WAS DANA D-LOW KILLED......YOU DECIDE!!!

It has been brought to my attention that a certain someone has been saying incorrect statements online about Dana's death and about Max and myself. If anyone wants to chat about it, I have boxes of depositions, video taped interviews and a police report that pretty much sums it all up. But, in the end, everyone is a judge.....a judge without ALL the facts. Any questions about his death, just ask me any time. Don't believe someone who was INVOLVED, ask yourself...would HE really be truthful?

*Click Image To Enlarge*

Class dismissed......

BACK TO THE PRIMITIVE......

Making Primitive was an exciting time for us. The first Soulfly was well received by the Tribe. Max put his magic on the Metal world and infused percussion, collaborators and instrumentals on the first Soulfly and this would be an extension of his creative beams. Chino, Tom Araya, Sean Lennon, and Corey Taylor and many others were all stopping by the Salt Mine to metalize the recording. Every day recording was a new frontier conquered!

Corey Taylor and Max

Neville Garrick was Max's choice for the cover art and cd booklet. Neville was Bob Marley's artist and had done many of his creations, as well as helped with the Bob Marley estate. He had archives stuffed with photos, and we relished viewing them, and hearing the tales of Bob's career. Neville is super cool and very calm. This lent a serenity to the project. Glen LaFerman...legendary rock photographer.....arrived to capture the evolution going on in the studio. If you visit The Rainbow Cafe in Hollywood, you will see Glen's b/w portraits gracing the walls and nooks.

Max and Neville Garrick

Glen La Ferman, Max and Mikey Doling

The Salt Mine was in its infancy and did not have a room to chill in, so we rented a motor home that sat out in the parking lot. It was an interesting journey. Chino flew out to track and brought the Deftones music they were working on. He was in the control room a whooping one minute, when the cd mysteriously disappeared...never to be heard or seen again!

Don Salter and others. Don owns the Salt Mine

Brazilian Meia Noite, Sergio Mendez's percussionist, flew in to add his spice throughout the record. He brought a large road case of tribal delicacies...gourds, beads, and shakers galore!! A splash here and a splash there, it all added up!

Max and Meia Noite in the control room

Toby Wright was behind the wheel of this Cadillac! I will say we had our ups and downs, but eventually the pie was baked. When Sean Lennon added his piano outro on Son Song, I truly knew I had heard it all! I will add, Sean is one of the most humble artists I have had the blessing to work with. It was an honor to be there for the creation of a song about Sean and Max's fathers and the love of a son for his Dad. We still have Sean's autograph on our bedroom wall, right next to Dana's. So very long ago but fresh in my mind as the coffee I had this morning.

Toby Wright and Larry McDonald

Percussionist Larry McDonald joined our gang and slid his percussion into the mix. We had met him in Holland when Max did a spoken word presentation at the Crossing Borders festival in Amsterdam. Max was asked to perform a short berimbau impromptu set and Larry volunteered to jam with him. Larry was with Gil Scott Heron's band at the time. Al in all, it was a carte blanche of artists of all genres of music, entertaining their skills and producing the finest gemstone.



Class dismissed.....

GROWING UP METAL....Zyon and Igor morf roles....

2016 will be another year of Metal releases for our family. Incite just recorded with Steve Evett and they will have a smasher out in April. I am looking forward to this and I haven't heard a peep of a track yet!!! Jonesing.... Another surprise for everyone who collects all things Cavalera....there will be a new release for Lody Kong! The first full length, recorded nearly 2 years ago with John Gray (Primitive, Dark Ages, Babylonian Pandemonium, and many others...), will be released in the first half of the New Year! Long awaited and mysteriously kept a secret....it has only graced a coupe homes....it's not even allowed to venture out the door....house arrest!!

Igor and Zyon (photo credit: Glen La Ferman)

When Zyon and Igor were small, they had their roles reversed. Zyon was the vocalist and Igor the drummer. Dana would jam the Deftones' advance cassette all the time with Zyon. After checking the band out live, Z really got his Chino portrayal down. I would tell Max, "when Z-Money hits the stage, you better watch out!" He was jamming!!

All day long, the two would be attracted to music! When they got tired of drumming and jumping to BORED, they would ask Max to do Picture Time. Max is a super good artist. He draws cartoon style and doesn't have to look at something to draw it. He draws on his memory. The early Picture Times were Ninja Turtles with chainsaw arms, or 5 headed monsters...mostly superhero mutants. When they discovered the Pied Piper of Metal, the drawings began to be band photos. I guess I will have to blog a few when I return home from the road..just for my Students!

Our home began to be littered with drawings of the Deftones and KORN. Damn, those drawings piled up daily! After the kids met more bands and began paying more attention to life, the drawings included bands like Fear Factory, Sepulltura, Napalm Death and zillions more. I have boxes and boxes of them stashed. Yes, yes, I will show you all one day! In the meantime, wait for the big announcement from our next generation!



Class dismissed...

JUVENILE DIABETES...THE ENEMY OF OUR TRIBE!!!

In 1997, when Max and I were with Soulfly, recording in Malibu, our son, Igor was stricken with a strange illness we had never encountered on the path of raising children. It was strange fate, as the week before, we were at the beach outside our hotel, the Malibu Beach Inn, enjoying the sand and surf with the boys. Igor ventured into the crevices of these large rocks, scattered around the hotel. I noticed fragments of debris and ocean bits and pieces, and called him away. "You are going to get a sickness from that junk," I said, as I coaxed him out.

Soulfly with Ross Robinson

Igor and Jade on Malibu beach

The next week, he developed an insatiable thirst. Every second of the waking moment he said, "I'm thirsty." We shoveled drinks down him so often, I thought I was going crazy. We actually left the studio and flew back to Phoenix to see his doctor. The doctor gave him a test for diabetes and it was negative. He diagnosed it as a virus. What the hell kind of virus makes you lose weight and thirst like a man crawling out of the Sahara?

Returning to the studio, Igor rapidly diminished before our eyes. He lost his desire to play, eat or smile. I couldn't figure out what in the world was going on. Being the Tribe Mom, I must always be in control and able to fix anything. This was driving me nuts and watching our little son wither away was more than frightening!

One day I told Max, Ross and the others at Indigo, that I was heading home to find out what was going on with Igor. Max decided he had recorded enough and booked a one way ticket for Soulfly 1 on a jet plane to NYC to mix.

Igor

The doctor confirmed to us that Igor had juvenile diabetes. What a shock! I didn't even know what diabetes was exactly. No one on either side of our family had ever had it. We were lost. Our next journey was to the hospital, where Igor stayed for 3 days. We stayed too and learned the regiment. I think I had a bit of a nervous breakdown.

Christina, Igor and me

When we came home, it was Roxanne's birthday. Igor came down with the chicken pox on top of everything else. Covering his speckled torso with calamine lotion, finger poking and shots consumed our days. Worrying about him getting low and having a diabetic coma was another drama. So much info...

Igor with chicken pox

Roxanne at her birthday

My friend, Kristen, and I were sitting at the kitchen table---yes, the table Chaos and Roots was written at--- during the birthday party, heads in or hands. We had lost Dana the year before; now Igor had diabetes...We looked at each other and I said, "What next?" I turned around to see Jason inhaling a balloon full of STAY HI, not helium, and pass out on the floor, eyes rolling in the back of his head and body convulsing...

We looked at each other, eyes popping out of our heads and I called 9-11.

Class dismissed......