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Friday, October 13, 2017

SEARCHING FOR THE PROPHECY....

In the fall of 2003, Max was in the studio recording The Prophecy, Soulfly's 4th studio album. We recorded the basic record in Mesa, Arizona, at the Saltmine Studio. For the spices, Max and I travelled to Belgrade, Serbia. Spirituality is steeping like a cup of black tea, in Serbia. Holistic medicines, religious beliefs adorning every home and business.... life is simple and sometimes testing. It reminds me of America in the '60's...when it was normal, and everyone wasn't a judge.




Max chose to record in the home studio of Bare (sorry, his last name escapes me), a friend he had made acquaintance with. Bare helped to find the gypsies, and he knew the band Eyesburn, whose singer, Coyote, Max selected to work with on a couple tracks. Coyote brought his uncle, Ljubomir Dimitrijevic. who was a professor at the university. He specialized in instruments from the Middle Ages.




In this studio, Max and Coyote crafted the bouncy track "Moses." My daughter, Christina, was pregnant with a son, who would be named Moses. Little Moses' upcoming arrival gave birth to the track. This song ended up being the most requested Prophecy track on college radio.
Coyote's uncle brought in various instruments made of animal skins and ancient woods. He was a solid commander of these percussion tools. It was fascinating to listen to him demonstrate how the instruments were made and played.



The Grand Finale was the band of gypsies, collected on the street. The drummer got in some sort of trouble, so they arrived without a drum. They had a unique language, big smiles and humble attitude. They were very interested in the recording process and also in giving the best musical performance possible. They chose an old war song, The March on the River Drina. I had to do an artist agreement with them stating they could be on the record. They had the leader sign and he produced a big "X." It was cool!



Class dismissed.........