Iggor Cavalera Leaves Brazil to Pursue Electronica and Heavy Metal

10/03/2013 - 08h53

Put yourself in Iggor Cavalera's shoes. Around 2006 or 2007, after having spent more than 20 years playing in Brazil's most famous band internationally, he decided he needed a rest.

Having won recognition as one of the greatest drummers in rock history, he might finally have space and time for other things: escape showbiz for a while, stop travelling so much, dedicate time to his marriage and newborn son, mend his broken relationship with his brother, get back in the habit of going to Palmeiras matches.

Above all, he could again be a normal person, a person he rarely had the opportunity to be once he and his brother Max founded the iconic heavy metal band Sepultura. From its origins in a Belo Horizonte apartment at the beginning of the 1980s, the band went on to sell 20 million records worldwide.

But Cavalera is now enjoying increasing success as a DJ, laying down beats every bit as intense as those he provided for Sepultura for so long. Since 2006, rather than slowing down, his musical career has diverged, and he now has two major projects on the go.

The first is the group Mixhell, in which Cavelera deejays alongside his wife Laima Leyton and their bassist and producer Max Blum. The trio have relocated to London, where they have just released their first album 'Spaces', which mixes rock and electronica. Shows at Glastonbury and Bestival will follow next year, as well as European and American tours.

The second is the formation of a new band with his brother. Named Cavalera Conspiracy, the band is an audacious minimalist project à la The White Stripes, with Iggor on drums and Max on guitar and vocals. They are working with producer James Murphy, formerly of LCD Soundsystem, founder of the New York label DFA and producer of Arcade Fire's new album.

see the images

Igor talked to Serafina about these new projects and his relocation to London:

"It's similar to what happened with Sepultura in 1989. We loved living here in Brazil, going abroad to play shows, and then coming home. But there came a point when just wasn't viable anymore. We were paying for our lives here, but we spent most of our time out of the country. From business and dealing with the label to shows and recordings, everything happened abroad. So we left."

"Elsewhere there is great demand for what we do. In Brazil everything happens more slowly,' he says. Cavalera hopes to consolidate Mixhell's reputation in Europe to return to Brazil at a later date, as was the case with Sepultura. However, his ticket is one-way: "there might be no return", he says. The couple are going with their youngest child Antônio, the only child of the two.

But maybe it is the parallel project with his brother, rather than Mixhell, that will lead Cavalera further away from the peace and quiet that he once dreamt of. The collaboration of the Cavalera brothers with James Murphy could be everything that contemporary metal so badly needs.

"The band has its rules. We never rehearse, for example, neither for shows or recordings. My brother sends work through the mail from Phoenix, in the United States [he doesn't use computers or email]. I add some beats and then I send it back. Once in a while we'll meet up and do some shows together, in South America, Australia, Japan."

"James Murphy came looking for me," he says. "He wants to record something soon, just me and my brother. It's about keeping it simple, freeing ourselves from the influence of others."

"Max is full of energy at the moment. He has just come out of rehab, and he deals with the anxiety by throwing himself into his work. He plays up to 28 shows a month with his band Soulfly, he still loves what he does."

"This new phase - Cavalera Conspiracy - is going to be our return to that room in our house in Belo Horizonte, 30 years later."

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

Read the article in the original language