Max Cavalera has a whole album written. With his new band complete and an extended trip to the studio imminent, he tells Chris Ingham that he's got a lot to get out of his system with his new record. It's nearly a year since the mighty Sepultura looked like they had the very world at their feet. 1996 was a very schismatic period for the band. The Seps had just released their most critically acclaimed album to date in "Roots" but the death Dana Wells, the eldest son of band manager and Max's wife Gloria, cast a shadow over what should have been their crowing glory at last year's Donington festival. Nevertheless the band ploughed on and following show stealing performances at last year's inaugural OzzFest dates they were looking forward to a triumphant tour of Europe and the UK. However, unbeknown to anyone outside of the Sepultribe tensions between the four founding members, Andreas, Paulo Jnr, Igor and Max, were at an all-time high. With the cancellation of the band's much anticipated slot at January's Big Day Out festival in Australia, rumours were rife that the unthinkable had actually happened. Could Sepultura have possibly fired their chief songwriter, vocalist/guitarist and frontman Max Cavalera? Sadly that's exactly what had happened. Backstage at the last gig on the "Roots" tour at London's Brixton Academy tempers boiled over and Max and manager Gloria were asked to leave the Sepultribe. What followed in the wake of the bitter split has been exhaustively documented in metal mags around the world. The last time _Metal Hammer spoke to Max, though he was convinced that he could carry his own project, he was still shocked at the treatment metered out to him by his former band mates and seemed to be fighting bouts of depression brought on by his faltering self-confidence. We resume the conversation where we left it six months ago...

How did you get out of the depression

"I'm always going to be disappointed about what happened with the whole Seps issue, but I found a way to get positive again." "I was bummed out and depressed at the beginning but since the band started coming together I've been using my time better. I went looking for people who could help me get back into the normal routine that I'Ve been used to for the last 14 years. I can't visualise life without recording, writing or touring - it's impossible." "I hooked up with people and told myself to get back into it. I'm playing and recording now and I feel a lot better about everything. I feel better now than I did when I was with Sepultura."

What inspired you to move forward

"Mostly it was realising that music and everything around me is really important. Music keeps me together. I have my family and without them I don't know what I'd do, but music allows me to reach out and say things; it gives me peace of mind, or at least a therapy outlet." "There were good days and bad days but you have to work at it and try again the next day. I got ot the stage where I'd doubted that I could feel the same as I did when we first started Sepultura, so original and so strong. I had to believe that sooner or later the right people were going to come along." "I want to go back out on the road and I wanna see all those fans again in all the different countries. All that encouraged me not to stop but to go forward."

What was the point that knew you could do this by yourself?

"I honestly never knew if I could do it by myself. It's been very different for me. Straight after all the shit happened I felt like I wanted to give up - I couldn't find anyone to play with whom I clicked and I was starting to believe that it was impossible." "A friend of mine told me to stay cool because the right people were going to find me. The first guy to show up was Roy (Mayorga, ex drummer of Shelter, Thorn and Nausea). He came down to Phoenix off his own back just to play with me, bringing so much enthusiasm with him, and that was so important. It was just what I needed." "We started playing and hanging out and we're fans of each other's work. I love the stuff that he did with Nausea and he's a big Sepultura fan, so it was a great beginning. From then on it was much easier to move forward." "After Roy we needed a bass player, and I'd known Marcelo (Dias, aka "Rapadura") for maybe 12 years cos he was Sepultura's light man. We used to jam together in the hotel rooms and make demo tapes. We were at my house when Roy suggested it. It's crazy cos he's been there right in front of me for forever and I didn't notice!" "When Marcelo came over he was like a little boy; he was that excited cos he's been waiting his whole life for an opportunity to do something like this, and so his attitude was just what we needed too. He has a hunger and I needed to see that again because towards the end of Sepultura I no longer had it. When we practised that first day we went through till midnight playing old Seps and Nailbomb songs - we spent the whole fucking day just jamming, it was so right!"

I understand that it's taken a while for you to find a guitar player; is that right?

"I wanted someone who had a new way of playing guitar, someone who was different to my style but who could blend with it, and getting the right guitar player was so important. I've always been a fan of a Brazilian band called Chico Science, but their singer died inn January and the band kinda broke up after that. I'd known the guitarist Lucio (Maia) for a while and we'd talked in the past about doing stuff together, but after their singer died I explained how serious I was about this new band and suggested that instead of doing a project why not do something more permanent. He got really interested about it and now he's been here in Phoenix with the rest of us for a month now. You should hear him play!" "No one plays like Lucio - it's a really Brazilian style, he could even make Bossonova rhythms heavy if he wanted! I don't wanna put him higher than the other guys, but he is one of the best guitar players I've ever worked with. He give me the same feeling I had with Sepultura in 1987. He's given me so many new ideas for songs from his rhythms that I can'T wait to get it all down! It gives me the same excitement as when we did "Schizophrenia" with Sepultura, which was a new phase for us. I never thought it could be this good again.

You've played with Dino Cazares from Fear Factory in Nailbomb and at the Dana tribute gig - did you ever consider making him an offer?

"I'd never consider making an offer to anyone in another band. It's a matter of respect and part of my integrity. I wouldn't have even thought about suggesting it. Dino helped me out for one show which was the tribute gig for Dana, and he wanted to be there because he was Dana's friend too and felt exactly the same way as me."