SEPULTURA's ANDREAS KISSER: 'I Don't Understand Why People Are So Afraid To Talk About Dying'

In a new interview with Sense Music Media, SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser, whose wife Patricia Perissinoto Kisser passed away in July 2022 after a battle with colon cancer, was asked what the experience of losing his longtime partner taught him about life. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yeah, man. It taught me everything about life. It was such an experience that I started a movement right after she passed away. Because everything that happened, the whole process, cancer, she was really going very slowly and all the palliative care that came in, the morphine and all that stuff, the conversations with the hospital, with the doctors, I learned so much during that week or two weeks, of the last days that I felt so unprepared as a Brazilian citizen to deal with that situation. Not only because we do not talk about dying, but because all the bureaucratic stuff that we are not stimulated to learn and to talk about with our family, basically to talk about dying, talk about euthanasia, talk about assisted suicide, talk about the will or everything that is related to dying, the funeral, if you have insurance, if you don't have insurance, how much you're gonna pay for taxes and all that stuff. And I started this movement because I wanna stimulate people here in Brazil to talk about dying with their loved ones, with their family, with their kids, with their fathers, with their friends, because Patricia, she used to talk about dying in a very natural way. Since we met, she's talked, 'When I die, don't put me in the coffin without my pillow, without my blanket, without my pajamas. I don't want to get cold and stuff.' And we all laughed. When it happened, we all knew what she wanted. So I realized that it was so comforting, so warm to do the wish of the people you love the most there that I realized that we need to talk about dying. It's the way to feel more peaceful, to feel more alive, including to accept finitude, to accept the end, and not try to avoid the conversation or think that it's not gonna happen with us."

He continued: "We're all gonna die, so why not we talk talk about it, to prepare ourselves better, to know each other better, because you're gonna learn about your family. If you talk about dying, you're gonna learn about yourself, you're gonna raise questions about yourself, you're gonna want to talk to a doctor, to a lawyer, to your mom or to your kid about that. And you're gonna raise awareness and you're gonna be more united with your family. I went through that with Patricia, with my kids, with my father and mother-in-law, with my brother-in-law and stuff, and we are more united than ever. And I feel life much more intense because I respect death. I respect dying. It is our biggest teacher. We should learn with that. We shouldn't be afraid of dying. Dying is not punishment. Dying is a fact of life. We all know that. Let's respect that. As soon as we respect that, we start living the daily, the present, more intensively. You're not gonna wait till tomorrow to do certain stuff, to say 'I love you' to your loved ones. You're not gonna wait to fulfill a dream or to make a trip or to learn guitar, if it's your dream, or anything."

Kisser added: "So, that's what I learned. I met amazing people that want to stimulate, like myself, the Brazilian society to talk about that, because it is possible for us to prepare better our heart, our soul and our intellect to deal with the bureaucratic stuff at the time we are most fragile emotionally. So why not prepare, during life, since you were born, to talk about dying, because we're all gonna die. I don't understand why people are so afraid to talk about dying. I understand it's not easy, but it's fundamental and totally necessary for us, not only in Brazil, but for all of us. We see in different cultures around the world that deal with death in very different ways, especially in Mexico, for instance — they celebrate, they make a big party, because they respect dying. It's not our choice. It's not a choice. So, let's live with it. Let's live with dying [laughs], and then we can deal with that [in] a much more peaceful way. So that's something that I started here in Brazil, and it's growing slowly, but we are starting to gather some really cool people that are starting really to stimulate, at least the talk, the discussion so we can move forward on the subject."

Asked if he thinks this whole experience will inform the next SEPULTURA release when he starts to write music and lyrics for the upcoming LP, Andreas said: "Of course. It's inevitable. It's an experience of life. And I changed a lot, because a big part of myself died with my wife, and other parts of myself are starting to wake, because I have new experiences, a new future, something that I didn't plan. I have a totally different idea of my future. Growing old with her, having grandsons and stuff — whatever. But it's not gonna be that way, so I'm gonna accept the present that I have and gonna live with the elements I have and be very thankful, very grateful that I have Patricia for 32 years in my life, that we built a family that we had. I have three amazing kids. Plus all the stuff that I learned with her, I'm never gonna forget, and then I move on, to build and to grow up out of this experience and not be — I don't know — be ungrateful or with hate or not accepting a situation, because this is not the way. I mean, it's not up to me or to anyone. We're gonna die. It's a fact of life for everything. Not only us — plants, animals, everything. So what's the point of trying to deny that?"

Patricia had just turned 52 years old one day before her death.

Andreas and the couple's three children, Giulia, Yohan and Enzo, announced Patricia's death in a social media post. They wrote: "It is with deep sadness that we have to share that Patricia Perissinoto Kisser passed away this morning. She will remain in our memories forever."

Andreas and Patricia had been together for 32 years after first getting together in 1990. They married in 1994.

In June 2022, Andreas left SEPULTURA's European tour due to what was described at the time as a "family emergency." He was temporarily replaced on the road by Jean Patton of fellow São Paulo, Brazil-based heavy metal act PROJECT46.

SEPULTURA comprises Kisser, vocalist Derrick Green, bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. and drummer Eloy Casagrande.