Interview with Marcello of Soul Fly
August 17, 2002
Interviewed by Bill Klopfer

 

Bill: What bands did you grow up on and who are your biggest influences today?
Marcello: I grew up listening to everything from AC/DC, Queen, Kiss. Umm..influences I think Cliff Burton, first bass player from Metallica was a huge influence on me. I wanna be like him, ya know. His riffs were so fucking insane. Les Claypool, ya know just bad ass bass players, Stevie Harris. Bass players with attitude.

Bill: What’s the most exciting tour you’ve ever been on?
Marcello: Most exciting tour? Um..I think it was one with Pantera. It was really fun too. I toured with them, back in the day when I used to work with Sepultura. I did a lot of work with them.

Bill: What is your opinion on the new Soulfly CD compared to the last two?
Marcello: I think it’s more mature, definitely. The band has a more focused goal and everyone knows what their parts are in the band now and I think it’s just, ya know I always felt free to write stuff with Max, since from the first record. And for me it was just a better transition, ya know, uh what do you call it…um…I’m just proving myself every record.

Bill: Do you have anything to say for new artists by any chance; Like what to expect?
Marcello: Man, just, ya know, be persistent and don’t give up on the first few bumps because they come along the road and a lot of people just think they cannot do it and this and that. I think that’s truly water that you’re going to go through. If you want to achieve your goal you just got to go through heaven and hell. As long as you want to do that from your heart, because a lot of other people do it for money or for groupies or for whatever the reason is and that, it takes you away from your goal and once you get bumps on the way, it doesn’t seem like it’s worth it. A lot of people try jobs for money and they are not happy, ya know. It’s like I do something that I love and so even though we’re not making tons of money we’re still doing something that we love and eventually all that comes at some time in life.

Bill: Is it true that Max writes all the songs mostly or you guys all put it together?
Marcello: He brings all the frames, yes. He writes all the guitar riffs and he’s got some sketches, ya know like scratches ideas for drums and messes with not just drum machine, but the four track and he brings that to rehearsals and we help incorporate all Soulfly interests. So it’s like in one riff or two riffs a whole song comes, maybe sometimes two songs come out of it. That’s Soulfly all together, but all the main riffs is Max.

Bill: Here’s a kind of weird question. From being in a band myself, I’ve discovered you can either become sick of your own songs or put yourself in a state of ecstasy while playing the songs. How do you feel about that?
Marcello: When I play my songs, I enjoy them. When I’m home, I never listen to my records. I don’t listen to the records generally, but when I’m on stage it’s like it’s reviving the music ‘cause I don’t listen to it all the time I’m home. Ya know, when you’re on the road for thirty/forty shows a tour, when you’re home I don’t want to hear none of it. You can get sick of it playing the same songs every night.

Bill: How do you feel about being interviewed?
Marcello: The way I see it, it’s a way the fans can understand you as a person and you as a band and I think it’s just one of many works a musician has to do just to get the music to other people.

Bill: Did you ever have any interviewers that pissed you off or annoyed you?
Marcello: Sure. Some people ask some stupid questions; some stuff that has nothing to do with the band or the music and some people just want to hear about gossip and other stuff. I don’t think that is what the band wants to talk about; I don’t think that’s what I want to talk about. I love to talk about my band and the music that we do, but when it comes to other issues that have nothing to do with music or Soulfly I’m like no, I’m not answering.

Bill: Have you ever been in any bands where it was just like you sounded good, but you just couldn’t deal with the people you were in the band with?
Marcello: Oh yeah. It happens a lot. There are a lot of bands out there; they have sometimes even killer songs but they just can’t stand each other, so they eventually break up.

Bill: When did you start playing?
Marcello: Playing playing? First time I grabbed an acoustic guitar I was about five years old. My dad got this guitar he won in bingo game and he’s just like I don’t know what to do with this and he gave it to me. I had a friend of mine across the street, he was the same age five or six and he had an acoustic guitar of his own and when I got mine we kind of hooked up and started jamming together. By the age of ten or twelve I got my first bass, and then I got in a band by fifteen, ya know sixteen.

Bill: Do you like playing bass better than guitar?
Marcello: I like better, the melodies, the groove on the bass. Guitar is fun to play too, but it’s like it’s too tiny strings.>br>

Bill: Did you ever play a stand up bass at all?
Marcello: I do have plans to get one, myself. I have a friend of mine that has one and sometimes I play on it. It’s really hard.

Bill: Yeah because it has no frets.
Marcello: It doesn’t give any semi-tone, or make it sharp or flat. It’s just really hard to get it down, but once you get that down you take a regular bass and just kick ass.

Bill: What was your favorite song you covered?
Marcello: We had quite a few. It’s kind of hard to remember all of them now, but I do like “Discharge” by some old hardcore band. We did have this Brazilian band called Chico Science and Nacao Zumbi, a friend of ours from Brazil; got a couple of their songs included on our new record. The song, “Sangue De Bairro” is their song, it’s just chukka, chukka chukka, chukka, chukka, chukka, chukka, chukka, and it’s like very up beat. Killer shit. We did some Sex Pistols, umm depends on the mood, ya know?

Bill: What is your opinion on the actual Napster issue and the whole downloading songs?
Marcello: I think it’s really good for the small bands because they’re trying to get out there and there isn’t much chance to get your music out there. But now, I think internet is so easy that any band can just put their own website up there. I think once you start making a living out of music that can be against you because that’s how you make a living, that’s how you pay your duties and get your things. I think only the band should be in charge with what they do with the music. I don’t think it should be up to somebody who has nothing to do with their music to say “OK, it’s not my music, but I’m taking it and giving it away.” We as musicians, we work so hard to write killer songs and that’s our living and somebody else comes and takes that and throws it around for free it’s just not cool.

Bill: Do you make more money off of playing shows or off of the royalties from the album?
Marcello: More shows. The royalties, it’s cool, but I think royalty works more for greater bands. We are like more of a live band, our crowd comes out to see us and that’s how we make our living.

Bill: Do you think Brazilian fans are more into metal than US fans?
Marcello: It’s the same man. We played in Brazil a few months ago, they were just outrageous. It was crazy. Like, 15thousand people jumping up and down and everybody just really supporting Soulfly. It was really awesome. But here, it’s a different vibe. The shows are not as big as Brazil, because it’s our home town, but it’s just like we are playing tonight for a sold out venue, so I’m really pleased.

Bill: Are you going to play any Sepultura songs tonight?
Marcello: We always throw a couple in there for the old fans. But, 90% of the set is Soulfly.

Bill: Well, I hope you guys have a good show tonight.
Marcello: Thank you.

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Originally on RokHard.net