MAX CAVALERA Laments Losing SEPULTURA Name

Max Cavalera says that he wishes he had been able to keep the SEPULTURA name after the band's classic lineup fell apart more than two decades ago.

SEPULTURA's most commercially successful period ended in 1996 with the exit of Max after the rest of the band fired his wife Gloria as their manager. His brother, drummer Igor Cavalera, stuck around with the group for another 10 years before leaving SEPULTURA and re-teaming with Max in CAVALERA CONSPIRACY.

With only guitarist Andreas Kisser and bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. remaining from the classic SEPULTURA lineup, the band has continued making albums and touring the world amid constant calls from fans for a reunion with the Cavalera brothers.

Asked what advice he would offer if he could go back in time and speak to his younger self, Max told Broken Neck Radio (hear audio below): "You know, man, you can go back and look at things, like if you could do things differently, like we could maybe hold on to the name SEPULTURA and never would have lost the name. 'Cause it was ours; we created it. That'd be one thing that probably would be smart — be smarter with your own stuff. Don't let people take it over, like how it happened. That would be one thing that I would do different. But everything else has been cool. But if it [hadn't happened like it did], I wouldn't have SOULFLY and KILLER BE KILLED and CAVALERA [CONSPIRACY], so at the end of the day, fuck it — I don't give a shit. It's all turned out okay. Even with all the headache and heartache, it turned out okay. Maybe it was meant to be — I don't know. I didn't really plan it like that. I thought I was gonna be with [SEPULTURA] forever — you always think that — but life had different plans. So you just adjust with life."

The current SEPULTURA lineup released its latest studio album, "Machine Messiah", in January 2017 via Nuclear Blast.

Igor told The Salt Lake Tribune last year that he and Max "believe SEPULTURA doesn't really make sense nowadays, to do what they're doing." The drummer also downplayed the possibility of a reunion of SEPULTURA's classic lineup, saying: "Unless it's something really solid — and we haven't seen that from their part — of doing something totally professional and coming together, trying to do something like that. At the end of the day, it would be special for the fans, so it's not like a closed door, but at the same time, we have no time to spend energy with this kind of thing. So we just move forward."

Max echoed his brother's sentiments, telling The Salt Lake Tribune that he doesn't even think about his former bandmates much. "For a time — for a long time — there was a war in the press, like, 'He'll talk this, I'll talk that,'" he explained. "I got really tired of it, honestly. I'm not gonna do that anymore. So let them go their way and do their thing, and we're gonna do our thing, and I think that's the best for everybody."

While stopping short of completely ruling out a reunion of SEPULTURA's classic lineup, Max said: "Right now, we don't even need it. It's been so much of that kind of bad vibes through the years that I don't even know how that would even really work out. I think what [Igor and I] are doing is the closest thing to that, and it works great, it works like a charm. It's amazing."

Igor and Max have spent much of the last two years celebrating the 20th anniversary of SEPULTURA's "Roots" album by performing the LP in its entirety all over the world.