SEPULTURA's Andreas Kisser: "Cavalera's Have a Very Weird Idea of What SEPULTURA's Supposed To Be"

Asked in a recent interview with “The Metal Podcast” if he ever gets tired of answering questions about the Max Cavalera era of SEPULTURA, Andreas said: “It gets old, yeah. [It’s been more than] 20 years already [since he left the band].

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“I know people expect a reunion [of the classic SEPULTURA lineup to happen] because most of the bands [whose original members went their separate ways] did it — THE POLICE, ANTHRAX and FAITH NO MORE… so many bands that came back [with their classic lineups] and did it again,” he continued. “But that doesn’t mean nothing to us. Every band has a history, every band has their motives. We have our faith in what we’re doing now. We respect so much our past — it’s a beautiful history behind [us] — but we’re here now. People made their choices and they must live their choices, the same way we are doing. So I’m not interested in trying to repeat things that are not there anymore.”

Andreas explained that he is still occasionally in contact with the Cavalera camp for business reasons. “I have Gloria’s e-mail [address]. I have a straight contact if I want to deal with [them], because we have to deal with the past,” he said. “We have vinyl boxes coming out, we have songs on soundtracks and many other possibilities, because we have specifically three [classic SEPULTURA] albums that are very popular, and it opened a lot of new possibilities for SEPULTURA, especially ‘Arise’, ‘Chaos A.D.’ and ‘Roots’, and we have to work that together — merchanidising and everything related to that. But I have to admit it’s very difficult to work with that camp. They have a very weird idea of what SEPULTURA’s supposed to be in their minds, and the way they treat and deal with SEPULTURA material and music, it’s something that we don’t share the same idea. And that’s fine — that’s why they’re not here anymore, that’s why they left, and they wanna do something else. So let it be — just do your stuff and leave SEPULTURA alone.”

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Kisser also commented on the fact that Max and Igor denied permission to the makers of the band’s official documentary, “Sepultura Endurance”, to use the group’s early music in the film. “The documentary was a pain to do, because [Max and Igor] didn’t want to be a part [of it], and not only that — they blocked the rights to use full songs, which is a very small attitude,” Andreas said. “Why do you do certain things like that? Just to attack us or try to interfere somehow. Which is very sad. I don’t think they need that. They have an amazing history behind them and they should keep their level to that history. But then again, people, they have an idea and they act according to that idea. I don’t agree with that, but I respect every type of craziness around the world and every point of view.”

As for Andreas’s one-time friendship with Max, the guitarist said: “There’s nothing there anymore. I [haven’t] talked to Max properly in more than 20 years, so I don’t know who is he now and what kind of stuff he likes or he’s doing, and vice versa.”

Kisser added that he has “no regrets” about the way the Max Cavalera era of SEPULTURA ended and how the band has carried itself in the two decades since the split. “I mean, I wouldn’t be here if everything that happened [hadn’t] happened,” he said. “It is what it is. We have to deal with our challenges, we have to deal with our difficult times. That’s how we grow up, that’s how we grow up as persons and as people and as musicians and as professionals and understand the business and everything. It’s not easy. But, yeah, regret is a horrible feeling, because you don’t leave the past if you have some type of regret. You have to use the bad moments or even bad decisions you might have [made] in the past for your own good and learn not to do that again, or not to repeat that. If you admit things, like, ‘Okay, I admit I was wrong,’ it’s a full step forward in your life. That’s the hardest part, of course, but you have to talk to yourself every day. Because that’s the only way you’re gonna see possibilities in the future and not really be there in the past like in a quicksand or something [where] you don’t move.”