First, how is this new european tour goin' on ?
It's great, it's a good start for the new album. In Flames is a great live band and Dagoba from France to. It's great, it's workin' on very good.

And how does it work with Roy? Is he happy with his new tribe?
I guess yeah ! (Laugh)
It's workin' out great, he's doin' a great job, playin' like never before really. He knows Sepultura's material for a long time, he's been a fan you know, forever. His way of playing is of course respecting a lot what Igor wrote, so it's working really good, really surprising! In the good way... (Laugh)

Do you have some fresh news from Igor?
I think, he's at home you know, try to rebuild his personal life and stuff, something that you cannot reassure to change, he wouldn't play here with us with his mind in Brazil : his body would be here but his mind and all the problems would be there, so I guess hopefully he can feel better, and come-back you know, to continue the tour... Let's see what happen...

So you don't know when this could happen?
Nobody knows ! (Laugh) Just like I said, it takes time really! A seperation is really difficult for any man in any situation you know. There's children involved and many other stuff so it takes time.

About your new record, " Dante XXI ", how did you end up to work on "The Divine Comedy" concept?
We started working on the album in august 2004, and from the very first day, I came with the idea to try to find something to be inspired by. You know, every Sepultura album have really strong ideas behind it or weird ideas like recording outside Brazil or like the brazilian roots on "Roots Bloody Roots", and also on "Nation", on "Against"... All the situations where the band was, were very influential. And it seems that we did everything in the past, we worked with indian tribes, we worked with japanese groups and many different musicians and great producers, like Ross Robinson, Andy Wallace, Steve Evetts, on many studios all around the world you know. And we worked on some soundtracks for movies in Brazil aside Sepultura, and I'm working with different musicians to do stuff. It came from there, try to find something really powerful and cool to write about. I've suggested the movie " Clockwork Orange " from Kubrik, and Derrick suggested "The Divine Comedy" cos' that was the book he studied at school, when he was younger. Then we went to do some research, and when I started to read "The Divine Comedy", it blows me away! It's a really perfect book, very rich in details and situations... We could do many different albums from the same book. It was very inspirative to write the music, the lyrics, and for the artwork of the album. From the first day we had that concept in mind, so everything was working towards that you know. It was great!

Is the fact of working on a conceptual album motivates you to work once more with André Moraès ?
Yes, André Moraès is one of the co-producers of the album that we call, to form this team to produce the album. We basically produced the album ourselves, we did the pre-roductions, demos during a year and a half. We were writing and recording ideas and stuff. And André Moraès is a guy that we worked with on soundtracks for movies in Brazil. He's familiar to that kind of world you know, and he's also a big Sepultura fan. He came to the album for all the arrangement for the cellos, the horns and to put some drums loops and percussions, to bring more of the soundtrack vibe for the album. And the other co-producer was Stanley Soares, who's the guy that's doin' our live behind stuff, he's very good on the engineering, pro-tools... So between those guys and the band, we produced and also mixed the album. It was cool to do everything at home in São Paulo. I think that we have bagage inhalf to really know how we're going to sound like. We're very happy and very satisfied with the final result.

The sound of the record is not a big production. Did you want to keep something which sounds a bit old because of "The Divine Comedy" concept?
No, it just came out the way it did. We used our equipment we have, and we always like to have a sound as live as possible. I don't know what you mean by big production... (Laugh)

... I mean something like over-produced...

...We don't like to do that. We spent a year and a half writing and spent only a month recording. Igor is very fast when he records, like 1, 2 or 3 takes at the most, me and Paulo are the same, and Derrick is pretty quick too, so we have no reason really to try to find things that we won't gona need. (Laugh) Because in the studio there are so many options with the equipment and stuff like that, but once you're very focused in what you need, we don't loose time on stuff that not gona help at the end. We always wanted to sound like that, I think "Roots" is an exemple of that also, it's a very alive kind of recording and I think we achieve that.

Before "Dante XXI", you've worked with André Moraès on the soundtrack for " No Coração Dos Deuses", and you also worked on the soundtracks for 2 other movies, "Lisbella Eo Prisoneiro", and "Belini e a Esfinge"...
... "No Coração Dos Deuses" and "Lisbella Eo Prisoneiro", were with him but "Belini e a Esfinge" was with other people.

I have the "No Coração Dos Deuses" cd, but it's hard to find the 2 others and also the DVD versions...
... Only "No Coração Dos Deuses" was released in Europe on cd! For "Lisbella Eo Prisoneiro", and "Belini e a Esfinge", there's a cd for both, but only in Brazil.

Do you know if somebody plan to release them soon, here in Europe?
I don't know. I think it's very difficult! For " No Coração Dos Deuses" we actually had this deal with a small dutch label, Mascot Records, because Mike Patton was in and Sepultura, so they were very interested to put it out. We did everything together with André Moraès we put speak on the all album. On "Lisbella Eo Prisoneiro", we put like 2 songs, we had a re-recording that we did with an older brazilian singer and we had the team for the killer in the movie so that's the part of Sepultura. And for "Belini e a Esfinge", I've participated on the all movie to, and they have like a cd also, but it's only for the brazilian market. I doubt that they gona have the chance to release them outside Brazil unfortunatly... That's something we could think about later or something to put out like a compilation of soundtracks, it'll be pain in the ass to deal with many different labels but who knows? That would be cool...

... so, for now, the only solution for us is to try on Ebay or something... (Laugh)
Yes! (Laugh)

You actually on tour with In Flames, you certainly saw their last record cover... (Laugh)
(Laugh) Yes! Actually we didn't talk about it yet. I'm waiting for the right moment to strike ! (Laugh)
But I think it's not really the band's fault, it's mostly the artists' who makes available his art to different bands, that's the same fuckin' monster on the cover! It's weird! We did it for "Roorback", he draw the design for us, specificly for that album, and we were very surprised to see the same monster again for a different band, a different cover but... Oh well, what can we do? Just kill Derek Hess! (Laugh)

And about the new artwork for "Dante XXI", It looks strange, very different than the previous one...
Yeah, that was the idea. If you put together "Nation", "Roorback", and this one, they're very distinctive from each other. Before we had Michael R. Whelan who did "Beaneath The Remains", "Arise", "Chaos A.D" and "Roots", of course you have the style but a little different from each other... And it's cool to find new artists! This guy, Stephan who did all the artwork for the album, is a very talented brazilian with a very unique style. He does a lot of graphity on streets, he does like big paintings and he's in England right now, making an exposition of his stuff. He's a friend of Igor for quite a while. It was great because he really knew about "The Divine Comedy" also, we talked a lot about the direction we wanted to fall, make the connection between the world today and the past. He brought a lot of ideas of himself to the table, he did like 10 different paintings including the cover, and 3 for each part of the trilogy, so the way he portraits the comedy is amazing, it's a all new style you know! The reaction is different to all people like "What is this?" (Laugh) But it's cool, it's something new you know !

Since " Roots ", even if Sepultura wanted to rise up with new elements, your music seems to be less experimental in the musical exploration...
... I think it's natural you know! On "Roots" we did like a full research on our own roots, the brazilian music, not only the indian music but also the african influence, and our own urban music influence from São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, big cities... "Roots" was a consequence of stuff since "Schizophrenia" pretty much, like touring, and then with "Beneath The Remains" we started rehearsal outside Brazil... Everything have to have a reason, an experiment who come from somewhere, so "Roots" was a consequence of that you know. Even if Max stayed in the band after "Roots" I doubt that we gona be fuckin' using the berimbau on every album, and doin' all the shit he's doin' in Soulfly everytime you know. I mean, for us it was much more interesting to go to different places, that's why we went to Japan to work with Kodo, which is a group we all love very much. It was a great opportunity to go there, and see how they live, how they build an instrument... All the cultural influences are new! I didn't see any point to stay doin' fuckin' percussions forever! Of course these elements will be part of the music of Sepultura forever but not like "Roots"! "Roots" was a very special album to work that direction. But you know, on "Nation" we experiment a lot, just the concept itself, to create this utopic nation with no boarders and understanding, something that don't exists, but at the same time influence a lot what we did. "Dante XXI" is like a soundtrack album, it's also pretty different for us, so I guess we're always looking forward, not try to look back, not try to find new ways of doing stuff with old ways (Laugh). Sometimes you go right, sometimes you go wrong, that's part of it you know. You have to risk to conquer something somehow!

But don't you want to explor other musical aspect with other kind of percussions, with a new tribal spirit from other places... ?
We played in South Africa 3 years ago, and we met many different people like producers who worked with many different tribes. That's something that we can explor in the futur definitely. It has to make sense for the music that we do and for the concept, for everything... So, who knows ? There are so many stuff that we didn't touch yet...

Like orchestration maybe...

... Yeah definitely! In "Dante XXI" we used those elements and stuff, and the idea was to perform the all album with orchestral musicians on stage...
Hopefully we could come-back in Europe about at the end of the year and we could do something like that, that would be great!

Yeah like Deep Purple, Metallica...

... Yeah Metallica ! And many others! (Laugh)

About your live record "Live In São Paulo", I've read a lot of reviews about it and the most important critic concerned the global sound of the record.
Finally, do you still think that you've made the best choice in terms of production ?
Yeah definitely! I mean, we did Barcelona in 1992 for "Under Siege" and we did so many overdubs like re-record guitars, vocals and bass. I think it has lost so much! The show was that, the cameras was that and the sound was that I mean! No fake you know ! (Laugh) It's very raw, it's the way it was that night and I don't see any pleasure on faking shit like the perfect live sound. It's just to registered that moment, the crowd was so intense, it was great to play at home in São Paulo, they were very happy to be a part of a DVD from Sepultura. They heard that we wanted to make a DVD for years, and finally we did it so... I'm very happy you know, I heard so many opinions, some people love it, some people hate it... it's normal! (Laugh)

It was a surpise to see you on the Roadrunner 25th anniversary show in New York last december, after all those shits happened between Sepultura and Roadrunner...
With Roadrunner, we had our best times and our worst times. When we left Roadrunner we left very peacefully, it wasn't living between lawyers and fightings and talking shits about each other. They didn't want to work with us and we didn't want to work with them. We still had one more album to do by the contract, a lot of money involved and stuff but... "If you don't want to see Sepultura in the futur, then let us go and we'll find somebody else to work out!". That's what we did but we kept our doors opened, there was no reason no to talk to them anymore and say "Fuck Off"! They made their choice to invest in Soulfly instead of invest in the new Sepultura, they're gona live up with their choice. We're very happy with SPV now, they really see the futur of Sepultura, and not all the prejudice and all the problems that we had like spliting, both bands in the same label, people that didn't accept Derrick, all that crap you know... So we left! To answer your question, a party from Roadrunner without Sepultura would be stupid ! (Laugh) We made that label what they are today, not by ourselves of course, but you know, we were the biggest selling band of that label, and they grew up a lot with Sepultura. I was very happy to be invited, to be a part of it, not only to play Sepultura songs but to play all the bands' that were on Roadrunner. There was so many different musicians there, from Machine Head, Slipknot, Roy was there, Dino, Ripper Owens... amazing party! I was very happy to be part of it, there was a lot of work involved but also a lot of fun. That was a great idea to put together an album, create different bands to create new music... That was excellent, that's great!

You also worked once more with Dino on his Asesino record, how was it and was the Roadrunner Anniversary the detonator of that collaboration ?
It's great! Yeah, that was a consequence of that meeting we had in New York for the 25th anniversary. Roy was there also, so I talked to him about doin' this tour... So a lot of good stuff came out from that meeting. Dino is finishing now the second Asesino album, and he called me to do lead guitars, and extra-noises... It sounds so great men, so powerful, so heavy! All sing in spanish, it's beautiful, I'm also very happy to be part of it! And who knows, maybe we'll try to do some live shows together, maybe in the States or in Europe, whatever... Let's see!

But if you won't be on tour with them, will they have another guitar player?
I don't know! They're a power trio! I don't know if they gona have a fourth guitar player to do my parts. Dino is actually learning how to do leads so maybe I'll loose my job there to! (Laugh)

You're also working on a solo record, what can you tell us more about it?
It's the same record label that put out " No Coração Dos Deuses", Mascot Records, they offered me a deal to do a solo album so I said "Why not?! It could be great!". I have demos that I've been working on for the last 8-9 years with accoustic guitars, stuff that I didn't use on soundtracks and stuff that I didn"t use in Sepultura. So I started to organize all those tapes and demos, and now I have pretty much everything in place. I've already recorded some parts in Brazil and when I'll be back, I have to intend to finish the recording. So it'll be release early next year. It's gona be a double album : the first album will be more related to the electric guitar like a band, with vocals and many guests, and the second album will be more related to the accoustic guitar with some instrumental stuff with maybe some strings and shit. It's gona be interesting, it's not like a specific style that I'm playing. I mean, everything's there, all my influences, from blues to classical, from thrash metal to... whatever! (Laugh)

... Bosa nova?
(Laugh) Yeah Bosa nova, why not! I wanna be really free on this one, and having a lot of fun to do it! Try stuff who cares?! Let's see if it works... It's great because the label is not putting pressure with a release date you know, not putting pressure to follow certain directions "Do whatever you want!". So, it's great! I think it could be cool!

What will be your plans for the next month with Sepultura ? Maybe some shows in Germany in june for the World Cup?
I hope Brazil's gona do the show, hopefully! (Laugh)
But I don't know because Roy is not gona stay with us after this tour, he's gona join Stone Sour, the band from Corey from Slipknot. It's gona depend a lot on Igor, on how he feels... We're not gona do the summer festivals but the intention is to go the States in august, september, maybe a tour with Hatebreed, and go back to Europe with a headline tour, let's see! Hopefully Igor will be with us. If not, we'll try to come-back with Roy again! Let's see...

I talked about the next World Cup and in fact we come from a town called Lyon...
... Juniño !!! (Laugh)

Yeah! (Laugh) Lyon is like a brazilian town with all the brazilian players...
... you have to wake up everyday and thanks Brazil! (Laugh)

(Laugh) There are Juniño, Chris, Caçapa, and a few years ago, Sony Anderson...
Before Juniño and brazilians, Lyon never won the french league, right? And now they're gona win the 5th french league, that's amazing, it's beautiful !
Ronalidino, Gaoucho was at Paris Saint-Germain, Raï and many otgers. The brazilan players have to say they are the best, they're so many... We can compare the national team we have today to the time of Pelé, Gaicha, Rivelino, Jerson... like the best players! We have a great chance but at the same time, when Brazil is too much confident, they loose! (Laugh) Too much favouritism you know! But let see what happen, it's gona be interesting! (Laugh)

Back to music, I heard that Sepultura created his own festival in Brazil...
... yeah we did one in 2004, with only some brazilian bands like Ratos De Porao and some others. It was great! The intention is trying to do this again, bringing bands from outside, maybe Asesino, Machine Head or something like that, try to make a early festival there. And the idea is like to do like Ozzfest really, like to concentrate all the heavy bands where in Brazil that's hard for them to have places, to show their music, especially the smaller bands, and to do like a second stage where they could play, have like skate-boards... To do like a really cool big festival. The first one came out really cool, and let's see if this year we could do it again...

Since a few month, we can hear a lot of rumors about Max and Sepultura, so I'll only believe what you're gona say right now...

... (Laugh) I say everything different all the time! (Laugh)

Well, I don't know if the problem is from you or from the medias... (Laugh)

I heard Max sayin' a lot of stuff lately on interviews but we can't really give to much credit for what he say, because I heard so many different stuff, he's very contradictory on the stuff that he says. But these rumors about a reunion goin' on since he has left the band, since the first day, like : "He's comin' back tomorrow!" (Laugh) That's something we learned how to live with, there's nothing goin' on, for us it would be the worst time of all, doin' something like that. We're so much focused on our career, our label, our manager... towards the futur, not like going back. So I don't see that happening right now. I can't deny that it would be great to have a chance to play again together, we built something very special together. But it's gona have to be like the same good old days you know, talk to each other, practice and... and do it right! Not putting the money on the table and go on stage and play. That would be total disrespect to our fans, and people feel that, there's no way how to fool them! (Laugh) So, let's see! We're very focused on what we're doin' right now.

And how does Derrick feel with all those shits?
He's apart of it, he can't control that kind of shit, but he's very safe with us, he knows that we built something new and he's part of this, so no problems!

Now, to finish, I have a few strange questions which need only 1 word answer. Right?
Yes/No... (Laugh)

Interview Bernard Pivot :

What is your favourite word? " Fuck "
What is your least favourite word? I don't know... hum it could be "I don't know" (Laugh)
What turns you on creatively? Everything! Not only music but books, movies, friends, family... well, Life itself !
What turns you on spiritually? "Family". It's not a book, or a church. Just the relationship you have with friends and family. The respect you have to have to each other, that's very spiritual for me and not doin' shit like goin' to the church to ask for forgiveness all the time (Laugh). I think the bless I have from my wife, my kids, my friends is very spiritual for me. I think you have to live you spirituality, not like fucking preach! (Laugh)
What turns you on emotionally? "Football" and "Music" (Laugh)
What turns you off? Loosing Football (Laugh)
What is your favourite bad word? Sucker ! (Laugh)
What sound do you love? There are many sounds. When my kids are laughin', or naturaly unhappy, that's the best!
What sound do you hate? The supporters of the opposite teams screaming for their names. (Laugh)
What is your favourite place on earth? I'd say Brazil. We live in so many different places you know, but Brazil is special, São Paulo is very special.
And the one you hate? I don't know, I don't want to be unjust! (Laugh) Maybe places with snow. I think it's beautiful but at the same time it's pain in the ass.
Which person influenced you the most during your life? My Wife. At the begining it was my mom, she helped me out with my first guitar and pedals, she trusted in the path I wanted to follow. And later my wife, who's holding up the family when I'm away, travelling... It's hard to be away, but at the same time it's the stuff that I do, I have to play, and travel. She's the one who really hold the family.
Who were your heroes when you were a kid? São Paulo Football players
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Football Player
What profession would you not like to do? Office professions (Laugh)
If Heaven exists, what would you like God to say when you will arrive at the Pearly Gates ? " Welcome ! This is heaven, not hell, right ?!" (laugh)

Interview Nathalie, Manu & OS
Translation Manu