Sepultura - Interview - Adam Barthonnet

What a baptism of fire for the 1st interview of adam as he was interviewing Derrick Green, Sepultura's singer while his short stay in Paris. They talked about their latest album " Dante XXI"and topics a bit more personal within a good state of mind. Notice that the European Tour will start on march 12th in Oslo and will perform on April 2nd at L'Elysee Montmartre. A huge thank you to Anthony Beauvois for translating the following interview.

Adam :
So, it is my first interview
Derrick Green :
Ah, yeah? Ever?
Adam :
Ever…
Derrick Green :
Oh, my, God. Whoa. Two beers! Y’know, he’s gotta drink it. You have to have a beer, you know… Two beers. You want a beer?
Adam :
Thanks
Derrick Green :
Yes, he needs a beer. It’s his first interview, so… He’s got to listen up. Yeah, three beers… Yes, I’m sorry, I’m rude.
Adam :
So, I want to talk about your new album, Dante XXI.
Derrick Green :
Okay
Adam :
Why were you inspired of the Divine Comedy of Dante ?
Derrick Green :
Wow. I think the inspiration came from the fact that there are some little similarities in the book The Divine Comedy with many things that happen today, in my life, personally, socially, politically… It was just too… familiar, it was like “whoa, this is incredible”, you know, especially personally, because, I did a lot of research on Dante himself, and when he wrote the book, he was an outcast, from Florence, he lived his entire life as an outcast. Until the day that he died, he was kicked out of the city, on exile. And he wrote the book about the same age that I have now, it was mid-life, at that time, and so there were many things about dealing with personallies, feeling with things inside yourself, he used a lot of metaphors, with mythology and religion and things that are my life, you know, religion, my parents being very religious and knowing a lot about the Bible and certain characters, mythology I knew just from school, and so I read the book when I was younger and I just thought it would be a great topic for us to really write an album, as far as a soundtrack for the book, because it’s such a huge book that, you know, there were just many, many things that can be related to today, and that’s why we got the title Dante XXI, like the XXIth century.
Adam :
Was it related to the XXIst chapter?
Derrick Green :
No, it came from 21, the 21st Century, thinking Dante, you know, 2005, but then…
Adam :
I thought it was related to the chapter.
Derrick Green :
The chapter… No. It’s 21, it’s for the 21st century, because we didn’t want to do exactly, you know, right about everything that he was writing about in the book, it would take forever. And so, we wanted to relate it to things that we saw similar that were happening in this time that are happening now.
Adam :
Ok. Okay. I wanted to know which song you prefer in this album, which affect you, personally.
Derrick Green :
Hum, definitely Buried Words. It affected me personally because I just start… hum… It was just really frustrating to see what was happening with these Catholic priests, that were molesting children, which I think is, you know, really devious, really evil… Not evil, but very bad, you know, very disgusting, very… It’s like horrific. It’s very disturbing, and it makes me very aggressive when there’s people aggressing another person, you know, or someone taking advantage of another person. And I thought it was… incredible that the Catholic church would protect these people, these monsters, that were molesting children. So I wrote this song from a victim’s point of view. I’ve never been molested, but I really felt compassion and understanding of being taken advantage by the use of something else. Some people use religion so many times, all the time nowadays, to gain something, you know, this sense of power, and control over a maximum of people. So with that I thought, you know, it was really fucking disturbing, because there’s something really beautiful. Religion, you know, the basis of it… To see men using it to control, you know, for molesting kids… It’s just like there’s no if, and or buts, you know… You should denounce these people and they should be in jail… And Buried Words is just like this person I was thinking from the point of view of the victim. When you bury shit, you bury words. And the words you’re burying is like the power of religion that they were taught. There was all this religion power, like “you have to do this”. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not blabla… Churches killing everyone. It’s like keeping critical shit… So it’s sort of a wakeup, like “I can’t believe you fucking had me down on my knees praying for something that they never believed…” There was always skepticism because they felt as a victim, you know something doesn’t feel right. But you just can’t believe what’s happening, and you’re a victim, you don’t know… Especially when you’re a kid, so that’s… The lyrics are just written, sort of taking on that form. It’s fucking disturbing in my head, it was just disgusting to think about, but I felt I wanted to write it, because I thought that, you know, like that was an example of the Church being corrupt and hypocritical. scepticisme parce qu’ils sentaient, en tant que victimes, que quelque chose n’allait pas. Mais tu n’arrives pas à croire ce qui t’arrive, et tu es une victime, tu ne sais pas… Surtout quand tu es un enfant, alors… Les paroles sont écrites, tu vois, sous cette forme. C’est franchement perturbant dans mon esprit, c’est dégoûtant rien qu’à y penser, mais j’ai senti que je voulais l’écrire, parce que je me suis dit que c’était un exemple de l’Église faisant preuve de corruption, et d’hypocrisie, tu comprends…
Adam :
And, what’s your opinion on religions nowadays, the way of… how the Mueslim, and the mentalities evolved
Derrick Green :
I honestly believe it’s the same way that, you know, the Christian Right in America, a lot of people don’t get to witness that, they get to witness like oh, Americans are all fucked up, it’s like Bush is part of “Christian Right” movement that’s just as fucked up as the Mueslim, not even Mueslim, it’s just like it’s fucking crazy psychopaths, that are just using it so obvious that’s it’s like kinda frustrating that there’s like certain puppets in the game, and it’s all basically all about money, and it’s about greed and it’s all about power, like they don’t have enough money for some fucked-up reason in their head, like I have to, you know, it keeps going on, but there’s just like both sides, you know, like the side where they use the islamic religion to control a million different people, kids, to blow themselves up, and to do, like, incredibly cowardly acts, of like “yeah, I’m gonna blow up innocent people, and fucking kids, and babies”, it’s like “oh, you shouldn’t do that in the islamic religion”. It’s not Islam, but it’s nothing to do with these terrorists. So I don’t relate it to, I don’t relate the same way that I see, like, Bush using like these evil doors, and this is, you know, the Christian Right – it’s not Christianity, it’s not at all the imperative, it’s like as long as it’s a peaceful religion, Christianity, Jesus, peaceful religion, they come from the same thing, they come from the Abraham, Judaism as well… So that’s what so ridiculous, you have a bunch of power-hungry, greedy demons that I see… You know, they’ve become the demons they’re talking about, the are the demons they’re talking about. And that’s one thing, it’s like the famous saying, you know, beware of, the devil is very tricky, because it’s something that, it’s like people even know that the devil exist, but these people act so demonic, it’s so obvious to me, it’s like using and abusing, and I see it in every type of religion, where they use, like, great words, great philosophy, “you may not even believe it but it’s a great way of living, a way of philosophy, having compassion for another person”, but they don’t live that way. It’s very hypocritical, so I’d see it as hypocritical and completely destructive. The major destruction in the world. Unfortunately.
Adam :
So, when I listen to this album, it sounds to be more acoustic than the previous one. What do you think?
Derrick Green :
Acoustic ?
Adam :
Yep… Unplugged, I mean. Yeah, some, in Ostia song ?
Derrick Green :
Yeah, I think in Ostia, yeah. We’re trying to create like a vibe and because the album is broken up into 5 songs that’re in Hell, it’s all hard-core, straight to the point, very fast, that’s something we haven’t done in a long time and that’s very different and very aggressive. It’s Hell, you know, that was the vibe that we had. But with Ostia, it’s the very beginning of Purgatory, and we wanted to create a very different vibe. Uplugged, I wouldn’t say, because the feeling of the vocal, I mean, that’s my opinion, but I’ve heard from different people, so it’s interesting to me… In a way, it might be a bit different because I don’t see it as aggressive as Hell, but other people see it as something like “oh my God, it’s way over the pub”, so it’s interesting you say, cause I’m almost agreeing with you in a certain way, I decided to sing it in a different approach because in the actual book, I use a lot of something, you know, the comparison, he’s gone through Hell, and now he has these seven marks on his forehead, and so he has to clean himself from being out of Hell, and it’s the first time he’s actually seeing the stars and the sky and he’s able to, you know, it’s like a release, like finally, something different from the worst, the worst is passed, but there’s still more to go on, it’s like he thought the worst had passed, but he still had to clean himself, and so Ostia, it’s like I see it, he’s actually being able to see the stars and the sky, sort of seeing a little bit of the light at the end of the tunnel, when you have something difficult in your life, and that’s what I was writing it, like, fiuh, there’s at least a glimmer of hope. I don’t know if it’s acoustic, but I see it in a powerful way as far as words. And then we break it down, till, like Ostia is like a seaport, in Italy, and Dante used it in the book as a seaport, to take souls to the purgatory across the sea, so I kinda have this feeling of floating on this river, with a bunch of souls being introduced to the purgatory, so it took kind of a more romantic, softer approach, because it wasn’t Hell. We wanted to show the extreme, so it was done on purpose to really, maybe a softer touch, you know, more melodical.
Adam :
I really like it.
Derrick Green :
Oh, cool (laughs)
Adam :
So, yep, something completely different. I heard about one rumour, the leaving of Igor Cavalera. I don’t know if he’s really leaving the group, or if he couldn’t come.
Derrick Green :
Well I mean, we’ve been living this for a very long time, being on the road, and thing is, it’s like, you really concentrate on what you want to do, and where you want to go, and his life, it’s been like almost 22 years playing with Sepultura, and he never had a break, and so he never got to really experience, part of his children being grown up, he had his fourth child now, with a different wife, a new wife, and sort of things were up in the air when you wave somebody for so long, and then you have a new wife and having a new child, and his head really wasn’t in, to being on tour, being away from all of it happening, you know. In Sepultura, like pretty much you have to be with your head 100% in it, and it’s just – I don’t wanna be on a row with him, like “I wanna go home, when is it over? This is not fun anymore, I really can’t wait to go home, I got shit to do”. It doesn’t work, like if you’re in that mind set, so I respect of to be like “Look, I gotta take a break, I did the album, I can do any interviews, or anything you wanna do, but I can’t be away like months and months, going on tour right now”. He’s just not mentally there, and so I understood that, I respect that, and also he respect the fact that it’s like “We worked a year and a half on this album and the time is now, it’s coming out now”, you know (laughs) we got a lot of responsibilities, and if simple tour’s more than just one person, like always has, that’s what we proved, even continuing without the first singer, you now, without Max. And so he understands, and he never ever ever said he was leaving the band, it’s something, you don’t just walk away from something after 22 years that has a lot of respect. It’s a beautiful history, but you do have to have some type of lavage here, some type of open mind like “okay, do what you have to do, you come back any time you want”. We’re very fortunate to be friends of Roy, who played in Soulfly, and he agreed to fill in for Igor, until he gets his shit together. And we’re anxious to play, Roy’s a capable drummer, he played with Soulfly, he already knows Sepultura’s songs, he’s 100% there, like he’s like “let’s go and do it”, you know. We want to have a good time with them, we’re gonna really try to do songs that we’ve never done before, like “what the fuck, let’s do it”, and show, like fans, something different, we want to entertain people, we want to have fun as themselves, playing the music, cause we really believe in it. So unfortunately, it’s like a course, I’d rather play with Igor, there’s no denying it, but I don’t wanna play with him if he’s not 100% here. He’s doing everything else but, like, leaving for months on tour, and he’s always welcome to come back, it was never like we’re kick out any, so he could be like “I’m back”, “Alright, let’s do it”. It happens, you now… Especially with a band that has, like, 22 years, it’s bound to happen.
Adam :
Did you choose, personally, Roy Mayorga for replacing Igor for the tour, or…
Derrick Green :
It’s for the tour, and also until Igor feels comfortable, like “I’m ready to go back on the road again, let’s do this”… Until then, you know. It’s like, that’s it. He’s not a replacement as far as, like, “he’s in the band, and Igor is out”. Nothing like that. But it was like, that way, because when you think about it, it’s very logical, at least I see it very logical, that those… Because I know the reality of it. We were on the label Roadrunner, that constantly, they had a bad catalogue on Sepultura, so they want to promote anything from the past. So in a sense, Roadrunner control Blabbermouth, the worst fucking gossip bullshit soap paper drama crap in the world, that they can print anything without talking to anybody, and people believe it, it’s like “oh, this person, who’s friends with the band, wrote this article like, Igor is leaving Sepultura.” He never talked to anybody. Anybody in the band. It is bad journalism, it’s fucking horrible gossip and it actually makes us look fucked up. And I fucking hate that dude. Honestly, I really want to fucking smack that guy. I’m not gonna say names, but he’s like, he’s friends with the band, for years, but here’s all he does, like talk shit behind our back, like everyone else, he was like sucking their dick, when they were popular, and then turn their backs, it’s just like all no-hard bullshit talk, and then there’s fans, who’d stay with the band, but this Roadrunner guy, or whoever’s like friends of friends and politics, that’s something I can’t handle, like, since I’ve been in the band, and it’s constantly bound to happen. But it’s hard for me to get used to, like being around this fake motherfucker, cause it’s so easy to see, it’s like “dude, you’re just here to kiss ass, you’re just like another fucking Leach, sucking like, oh, this is the band of the moment!”. But Sepultura’s never a band of the moment, it’s much more than that, and there are a lot of people all over the world that see it as that. But these guys are like “oh, looking at numbers, how many sales, what tour they’re going on”, you know, it’s all bullshit, because we’ve been surviving, fighting, you know.
Adam :
A sort of.. spirit?
Derrick Green :
Yeah! It’s all attitude, you know. It’s like “yo, you get up and do this, you get up and have the balls to fucking, to conquer, wherever you can”, there’s not many bands that have the opportunity that Sepultura do. And so if you have an open mind, you actually look at what we’re doing, this is why we got the DVD, and the DVD commentary show, everywhere in the world, not just Europe, but like, South Africa, Central America, South America… We had the Middle East, we had a chance to all these places that people are afraid to go, because they don’t have any fucking heart. They believe what they see on TV, they believe what they read on the fucking Internet, they’re like “oh, that’s a dangerous place, I’m afraid to go there”, it’s like blablabla, and it’s like motherfucker, you ain’t playing music. It’s like, why even, you’re trying to be like aggressive, believe in something, it’s not believable to me. For me, I believe what I do, I move to another fucking place, I learn another language, I speak other languages, I’m open-minded to be around people I’ve never been around, and no friends, no family there, it’s just like, I do what I do because I did it when I was this big, and I stayed to it.
Adam :
Could you think on your own, I mean, the medias, TV or whatsoever, don’t think for you?
Derrick Green :
: They never do. I think they think about other things, other than the actual good questions. I don’t know after, a lot of times, they don’t ask good questions. I love music, I would love to be able to ask certain people questions about their music, about what they’re doing in their life, not about “What did you do 20 years ago?” Like “That was great, I was there”, you want to relive your fucking glory days in your life. There’s tons of bands that I love, that I went to their show, and I was like “That was a great show!” But, fuck, man, people are people, I would hope that people are evolving, they change, they move. There’s different directors I like, there’s movies that have changed, of any art. You wanna follow what they do in their career, you know, you wanna see the evolution of this artist. For some fucked-up reason, there’s some stupid people in the music and so that just love to stay at one point in their life, that they felt that band was the best shit ever, and they’re too close to actually see the evolution of a person. Or the movement, you know, or to be open to see the movement of the person. Because there’s people now that’re like “oh, the album’s great now, I never listened to shit in the past”, it’s like, now you can go back and listen to it, like, with an open mind, instead of listening to everything around you. So for me, it’s like normal, I’m used to people being, I always knew people were like that, before I got in Sepultura, like, very close-minded and very, like, predictable. But I love what I do, that’s what I know, when I wake up in the morning, it’s like “wow, I play in fucking Sepultura, I’m going to France so that I’m gonna go to a fucking interview, and then I’m gonna go to fucking Italy and then in Belgium, and then I’m gonna go back to Sao Paulo, then I’m gonna practice and then we’ll go on tour.” That’s what I do, I love it. There’s other people that, I don’t know what they do, I don’t know if they’re satisfied, it doesn’t sound like it, cause they’re constantly reliving the past, constantly not being creative. I love it when you’re like “this is my first interview, it’s great”, you’re doing something different, that you’ve never done. I have respect for that. But it’s like when people are constantly, I’ve seen journalists many times, been on the road and seen the same journalists asking the same fucking shit. “Oh, so, I heard that Max, and…” and I’m like “Damn, this ain’t your first time here, I’ve seen the same shit, you should know by now, it’s obvious”, you know. Like, for you, it’s like your first time, so it doesn’t bother me, feel like “I heard that…” or whatever… It’s new, it’s fresh, but I’m telling you there’s like some journalists that some’re like “I can’t believe you’re asking the same fucking question”… You know, “Again! It’s been six years!” It’s like, “What have you been doing? Let me question your job, do you like it, are you a creative person, do you really thinking about what people wanna hear?”
Adam :
So, if you’re not creative, you…
Derrick Green :
: You die. I think if you’re not creative, if you don’t evolve as a person in general, even if you’re not doing art, you cease to exist. It’s law of nature. Any species, flowers, fucking animals, if you cease to fucking evolve, to change, you will die. Fucking dinosaur. It’s like, “You’re done. It’s over”, it’s the same with humans. Humans are a species on this earth. It’s like scientific law of nature, have nothing to do with religion, or anything that has to do with actual start, like fat. You have to evolve. That’s how I see humans, that’s how I see music, that’s how I see art, that’s how I see civilization, that’s how I see culture, it has to go through changes, it’s natural. Don’t be afraid of it.
Adam :
I’m really impressed. I’ve finished. I don’t have any more questions.
Derrick Green :
OK, cheers then! Salut. Beautiful.
Adam :
Whew, You’re very open-minded, I thought you’d be very hard, to talk, and…
Derrick Green :
I love good talk, man, it’s been a year and a half that I spent working hard, on this album, this idea, and I haven’t talked to anybody about it. Honestly, all of us have been working, and it’s like “It’s done!”.