LET'S TALK TURKEY!!!!

As you know, Soulfly recently played with KORN, Gojira, and several other acts in Istanbul, Turkey. Why my interest in the exotic countries and in the Middle East, you may ask. Thanks to opening my Facebook account and making it a must to reply to every private message, I began to learn many things about the world that had mystified me in the past. I learned about the persecution of Metalheads in other countries and even torture. From this information, Forbidden Fire, by Killer Be Killed was born. But let's go back to Istanbul...

Anahid MOP

Personally, I love this city! Ancient architecture whisked in with modern day, museums with antiques that make your eyes pop out, the great Bazaar with its flying carpets, leather stores, harem outfits, and pottery with the tree of life. Mosques rising up through the ocean of buildings and prayers ringing through the air...colorful Istanbul!! Oh...and don't forget the traffic!!!!

Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul

I made the concert in Istanbul in order to create a very special and rare appearance of one of the guests on the upcoming Archangel cd. Finding a way to get the beautiful and talented Iranian warrior, Anahid MOP (who guests on the song Max wrote about me titled Mother of Dragons), to perform, was my quest. Growing up persecuted for being Metal in a country where Metal is outlawed takes a lot of courage to stand up to. Young people suffer arrest and even worse for wearing Metal gear, and for playing or even listening to Metal music. These peops really have to search for their heroes!! We take freedom of music as our right and these kids should be able to also!

Being Metal in the forbidden zone

Turkey has a European side of the country and an Asian side to the country. While there are many ancient beliefs strongly held, there is also a modern day leniency in the country, and this allows the people many of the freedoms humans should be naturally given. And that is why Max and I have travelled there many times, sometimes only with each other and sometimes with the band.

The Mamara Hotel was popping that weekend, I will say! We ran into Gojira, Behemoth, Dark Tranquility, Annihilator, and many others chilling withTurkish coffee, teas, icy beers and chatter. To this we added Dave DeeDevil and his beautiful wife Roya, and Meraj and Anahid MOP, our close friends from Iran. It was a dream both ways...them to hang with us and us to be with them!

Group dinner before the show

Roya and Dave

The show was massive and the camaraderie backstage was infecting us all. Great Turkish cuisine was our friend too! I will admit a giant monsoon hit and the stage and backstage area turned into a mud pit the size of Woodstock, but it can't stop Metal! The brotherhood surrounded us! Fieldy, from KORN, is an old friend, from the Days of Dana, and we hung with him, our brains turning back in time together. The past, the present and the future...it is what you make it! Now have a nice summer! Visit Turkey and support Metal Awareness in the Middle East. Let's protect our brothers and sisters....

Meet and greet stage

Class dismissed.....
*PHOTOS OF ISTANBUL SHOPS, AQUEDUCT AND AUTOGRAPH SESSION ARE COURTESY OF AGGY CARNOTA*

YES, THE KID CAN SHRED!!!

Soulfly has evolved many times in the 17 years of its life. Most past members are beloved but I admit there is a couple we are thankful are gone.... Marc Rizzo is the other half of my Lennon and McCartney of Metal, Max's ax extraordinaire....a master!!! With Soulfly's solid backbone, it's refreshing to inject new blood into the band from time to time. Along came Igor....

Igor and Max

My favorite Soulfjy bassist is without a doubt Tony Campos. How blessed I am to have been a part of his legacy. A gentleman, a partier, loyal and truthful, one of the most professional artists I know. We knew Tony was a man of many bands when he joined Soulfly and one day we would have to let him chase his dream. Shortly after Archangel was recorded, we found ourselves congratulating Tony on his move to Fear Factory. With a 6 week European/UK run on our doorstep, we enlisted our son Igor to plunk away.

Tony Campos

Igor is our seventh child and my fifth son. He got many of Max and my traits...from me, his logic and love of all things books and from Max, a many sided artist. He is the frontman, guitarist and writer of the band Lody Kong, and as many of you know, he has penned a dark novel about insanity at its deepest.

On a February tour of Mexico, when Tony was jamming with Ministry, we used Igor for the first time as bassist. He was a firecracker on stage and brought young blood to the front lines. It gave Max a shot in the arm just jamming with him...another dream morfed into reality. From this, Soulfly began their rehearsals. Igor took his job seriously and practiced at our mountain house rehearsal room and continued as he accompanied us on the recent Cavalera Conspiracy Europe/UK tour.

Igor and Aggy

Doing soundcheck

He proved himself a worthy member throughout the tour, never stopping to slow down for a minute. Catch this rare lineup soon as it's about to end, as all things must past. You may be lucky to catch one of his coveted, black, InTune picks!!

Igor rocking outat Rockharz Festival

Soulfly

Soulfly

For the Americans, you have one chance to mosh to 3 Cavaleras and the best riffer on the planet, Marc Rizzo, if you are lucky enough to get a ticket to the launch party for Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighter's Gentlemen of the Road Tour! Yes, they have asked Soulfly to headline the club show launch party! With only a very limited amount of tickets available, I suggest you find a way to jump in that pit!!! See you there!!

Class dismissed....

A GLIMPSE INTO DANA'S ALBUM..

Layne Staley with no eyebrows

I have many boxes, photo albums and chips of photos..30 years in the Metal scene, carefully stored.... I was going through some of Dana's photos for an Alice in Chains blog, a while back and thought you may like to check out his photo album...some cool, legit memorabilia in there!

Dana's scrapbook

I found the card announcing Zyon's birth, some of the original artwork for 2 of Dana's tattoos, and loads of passes to monster gigs! Enjoy! And take advantage of the summer break!! Make a scrapbook!

Tattoo sketches 

Passes

Passes

Passes

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KIDS AND SHOWS.....PROTECT THOSE EARS!!!!

With festivals, summer club shows and school out, I see many more children at the shows, this time of year. Don't forget their ears are pure, freshly built and sensitive! We always took care with our kid's ears. Having tinnitus myself and knowing a zillion others in the music business, who do, I strongly recommend you take this advice seriously! Yeah, they don't want ear gear, but it's necessary!

Zyon by the bus window

When Zyon was about6 months old or so, he began touring with us on the Chaos AD world tour. I recall one time in Scandinavia, when Zyon was being held by my dear friend, Biffen, I had to fish orange colored ear plugs out of Z's ears. They were forever popping from his ears into his mouth. Someone in our family went to KMART and bought 'shooter's headphones.' They didn't have all the fancy headphones like today. These were strictly, to the point. He adapted quickly and we used those until he was 4-5, and then moved him into earplugs.

Igor with headphones on

When Igor was born, we were authorities on ear gear and trained him from the start with the headphones. We got Igor his own pair, since Zyon had still been using his and they were signed by Chino. At a festival in Belgium, the kids were all on stage and someone shot photos of them all together with headphones and earplugs reppin'. In the following weeks, Igor made an appearance on the cover of the Belgium TV Guide! An ear specialist had seen the photos and made an article warning people about the dangers of loud music, and that we were good examples of parents.

Now the kids are older and we have proper earplugs, made for musicians. We use Clear Tone In Ear Monitors and Earplugs. They protect our hearing from loud, raging decibels and still let us understand what people are saying.

Most of us start out life with badass hearing. Give your mini me headdbangers a shot at having good hearing and head banging well into their old age!!! Metal it up!!

Class dismissed......

CHAOS AD.....REVISITED....

Once the Chaos AD album was released, the Sepultura world erupted with concerts, interviews, video shoots and fan fervor. A couple days before the release of a record, fans would camp outside the record stores. It was a time of excitement. I admit I miss the zeal of the '90's Metalheads, who supported and encouraged artists, rather than the struggle musicians have now, to sell music. Every band is in the same boat today, trying to make records, knowing the costs are rarely recouped. You now have the sterile sound of computers and in-home recordings, instead of the rich sound of analog. You have bands that are only bands on the computer screen and pay to play. This has harmed the growth of new music. Money can buy you a spot, where talent was once required.

Max and Paulo

Iggor's kit

With the release of Chaos Ad, we went to Brazil and made the Refuse, Resist video. The next single, Slave New World, was filmed at a condemned resort of sorts, in California. The night before, we finished a US club tour and played the famous Warfield in San Francisco. Good times were about to swell and the beginning of the end walked hand in hand. We could feel it coming, but couldn't fully believe it. Max and I knew there was a dark shadow, thinly veiled by the horizon. We chose not to give it reality and to stay on our path.

Andreas and Richie

Dressing room sign

Day sheet

Enjoy the pics.......they were great times!

Class dismissed.....