Punk Rock Vegan Movie, a new documentary written and directed by Moby, is out now and streaming for free on all platforms! The film debuted at the 2023 Slamdance Film Festival and also was featured at the prestigious San Francisco Indie Film Festival this month. The film, which is Moby’s directorial debut, is a passionate and stylistically idiosyncratic look at the ongoing relationship between the worlds of punk rock and animal rights. It includes interviews with some of the biggest names in punk and rock history, like Ian Mackaye, HR, Dave Navarro, Ray Cappo, Andrew Hurley, Tony Kanal, Tim McIlrath, Water Schreifels, Dave Dictor, Derrick Green, Steve Ignorant, Theo Kogan, Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, Amy Lee, and Captain Sensible.
Punk Rock Vegan Movie, a new documentary written and directed by Moby, will have its world premiere and be the Opening Night film for the 2023 Slamdance Film Festival on January 20 in Park City, Utah. The film, which is Moby’s directorial debut, is a passionate and stylistically idiosyncratic look at the ongoing relationship between the worlds of punk rock and animal rights. It includes interviews with some of the biggest names in punk and rock history, like Ian Mackaye, HR, Dave Navarro, Ray Cappo, Andrew Hurley, Tony Kanal, Tim McIlrath, Water Schreifels, Dave Dictor, Derrick Green, Steve Ignorant, Theo Kogan, Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, Amy Lee, and Captain Sensible.
When Brazilian thrash legends Sepultura parted ways with frontman Max Cavalera in 1996, many thought that would be the end of the road. An acrimonious divorce that seemed to favour neither party, the remaining members auditioned several well known musicians before eventually choosing Ohio born Derrick Green as the man to replace the outgoing Cavalera brother.
It’s been twenty-three years since Derrick Green joined Brazilian thrash legends Sepultura. Although proving to be a hit with many, not everyone took to the new frontman straight away (if at all). The main reason for this seeming to be a simple case of – “he’s not Max”. Well, Derrick has been a part of Sepultura for almost twice as long as his predecessor now. Of course, this doesn’t magically make his material better, but it should at least give him a little slack. And let’s face it if you’re reading this, then at the very least, you’ve got some interest in post-Max Seps. Continue reading →
For almost 20 years Derrick Green has helped guide Sepultura’s journey in the second half of their career, celebrating their rich history, but also creating new musical frontiers. Armed with their recent album Machine Messiah (Nuclear Blast), the band embarked on a full US tour with label-mates and thrash veterans Testament and Prong. In an EXCLUSIVE wide-ranging interview with Ghost Cult’s Jason Korolenko, Derrick discussed the new album, the history of the band, the high cost of touring, and future tour plans, including a headlining gig at Rock In Rio 2017. Videography and photos by Omar Cordy/OJC Photography.Continue reading →
Sepultura have never been interested in living off of previous successes. Respect the past, guitarist Andreas Kisser always stresses, without being bound by it. And with each new album, they stretch the goalposts a little farther, experiment a little more. Machine Messiah (Nuclear Blast) sees them pushing their creative inspirations further than ever before while maintaining the spirit and strength that has allowed them to thrive for over 30 years. Continue reading →
The Brazilian edition of Rock In Rio has updated its schedule of confirmed acts to perform. The event is held September 18-27, 2015 at The New City of Rock in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. A partial schedule of the heavier acts have been confirmed.
September 18, 2015
Palco Mundo:
Queen One Republic The Script (more bands to be confirmed)
September 19, 2015
Palco Mundo:
Metallica Motley Crue Royal Blood Gojira
Palco Sunset:
Korn Ministry + Burton C Bell (of Fear Factory) Angra + Doro Pesch + Dee Snider Nocterall + Michael Kiske (ex-Helloween)
September 24, 2015
Palco Sunset:
System of a Down Queens of the Stone Age Hollywood Vampires (featuring Alice Cooper, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Paul McCartney and Johnny Depp) CPM 22
Palco Sunset:
Deftones Lamb of God Halestorm + Convidado Project 46 + John Wayne
September 25, 2015
Palco Sunset:
Slipknot Faith No More Mastodon De La Tierra
Palco Sunset:
Steve Vai + Camerata Florianopolis Nightwish + Jukka Nevalainen Moonspell + Derrick Green Classicos Do Terror
Sepultura has been known for trailblazing within the international metal scene in many ways. They were one of the first Brazilian heavy metal acts to tour and release music internationally, they took advantage of it by performing for audiences everywhere, including regions of the world unknown for having audiences for this style of music, such as South America, South Africa, Cuba and Indonesia.
But amazingly, there are still spots on the globe they have yet to hit. Front man Derrick Green said, “There’s a few. There’s Iceland, off the top of my head. There are many places in Africa, The Middle East – there are a few spots, believe it or not. People have been writing us to come there. They want to see our shows. There are a few places in Asia, like Thailand, where we’ve never played. There always some place – even the interior of Brazil itself, there are a lot of cities that are fun to play. They never have any shows, like in Central and South America. It’s a big world out there.”
Ze Ramalho with Andreas Kisser of Sepultura at Rock In Rio
Green has lived in Brazil since he first joined the band in 1998. But recently, he also spends time in the Czech Republic, which he splits time with. “I have a son that lives in the Czech Republic so I was there most of the time. So it’s back and forth between Brazil and the Czech Republic. When I have time off, I spent most of my time in Prague.”
“It’s night and day. When I’m here (Sao Paolo), I like it to a certain point. It can be too much. Sao Paolo is a busy, crazy city with a lot of traffic and a lot of people. It’s nice to get away at times. When I’m away, I start to miss it. There’s a lot going on – events and artists who are very interesting who live here. I get a little bit of a mix so it works out pretty well.”
Being based in Brazil, they have had the luxury of building an extensive audience within their own country and the idea of bringing in more international acts into that area became a real possibility.
“We haven’t but it would be interesting to do some international type of touring like a mini festival type of thing. I would imagine somewhere like South America because the crowd are amazing here. There are places to play – Chile, Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay. We’ve done all of these different places that have been fantastic and thought it would be great if Sepultura could have a touring package of shows down here would be pretty amazing to see. There is a different vibe here.”
Brazil has been recognized for their elaborate television shows, which do feature a wide variety of musical acts. Sepultura have appeared on a few of these shows over the years, and Green spoke about how much exposure it brings.
“It’s interesting because I don’t watch TV here. I don’t like TV. For me it’s quite painful to do these shows. It’s very necessary as far as being heard in Brazil. It’s broadcast to so many people and it’s part of the culture, so people do actually watch. Whether they become a fan…I don’t think it changes their perspective much. I think it’s important for international acts to play. I think it’s a lot more interesting for them and I think for Brazilians to see something like that.”
“Some of the programs are better, where they have three different bands on three different stages combining and mixing songs together. I think that’s great, with different styles of music. I think that’s much more interesting to see and that we were able to participate. That went really well. There’s a lot of great ideas for TV to do stuff more live to shoot stuff there. It makes it cooler to see for everybody.”
While Green is not the biggest fan of those shows, band guitarist Andreas Kisser is the opposite, where he frequently appears on those shows, discussing a range of topics from music to sports.
“Sometimes it’s just talk shows, whether it’s only talking about football (soccer), and Andreas is such a huge football fanatic. He’s quite knowledgeable about it, so for him to be on those shows he has such a strong opinion.”
Aside from the being staying busy, the various members have also done side projects to keep their creative sides brewing. While Sepultura keeps an active schedule, they find time to do other projects at the same time. “Very carefully. We all have to be on the same page on the calendar so a lot of communicating like beforehand with asking managers and booking agents what they have in mind and what they want to do with our projects.”
“Andreas is going to do something with his project (De La Tierra) and I’m going to do it at the same time (Maximum Headroom). We always try to match it up that way. I think it’s important to play with other artists to get different perspectives on what we’re doing. It works both ways. You have to be careful not to cross dates.”
Sepultura was one of the many bands to perform on the Rock In Rio Festival in Brazil, as well as their stints in Spain and Portugal. They were one of the few Brazilians acts to participate who also gained international acclaim. Beginning in 1985, they invited international artists such as Queen, George Benson, James Taylor, Rod Stewart, AC/DC and Yes to participate. They are set to participate on the inauguralRock In Rio USA in Las Vegas in May.
Frontman Derrick Green spoke about what this festival is about. “One of the reasons is it was one of the first festivals that ever occured here. They happened to have bands like AC/DC and Ozzy Osbourne and other international artists. It became an incredible event for Brazil for such a long time. They were able to achieve a lot. The festival was responsible for making sure it happens every year, and being able to capture many different generations of people, whether they’re old or young.”
“I think what draws internationally is they don’t go through too many problems to make things work out. They’re able to draw incredible acts and they’re getting support to make it happen.”
Since they have performed on this festival before, Green shared his dream lineup if he were booking the event.
“There’s a few of the bands who have already been playing like Metallica and Slayer, but there’s a lot of smaller bands like a band from Cleveland, OH that I’m a big fan of called Keelhaul. I don’t know if they’re even still together. I would definitely have them or other bands like this band from California called Armed For Apocalypse.”
“I’d have to go down a list but bands like The Prodigy or Ministry – bands we’ve done covers of. A good mix of different bands which would be cool to see.”
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.”
