland’s a different city. It’s a steel working city with immigrants from Poland and Russia. It’s across from Toronto. You can see Canada; it’s close. It’s that far north. Two hours from Buffalo.

CN: Two hours from Buffalo?

DG: Two hours from Buffalo. I would go there and play shows.

CN: Weren’t road trips insane when you were young?

DG: Yeah.

CN: Living somewhere where there was no music, the thing was ‘road trip.’ You and your friends cram into the car and drive for like, hours.

DG: Go to another scene with different people there that are into the same music. Like, ‘Whoa, look at that guy, though. That guy’s not from this city.’ Like, you can tell right away that it’s this scene…

(Side one of tape ends….Andreas rejoins the interview and begins to tell some things about the early days of the band.)

AK: …I wasn’t in the band. I think there were sixty people over at Max and Igor’s house--people sleeping in the backyard, on the floor, to the sidewalk--it was great.

CN: I’m sure their parents were real happy about that.

AK: They love it. (Laughs).

CN: I guess it’s not so bad if you’ve got enough blankets and beer..

AK: The Sepul-house.

CN: Do they still live in the same house?

AK: No, no. The house, when I moved to Belo Horizonte, when I joined Sepultura, I moved to their house. And when we left to Sao Paolo, they sold their house, and we did a party--pretty much destroyed the house and there was graffiti…

CN: There went the property values…

AK: …because they wanted to destroy the house anyway, so--we helped them.

CN: Had it been in America, I’m sure you could have auctioned it on ebay for a nice price.

(All laugh…)

CN: That’s the difference between there and here. Oh Lord, so, what do you think about Kreator coming back?

DG: Back in Brazil, people loved the show.

AK: Yeah, I was there. Kreator and Destroyer…

DG: Did you play?

AK: No, no…just saw the gig. There’s a new DVD out. I like them.

CN: Yeah, yeah--that stuff was like, so hard to find back then, too.

DG: Yeah, that’s true.

CN: Influences for songs on this record?

DG: War.

AK: War and peace… I think the album that we did with covers, Revolusongs, it helped a lot for Roorback, because we experiment a lot on Revolusongs, you know? We play U2 and Devo, and we challenge ourselves to do those bands. And we did a lot of work. It was fun. Great. And then we came, took a clear mind to write Roorback, you know? So I think that’s a relation between both of them. Without Revolusongs, I think Roorback would be a little different…I think totally different.

DG: Definitely, the energy from Revolusongs, like that energy that you feel...that song revolutionized the way that you hear music. Those bands did it for us. You know? So it gave us this new energy like we did when we first heard those bands--carried it over to the next album, like, ‘Yeah, lets keep it up there.’ You know? I think that’s what a lot of that had to do with it. The songs were so different on Revolusongs that it helped in writing Roorback in a lot of ways--just being creative, just cutting it down to the basics in a lot of ways.

CN: So, what comes first as far as writing? Who does what first and takes it to whose house?

AK: No, we’re doing everything in the practice room…I have my Pro-Tools…

CN: The lyrics?

AK: No, no. The lyrics, me and Derek worked a lot with the demo from the practice, because I record every practice. Everything that we write we record, so we have every little piece of the song, like, building. And when we have a good part or the songs were pretty much resolved, I went to his house with the four-track machine, trying out different melodies and different lyrics and stuff like that. In practice, we try out, like, the structures…

DG: Yeah, and then, just like, have it recorded—not even lyrics or any words or anything, just like, ‘blah, blah, blah…’

AK: Right, but just the natural feeling at the time when we were writing, you know? We cannot lose that. And then we go to this place and we listen to it.

DG: Like, we all have a copy after a while, and we listen to it, and it’s like, “You know, on that thing where it’s just like ‘BLUUGH,’ or something, you can add words to it.

AK: A lot of words come from his screaming, you know? It reminds me, like, he say like, ‘Satan’ or something for example you know? So we take Satan and we started out from there. This just came out like that.

DG: But there’s also some times he’ll have written stuff at home, just writing stuff, like, different riffs that maybe last for a minute, and then I’ll be like, ‘Let me here that,’ and I’ll be like, well--just parts, pieces, weird things going on in the background at his house or whatever, and I’ll just listen to it, and then I’ll be like, ‘You know what? There are like, three or four parts that sound really cool that we should try and practice. So then we go to practice and start playing it and be like, ‘You know what it sounds like?’ It sounds like Diga diga diga, and then Igor will start playing beats.

AK: We try stuff that didn’t work, you know? And other stuff worked, but we tried everything.

CN: I think they might come and get you (for the next interview).

AK: Well we will have to wait for that because we are still… (at this point he starts speaking in Portuguese.)

CN: I don’t think I’ll be able to transcribe the Portuguese…

(All laugh…)

CN: I was asking Andreas earlier, how much Portuguese you learned.

DG: Enough.

AK: Not enough.

DG: I could always learn more--we’ve gone into places here where they speak--like Brazilian places, just to hear Portuguese.

AK: (starts making Twilight Zone noises at this statement…)

DG: No…to sit and just sort of like, listen and drink at the bar, and it’s like, ‘All right. This person’s from Rio. This person’s from Sao Paulo.’

CN: Oh yeah? You can tell the accents?

DG: Oh yeah, and then the bartender, he’s like, “You from Sao Paolo?” and he’s like “Yeah, how’d you know?” It’s like, “I don’t know,” and then I just let them talk and just listen and then, and then start speaking, you know, and just, it’s just like Brazil, when you meet Brazilians outside. It’s just like in Sao Paolo, you can meet someone in the grocery store, or anywhere, taxi, just have a conversation like, about anything. It’s very comfortable. People aren’t fearful at all or weirded out like, “Why are you talking to me?” You know? It’s a different thing.

CN: You know, I find that New Yorkers can be like that, but I come from the South, and we just talk to everyone, you know? So I’ll go into the store and my friend gets so mad at me, ‘cuz I’ll go anywhere and just strike up a conversation, I’m like, ‘Yeah, well what’s it like in your hometown?’ or whatever, you know? I guess it’s just the interviewer in me, or something. I love people.

(There’s a brief pause while Andreas, Derrick and I discuss how bad the wine we are drinking there in the hotel bar is…the boys are very passionate about this. And this leads to all sorts of cross-talking which I couldn’t transcribe… I then turn my sites on Paulo, who has joined us again.)

CN: You. I haven’t asked you any questions yet.

PJ: Good, ask away.

CN: Tired of being interviewed?

PJ: Uh, 5’10”, 200 lbs at the moment.

DG: 200 pounds?

CN: I don’t think so.

PJ: 82 kilos man.

AK: It is about right.

CN: 82 kilos?

DG: That’s about 200 pounds.

PJ: It’s 190-something.

CN: Actually about 185, but you don’t look that big.

Pj: Heavy bones, you know?

(Laughs all around…which then jumps us off into a conversation about weight and metric conversion…which was funny at points, but totally unintelligible for transcription…occupational hazard when there’s more than one band member being interviewed…)

CN: So, what was the worst question you’ve been asked today in an interview--stupidest, most annoying question?

AK: You know, actually we were talking about that, that we’re surprised at the level of the interviews.

DG: I’ve got one, only one though, out of the many. Yeah, but go on saying what you’re saying, it’s true.

AK: Yeah, about the people, very collected and really good interviews you know? Like now, but that’s also because we’ve known each other a long time.

CN: But I always do conversation interviews. I never have a list of questions.

AK: Yeah. It’s the best.

CN: Even the first time, I never had a list of questions.

AK: But even though they’re really forward and stuff, people are really, I don’t know, it’s different.

DG: Yeah, they kind of like, know, and they feel a lot more comfortable.

AK: And it’s good to talk about politics and stuff, and here in America, and all this that’s going on. Its good that they’re open minded. It’s not like, something that I was expecting to find more often here, especially with this nationality kind of vibe, which is pretty dangerous, you know?

CN: That’s just on television, real people aren’t like that.

AK: Thank God. That’s a big hope, you know? It’s great.

DG: But the question was, it was, ‘Oh, I gotta ask this question,’ it was a young kid, in college and he was like, ‘So, is there any chance, when is the Max reunion?’

AK: For you, yeah.

DG: Yeah, yeah, and he was like, ‘I know this is a hard question.’ I was like, ‘It’s not that difficult,’ but I was like, ‘Well, let me put it this way, Max is in a band. This is a band that’s been playing a lot and they got like, some albums out. I don’t know, maybe you know them or have seen them or something, but he’s doing something called Soulfly, and I think we’ve got something that’s out now that we’re working on, so, it’s gonna be a little while before that.’

(We all laugh so hard we’re in tears…)

DG: I was like, ‘Come on, guy.’

Pj: It’s gonna be like Iron Maiden, you know, all together...

DG: Hell no.

AK: …with Max and Derrick side by side jamming…(Laughs)

DG: Like Ripper Owens and Halford...

CN: Or what about Paul Di’Anno and the Bruce Dickinson together on the same stage, like that would ever happen…

AK: No.

DG: No fucking way.

CN: I like Iron Maiden, but I loved them with Di’Anno.

PJ: That was the best Maiden.

CN: I know, right? Thank you.

DG: Hell yes. Ripper Owens was like, “Yeah it’s cool that Halford came back, you know, I’m a big fan.” I was like, ‘What?’ He’s singing in Iced Earth.

CN: Yeah.

PJ: Iced Earth?

CN: I liked Iced Earth though. They’re intriguing.

PJ: Ripper?

DG: Yeah, Ripper, and then Halford said that they’re gonna do Ripper’s songs.

AK: Wow, that’s cool.

DG: So he was like, “No it’s a good—“

CN: Well Ripper did Halford'S songs.

DG: Yeah.

AK: Yeah, well Ozzy never did Dio songs…

DG: Well, yeah.

PJ: So therefore, you know?

DG: It’s true you know? I was like, ‘Wow, you know? That’s pretty cool, you know?

CN: But I don’t think Ozzy could sing Dio’s songs.

DG: Ripper’s like, ‘You know what? I had a great time.’ Whatever, he said, ‘I really respect them.’ He’s doing this, but he said this was the main reason, ‘Those guys, unless we’re touring, we’re only making money.’ He’s like, ‘And I wasn’t making any money touring. I’ve got a family. So it’s like, at least with this I can tour all the time and do stuff.’ I was like, ‘OK.’

CN: Well, if it works for you…

PJ: Halford? Yeah, I talked to him, very often through the internet.

CN: Oh, through the e-mail?

PJ: Not e-mail, but the instant messenger.

CN: Okay. I didn’t get to talk to him when he was here in New York.

PJ: Yeah, he told me that he was going, and he asked me for some Sepul merchandise, I hope that he got it.

DG: Oh, you sent it to him?

PJ: Yeah. He liked it very much, so...

DG: Great, I just want them to do Sad Wings of Destiny from beginning to end. That would b...

PJ: I can ask him that.

DG: We could be like, “Rob, this is…” actually it would be better not to ask.

PJ: Actually, Andreas has a cover band project in Brazil, and we did a, what... we did, a…

DG: "The Ripper."

PJ: …We did The "Ripper" and Derrick did sing.

DG: [singing in falsetto voice] Fool’s surprise...

(All laugh)

CN: I think it would be very cool if Priest toured America--they only play the huge, huge fucking stadiums right? And if in each stadium in each city, they did a full album. Like Rocka Rolla, then Sad Wings of Destiny, etc…

DG: That’s a good idea. We should do that.

AK: I’m on.

CN: Well, it would be like the Grateful Dead where people would follow them from one show to the next to hear them do the next album.

DG: It’s true.

CN: And The Dead, what they did on their site is they would sell a season pass to all the shows.

PJ: For the next year? That’s a good thing to do.

AK: They have enough songs to do that. But actually we do have a lot of songs too.

CN: You do.

AK: Thinking about it.

DG: Oh, we could do a full--OK we could it like this, we could do three or four songs from other albums that people were gonna want to hear, and then we can do the whole album.

CN: Your album from beginning to end.

DG: Yeah, and then the next city another album.

CN: And tell people,"eeveryone who has a ticket from tonight, we’ll give you five dollars off if you come to the next city."

DG: That’s cool. That would be fun.

CN: It would drive the promoters insane, though.

DG: Kids would be like, ‘I don’t know if I wanna see Schizophrenia, or Beneath the Remains.’ These guys would be like, ‘Jesus, how’s that song go?’ And I would be like, ‘Oh my god!’

PJ: At least...some of the stuff is not very easy to remember.

CN: It’s not like you actually remember every song that you ever wrote--the Rolling Stones don’t.

DG: This is a great idea.

AK: Yeah.

DG: I actually could do, each night, a different album or majority of an album.

AK: On The Cure DVD, they did three albums, the whole thing, like a special show.

CN: Say in Atlanta you do your first album…

DG: Yeah.

CN: …and in Dallas you do your second album…

DG: Yes.

CN: …and California you do your third album...

DG: Yeah, we only do four or three songs from the other albums, but then each…if we keep switching each night, people will follow like, ‘Yes!’

AK: We’re gonna have to practice Schizophrenia dude.

DG: That’s insane.

AK: It would take a month just for Schizophrenia.

CN: Just the song “Schizophrenia” or the album?

PJ: There’s so many parts, you gotta remember every single thing, it’s ‘duh-duh-duh-duh-duh’ (singing a part of the song)

DG: People would be like, ‘YES! I’m going to the Beneath the Remains night! I have the ticket!’

AK: Yeah, that would be cool man. We could tour next year for the twentieth year of Sepultura.

DG: Aww, that is cool.

AK: Yeah, it’s the twentieth year.

DG: Wow.

CN: God, I can’t believe it.

DG: That would be really cool.

AK: Just record it.

CN: Yeah.

DG: Aw, that would be fun.

AK: Yeah.

CN: Could you imagine? That would be like the tour of the summer people madly after... at the end of the show jumping in their friend’s van and riding to the next scene. If they have the ticket stub from that show, if they go to the next show, then they get a discount. And you could buy them online like a season pass. Yeah, like the book of tickets you get at Walt Disney World, you know? You know how at Walt Disney World you get a book of tickets and it gets you on all the rides?

DG: Oh! We could do a whole book!

CN: Yeah, do a ticket booklet.

DG: Ooohhh, that would be cool.

CN: Ah, don’t get me started on marketing ideas--another million-dollar seller I just gave away.

DG: That’s a pretty cool idea though, it’s pretty--it’s pretty intense. That would be challenging for us.

CN: It would be challenging for you, I mean—

AK: And at the end of it do everything acoustic.

CN: The last show have it be unplugged?

DG: Yeah, it would have to be unplugged.

AK: We could do Nation….with all the guests…

CN: How many guests?

AK: Let’s forget that idea, it would be too much work.

DG: No, we can do it.

CN: Aw, you could do it. Challenge yourself.

DG: And at the end we would have to have the cover night: all the cover songs from the beginning to the end. Have a cover night where we do all the covers we’ve ever done.

AK: Metallica did something cool where they released their cover album, that double album, (Garage Days Revisited)--a Metallica cover band opened and just played Metallica songs, and then Metalica came and played just covers.

CN: That’s pretty cool though.

AK: Pretty cool.

DG: That’s pretty cool.

CN: Great idea. So many things that can be done at concerts now, but people aren’t doing it, you know? Everything’s come down to, well, you’re a certain type, then you have to have video screens. Not for nothing, but I miss the days when you didn’t have a guy singing, and have two big visions of him on the side, and one behind. You know?

AK: Yeah, everyone’s moving like that, even us.

CN: The one that I liked that had video screens was when Queensryche did the Operation: Mindcrime tour, because the videos went with the storyline.

DG: Well that’s what we…

AK: No, the best video screen was Rush’s last tour, Vapor Trails….whooo! Huge!

DG: Tool had like,the drummer on one side and a screen on the other side of the drummer so it pairs off and there’s nothing in the middle really.

CN: Vapor Trails. Whenever I hear the term vapor trails, it reminds me of a quote from Ted Nugent.

DG: Oh God, it must be some quote.

CN: He was talking about Pamela Anderson, and he said he would kiss Kid Rock in the mouth just to catch the essence of her vapor trail.

(Everyone laughs.)

CN: I almost fell off the couch when I heard that.

PJ: That chick is not that hot. I’ve seen her.

CN: He has a way with words though, Nugent. I mean really, he strings them together pretty good.

AK: He talks too much.

DG: Yeah.

PJ: Actually for you Americans, she is hot, but for us Brazilians…

CN: I don’t think she’s hot, I think she’s silicone.

AK: Before the silicone, she was awesome.

DG: She’s all silicone.

CN: I guess she doesn’t sit on radiators because her chest will either melt or explode. Those of us who have it naturally don’t have to worry about that.

DG: Yup.

AK: Just like me, natural.

(All laugh.)

DG: Na-tur-al….

CN: So, you’ve got interviews every day in New York?

AK: Yep.

CN: Press junket from hell.

DG: We need it though.

CN: What time do they start tomorrow?

DG: Ten-thirty, ten.

CN: That’s a bit early to wake you up. It’s not like some bands that only have one person that does the interviews… you never do an interview?

PJ: No, they don’t want me to.

CN: Why not? You’re the one that never talks, so you're the one to talk to.

AK: You don’t want to talk to the ( at this point he calls Paulo a name that makes all the guys laugh, but I’ll be damned if I could figure out what it was when I went to transcribe this…sorry).

CN: Over the course of your career, how many ballads have you written?

AK: Ballads? None.

(everyone laughs)

CN: That would be great, to have a whole album of ballads just to flip your fans out.

AK: We could do something like that actually.

CN: Like b-sides or something.

AK: Because we love, so….

DG: Like the Scorpions…

CN: “Still Loving You,” right?

AK: Yeah, Scorpions are the best of that light, slow stuff.

CN: I think my favorite Scorpions album is Animal Magnetism. I mean, I’m into the old stuff, like U.F.O, Deep Purple…

PJ: I like Tygers of Pantang.

CN: They’re good, I mean, John Sykes is good.

PJ: Thin Lizzy.

CN: Thin Lizzy is always good. Love them. The Chinatown album is one of my favorites.

PJ: They don’t like it, I do. I’m the only one.

AK: It’s not that I don’t like them. I like some stuff. I think there’s a lot of better stuff around from those days, you know? So, we’ll do some promo gigs in Brazil. And we’re doing South Africa now.

CN: Yeah. I guess it’s OK to play South Africa these days.

AK: Yeah.

CN: You remember how it was politically incorrect and nobody used to do that?

AK: But even though, some bands still did go there.

CN: Was that Sun City? Is that still there?

AK: Huh?

CN: There was Sun City, this resort in South Africa that was a big place they were protesting against. (click here for info on 1985 protest album)

AK: I don’t know.

CN: A whole resort kind of thing.

AK: Then we are going back to Brazil to coordinate, plan out for big festivals and things like that.

CN: Rock in Rio, right?

AK: Yeah, we did two of them. Now they’re gonna do Rock in Rio in Portugal.

CN: Now that doesn’t make a bit of sense. (everyone laughs)

DG: All right, I hate to do this in the wrong way. See you later.

AK: Where are you going?

DG: I gotta go do this interview over there, because my phone doesn’t work in this bar at all.

AK: It’s a SONY man, come on!

DG: I’ll be back.

(At this point, my son, who has been patiently sitting and listening to the interview is entirely unhappy because of the lack of cartoons on the tv screen there, so he’s pouting. And that let's me segue into one of Paulo's favorite topics...)

CN: Oh, he’s the king of cartoons….(in reference to my son)

PJ: Me, too.

CN: What’s your favorite cartoon Paolo?

PJ: Nowadays? I sort of like the classics, I like the Tom and Jerry, the Warner Brothers. I have a big collection of them.

AK: Daffy Duck.

CN: That’s your favorite?

AK: Yep.

CN: What else do you like?

AK: I like that Captain America, you know?

PJ: Marvel.

AK: Marvel series. I like a lot.

PJ: I like South Park, Dexter, Dexter’s Laboratory.

CN: Yeah, I like Johnny Bravo.

PJ: They still show, in Brazil, a lot of the old stuff. Woody Woodpecker…

CN: I like stuff that’s even older than that, I like the stuff from the 30’s where it’s like, the little mice going through the kitchen, you know, messing up things. They have Jazz and Swing music in it.

PJ: I have a pretty good collection. You like the musical?

CN: Yeah, with the little animals. And I love the Road Runner. The dude never, ever gets caught. He’s just the baddest. I used to watch this show on the Sci-Fi channel called Farscape, and it’s done by the Jim Henson ompany, and it has a lot of puppets and animation. The two characters always argue, and the younger character got knocked out, and in his mind he was fighting with his friend but it was like a Wiley Coyote / Roadrunner cartoon. And of course my other favorite, Ren and Stimpy.

Everyone: Oh yeah.

PJ: Beautiful. I have all the old ones too. There’s a girlfriend that I used to be with, when I used to live in Phoenix, and she used to freak out about Ren and Stimpy, so I bought her everything and when she left, she left all the tapes, so I got them all.

CN: Aww, she left you the Ren and Stimpy tapes? How generous. The things you’ll get in a divorce and a breakup.

AK: There’s still love, you know.

PJ: She left the special stuff. There are a lot of cartoons that Americans are not very familiar with, especially Japanese ones, that we’ve shown in Brazil for a long time.

CN: My favorite Japanese anime is Crying Freeman. Crying Freemen is a fascinating cartoon. I like a lot of the adult stuff too. They have a lot of x-rated…

AK: The Japanese are perverts.

CN: You know it, you know it. They have a whole section you can go to, the sex area, but there are certain places only for the Japanese that foreigners can’t go to, because the Japanese want to have their perversity where they won’t be exposed to foreigners--so they won’t "lose face."

PJ: They even do that for the electronics. I went to a SONY store, and I went to one section of the store and the guy was like, “No! No! Only Japan! Only Japan!” And now the electronics, the, all the stuff that was made there actually will only work in Japan, for some reason.

CN: Programmed in that language, probably. Either that or they’re charging the foreigners a lot more for the things…

PJ: Oh, there was a section that only worked in Japan…they had their own format, just for Japan.

CN: Yeah, right? Guess it works. So, I guess the days at Motel 6 are over.

PJ: We should do a Motel 6 tour again.

CN: The Motel 6 tour and the Super 8, remember those?

Pj: Yeah, but we did only Motel 6. It was a good time.

CN: It’s a great motel. All you really need is a bed and a shower. The rest of it is just an ego stroke, eventually. (Laughs) So Paulo, you’ve got the Samurai look going here with a topknot. What’s up with that?

Pj: It’s own look, my old Samurai wish.

CN: We’ve got to get you some chopsticks for that. Next time I come to see you, I’m going to bring some.

PJ: I have a technique with the chopsticks.

CN: I was surprised when I saw you in May because you had hair like this at sound check, but when I saw you at the show I was like, ‘damn, his hair is long. It doesn’t look that long when you tie it up.

PJ: Because I shaved half of it because I have so much, and I wanted to cut it off, but I didn’t have the balls yet to do it. Because if I do cut it off, I’m not gonna let it grow again.

CN: Don’t cut your hair.

PJ: I have let it grow back this long (He says showing me underneath where he has it shorter.) I shaved it twice, and let it grow back again. It’s just easier when you have short hair.

CN: It's true.

All of a sudden the background music in the bar where we are doing the interview gets much louder. So, even if I tried to continue doing the interview it would mean fighting to be heard over the God-awful pop music they were playing. So Paulo and I gave up on trying to conduct a proper interview...not than any of my interviews have been totally "proper," anyway.

Sepultura is currently appearing with "Rock In Rio - Lisbon"
Fri 06/04/04 Lisbon, POR World Stage - Bela Vista Park