ANDREAS KISSER Says CAVALERA Brothers 'Turned Their Backs' On SEPULTURA

Scott Morrow of MTV Iggy recently conducted an interview with guitarist Andreas Kisser of Brazilian/American metallers SEPULTURA. A few excerpts from the chat follow below.

On SEPULTURA's early days:

Kisser: "In Brazil, back in the '80s when we started, we didn't have the chance to see [many] bands live. It was impossible for bands to come down to Brazil — just big names like QUEEN or KISS. We used to pool together money from friends to buy one album and then make tapes for everybody. We formed this kind of underground scene that always looked for the releases and imported albums."

On the split with the Cavalera brothers (guitarist/vocalist Max Cavalera and drummer Igor):

Kisser: "For SEPULTURA fans, there are many SEPULTURAs in their head. It's not only because Max and Igor [left]. If you [compare] the albums that we did together, from 'Schizophrenia' to 'Roots', they are totally different bands — but the same lineup. We all change; we all grow up. The choice to leave the band was their choice. We never fired any musician in the group. We only fired our manager after the 'Roots' tour, and Max chose to leave and stay with her and start a solo career. He didn't care about the name during those days. He didn't fight for the name. He just turned his back and said, 'Fuck you guys; I'm better off myself.' And Igor left 10 years later; he didn't care either to fight. It's like many fathers who have children and leave them. For [the Cavaleras], SEPULTURA is like an abandoned child. They really turned their back on us and left. But it feels great to be here and keep the SEPULTURA name strong, bringing new stuff to the albums. The SEPULTURA spirit never changed, and that's why we're still here as SEPULTURA."

On the musical direction of SEPULTURA's new album, "The Mediator Between Head And Hands Must Be The Heart":

Kisser: "[The idea] is just to be a better [band] all the time — try to top our best work. That's a very motivational and energetic feeling to have. [Producer Ross Robinson] really works the spirit of the music; he's not really too concerned about technical things but more about the performance and the concept of the songs, to really be in the DNA of everything that we do."

On the new CD title:

Kisser: "[The title] means that it's very important not to lose our heart, not to lose our human element. Because if you receive information through your head and act through your hands without your heart, you're nothing more than a robot with no questioning, no arguments, no protest. So I think that it's very important for us, especially today and for the next generation, not to lose our human factor and be completely robotized."

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