Bill: Alright, How’s the tour going so far?
Max: Real good. We’ve been pretty much nonstop since March. We went to South Africa, to Europe. We did some cool festivals with everybody from Slipknot to Slayer to even Mary J. Bliege and shit like that. Then went right to this tour. We’ve been on this tour for like a month now, we have about two more weeks and then we come back around November with Otep. Catch all the cities we missed on this tour. It’s been great; a really good tour.

Bill: What were your biggest influences growing up as a kid?
Max: It goes through phases. First was Queen, it was the first band I heard from outside Brazil. Then it was Kiss. Then it got heavier and heavier, Motorhead, Black Sabbath, Sex Pistols, Slayer, Venom, Death. Actually Death’s first record “Scream Bloody Gore” was the first time my name appeared outside Brazil. I feel sorry about Chuck passing away. I often give thought of that, we come from pretty much the same time, and it’s been fucking 20 years almost. I love the first record; I love all their stuff. I love it for being so heavy and for them putting Max from Sepultura. I went all over town showing my friends, ‘look I am somebody’.

Bill: How was the local seen in Brazil?
Max: Very small. Between us and the bands there was like 30 people in a city of a couple million.

Bill: Back in Sepultura how did you actually get signed to a major label from being a band in Brazil?
Max: I actually got a ticket from a friend to come to America for two days as a Pan Am worker, the old airline. I came with a tie and had to put my hair back with some vaseline and that was the disguise. Then I got help sending demos to everybody and then three months later we got signed at Roadrunner. We were always different, I always believed everything that happens to me – never expect things just go for it, go after it, attitude. Even though Sepultura was sitting at home I said fuck it, I’ll go for it, and I’ll put a tie on. We eventually got signed. A lot of bands in Brazil got jealous about Sepultura, but I said ‘Where the fuck were you when I was doing all that shit? You were laying on the beach.’

Bill: What is your opinion of the music industry today?
Max: It’s easier to a certain degree to get your music across, but at the same time there is so much more today it becomes not so easy because everybody has a band, back in those days not everyone had a band so when you had one people were like ‘oh yeah, you have a band? Cool lets hear’. It’s not about being musical and professional. One I realized, my voice I can’t sing – but I got a voice that connects you and is different then I just grow with it. It’s cool it’s like find your style and stick with it.

Bill: On your latest release Prophecy the line up changed. What exactly was the cause of it?
Max: It’s kind of like a combination of wanting to shake things up…for me Prophecy starts as an internal inside out revolution, musically that I need other people to feed off to make an album like Prophecy. I’m proud of all the Soulfly albums but I myself, I like Prophecy and Soulfly I out of all the four. I don’t know why. They are similar and live they kind of got the energy that some of the other records maybe lack a little bit. But I’m really glad Prophecy has that and the fans are diggin’ it, “Execution Style”, “Mars”, “Defeat U”, “Living Sacrifice”. We play like eight songs off the new record.

Bill: How does the writing process usually go for Soulfly?
Max: It’s the same way it was with Sepultura and Nailbomb. I write whatever the four track; the first idea… the riff or the chorus and then I show it to the other guys and everybody goes “Lets put this on top of it”, “I can do this”; “I can do that”. Then it becomes a song.

Bill: Nailbomb, any chance for hearing some Nailbomb in the future?
Max: I play Nailbomb live. I still play different songs from time to time, but it’s done. We won’t do that again. People still talk about Point Blank; it’s one of their favourite heavy albums. But Alex and I decided not to be like other bands that finish and then go back. It’s done man, it’s a done deal.

Bill: Are there any songs on this album you care to talk about; lyrically are there any that are really personal?
Max: I like “Live in Sacrifice” because it’s about everyday struggles no matter who you are and what you do everybody goes through some kind of struggle. I think it’s a really positive song and it’s about saying ‘fuck this I’m going to do whatever I want’. I think it’s really strong and the fans sing along, so that’s really cool.

Bill: What was your favourite Sepultura album?
Max: Probably Beneath the Remains. I like “Inner Self” a lot. It’s a really different song, nothing against death metal but we found a different way to sing about other shit. And things like “Slaves of Pain”, “Sarcastic Existence”, and “Primitive Future”.

Bill: When you go in the studio are there any tricks you use to get a good sound?
Max: I’m always learning new tricks and new ideas. The last cool thing I learned for guitar was to use a bass amp, cut some holes on it with a knife. That’s how Adam and I got that heavy sound for Nailbomb. I still use it even in Soulfly. Just get an old fucked up bass cabinet and it’ll sound ::noise made like blgh:: all fucked up…in a good way.

Bill: When you record guitars do you overdub at all?
Max: I overdub 80%. The thing is when I do vocals a lot of times the guy that is recording will capture with the guitar the live vocals and sometimes I don’t change those. I listen to everything and if there’s some cool stuff I’ll keep it. I write my lyrics on these huge cardboards so I can read them and then I put them all over the studio. The first time I came with those little stand things…I was like I need a big thing of cardboard, a big marker and duct tape; the guy looked at me like I was crazy. Then it’s cool because you can jam; read the lyrics and still get into the song.
Bill: Do you really get into it when you’re singing in the studio?
Max: Oh hell yeah. Some songs I ask the engineer to give me a Sure SM58 held mic and it’s not so clear like the other songs, but it still sounds pretty good. It sounds like live. It’s a really good one. On the new album I used it on “Porrada” since it’s a handheld mic cause I’m just jumping. When I recorded with Danny, the guy who punched Danzig it was just me and him in the studio going crazy, like jumping around.
Bill: I would be afraid of getting pops, but I guess you could cut it out digitally.
Max: Yeah or leave it. It’s kind of cool.

Bill: Do you play any other instruments at all.
Max: Mostly percussion. I like drum machines, but I don’t know what that’s considered…What’s cool about drum machines you can make the best drummer in the world with your hands. When you show your drummer they have a heart attack, ‘I ain’t got no four legs and eight arms like you play the shit.’ I was like, ‘well try and do the best you can.’ I still use drum machines, on every record they’ve had drum machines. Nailbomb, Sepultura a little bit, and then all Soulfly’s had drum machines. Sometimes I like it more, it’s kind of like that old machine…Fear Factory and Ministry double bass type a thing that if you have a drummer play it’s not the same; it doesn’t have the same impact.

Bill: What do you like most about being in a band?
Max: Touring and playing. The day is 24hours, 23hours is waiting, and 1hour is the show. My main reasoning for everything is just to play.

Bill: What was your most memorable tour?
Max: That’s difficult…on one hand I can pick Sepultura opening for Black Sabbath before the Ozzfest, but we’ve toured with the Ramones too and I love the Ramones and I love Black Sabbath. I’d have to say those two were probably the coolest.

Bill: Do you have any cool stories from being on the road?
Max: Oh yeah…all kinds of crazy shit. As far as I remember…a lot of riots. In Brazil with the Ramones like 5,000 people riot, cars upside down. That was the idea for “Refuse/Resist” lyrics. I remember watching that shit and being like ‘Wow that shits happening at our show. Cool.’ It became lyrics.

Bill: Do you ever have trouble with your voice on the road?
Max: Not very often. Just go on with the shit. One time in England I lost my voice entirely; it was freaky. I think it’s was black magic or some shit. I couldn’t talk…the whole thing. The doctor came and he just told me to lie down. That’s what I had to do for like one week, is not do anything and then my voice came back.

Bill: In the future is there any direction or any side projects you’re thinking of working on?
Max: No I’m kind of taking a break with side projects. The last thing was Nailbomb. We one song we did with Probot, Dave Grohl’s project. I’m very focused on Soulfly. Maybe later or next year when Soulfly takes a little break I’ll probably do another project like Nailbomb, but different name and different vibe. Projects are cool it lets you do some stuff that you sometimes wouldn’t do with your own band.

Bill: Do you play pretty much the same set list every show or do you change it up a lot?
Max: I change it up a lot. I like to do that. I even change it while the show is going on. I write a set list and never even follow that. I know the tunings so I’m like let’s go there. We have about 6, 7, 8 back up songs like “Symptom”, “Arise” that I can throw out at any given moment. If I see one guy yelling out a song like “Arise” I’ll play it.

Bill: Well, that’s pretty much it. Thanks for taking the time for the interview and good luck with the show tonight!
Max: Alright, thanks man. Take it easy.

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