Lady Enslain: Is there any significance in the name Soulfly?
MAX: I guess, it's different for everyone. Like for me, it's a spiritual and positive thing.
Enslain: How did you meet up with the other guys? Why did you choose them?
MAX: Well, I was looking for musicians that I wouldn't have the same problems I was having with Sepultura in the last year… Ego trips and shit like that. And just people that want to play music, and enjoy what they do, and make the best out of it. The guys I'm with now, they don't need to be famous. They just have this attitude, this good, positive attitude. They all have that now, and I'm really happy with them.
Enslain: Do you consider Soulfly to be your solo-album, or do you consider you guys to be a band?
MAX: Well, I think eventually it's going to become a band, you know, because it's a first album, I wrote most everything, and there was a lot of personal stuff that happened to me in the last year and a half, which was a really turmoil year of my life. With all the changes and a lot of tragedies, this album is very personal. The second album the follow-up, I think you will be seeing more as a band album.
Enslain: Would you consider this album as having a theme?
MAX: Not really, there's different songs that go all the way from really (tragic) and painful songs, like Bleed and First Commandment, which is about the death of Gloria's son, my stepson Dana, all the way to Umbabarauma, which is a soccer song, going to hard-core songs like The Song Remains Insane and No Hope… It's an album with many different aspects.
Enslain: What bands have given influence to your sound?
MAX: It's impossible to name one. Besides everybody that's on the album, I like all those bands, I listen to a lot of different music that people probably don't know like Fundamental, Chico Science, Brazilian stuff. I try to capture things from other parts of music and bring it to heavy music.
Enslain: What made you decide to take on Ozzfest '98?
MAX: Well, it's a good opportunity to get the Soulfly name out there. Ozzy has been very kind to me. This is the third tour he offered to me. I know him personally, and he's a good friend. And I mean, how could I say no, you know, it's a great beginning. We headline over Slayer in Europe. It was just really special, really cool. We're just taking the opportunity to thank him for the chance, and we're gonna give the best for our fans live.
Enslain: Is Ozzfest the first tour for Soulfly?
MAX: No, we're on tour right now. Now we're in Cleveland. We've done five shows, starting in Houston. It's been really great, just amazing. We're gonna go all the way until May, and May 21st starts the Ozzfest in Europe.
Enslain: Will there be any Sepultura songs in the set?
MAX: Yeah, we play some, we don't play, actually, a lot. We play some stuff that I believe represents me, my phase in Sepultura, because I formed Sepultura, and I named every single album. So we play things like Beneath The Remains, Roots, and Chaos AD. We also play Nailbomb, and, of course, a lot of Soulfly.
Enslain: Are you happy with the way things are going with the band and your life?
MAX: No, (laughs), I like the album a lot, but I don't think the label did good in the states. There really wasn't much promotion behind the record, which is frustrating for me, because the album is really big in Europe. There really isn't much about us in America, unfortunately. So my only complaint is with the record label. Musically, I have no complaints. I really like how it turned out. My life has changed, you know, without Sepultura. Many other changes, my son is a diabetic. He's two years old. My life has more responsibility than before, but I'm glad to be alive and I'm glad god gave me the chance to play music.
Enslain: What are your views on god and religion?
MAX: I believe in god, but different than church God, I guess. It's inside you. He don't care about how you look. It's more about your actions, and what you're doing here, how you treat people, what you do with your life. Religion, I think, there's good religion, there's bad religion, not the band… but fucked up religion that steals money from people. That's why, my mother tried to raise me as a Catholic when I was a kid, but I grew away from that. After I learned about all the money that they had, and didn't help the poor people, or do nothin'. So for me, it didn't make a point. It's bullshit.
Enslain: What's your relationship now with Igor and the others?
MAX: We haven't talked in a long time. Honestly, whenever they apologize for what they did, I'll talk to them. They left me really hurt, and I'll just wait for whenever they ask me to talk to them.
Enslain: Where did you grow up? What music did you listen to when you were young?
MAX: I grew up in a city called Belo Horizonte, between Sao Paulo and Rio. I grew up listening to the beginning of heavy metal, like Iron Maiden, um, Black Sabbath. Then I started to listen to punk, Sex Pistols, Discharge. And then I moved all the way to death metal, thrash metal, and shit like that.
Enslain: What do you do in your spare time?
MAX: I spend all my time, when I'm not touring, with my kids. I have, um, many kids, and I try to take care of them, and lead a little bit of a normal life, somehow. I try to give them attention and be a parent whenever I'm not touring.
Enslain: How many kids do you have?
MAX: I have two that are mine and I adopted three. Igor is 2 years old, Zyon is 5, Jason, Richie, and Roxanne.
Enslain: What are your feelings on drugs?
MAX: Well, I don't know, I had my times when I used a lot of hard stuff, but I think everybody should…I don't say everybody should do it, but if you want to have your own opinion, you should do it yourself and figure out yourself what's good for you, and what's not. I don't smoke pot, but I don't consider it a drug. I think it should be legal. And I wouldn't recommend hard drugs to anyone, because they're really destructive. I tried cocaine and shit like that in Brazil, and I think it's bad. Today I'm clean and I have no interest in touching hard drugs. I prefer music, that's my drug of choice.
