The night before metalrage took off to cover the biggest rock event in Holland this year, the Fields Of Rock festival in the city of Nijmegen, Buzzin Hornet and Boek begged on their knees for Napalm Lex to do the Soulfly interview, considering their busy shedule.
After an absolutely desasterous four-hour plunder through the Dutch public transit, he arrived just in the nick of time to do the Interview. He walked backstage, leaving Motörhead playing their set on the background, before entering the tour bus of one of the most popular metal bands of this time, for a chat with Marc Rizzo, guitarist for Soulfly since two albums.
Oh, the hard life of a webzine reporter.


How's the tour?

Great, everything's been awesome. We're on tour doing festivals which is a headlining tour out here, and then we're doing shows with Black Sabbath which is rediculous. Watching them play everynight after our show, they're the gods of heavy metal.

Is that how you got to play on this festival (Black Sabbath was playing Fields Of Rock too -ed), through that deal?

I don't know really.

Have you seen anything on today?

No we just pulled up a couple of hours ago, but I've been listening to Motörhead from the bus (as we speak, Lemmy's playing the first notes of Ace Of Spades in the background -ed). And I heard that band Alter Bridge earlier too.


As for Soulfly, this is actually the first time the band has recorded a second album in the same line-up.

I think you're right, yeah.

This one's working out quite well then?

Yeah, we're all happy. Max (Cavalera -ed) is happy, we're happy.. And I think that shows on record. The new one coming out is the best Soulfly record so far.

To a lot of people, Soulfly=Max Cavalera. Does he incorporate you all in the writing process though?

Yeah we collaborated a lot on this record, and on Prophecy.

And for the thematic aspects of writing a Soulfly record, as Soulfly is also labeled a "spiritual" band if you will.. Is that the voice of the entire band?

Well Max writes all the lyrics, so that's more coming from Max. As far as the spiritual vibe, that's his material. But as for being a spiritual band.. I don't think we're a Christian rock-band or something. It's just positive lyrics, positive output you know.

The new records allready finished, mixed etcetera?

Yep, it's done. I don't know the exact release date, but it's soon.

There's been this quote going around that Max Cavalera has labeled the new album "a calm and peacefull album", explain to me what a calm Soulfly album sounds like

You know what, there's no way that could be true. Because this record, is the heaviest Soulfly record so far. It's a mix of Soulfly, and old-style Sepultura that Max was doing back on Arise and Beneath The Remains. It's allmost like a thrash record, you know. The real Soulfly elements are still there, but there's a lot of new songs that are fast paced, a lot of guitar solo's, it's got fast thrash-type rhythms. So I'm pretty sure he didn't say that.. Maybe lyricly, but musicly it's fucking heavy.

It's the best Soulfly record yet. It's got everything I like in heavy music. A lot of awesome drumming, a lot of double-bass. Lots of fast tempo's, Max's vocals are really heavy.. I think it's awesome, it's right where Prophecy left off, with a step further to the heavier side. Totally. It's a brutal record, people are going to be shocked when they hear it.

Soulfly is not unfamiliar to the word "expirimenting", even Soul and traditional Brazilian influences have been put into the records. With all the heavy stuff going on on this new record, is there still room for that sort of stuff?

Yeah, there's a lot of cool jams on it too, but overall it is the most relentless Soulfly record. It's all boom, in your face! One after another of just slamming heavy fucking songs that kick your ass, man. There is a couple of jams on it, but it is not as "jammy" as the earlier records. This record is more song-orientated.
We'll be playing some new songs tonight and throughout the tour, and also some old stuff from Sepultura.

That's another thing I was curious about, being from outside Soulfly, probably growing up on Sepultura.. Now you're playing those songs with the man himself for almost two world tours..

Yeah man, I grew up on Sepultura. Sepultura and Slayer, that's those were the bands for me as a teenager.
The first couple of times I played those songs with Soulfly I was just like "wow this is amazing, man", playing with a man you've been fan of when you we're growing up, that's obviously awesome, a trip.

Is playing those old songs from Sepultura and also Nailbomb still part of the future plan for Soulfly? By this time you've allready got five entire albums with somewhat sixty of seventy songs to choose from.

You know what, for this line-up it's important. It's important for us, cause for me and Joe (-Nunez, Drummer) we're Sepultura fans. We're really into the old thrash-metal scene. I think we play even more Sepultura songs than the previous Soulfly line-up. I knew the songs before I joined this band. I played Sepultura when I was a kid.
So now, we like to play those songs note-for-note. I don't think the old band really did that. So we go out and learn those songs, like I learned the guitar solo's note-for-note. Joe got the drums down note-for-note. We really have respect for those songs. I just think the old band didn't pull off those songs note for note, for whatever reasons.


And I think that makes Max play those songs even more, he knows we're gonna play those songs that well. When he askes us to play a certain Sepultura song, we're going to sit down and really learn those songs, just out of respect for those songs.

Besides that, this is Max's history we're talking about. He's been doing this for twenty years or something. I think there will always be Sepultura and Nailbomb songs in the setlist. A total mixture of everything.

I heard that the debut album is to be re-released. Do you know anything about that?

Who knows. Roadrunner's always re-releasing this and that.. I wouldn't even know.

I want to ask you a question that you can honestly say if you do not want to talk about it. A while ago there've been lot's of stories about the conflict between you and your former band Ill Nino, what can you tell us about that?

Basicly what happened, I left the band.. Well you know.. I'm into playing music, I'm not into faking music. When Ill Nino goes on stage every night, they play to a tape. So when you go to their show they play to a tape. What you hear is actually me playing, the tracks I've recorded for the albums.
So that been said, we (Soulfly that is -ed) brought them out on tour with us in America, and the singer went on stage talking shit about us (suggesting that Soulfly was "not real" -ed). So after the show I jacked him. I just gave him fucking beat-down you know.


It's all about respect. Especially if you're a band that gets up on stage, and you fake what you do, and you don't even play it for real. That means putting your instrument through an ampliflier and have music coming out. If you don't do that, you should say nothing about someone else. Then you should be happy you've got a record deal and be quiet. Don't go talk shit about other bands that don't fake. When Soulfly gets up on stage it's real. When you see me and Max playing, that's what you hear.

This is metal, you know, rock. You're not supposed to fake it. If you want to fake music, you should go join a boy-pop group, and lip-sync on stage and shit. Not in rock and metal, that's not real.

So how is the Marc Rizzo-Ill Nino relationship.. Is there still any relationship at all?

Erm.. There's a couple of guys in the band that I'm friends with and I like. I was one of the founding members of that band. So a couple of them I'm still friends with, but a couple I don't like at all.

It's not unimaginable that one day Soulfly will be playing the same bill as Ill Nino in the future. How are you going to cope with that?

As long as everyone is respectfull and keep their mouths shut, I wouldn't mind doing those shows again, with those guys. The Ill Nino/Soulfly crowd is very similar. When we first came out with Ill Nino, we were definitly very much influenced by Soufly, trying to go into that scene, you know.

Last thing I want to know is hardly important, but I'm curious anyway. One word: Backpack.

The backpack. Well you know what I don't even wear it no more. I kinda got sick of it. I wore it back then because when I used to throw a spinkick, it kinda helped the guitar-strap from cutting my neck. And after that it became a look-thing for a little while. Now I don't thow spinkicks to the left, I throw em to the right, so I don't need it.
And I'm bored with it, sick of it. I'd rather have people concentrate on the music.

That's about it, thanks.

Allright man, cool.