SOULFLY Guitarist: 'Thank God For Coffee And SLAYER'

Aquarian Weekly recently conducted an interview with SOULFLY guitarist Marc Rizzo. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

Aquarian Weekly: So, you have a new [solo] CD out now called "The Ultimate Devotion". Why did you choose that title?

Marc Rizzo: Well, I think between the first record and now, "The Ultimate Devotion", I put a lot of work into the CD, practicing and then going out and touring for the first record too. It just made me realize how devoted I am to playing this type of music and just music in general. To me, the last couple of years and all of the time that I put into everything that I've been doing is the "ultimate devotion." That's what keeps me going.

Aquarian Weekly: I noticed that on "The Ultimate Devotion", there's actual singing on a few of the songs. Is this a new side of Marc Rizzo that we're seeing instead of the shredder and great flamenco player?

Marc Rizzo: Yeah, there are two songs at the end of the record that I do some vocals on. Once we started touring, we'd have a lot of SOULFLY fans come out to the show, so I started throwing SOULFLY songs into the set and I just kind of sang….or screamed them. Because of that, I said that on the next record, I'd try doing some stuff with vocals in it. So, that kind of opened up a whole other world for me, and I plan on doing more. In fact, Max kind of dug it, so now I'm doing vocals on the new SOULFLY record and the CAVALERA CONSPIRACY record, I'm singing on a couple songs too. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. (laughs)

Aquarian Weekly: Nah, it just makes you even more valuable of a valuable musician than you already are. Now, going back to the new CD, who plays on it with you?

Marc Rizzo: It was just me and my drummer, Kanky Lora. He engineered it, mixed it, and he played drums on it. So basically, it was just me and him. He's a phenomenal musician. I'm really lucky to have him. Kanky is originally from the Dominican Republic, and he came to this country with a dream. Now he's my main drummer, and it's been great working with him.

Aquarian Weekly: And you also have a new bass player right?

Marc Rizzo: Yeah, I have my new bass player, Guillermo Capellan. He's a kid from the Bronx, he's a great bass player, and he's also Dominican. Guillermo and Kanky give me that Latin credibility and vibe to the music on my solo record. I'm really lucky to have both those guys in the band. And it was when we toured with FLAW for three months that we really became a solid band!

Aquarian Weekly: How'd that tour with FLAW go?

Marc Rizzo: That tour was awesome! That was our first U.S. tour and we left in May, which brings me to a pretty funny story….We left in May and the tour was supposed to go till the end of August, but then toward the end of July, I got the phone call from SOULFLY manager, Gloria Cavalera, and she told me that we were going to be starting the CAVALERA CONSPIRACY in L.A. to record it. So, we were in the middle of that tour in Michigan, but we had to drop off of it and drive to L.A. So, I brought Kanky and Guillermo with me to L.A. for a month, and I got them to help out on the record, like teching and Kanky actually did some engineering on the CAVALERA CONSPIRACY record. We did that till August and on my birthday, August 2, I was asked to be in that "Rock Man" video to do a guest solo. Then we got into the van and drove cross-country back home. I had to do all of the driving, and I got us home in 57 hours. I drove 20 hours straight, pulled over and took a 4 hour nap, then drove another 20 hours straight, pulled over and took another 4 hour nap in the van, then drove another 17 hours, got home and just crashed out. I woke up the next morning just to jump on a plane to fly to Europe to do the SOULFLY tour, and then I was in Europe for all of September playing festivals. I have to say, "Thank God for coffee and SLAYER!" That's what got me threw it! You can conquer the world with that combination!