Quotes from Max Cavalera

I never think about retirement or anything like that.

For me, the fun part is riffs, and making the riffs is what I... that's my world. I'm born for that. And when it comes to lyrics, it's an agonizing process.

The vocals are aggressive not because I want to create an evil voice or anything like that, but because when I sing about angry things that's the way it comes out of me.

I'm growing up backwards.

We normally use Peavey amplifiers, and I use an ESP guitar with two Boss pedals: a flanger and a big wah pedal. My sound is pretty much the sound that comes out of the Peavey with the gain all the way to the top so there's a really heavy distortion sound that comes from the amplifier.

I always love working with my peers.

There's a lot of modern stuff I really dig, like Melechesh or Italian death metal like Hour Of Penance and Bloodtruth.

If you face problems, face reality, even when it's hard, even when what you're saying is an ugly truth, sometimes you can wake up faster and do something to make things better.

I love history and I love watching history movies, stuff like 'Ben Hur' and 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'Doctor Zhivago.'

I really love history. When I was a little kid in Brazil, it was my favorite subject in school. I always did really well in it.

We're not an American band, or a European band. We're a Brazilian band.

Me and Iggor come from poor upbringings. We're broke, never had any money.

I don't really go to church every Sunday and that kind of stuff, but I do believe in a higher power and I do believe in God.

A Clockwork Orange' was one of my favorite movies as a teenager. I had a big poster on my wall in Brazil.

There are a lot of things about religion, especially Catholic religion, that bug me.

I think all my anger and hate comes out in the music; that should be the way you channel these things. It's like, I don't go out and beat people up, I do it with my guitar.

Sepultura had a political album like Chaos A.D. that concerned itself with politics and war. I continued that in some areas with Soulfly.

I think Sepultura, I have to say 'Refuse/Resist' is one of my favorite riffs. It's really energetic and I love the song. If you were to find a way to put the word 'chaos' into a song, it is the riff of 'Refuse/Resist.' It's chaotic, catchy, and heavy.

I must have a good chemistry to play because I play every day with the same people. It has to be there. It's essential for a band like Soulfly.

People think 'Roots' was planned but it wasn't. I just had a couple of ideas and the name.

I just try to make the best record I can make, without any ego or comparisons at all. I never sit there and tell myself it's going to be a masterpiece or anything!

A lot of what we sing concerns the Brazilian way of life. The stuff I write is reality, everything I see. That's the stuff I want to sing about.

The whole 'Roots' thing is a very confusing time in my life, because I don't think I knew how to deal with the whole fame thing very well - especially in Brazil. We went to Brazil, and the record was massive - like real, real big; like Beatles big. And I remember I tried to go to the mall with my wife, and we got mobbed.

Music is such a big landscape. There's so much we can do with it. It's endless. That's what the cool thing about it is.