SEPULTURA Frontman Collaborating With Funk Godfather GEORGE CLINTON

Sweden's Metal Shrine blog recently conducted an interview with SEPULTURA frontman Derrick Green. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metal Shrine: It says in the promo papers that [the new SEPULTURA album, "Kairos"] could be likened to "Chaos A.D." and could be seen as the follow-up to "Roots".

Derrick: I think it kind of happened and we also talked about it. A mix of both, because there were certain elements like, "OK, we're gonna write an album about the history of SEPULTURA, ourselves, fights and struggles that we've had against whoever or whatever. The challenges that we've had." With that we also wanted to write a lot of old elements that were there and made the characters of SEPULTURA, so as a fan before I got in the band, I kind of took that approach in speaking with Andreas [Kisser, guitar] or communicating with them or everybody, that "Look, on the past albums there are certain things I think we didn't really hit on that much, that we can do on this album!" There's a lot more guitar strumming as far as like picking and a lot more guitar solos. Those are elements that I really like about SEPULTURA, before even being in the band, so I just think we skimmed a lot of stuff down on this one for a straightforward approach. We wanted to have more head banging back! Simple riffs, like where you just wanna bang your head, you know!

Metal Shrine: Even the artwork has a bit more classic heavy metal look to it, in a way.

Derrick: Definitely! I think it kind of happened, as far as hooking up with Nuclear Blast, the new label, they gave us some ideas. They were getting into the vibe as well, "Hey, since you're going down that road writing the history of SEPULTURA, you should have like a classic metal-style artwork!" We agreed that definitely that would be cool to have that vibe and it happened in such a random way. The artist, Erich Sayers, we met him backstage at our show and it was really in that moment. It was not planned at all and he really got the idea quickly.

Metal Shrine: Has he done a lot of metal albums?

Derrick: No, never! This is his first album. It's like really over the top. He really wants to work with more artists, but he's done professional jobs for like the videogame "Call Of Duty" and things like that and he's really experienced with that. Once I saw his work and heard about him I was like, "Man, this is the guy that's gotta do it!" A) he's a huge fan and B) he knows what he's doing as far as coming up with sick designs. We got really lucky!

Metal Shrine: What was it like working with [producer] Roy Z?

Derrick: It was awesome! Roy has been to Brazil many times working with different bands and he's been longing to work with SEPULTURA for a long time, so this was his opportunity. He came in with a very cool attitude and he really understood exactly what we were going for. The fact that he's experience working with other vocalists, like Rob Halford and Bruce Dickinson, he had a lot of cool ideas in the studio for me, that really helped me open up and try different ways and different sounds. It was awesome! He really made everyone feel comfortable and created a vibe where not everything has to be perfect, but just capture the energy that we do live. It was really cool and he was very easy to work with and it's great because he can really understand the aspect of being on stage and performing live since he's playing with Rob Halford.

Metal Shrine: A band like SEPULTURA, do you always need a producer?

Derrick: Yeah! (laughs) I think that we do! I think it's something that has always worked really well and I think there's a reason why. We have a lot of ideas and it's good to have somebody that's not directly in the circle that you're working with. We're open to hear other people's ideas and interpretations who know what they're talking about. When you have a good producer who knows what he's talking about, they're gonna tell you the truth and sometimes you may not like it, but you need to hear it from an outside source. That's something that works well with us and that we need and I know that I need it. I like to hear that outside voice and a producer's tremendous in helping in so many ways. We're just fortunate to have good ones. There might be people who've had horrible producers and they're just tired of it and they feel that they can do it better. I'm sure there are bands that do that, but for us, a producer!

Metal Shrine: How come you ended up on Nuclear Blast and is it a multi album deal?

Derrick: Well, with SPV, our previous label, they were having some internal issues. Not the greatest times for record labels or businesses in general with the economy, so we wanted to move away and get somebody that was stronger and has everything together, really. Nuclear Blast really understood the predicament that we were in and they understood where we need to go and they believe in us, that we're capable of producing more albums, better albums. That was like an incentive to us, "Man, they want to take on the challenge. Finally somebody's that's on the same level as we are!" It was a good match and we got really lucky to be able to work with them. This album will definitely have the option of doing another album. It's really a good time for us!

Metal Shrine: Finally, would you do another Volkswagen commercial if the opportunity came up? Do you all drive Volkswagens?

Derrick: Yeah! But I don't even have a car! I haven't driven in, like, 15 years since I've lived in cities where I didn't need a car, like Amsterdam, New York and Sao Paulo. I usually take taxis and I hate to drive! I've already done another commercial, where I'm singing again, because I do sing. (laughs) It's for Blackberry and I did it with George Clinton, the godfather of funk! It's a song that got licensed and maybe a week ago they picked it up, it's like Blackberry Urban, if you look it up on YouTube. It's pretty cool and it was fun to do. Really funky and extremely different from SEPULTURA. It's a project that I'm working on and the song got picked out. It's the complete opposite of, like, metal. The concept is very futuristic and about digital and sex in the future and the age that we live in and there's special guests like George Clinton and Cee-Lo sings on a song. We're doing a song together and I'm doing falsetto and crazy harmonies. I wanted to do something so extreme that people would never ever believe it! I think I achieved that, but it's done well and taken very seriously. It was a lot of fun because we were laughing a lot during some songs and I've never done anything like that and it's going really well writing the songs. I think it's gonna be such a crazy reaction, whether bad or good and I'm looking forward to it! (laughs)

Metal Shrine: Sounds awesome! Is that an album coming out this year?

Derrick: Yeah, we're gonna try and release it in August and I think people will be excited about it. I think it's done well and I'm singing my ass off on this. (laughs) Like really doing crazy, crazy stuff and not holding back.

Metal Shrine: How did you hook up with a guy like Cee-Lo?

Derrick: The thing is that the guy that I'm working with, Sam, he's a producer and a songwriter and he's friends with all these known people, so he was able to get in touch with them and he's been able to do that in the past with other artists like Kanye West and M.I.A. Different artist that he wanted to have on the album to mix it up. On this I'm primarily singing and these guys are doing like the choruses and stuff like that. He was just able to get all these people.

Read the entire interview from Metal Shrine blog.

Photo credit: Alex Solca