Drummer Iggor Cavalera To Form ‘Metal Version Of White Stripes’
Sepultura’s Iggor Cavalera has been convinced by James Murphy to form “a metal version of the White Stripes” with his brother Max.
Iggor, 42, the Brazilian tribal funk-metal drummer who sold 20m records around the world with his former band, Sepultura, has been living in England since the beginning of October in order to boost the profile of his two “family bands” – DJ group MixHell, with his wife Laima Leyton, and Cavalera Conspiracy with his brother Max, the guitar player and lead singer who helped him found Sepultura in the early 1980s. Iggor’s intention was to put out a new EP and consequently a new album for the Cavalera Conspiracy, but James Murphy – who was brought on board to produce the band’s music – had bigger plans. Murphy, DFA Records’ head honcho and ex-LCD Soundsystem frontman, wanted to launch the former quartet as a two-piece instead.
“James Murphy approached me with the record idea, but eventually suggested some others. To start with, he wants only the two of us in the studio, like a metal version of the White Stripes. He also wants nothing but the two of us on stage,” Iggor told the Guardian.
“He basically asked me to get rid of the rest of the band. Cavalera Conspiracy has four members and two records. Murphy asked us to start from scratch as a duo. According to him, ‘this will come to be the heaviest record of our careers’. He promised me that”, explains Iggor.
“The last time my brother and I played together as a duo was back home, when we were still teenagers learning how to play in our bedrooms. I had some pieces of an old drum and he had his guitar. This new project feels as though my brother and I are coming back home, 30 years later.”
Max, 43, left his former band in 1996, Iggor in 2006, but Sepultura still continue to perform as a band without the brothers. This is the second time Iggor has left Brazil to play abroad. Max has lived in Phoenix, US, since the early 90s, where he plays in the band Soulfly.
“I’ve been through this before, let’s say 1988 or 89, with Sepultura. We loved living in Brazil, going on tour around the world and then go[ing] back home. We would come and go. But eventually, it became impractical because we ended up spending more time away from home than there. At the same time, we paid for a life in Brazil while all our businesses were abroad, from our agent to our recording sessions. And so we left that time. And so I’m doing it now.” said Iggor, giving reasons for being “pushed” into a rock star life again.