Max Cavalera was set to walk away from music following his bitter split from Sepultura in 1996, until a conversation with Ozzy Osbourne changed his mind.
Speaking for Metal Hammer’s My Life In 10 Songs feature, Cavalera revealed how close he was to quitting the music business, while discussing his memories of Eye For An Eye, the first single from his first post-Sepultura band, Soulfly.
“That song saved my life, pretty much,” admits Cavalera. “Dealing with [Max’s stepson] Dana’s death [in a car crash in 1996] and splitting with Sepultura, I was done with music - I was heartbroken, angry, there had been too many disappointments. [Max’s wife and manager] Gloria was trying to lift me up, put me back in the right frame of mind and get me writing again.”
It was a conversation with one of Cavalera’s all-time heroes, Ozzy Osbourne, which ultimately re-ignited the Brazilian musician’s hunger to play music again.
“I remember we had a dinner at Ozzy’s house,” says Cavalera, “and he was telling me that when he got kicked out of Black Sabbath, he was very, very discouraged, but it was up to him to get back on his own feet.”
“Coming from Ozzy, that was mind-blowing - like, ‘I have to do it.’ So I grabbed my guitar and Eye For An Eye just came out of it.”
“It’s an important song to me as well because it’s one of the songs that got Soulfly signed,” adds Cavalera. “We went to New York and met with [Roadrunner Records A&R supremo] Monte Connor, and we played this and another song for him and he signed Soulfly on the spot. It’s one of those songs that I will never be able to write again.”
For more revelations from Max Cavalera, read the full, in-depth My Life In 10 Songs feature.
