ANDREAS KISSER: For A Band Like SEPULTURA, Record Sales Don't Really Matter

During an appearance on the "Jitball" sports radio show this past Friday (February 6) on Bulgaria's Tangra Mega Rock, SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser was asked about the reports that the first-week sales of the band's latest album, "A-Lex", were very low. "You know, for a band like us with some 25 years of history, it doesn't really matter if we sell a lot or not," Andreas replied. "It is something that happens to every band, especially in time when we have a transition of technology. When SEPULTURA started, we had only fax machines. And then you have cell phones and the Internet and downloading and stuff. And the sales went down a bit. But that's happening to everyone. And people see only that Max [Cavalera; former SEPULTURA frontman] is out or Igor's [Cavalera; former SEPULTURA drummer] out. People have to look at this with an open mind. This is music, not gossip. We are not slaves of our name. We recreate SEPULTURA every day. It's in the present. We're not slaves of our past. We respect it, we play everything, but 'A-Lex' is receiving a very good response. We have been doing well in the charts in Europe. In Brazil, it has sold more than 5,000 copies in less than a week. You know, in America — I just received an e-mail saying we're in the Billboard chart at number 80 or 60, something like that. And this hadn't happened since 'Roots', you know. So it is something good, something positive. But you always will have people talking shit about it. That's part of SEPULTURA life. Since day one, even before I joined. The band was founded in Belo Horizonte, which is a very religious city in Brazil. Since then we hear shit. Always! Every day!"

Read a transcript of the entire interview from Tangra Mega Rock.

"A-Lex" — the group's first LP to be recorded without either of the founding Cavalera brothers (Max and Igor; on guitar/vocals and drums, respectively) — sold around 1,600 copies during its first week of release in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

SEPULTURA's first-week sales totals for the last five studio albums:

* "A-Lex" (2009): 1,600
* "Dante XXI" (2006): 2,300
* "Roorback" (2003): 4,000
* "Nation" (2001): 10,000
* "Against" (1998): 18,000

SEPULTURA's previous CD, "Dante XXI", has sold 19,000 copies in the United States since its March 2006 release, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

"A-Lex" (which stands for "no law" or "without law") is available in three versions: in a deluxe digipak with an embossed cover, in a regular jewel case and on a vinyl gatefold LP.

On "A-Lex", SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser and his three colleagues, Derrick Green (vocals),Paulo Jr. (bass) and new addition Jean Dollabella (drums),have dedicated themselves to Anthony Burgess's book "A Clockwork Orange", creating an awesome thrash metal opus around this timeless and exciting subject.

The material was produced by SEPULTURA and Stanley Soares at the Trama Studios in Sao Paulo and mastered by George Marino at New York's Sterling Sound studios. "A-Lex" is the first SEPULTURA album to feature new drummer Jean Dolabella, who joined the fold during the "Dante XXI" tour.

SEPULTURA filmed a video for the song "We've Lost You" on December 15, 2008 in São Paulo, Brazil. Check out photos from the video shoot at this location.