70,000 TONS OF METAL! Let’s DO it!

We met Iggor, Tony Campos and Iggor’s tech, Blake, at our hotel in Ft Lauderdale and headed to Port Everglade early in the morning. The most famous Metal cruise in the world awaited us! 70,000 Tons of Metal!

We sent our gear in and boarded, getting in the line along with thousands of other Metalheads, sprinkled with band members. Once last customs, we headed to our various cabins. Soulfly would play later in the day so we had to get moving!

Max sat down for a minute and look who was on TV! Our son Igor, belting out Bloodshed!!

A hawk glided gently over the port, several times passing our balcony. There were two of them circling near us. It was an amazing sight!


Soon after, the boat began its journey towards Haiti. Calm water and our own electric excitement combined as we headed away from the last dots of land. The ship called for an evacuation drill to Level 4, where the lifeboats hung neatly above us. I left Max in the room and evacuated myself. Lol! Last cruise I took him to the drill and there was a bit of mayhem!

No time for romping today! The crew headed to the Royal Theater to set up. The theater is indoors with different levels of seating and a super tall ceiling. Big roomy stage and lots of commotion! The show was a banger and the crowd easily filled the theater up! One problem...Zyon’s tech Kyle felt sick and got taken off the stage and to the infirmary. Diagnosed with pneumonia, he was quickly quarantined! But the show must go on!

Gear packed up, we went to our cabins and crashed. Some of the adventurous hit up the other stages and checked out the bars. Trust me! This cruise is definitely the definition of Metal!! Bands playing in the several clubs all through the hours of the day! Everywhere you look you see nothing but black clothes, logo popping Metalheads!!! Everyone is geared up and excited with anticipation of the days to come!!! And we were too!!!!




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NEW ORLEANS MARDI GRAS MEETS SOULFLY

Max and I always wanted to go to the Mardi Gras! All the parades and craziness is super inviting!! We watched that old Richard Gere/Kim Bassinger movie, No Mercy, so many times!! That swampy vibe... Well we got our wish! We were in the bus when all of a sudden a brass band started blasting outside our bus, drums pounding sprinkled with laughter. We looked outside and by God, there was the Second Line Parade passing right by us!!

Max decided we would walk to the horse and buggies a few blocks away and take a ride. I am allergic to horses lol, but what the heck, we wandered off. It was super interesting and our guide was really full of stories. The creepiest though, was the dude that came up behind the buggy, on a dark, street and started talking about a bloodbath of hung nuns near a church. Our driver got the horse to prance off quickly.

The streets were full of spirits wailing, beads gleaming and Saints shirts talking crap about the Rams haha!! I love walking through the French Quarter and hearing the crying of the blues coming out of a windowless pub.. And the food is drool-able, gumbo, beans and rice, sausages, greens and hot buttery bread. Throw in a Po Boy or two!

And now, here we sit in Ft Lauderdale about to take off on the 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise. No wifi hopefully haha..... See you next week, Students!

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30 YEARS AND THE JOURNEY CONTINUES!!

This year is the 30th anniversary of the year I met Max! Recently I found some photos from the first time I ever went to Brazil! There are only a few and the exposure sucks, but the record is there! I remember I went on a long ago airline that is gone now, Varig, and they served crab claws in coach! The good old days! When I arrived in Sao Paulo, no one was there to pick me up, lol. I had to change money and figure out the phone! An hour later, my friends scooped me up!

The journey was bouncy at times, but Max never left my side. We were lucky to be able to work together and share our lives with each other. We had each other to carry the other, to laugh together, to plan together. Well I admit, I planned a year or so ahead of his thinking and a couple times I did tell him to write a record and record at the speed of light! Take the boundaries away and the world comes in to view! Follow your dreams, Students! Every year is an adventure!



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POP ART RETURNS!!!

Max is back with his one of a kind line of Pop Art!! Zyon slams them and Max tatts them! Get 'em while they are hot, coming to a venue near you!

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2019!!! ROLL OUT THE CARPET!!

With the New Year rolling in, it was nice to have a small break. The music industry shuts down parallel to the weeks that kids have their school break. It is well deserved because labels, agents, musicians and managers don't have the luxury of calling in sick, or taking off when their stress level gets overfull, or even getting weekends off! It's a job I love but it is time consuming.

I always plan the tours for every year in the preceding year. There are so many tours and bands on the road, that venues fill early. You also need to get your bus reserved well in advance or you will not get one. One year my bus got given away to a higher bidder and i had to take 2 buses from the Manchester soccer team! This year, I am all set! Our first tour will be a US run, supporting the Soulfly release, Ritual. Soulfly haven't been out in awhile and we are very excited to get back together. In the next couple weeks, rehearsals start.

In March we have a surprise tour that isn't yet announced. We have to follow the rules, and promoters let us know when we can blab to the world! Sometimes the news leaks out and you get your shizzle in trouble....like the time someone at Roadrunner Records got blasted and posted at 4:00 in the morning that Soulfly was on the Five Finger Death Punch Tour! Yeah, I was heated!!

The summer may hold a South American run for Soulfly and a European Tour that is going to be vicious!! Some of the dates are already announced but there are MANY more surprises about to spill out!! Wrapping up the year will be another Euro Tour and a US/Canada map cutter!!

In January I am stoked to be taking Incite out with us on our first tour for Ritual! Their new record, Built To Destroy is released January 25th, just in time for the tour! Another Incite rager, built to lay waste and steamroll! This will be the first launch of their ballistic year!

And last but certainly not least....I will be bringing you Igor's new band, HEALING MAGIC!!!! Holy sizzle,they are heavy!! I plan on adding them later in the year, after their record is in the mix! So get prepared, eat your greens and get sturdy...you're going to need it, Tribe!!! See you in the pit.....somewhere!

Class dismissed........