SEPULTURA Frontman To Tell His Story In Book Form

Karen Curtis of the Cleveland Metal Music Examiner recently conducted an interview with SEPULTURA frontman Derrick Green. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Cleveland Metal Music Examiner: When did you officially move to Sao Paulo, Brazil?

Derrick: It was around the start of 2000. I was living in Amsterdam at the time and was blown away by the city the first time I was there, I had the chance, so I took it. Moving to Sao Paulo was a big change, bigger than I imagined. A different culture, a different language; it was very intense.

Cleveland Metal Music Examiner: Did you know anyone there at the time?

Derrick: I only knew the band, who was living with their families on the edge of central Sao Paulo. I was living closer to the center (of Sao Paulo) alone. It wasn't easy, but I had a lot of help from everyone.

Cleveland Metal Music Examiner: Describe some of your earliest experiences in a new country, with culture and language barriers.

Derrick: It wasn't just these problems. The big problem at first was I never imagined being a celebrity in the country. Going to the supermarket or anywhere else was a little nerve-racking. Taking photos and doing autographs was something that I had to do and still do every day that I am in Brazil. I wasn't used to any of this and I was very shy at first. It made me want to understand the language even more so I could communicate with the people. Most of the time people would try speaking to me in English because they knew I was from America. In the end people have been very open and kind with me here.

Cleveland Metal Music Examiner: How long did it take for you to learn the native language of Portuguese? Do you feel you are adapting well?

Derrick: It took me longer than it should have to learn the language because we were touring many times outside of Brazil. Many times I was lazy learning the language because many people were speaking English to me. It took about two years before I became really able to speak my mind.

Cleveland Metal Music Examiner: When you joined SEPULTURA, what challenges did you face?

Derrick: When I joined the band, many fans were in shock about the vocalist (Max Cavalera) leaving the band. They didn't know what to expect for the future, but we didn't know what to expect either. We were sure that we wanted to do our best and create the music we wanted to. It was a challenge; people were very set in the past and we wanted to move forward — so that's what we did. We didn't become slaves to the negativity surrounding us and dug deep within ourselves and held strong to our love of playing music. We were able to create new fans and slowly bring some old fans back to us. Playing live is where it's at and we always made sure to have a strong live show, playing new and old songs.

Cleveland Metal Music Examiner: How is the current relationship with the Cavalera brothers, or is there one?

Derrick: Igor stayed playing drums with us for ten years and then decided he wanted to move on to new things. He reunited with his brother Max (SEPULTURA's former singer) after his departure with sepultura. They formed a band called CAVALERA CONSPIRACY. I am happy they have contact now since it had been over 12 years since they had last spoken to each other. Igor also is a DJ with his wife and they perform as MIXHELL. Everyone seems to be happy doing what they are doing.

Cleveland Metal Music Examiner: I hear you will begin working on a new album, tell me about it and what fans can expect.

Derrick: We want to, again, have an album different from the last. We are diving into the history of the band creating an album with elements from our past of thrash metal to the future of heavy music today. In simple terms, a very brutal album!

Cleveland Metal Music Examiner: How has your experience with SEPULTURA affected you?

Derrick: I feel I have learned so much from being in this band. It's been an awesome ride and I plan on explaining my life with SEPULTURA in the form of a book. I have thought about writing a book for many years and I feel this story has to be told. I think many people will find it hard to believe — it's been such an amazing adventure.

Read the entire interview from Cleveland Metal Music Examiner.

Photo credit: Estevam Romera (courtesy of SEPULTURA's official Flickr page)