Max Cavalera of Soulfly and Killer be Killed released his new tell-all book My Bloody Roots earlier this week on Apr. 15, after being released internationally earlier in the month. The book reveals some really interesting pieces of history from Cavalera's life, including how he used to get through early Sepultura shows. Cavalera sat down with the Phoenix New Times to talk about the book and give some examples of what readers might find in it.
"I've been clean, like, eight years now.
Early days of Sepultura . . . me hopping around like a Tasmanian devil on stage and that was usually after, like, six shots of vodka and some painkillers, but I wasn't fucked up. It was fuel for the show.
I am human, you know, and vulnerable like anybody else. I fight demons like everybody else. It was hard to let things go. I like drinking. I like getting fucked up. I would never have puked on Eddie Vedder, but I did because I was fucked up. Same with Lemmy. I would never have thrown wine on his head, but I was fucked up. I would never have done it now — not in this state of mind — but I wouldn't have it any other way."
Or just being on drugs and alcohol and not really remembering anything at all.
"Musically, it has been really good. I remember things now. I don't remember much of the Sepultura days. It is all hazy. There is a section in the book where I talk about when I met Dino [Cazares] from Fear Factory and he talks about us meeting in a bathroom in [Los Angeles]. We were taking a piss, and there was this glammed out kid between us, and I just started pissing on the kid. Dino talked about us laughing our asses off and I don't remember any of that."
Or… yeah, more on that. The dude seems like he was a real mess.
"It's funny, I forgot so much shit. We did a tour with the Ramones. I forgot to put that in the book. We did a tour with them. Six shows or so. We flip-flopped and we headlined a few and they headlined a few. I went in their dressing room and said I thought it was bullshit that we were headlining. Joey said not to worry about it. He was so cool to us. One of the coolest things was when we were playing one night and I said to Igor, "Look at that," and all the Ramones were on the side of stage watching us. It was like the album cover. That was on the Chaos AD tour . . . right after [Cavalera's side project] Nailbomb."
I think I might run out and get this book tomorrow . The book seems like it's him telling what he remembers and a bunch of other people filling in the blanks up to more recent times. Should be a very interesting read, to say the least!
