Since the birth of Soulfly from the ashes of Sepultura, I have seen many many changes in musicians, in styles of music, producers and guest vocalists. Each change brought a new flavor to Soulfly and offered many genres of music to various types of fans.
 |
| Max |
The first release involved a band member change immediately after recording, when Lucio Maia returned to his Brazilian band, Nazau Zumbi. We enlisted Logan Mader for a few reasons. He had just come off his run with Machinehead and was free at the moment. We were fresh in our grief still, from Dana's passing and it made sense since we met Logan through Dana at the Nailbomb Dynamo Festival a short time before he died. Logan had a dream about Dana a few days before I phoned him and he felt there was a spiritual connection. We were thrilled to enlist him in our growing tribe.
 |
| Logan |
Marcelo Dias and Roy Mayorga completed the early lineup that fans saw on the first tours in 1998. It was exciting to see the songs I watched Max craft at the kitchen table, from pain, from loss, and from the artistic drive born in the core of his very soul...They became reality on the stage!! We had come the full circle!
 |
| Marcelo |
Many guests were on that first record...Chino Moreno, Fred Durst, Benji, Dino Cazares, Burton C. Bell, Christian Olde Wolbers, Jorge and Gilmar from Nacao Zumbi, DJ Lethal and Mario Caldato, Jr. of the Beastie Boys fame. We had a killer time at recording with the waves of guests stopping by. The track Bleed, with Fred Durst guesting, was chosen as the first single.
 |
| Fred Durst with mask on |
 |
| Benji |
The 8 followup Soulfly releases have always given us a twist, going this way and then another, as Max designs songs for his many guests. This has kept the music diverse and full of exciting elements. I have accompanied Max on exotic recordings to Cairo, Egypt, Russia, and Istanbul, Turkey. I was there when he said he wanted to record in a castle during Chaos. When he said we were going to record with a tribe in the Amazon, my reply was, "No you are not! You aren't Michael Jackson!" And then, I watched him do it... I saw a professor of music history from the University in Belgrade record with authentic medieval instruments, such as bagpipes made from sheep's stomachs...true instruments. This is found on Prophecy and Dark Ages cds. The Professor walked out and a gypsy troupe from the street walked in and recorded the ancient, March on the River Drina. We were recording in Belgrade at the time. And yes, I was there when Sean Lennon and Max discovered their similarities in their father's deaths and wrote the track, Son Song.
No doubt there will be more twists and turns, new faces and new places, but one thing you can be sure it will be Max Metal made just for you!!!
 |
| Max with fans |
Class dismissed....
