GIANTS OF ROCK....RAISING HELL IN FINLAND!!!!

Some years ago, you normally wouldn't find Sepultura with Kip Winger, in America, but in Europe, they mix all types of bands together. I have had my acts on shows with Slayer, Aerosmith and Rage Against the Machine, but also with bands like Sting, David Bowie and yes, Winger! Metalheads love their Metal and will travel to great lengths to see it!

This particular festival, Giants of Rock, was located up in the northern woods of Finland. The day was exceedingly hot and seemed a bit unusual to us. We were expecting a nice cool day in the wilds! Many bands were on the bill, and UDO was one of them. He may have been in Accept at that time, but either way, he was super cool and gave the fans a kickass show!


We spend the day doing press and sweating, mostly. Yes. Winger was friendly too and I admit he did draw a big crowd. Maybe it was mostly screaming girls, but like I say...the more girls, the more guys!

Sepultura played with the sun blasting in their eyes and bullets of sweat pouring onto the stage. Max's eternal water spout did nothing to break the heat. Udo also played in the day and I would imagine so did Winger. The sun never goes completely down!!

While Winger may have disappeared into the pages of music history, UDO is still cranking, as we are too!!! If you ever get a chance to hit up a European festival or two, I highly advise you take a tent. They all have campgrounds at the festival site and some of the sickest merch booths EVER!! You only live once!!!


Class dismissed.....

SEPULTURA AND SACRED REICH....THE JOURNEY CONTINUES!

Day after day, we rocked a new city. Day after day we laughed and conquered. The shows were virtual explosions and the off time was exciting! The package of Sepultura and Sacred Reich was a hot commodity, and the world wanted more!! And we wanted to sample it all!!

In the future, I would hire a catering company to travel with us....Cat and Mouse Catering, but it was on this tour that we met the girls in the UK. They were fun and fit in with our personalities and our diets. Besides, they were damn good cooks and that isn't easy to always find when you are on the road!!

We water gunned our way around the world! Yes, we fell victim to pranks and UNO and other assorted tour trends. We visited castles, abandoned cathedrals, concentration camps and historical landmarks. There was so much to soak up! During these early years, the world was large to me. Now that I have travelled it for 28 years, it's not so big any more. Many of the mysteries, I have seen. The wonders of the world were around us.

It was all about the fans...taking the music to them. I encountered much opposition. The label was wanting new releases and I was wanting to tour and sell the Arise and Beneath the Remains records. I was told to get them off the road; stop going to eastern Europe; stay in the major territories. But that just wasn't my plan. How are you international if you can't play EVERYWHERE? The fan base was my priority. You know what I said to the label? Open some more labels in the countries we are heading to. It was simple. The fans were getting the shows.

You may ask how I knew there were fans tucked in corners of countries newly freed. I did the fan mail!! Yes, fan mail by the bag full came to my house daily. I responded to every single letter and began to build a community that continues to this day. I sat Dana and Christina and any friends they had, down at my table and we blazed through the mail. It was interesting to see where all the letters came from! And now, they come through Facebook, in the way of private messages. I answer every single person and even a few trolls! It's all about the Tribe!


Class dismissed......

POLAND...1991-2 MY RAGING PACKAGE--SEPULTURA, SACRED REICH!!

Once I crafted the SOS tour, Sepultura, Obituary and Sadus, I began focusing on cool packages of bands the fans wanted to see, but weren't necessarily the biggest drawing bands. The packages would be underground to the bigwigs and sellouts, but understood by the fans. That would be the draw. I brought Fudge Tunnel, Clutch, Fear Factory, Sick of it All, Napalm Death, many young bands to the world of Metal fans, with these early tours. In fact, I made New Titans on the Bloc, just to f#@% with certain industry people.... Ok, Students, yes, I admitted that!

In these early years, most acts travelled solo to Europe. The festivals were few and far between. It wasn't like now, when you literally have thousands of festivals to choose from. In the early '90's, you could not do a show after June 7th or so, because everyone went on vacation and there were no shows at all, until summer was over. As the festivals began to appear, they were all grouped in the same May, early June time period. Eastern Europe was just opening up at this time. Different currency in every country and those damn borders!!

During this time, I booked a Sepultura show in Poland with Metal Mind Productions. Tommy Djubinski, the early Metal pioneer who brought Metal to Poland, booked and promoted--maybe too well!--this first Polish Sepultura show in Katowice. Little did we know the riot that would occur from this date! We had played the night before in Austria, and after load out, headed to the Polish border. One big problem, though!! The Austrian border decided to shut down during the night! By the time it reopened, the next day, we were at the back of a miles long line of traffic, waiting to get out of Austria. When it became apparent we would not make it to the show, I had to call Tommy and break the bad news to him.

There were no cell phones, fax machines or even pagers back then. I had to exchange money and find pay phones to do my work. I dreaded each time I called Tommy with more bad news. On his end, he kept hoping we would make it and he let the doors open and kids fill the sports arena! When he told them that we couldn't get through the border, they all went ballistic!!! They destroyed the F#@$KING PLACE!!



The police tried to put Tommy in prison and charge him around $20,000 for the damage done to the city. Whew! I don't know how he got out of that one! The Sacred Reich show I had booked with him also got shut down, the year before the riot. That was a different circumstance though. The country was in the midst of it's freedom revolution and the border was closed by the Polish government. Tommy was also the promoter of that show. I think it was 1989 or 1990.

I have seen a lot of changes in Poland. When I first got in the country with Sacred, there was no food. No Cokes, bottled water, nothing! I remember our catering was one Coke, a small, white piece of meat and 5 fries. That was a luxury for them to even serve us!! Bottled water was tasting like Alka Seltzer and we were happy to have it! Now, Poland is popping like Vegas or New York City!!! The scene is huge and powerful, with many bands coming into Metal fans' music files!!

The good thing about rescheduling the show, was that we could have a full crew with us. Since we were sharing, we could have lighting and monitor engineers and front of house. It made my job less complicated and I could focus on management instead of taking on more duties. I had my trusted daughter, Christina, flipping cotton like no other at the time!! I was the merch girl for many previous tours. Managing behind the merch booth was no problem, and I got to meet many fans! But it got overwhelming with the growing success of my roster.



After the commotion of the riot, I combined Sepultura and Sacred Reich and took them both to Europe on the same tour. It was rare back then, to make a package in Europe, but it made sense to me. I could put them both on the same bus, share some crew and have a blast!! We went back to the previously destroyed venue and paid Tommy back for his migraine!! Police and fans were everywhere!!! The crazies even burst into the restaurant while we were eating, and we had to rush through the kitchen and a secret passage, just to get out! Beatles for a day!!


Class dismissed......

MAX GETS HIS NECK TATTED!!!!

In the beginning of 1995, Max got the idea to get his neck tatted. He weighed many options...what the kid's schools would think, the pediatricians, things like that. We were always involved in our children's education, medical care, nannies, etc. We didn't want to make their live's harder than they were. We did run into a couple principals and teachers that didn't approve of my green hair and Max's ever changing looks. This vinegar taste they had, would overflow into our kid's school year, so we were always cautious. In the end, Max said he was going to get it and hide it when necessary....which was never! lol...

We hooked up with Paul Booth...only the best for the neck!! I was super pregnant with Igor and we were wrapping our Chaos tour cycle. What the heck? I jumped in the line too!

After we went to the Xavantes' tribe and recorded, Max decided to dye his hair red, having been influenced by the colors of the Indian's hair. I thought it looked awesome on him, and a good match with my green hair! It would be his symbol for the future Roots' tours.

We hooked up with Paul Booth, on one of our travels and made the trip to his studio. His assistant and model at the time, Barb, was there to greet us. We had Zyon with us, but I don't recall if Igor was with there. He was pretty young at the time and most likely was nodded out somewhere strange.



Max had a tribal design picked out, and I asked for an angel on my shoulder. Paul wasn't very acquainted with angels...I admit there is a bit of a dark twist to this fellow. In the end, Max and I happily sported our new ink together!! Keeping it REAL!!!


Class dismissed.....

YES, ROOTS WILL GO TO ISTANBUL, TURKEY!!!!

The Roots' run took the fans by storm! I was contacted by so many fans, so many bands and so many promoters....everyone wanted the show! I had to divide the planet into 4 months and cover as much territory as I could, in that time block. Hopefully, we will do another run and make everyone happy!

I divided the planet into Sept-Oct North America....November -mid December Europe/UK and mid Dec till the 21st is South America. The schedule will be grueling and the shows electric!

I could have played it safe and just hit up big markets. Lots of nice venues, tons of access to press and easy for the fans. In the US, due to the festivals and the limits associated with them, we are playing smaller markets in some areas and taking the show to the fans, in all corners! In Europe, and the Uk, where there are numerous markets, we hit up most of the main cities and didn't have restrictions because there were no festivals involved. And then, Istanbul popped up.....

Max and I have gone to Turkey many times. We have explored the Grand Bazaar, the mosques, sampled the cuisine, strolled the Topkapi Museum, and even visited the Max Cavalera Store! Heck, 

we even took home a couple swank-ass suits!

Recent terrorism has cost people their sanity, made fear of flying stronger and the threat of suicide bombings very real. The recent arranged overthrow of the government and the state of emergency that moshed in like a wave, set Istanbul in a class to consider. In the words of Max....The fans there, need music now more than ever! Iggor agreed and I tied the knot.

If you don't see your city in the very near calendar, don't freak out! I will do the best I can to give everyone the opportunity to see this once in a career event!! The Cavaleras return to their ROOTS....with a lot of help from our friends!! We get by with a little help from our Tribe!!!!


Class dismissed.......