Veteran Brazilian metallers Sepultura have reached 30 years of existence this past year with the releases of The Mediator Between The Head and The Hands Is The Heart album and the Sepultura and Les Tambours du Bronx DVD.
Frontman Derrick Green, who joined the band in 1998 replacing founding member, vocalist and guitarist Max Cavalera, has already been in the band nearly half of the band’s existence. He shared his thoughts on the band’s golden moment and his experiences reaching this moment.
“I was already aware of the band and knew a little bit about the history. I think going in the idea of not knowing so much about what was about to happen really helped. I wasn’t knowledgeable of the drama and all that stuff going into joining a band, then I might have been more hesitant.”
“We all realized that it takes a different combination of people, and we wanted to make sure we were able to grow as a unit. We didn’t have a lot of time before that to develop the shape of the band in a certain direction. Plus with touring many places and opening for many acts all around the world, and if we would bound with the crowd. We were always confident in our stage show and staying true to the quality of our music, and we would evolve. I would never imagine that I would hear it. We learned so much about being in this band and meeting different producers and becoming comfortable with myself being in this band. Now I’m really proud and honored to be part of this rich history. I think they’ve gone through many challenges, but we’ve always had people who were encouraging us with moral support.”
The response to their latest release, The Mediator Between The Head and The Hands Is the Heart, according to Green, has been strong and says he was surprised by how much their crowd has enjoyed the newer songs in their setlist.
“We’re playing six or seven songs (off the new album). We’re playing quite a few new songs now. It works really well because the songs are very powerful and energetic, and fits well with the older songs. A lot of people want to hear the new album. In the past we played older songs thinking ‘oh older fans want to hear old stuff,’ but a lot of times they start yelling songs from the time I’ve been in the band. I’ve been in the band 16 or 17 years so a lot of people grew up on those albums.”
“It’s cool to see the change. A lot of people weren’t requesting so much the newer songs when I first joined. But through the years there’s this big interest from different people and different bands, younger fans, and some older ones. But it’s mostly really young fans who are yelling out the names of the newer songs. I can feel the difference when we do older songs, like a lot of them don’t really know the stuff very well. It wasn’t something they got to see or grew up with. It’s something they were late to the game with. They’re able to see everything that’s happening now. They weren’t there at that time period so they wouldn’t have that understanding.”
Through the years, Green has encountered a wide variety of fans who have supported the band. “Oh absolutely. I definitely see that now. Down in Brazil, there’s those guys who are older around my age and they might have kids. They’d come up to me and say ‘oh my dad loves your band’ or something like that. It’s such a wide variety.”
Encountering the fans from the old days is slowly replaced by younger fans who came up on his era of songs. “Those guys have got to be old, old…pretty old!,” he laughs about the thought of fans from the early days in today’s world.
“I wonder if they’re even going to shows. They’ve got to be in their 40s or so. There’s still a lot of them, I can tell you that much. There are those who have every album from the very beginning, which is a very beautiful thing.”
Interview By Rei Nishimoto