DERRICK GREEN 'Knew It Was Gonna Be Difficult' To Replace MAX CAVALERA In SEPULTURA

SEPULTURA frontman Derrick Green was interviewed before the band's May 18 concert at the House Of Blues in Anaheim, California. You can now listen to the chat below.

Green, who celebrates his twentieth anniversary with SEPULTURA in 2017, stated about his time with the group: "It's been a lot of ups and some downs. It's ups and downs. But I kind of expected that. I knew the mentality. Being a metal fan, a fan of heavy music, you hate to have changes in certain… But coming from [the standpoint of] a musician, it's the most integral, normal part of music — the evolution of it and it changing and growing."

He continued: "There's been so many bands throughout the years where members and people change, but it's much harder when it's a vocalist or the main person of a band. I knew it was gonna be difficult — I wasn't naïve to that fact — but it's something I've always wanted to do in my life, is play music, especially if it's extreme and heavy music, it's even better. So for me, I was ecstatic — I was ecstatic always to be on stage, and having the opportunity to finally do that in a professional way… The band had already been established and we were able to play in front of a lot of people, so every night it was, like, 'This is amazing. This is amazing.' At the same time, there was a negativity that comes with it. But I was already used to that, from the style of music…

"I've always liked punk and hardcore and metal music, and it wasn't very popular in school and high school. You wouldn't hear it that much on the radio unless it was college radio. So there was already… A large majority of the people just don't like that style of music. At the same time, I just was happy I was doing what I wanted to do, and I know a lot of people that don't have that opportunity to do that. So it kind of outweighed all the negativity that went along with being a new singer or certain things. They were just minor things in comparison to the bigger scheme. I was, like, 'Wow! I can be a part of this band, create music, be a part of this new history, a new revolution in the sound and everything.' I knew it would take years to get to really know each other, to go on the road. 'Cause they had been together for a long time before I was in the bad, so they had a connection. So it was re-establishing this connection with different people. It's an experience I would never take back."

He added: "I think it was good to have a mixture of both — the negativity and the positivity. It really levels you, where you don't have such a huge head. Or if you're really feeling down, I had enough people that brought the positive aspects about [it]."

SEPULTURA's latest album, "Machine Messiah", was released on January 13 via Nuclear Blast. The disc was produced by the band and Jens Bogren (SOILWORK, OPETH, KATATONIA, AMON AMARTH) of Fascination Street Studios in Örebro, Sweden. The CD's cover artwork was created by Filipino artist Camille Della Rosa.