SEPULTURA Frontman Says 'Dante XXI' Will Appeal To A Wider Audience

John Foxworthy of Garage Radio recently conducted an interview with SEPULTURA frontman Derrick Green. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Garage Radio: What would you say to those who tell you that thrash is a dead genre or just noise?

Derrick: "That's okay. I mean, that's the one thing that I really like about underground music. It's that not everyone likes it. You have to open your mind and investigate. You have to read lyrics to really know what the person is saying. There has to be something that really grabs you about it. I think it's great that people can have their own opinions. I think it's these opinions that really feed the fire of wanting to do something different. At least when you hear people saying, 'I'm not really into that,' and I'm like, 'Yeah ... you don't have to be, because there are a lot of people that are.' It's not the type of music where you're trying to please everybody. I think it's something you do foremost for personal satisfaction, where people relate to it and it becomes better. It becomes something flowing."

Garage Radio: When you hooked up with SEPULTURA, did you feel like you had some big shoes to fill?

Derrick: "Definitely. Consider the fact that they had so many years as a band ... and so many albums. They were from the same country with the same language. They had time to grow and evolve. They didn't start off as like SEPULTURA just starting off. It's like they started off as people saying, 'God, this is horrible!' like they did in Brazil. People weren't listening to that style of music. They had all these different factors. It wasn't just the singer. It was much more than that, because the band has always been 'the band,' not just one person. I felt this immense amount of responsibility and I think that this happened gradually to really grow into it because I was lucky enough to not really know how big it was ... I think that in that way it was really lucky for me. As time went on I think that we all knew it would take time to evolve and grow. It's really like starting over again with a different combination of people and just getting used to playing with a different structure."

Garage Radio: Besides the conceptual idea, musically SEPULTURA's made huge leaps. Do you feel like, on this album ["Dante XXI"], you guys have totally evolved as a band?

Derrick: "Definitely. In every aspect. It's the first time we've actually produced the album ourselves. We brought in orchestra strings and horns and really wanted to create the soundtrack vibe, the vibe of the book ... the sinister feeling and I think we pushed ourselves in every aspect. We had no idea what people were gonna think. We were here in Sao Paulo, working away in the studio with this crazy idea. I think that's the best part, not thinking so much about the outside. We could have told people ahead of time they're just like, 'What? That's nuts!' I think the fact that we're able to trust ourselves and have that confidence really shows that we've evolved."

Garage Radio: You've never been into catering to the mainstream. I'm thinking this album's going to appeal to a wider audience than SEPULTURA's used to. Do you think this'll attract a lot of new fans?

Derrick: "Definitely. I think that's the one thing that's so exciting about growing with the band. There were all these new fans coming about, as far as really young kids. And, for a band that's older ... like 22 years ... there aren't that many bands out there with that many years that are able to attract younger fans. That's amazing to me! I love that factor, because I remember being that age and being a fan of music. I know how exciting it can be. I've actually watched it grow as far as younger fans ... especially in Brazil ... and I think it will attract, I hope it really does attract a lot of people."

Read the entire interview at www.garageradio.com.