SOULFLY and ex-SEPULTURA frontman Max Cavalera recently sat down with “The Dan Chan Show” and discussed his leaving the latter band back in 1996.
When asked if he thought the rest of SEPULTURA would continue without him, Max responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I think judging by their personalities, yeah, I [thought] they would carry on.” Touching on how he felt about the other members continuing with the band that he co-founded, Max said: “It’s really mixed emotions, especially because me and Igor being there in the very, very beginning, and nobody that is in the band [now] was there — not even Paulo [Xisto Pinto Jr., bass] was there in the very beginning. So it’s something that feels really personal and sacred that you were there in the very beginning and now you’re not. At the same time, it’s one of those things in life that just happens and you’ve gotta move on with other things.”
Max continued: “I don’t regret it. It’s like anything — it ran its course. One of those things, though, I’ll say this, it’s extremely frustrating to me that some of the fans don’t understand, and it’s really easy to blame people for it. And a lot of people end up blaming my wife, Gloria. They always go, ‘She broke up the band.’ And the truth is we grew apart; we started hating each other, man. It happened to THE BEATLES and it happened to many other bands — PANTERA. It’s just how it is. We just didn’t find the joy in playing with each other anymore and it was time to move on. So it’s a cheap shot to blame her: ‘Let’s just blame her. She’s gotta be the reason why that happened.’ And it’s, like, no — not at all. We are the reason. I’d rather they blame me than her or somebody else. Blame me for SEPULTURA splitting up. I would much rather prefer that.”
SEPULTURA‘s classic lineup fell apart in 1996 when Max walked away from the group after the rest of the band split with his wife Gloria as their manager. His brother, drummer Igor Cavalera, stuck around with the group for another 10 years before leaving SEPULTURA and later re-teaming with Max in CAVALERA CONSPIRACY.
Igor and Max have been actively touring over the last six years in celebration of the 20th anniversary of SEPULTURA‘s “Roots” and 30th anniversary of “Beneath The Remains” and “Arise” albums.
SEPULTURA‘s current lineup features bassist Paulo Xisto Jr., guitarist Andreas Kisser, vocalist Derrick Green and drummer Eloy Casagrande.