Soulfly singer Max Cavalera has slated the Metal Allstars tour – taking potshots at Phil Anselmo, Vince Neil and even the “terrible” backstage crew.
The trip, organised by Gabe Reed Productions, saw a host of metal heroes appearing together in various European cities in March and April. One of its aims was to raise funds for the Ride For Dime charity, in memory of tragic Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell, who was shot and killed in 2004.
But Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo pulled out on short notice and Motley Crue’s Vince Neil ended up appearing as a special guest rather than taking part in the whole tour. Cronos from Venom also cancelled.
And while Cavalera loved performing on the tour, he has vowed never to take part again unless a new crew is brought in.
He tells Alternative.lv in the video below: “I think when Phil cancelled it was really disappointing for a lot of people. I was really disappointed in him doing that and I didn’t quite understand why he did it. I know Phil as a good friend and I was hoping he would be there with us.
“I guess he has his reasons – but when you promote something like this you want to make sure it works the right way. It really puts a bad taste in people’s mouth when people like that don’t show up.
“I didn’t care about Vince Neil. I don’t like his music. I don’t give us a shit about Motley Crue. Vince Neil not showing up, for me, was like, ‘Who cares?’ But I would have liked to see Phil there, and Cronos too, because I’m a big Venom fan. But life goes on. If they do another one of those I hope they do it right and I would like to be part of it.”
While he had no problem with the local roadies in each city, Cavalera was not impressed with the American team behind the scenes. He says: “It was not produced well. The local production was good – but the Americans on tour with us, I didn’t like them. The tour manager sucks, the security sucks. I didn’t like those guys at all. I was fighting with them every day.
“We had a really turbulent time with them; they didn’t really respect us as artists. I was really fed up with that shit. I told the guy that invented this thing, his name is Gabe, that if he wanted to do another one he had to have a different crew or I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t work with those guys. They suck and they are terrible people.
“The show was great – I loved the show. People were excited to see me.”
Cavalera also talks about possibly touring with his latest project, Killer Be Killed, so long as the various collaborators can match their schedules. Their self-titled debut album – featuring members of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon and The Mars Volta – is released in May.
