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| Maxxx |
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| First Soulfly Photo ever taken...by Christina |
Soulfly One was steeped in the belief of No Hope No Fear. What else could we lose? We had hit the bottom and climbed back up. There was positive vibrations pulsing through our veins. There was also distrust, be wary, look both ways before crossing...and there was hope for a new freedom of expression. These feelings blended into Soulfly and the Tribe began to unite! Roy Mayorga, Marcelo Dias and Lucio Maia all joined arms with Max and became the new force of Metal...Soulfly took its first breath!
Max and I have kept a warehouse near the airport for over 20 years. Its corners are piled with well travelled gear from years of use, many of them spent circling the globe. They remind me of toys in Toy Story...one day they just retire. In 1997, we actually had room to rehearse and hang out! Roy and Lucio stayed at our daughter, Christina's house and Marcelo lived in Phoenix. Every day at 4:30, they would head to the jam pad and hammer out the songs Max had written in the interim period between Sepultura and Soulfly. It was like taking off bandages to find the wounds healed quite nicely, much to one's surprise!
Ross Robinson came out for pre-production. Max had worked with Ross on Roots and the transformation seemed natural to him. There was a mystical feeling at Indigo Ranch Studios in Malibu and Max was still creatively flowing with it. He was comfortable with the woodsy vibe of the studio, perched high in the hills. He knew this magic would spin onto the reels. The band had rehearsed and Ross came to get the feel of what was going down.
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| Ross arriving |
Roy shattered the drum skins every day and Marcelo had the pounding bass thumping parallel to the slaying riffs that were exploding out the door! Lucio had suffered through the death of his friend and bandmate, Chico Science and had great emotional contributions slipping through the strings of his guitar. Eerily, Chico had died much in the same type of car accident as Dana, only a short time after Dana. I have always held high his guitar playing on this record, especially in the track, Bleed. I swear there is an emotion that is yet undiscovered and it's the feeling one gets from music that no words can possibly describe. Four separate beings blended through music, into one unit. The days of rehearsing filled them all with positive energy, and they knew they were ready to go into the studio. Soulfly emerged.....
Next week, part 2, Soulfly and Indigo Ranch....
Class dismissed.....
