Ex-SEPULTURA Drummer IGOR CAVALERA: 'Drumming, For Me, Is About Learning'

Sound Protest conducted an interview with former SEPULTURA and current CAVALERA CONSPIRACY drummer Igor Cavalera at this past summer's Hellfest in Clisson, France. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the writing process in CAVALERA CONSPIRACY:

"It's very easy. Me and Max [Cavalera, CAVALERA CONSPIRACY guitarist/vocalist and Igor's brother], we exchange a few ideas and then we go in the studio and do the album very fast. It's very different than anything I've done in the past, but it's a lot of fun. It's a very fast process of CAVALERA. We go together in the studio and we finish everything in less than a month — writing, recording, everything. I really enjoy that. I don't like being months and months in the studio; I hate that. More than that, you start ruining your music. You think too much about the music."

On whether CAVALERA CONSPIRACY is a throwback to the early days of thrash metal:

"It has some of that influence. Of course, it's a different time, different ways of doing things, but it does have a bit of that old energy into the record. That's what we tried to bring."

On his approach to drumming:

"I keep changing back and forth and thinking of ways of doing… 'Cause drumming, for me, it's about learning. I learn every day. When I watch a new band, I watch the drummer and I learn from that. So I try to keep moving — never stop and [say], 'Okay, this is what I do.' There's always something else to put more into drum playing. Like, I try to incorporate some of the… not only Brazilian, but African… all kinds of stuff that you can do something new with metal. That's what I try to mix it up."

CAVALERA CONSPIRACY's third album, "Pandemonium", was released last November via Napalm Records. The CD was produced by John Gray, who has previously worked with SOULFLY.

Max and Igor played together for the first time in 10 years at the 10th annual D-Low Memorial Festival on August 17, 2006 at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe, Arizona.