Sepultura have not split up! In a world exclusive interview, drummer Igor Cavalera and guitarist Andreas Kisser break their silence on the bust-up with mainman Max Cavalera, and tell Jason Arnopp why the band will continue without him... Monday, February 10: Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser and drummer Igor Cavalera call Kerrang! from Sao Paulo, Brazil, at 7pm and 8pm respectively. Since the band's apparent split last December, only frontman Max Cavalera has spoken to the UK press - via a lengthy fax and then, last week, in an exclusive interview with Kerrang! - to express his and his wife/manager Gloria's standpoint. Now, we'll hear Igor, Andreas and bassist Paulo Jr's side of the story. So far, the trio have only broken their silence in their native Brazil, where they held a press conference a fortnight ago. Andreas has a beer in his hand, and he's watching football. Igor's three months old daughter Joanna emerged from hospital only a few days ago, having been born prematurely and requiring surgery. Igor had to play last December's UK tour while Joanna was in hospital. He's a happier man now, admitting that this has given him a better perspective on things It will become clear that Sepultura have not split. They've parted company with their frontman...

Kerrang: Last week, max claimed that things started going "weird" in the Sepultura camp last summer in Argentina. He says you held a band meeting at 1am in his hotel room about the management situation. Is that your version of events?

Andreas: Yeah, but we were ready to talk with Max and Gloria way before then. We weren't very pleased with Gloria's job for a while. Before we came to Europe we decided to talk to them, because Gloria's contract expired after December 16. But our talking seemed to have no effect."

Igor: "I really started this whole thing. I said to Andreas and Paulo that we had to do something. Especially for me, being Max's brother, things were going very weird. Gloria was taking care of a lot of his interests and not giving the right respect to the other guys. Even on Roadrunner's press for 'Roots' there were only Max's quotes. That bugged us a lot, but Max and Gloria didn't understand."

Andreas: "It started to become difficult to be a band. We just saw Max on the stage and in the practice pad, and we were pretty much working for Gloria, instead of Gloria working for us. It upset us not to get the credit for an album like 'Roots'. But as far as Gloria is concerned, it's her way that counts, and fuck the rest."

Kerrang: Couldn't Igor have spoken directly to Max, as a brother ?

Igor: "We just lost communication. Even today - every time he calls me, it's when he's not at home, because people around the house watch everything he says. it really hurts that I can't speak to my brother. I see a lot of pressure from Gloria on Max's head, and I see her words coming out of his mouth. I wish he would just be straight up and open his heart."

Kerrang: When did you last speak to Max ?

Igor: "It's been over a week. Gloria was in hospital, and I was also in a hospital because of Joanna. Max had called a ot of radio stations and magazines while Gloria was in hospital, and he was contradicting everything he'd said the day before. He called me up and said, 'No, I'm not out of the band. I really want to work things out', and I was very happy. But since Gloria got back from the hospital, he's never called me again."

Kerrang: Max had said that the rest of you were upset about the level of attention he was receiving from the media.

Andreas: "We don't care about that. It's a consequence of him being the frontman. But we didn't like being seen as musicians who are just there because of Max. In the last few interviews, Max was speaking from too personal a point of view. You should speak as a band."

Igor: "I felt that the four of us would have more to say than one person. Gloria said she was fighting with reporters to split interviews between us, but we didn't see evidence of that." Kerrang: Did Gloria side with Max in band arguments ?

Andreas: "Pretty much. They mixed the personal and professional lives too much. Sepultura was an escape from any personal problem they had in their house. But Sepultura is music and our profession. My wife comes to see gigs whenever she can, but she understands. She gives her own point of view on anything she sees from outside, but the final position is mine."

Kerrang: Did you question Gloria's business procedures ?

Andreas: "Not at all. The money was divided very fairly between the four of us."

Igor: "As soos as we heard stuff about Gloria stealing money in the Brazilian press we said, 'Shit, who the f**k is saying this ? Man, we've got to do some kind of conference'. Since then, things have slowed down a little bit in Brazil. Newspaper tried to contact my Mum, but she obviously kept quiet."

Kerrang: Were there any disagreement over the music itself ?

Andreas: "No. Sepultura was still very strong and alive. We just wanted to change the organizational thing backstage. There's no wives or managers involved with our music. That's why it's so great (laughs)."

Kerrang: Max believes that you were disappointed with him for not playing Donington '96, following the death of Gloria's son Dana.

Andreas: "Not at all. We respected their position, because it was a very shocking accident. Obviously, Max could help Gloria a lot more by being with her."

Igor: "If Max had called me up and really talked, he would never have believed we were disappointed with him. The worst thing you can do is start believing things said on the street."

Kerrang: But after the tragedy, did the rest of you want to continue touring quicker than Max ?

Andreas: "Well... We felt that being on tour and working was the best method of healing. Instead of being home and thinking 24 hours a day. But they decided to stay home, so we cancelled that tour and went out with Ozzy Osbourne three weeks later."

Kerrang! Was there much tension on the European tour ?

Andreas: "Yeah, because when we spoke with them in Argentina we were very open about eerything. We expected them to come forward and discuss things. But it ended up in a weird situation, like the back of the bus and the front of the bus. Very sad."

Kerrang: What happened after the Brixton Academy show - where Max claimed you dismissed Gloria by letter.

Andreas: "Our tour manager found an empty room, and Igor, Paulo and I met Gloria there. I heard later that Max and Gloria were actually having a fight in their bus, in front of their children. So it was not quite as Max related... We decided to officially give the letter to Gloria at Brixton, because it was December 16, and that was the last day of her contract. When we gave her the letter on that day, we didn't fight at all. Obviously, there was disagreement, but no screaming or anything like that."

Kerrang: Max feels that you are asking him to divorce Gloria in order for Sepultura to continue. Andreas: "No, we asked him to find a balance. Whatever the balance is for him: it's not up to us. If he found another wife, then whatever. We want Max playing music and continuing with the band. Unfortunately, he has decided to stay with his wife. I think the ultimatum was given by Gloria, not by us."

Igor: "We even gave him the option of Gloria still managing him, and us using a different manager. But they said, 'F**k it. We can't do that'."

Kerrang: Igor, what's to stop you phoning Max right now and talking things through with him ?

Igor: "Well, after Brixton, Gloria's family didn't really want to talk to me or any of the other guys. If I call their house it will cause even more trouble. Of course, I want the freedom to just call my brother, but I would have a fight before I could even try to speak to Max."

Kerrang: Are you planning to continue as Sepultura ?

Andreas: "Yeah. Sepultura didn't break up. The singer chose to leave - and to leave the name, and everything that we believe. So far, we want to keep it to just us three. I'll develop my singing, and maybe later on, we'll find it necessary to bring in another musician or singer. But we're just going to start practising, and try to make up the shows we didn't do in Australia and Japan, because of Max's knee surgery. The fans shouldn't suffer a loss because of that shit."

Igor: "Max doesn't have the right to tell us to leave the name alone. If we'd kicked him out, the story would be totally different. But it's between us and Gloria, who happens to be his wife. She wasn't there when we first started playing, and she didn't participate in the roots of Sepultura. And I think that us continuing will make Max realise that right thing was done. If we just split up now, he's gonna truly believe that him and Gloria were the band."

Andreas: "Max's decision is very sad, bet we can do nothing about it. It's very difficult to talk with him - even for Igor. He still hasn't given us an official answer - either verbally or by fax - that he's left the Sepultura. But when we saw the letter (he sent to Kerrang!), we knew he wasn't interested in continuing with us."

Kerrang: Andreas, are you not nervous about stepping into Max's shoes ?

Andreas: "Well, I'm not going to try to sing like him, and we're not going to try and be like the Sepultura of the past. We changed a lot, grew up a lot, and that will be reflected by our lyrics and music. Hopefully people will still like it, but if they don't we'll respect that."

Kerrang: What if Max wants to come back ?

Andreas: "The doors are always open for him. Of course, we would have to talk about a lot of things, to make sure we would continue to grow. It depends on Max."

Igor: "If we continue and things work out, maybe he will rejoin us in the future. We'll never close the door for him. He told me that he wrote that long letter when he really hot-headed, and he regretted a lot of it, so I don't really take that personally. Maybe when we get back to America I can try to speak with him face to face." "But Gloria would watch him 24 hours a day. We couldn't even arrange to do stupid things, like playing soccer. But we're always gonna be brothers, and our friendship will always be the same. There's no fighting when I talk to him, and I don't see this destroying what we built when we were growing up."

Andreas: I feel very sad. I never expected something like this to happen to Sepultura. But we have to deal with it the best we can. Me, Igor and Paulo have this unity, which is very important for us right now. Music brings comfort for us..."