Max Cavalera Calls Marc Rizzo “Crazy”
There’s two issues at play in the recent split between Soulfly and their guitarist of nearly twenty years, Marc Rizzo.
First: Rizzo says he quit, Soulfly mastermind Max Cavalera says he was fired. Pretty common dispute and not all that interesting TBH.
Second, and more importantly: Rizzo feels like he wasn’t very well treated in the band. The breaking point, to hear Rizzo tell it, was Cavalera’s response to the pandemic. Not only does the guitarist say that he “never got a phone call from anybody in the Soulfly camp during COVID” even just to check in and see how he was doing… he further claims that there was no support from Soulfly during the lockdown:
“There was no loans, there was no, ‘Hey, let’s do a live video to make money for the bandmembers or maybe let’s do a special merch deal.’ A lot of my friends, they were doing special merchandise deals. I mean, if you look online, Soulfly didn’t do anything for the band members or the crew. It’s just not right to do that to people during a time like this.”
Which seems especially cruel given that Rizzo also plays in Cavalera Conspiracy, meaning he’s basically been Max Cavalera’s most-constant creative collaborator this century.
Now Cavalera has kinda-sorta-but-not-really addressed Rizzo’s complaints. In a new interview with Metal Kaoz, Cavalera alleges that Rizzo “had a mental breakdown” and calls the accusations “lies and bullshit… fabricated by [Rizzo’s] crazy mind.”The former Sepultura frontman then goes on to wave away the complaint about not checking in during the pandemic:
“When you’re in a band, the way I am, sometimes you tour for three months, and sometimes you come back from tour and it’s nice to have the space from the [other] musicians. I had that with my brother; sometimes I go six months without talking to Igor [Cavalera], and then we go on tour again. And it’s the same with Mike [Leon, bass], and it’s the same with some of the crew, and it’s the same with Marc.”
Which sounds fair enough, except, y’know, the pandemic. Cavalera is talking about this like it was a regular hiatus in-between tours, which is bonkers.
Cavalera then goes on to ostensibly call Rizzo ungrateful without addressing the complaint that Soulfly didn’t help its members or crew financially during the lockdown:
“All these accusations — it hurts. It hurts to hear. After everything that we did for him, which was a lot — we put him on all the records and always took really good care of him, always really, really gave good treatment to him. To hear him backstabbing us like that, it’s just not nice.”
So here’s the thing: I have no idea who’s in the wrong here… but it doesn’t look great that Cavalera completely ignored Rizzo’s complaint about financial support. I’m not even saying Cavalera was necessarily obligated to be one of the squillions of bands that released special merch, auctioned off memorabilia, and played livestreams to make ends meet during the pandemic (although why he wouldn’t do at least one of those things is a bit beyond me). I’m just saying… if someone says “You slept with my wife, ran over my cat, and shot me in the stomach,” and you say “I did not run over the cat or sleep with your wife, you’re crazy!”, you have not, technically, denied shooting them in the stomach.
Cavalera could provide some explanation as to why Soulfly didn’t do more for its inner circle during the lockdown. He could even chalk it up to thoughtlessness — “I fucked up, I’m only human, I’m sorry” — and everyone would forget about it in a week.
But by not calling attention to Rizzo’s biggest claim, Cavalera is actively calling attention to Rizzo’s biggest claim. So it’s maybe not the best PR strategy.
You can check out the entire interview here.
Upcoming Soulfly tour dates, which will feature Fear Factory’s Dino Cazares in Rizzo’s place, are as follows:
8/20/2021 Sunshine Theater – Albuquerque, NM ** [tickets]
8/21/2021 Marquis Theater – Denver, CO ** [tickets]
8/22/2021 Sunshine Studios – Colorado Springs, CO ** [tickets]
8/24/2021 Wave Outdoors – Wichita, KS ** [tickets]
8/25/2021 The Bottleneck – Lawrence, KS ** [tickets]
8/26/2021 Red Flag – St. Louis, MO ** [tickets]
8/27/2021 Piere’s – Ft. Wayne, IN ** [tickets]
8/28/2021 Metal In The Mountains @ Pipestem Event Center – Pipestem, WV ** [tickets]
8/29/2021 Skully’s – Columbus, OH ** [tickets]
8/30/2021 Rec Room – Buffalo, NY ** [tickets]
8/31/2021 Crafthouse – Pittsburgh, PA ** [tickets]
9/01/2021 Gramercy Theatre – New York, NY ** [tickets]
9/02/2021 Alchemy – Providence, RI ** [tickets]
9/03/2021 Alchemy – Providence, RI ** [tickets]
9/04/2021 The Lost Horizon – Syracuse, NY ^ [tickets]
9/05/2021 Diesel Concert Lounge – Chesterfield, MI ^ [tickets]
9/06/2021 WC Social Club – West Chicago, IL ^ [tickets]
9/07/2021 Emerson Theater – Indianapolis, IN ^ [tickets]
9/08/2021 Diamond Pub Concert Hall – Louisville, KY ^ [tickets]
9/09/2021 Zydeco – Birmingham, AL ^ [tickets]
9/11/2021 Warlando Festival – Orlando, FL * [tickets]
9/12/2021 The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA ^ [tickets]
9/14/2021 Scout Bar – Houston, TX ^ [tickets]
9/15/2021 Come and Take It Live – Austin, TX ^ [tickets]
9/16/2021 Trees – Dallas, TX ^ [tickets]
9/17/2021 Country River Club – Tyler, TX ^ [tickets]
9/18/2021 Vibes Event Center – San Antonio, TX ^ [tickets]
9/19/2021 Rockhouse Bar & Grill – El Paso, TX^ [tickets]
9/21/2021 Encore – Tucson, AZ * [tickets]
9/22/2021 Brick By Brick – San Diego, CA * [tickets]
9/23/2021 Alex’s Bar – Long Beach, CA * [tickets]
9/24/2021 The Whisky – Los Angeles, CA * [tickets]
9/25/2021 Marquee Theater – Tempe, AZ+ [tickets]
* = No Support
** – 8/20 – 9/3 – Niviane
^ – 9/4 – 9/19 – Suicide Puppets
[via The PRP]
