Max Cavalera , the legendary Brazilian guitarist, cites Lemmy Kilmister of Motörhead as one of his main influences, both personally and as a rock icon.
During a conversation on the show The Wikimetal Happy Hour , which airs this Wednesday, the 30th, on the Wikimetal , the guitarist from bands like Cavalera Conspiracy , Killer Be Killed , Soulfly , and Go Ahead and Die spoke about the influence of musicians in maintaining humility despite fame.
“For me, my idol and my reference is always Lemmy Kilmister. For me, he was a true rockstar,” he explained. “Even in the way he dressed, in the way he behaved, he wasn’t that jerk rockstar, he wasn’t that obnoxious guy. I always liked that, I based myself on that.”
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Furthermore, his close relationship with his family also helps Cavalera avoid becoming an egocentric artist. “Family doesn’t let you get cocky, family keeps you grounded,” he continued. “ Gloria [Cavalera , his wife] is awesome, [she says] ‘Here you’re just Max’”.
Cavalera and Lemmy's first meeting didn't go smoothly, but it blossomed into a friendship over the years. In the late 1990s, Sepultura opened for Motörhead and managed to irritate their idol more than once.
“Thank God, all the idols I met were nice to me, including those I had feuds with, like Lemmy,” he recalled in a conversation with Nando Machado . “When I met Lemmy, he was drunk in London, I went to bother him, he was playing on his pinball machines. He threw a whole glass of whiskey on my head, 'Get out of here, kid! Stop bothering me'.”
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For Max, however, that moment was a true baptism, and the guitarist went a week without showering, such was the emotion. The situation got even worse when the members of Sepultura went on stage naked with Motörhead. "Lemmy got pissed, he told Gloria, 'This kid needs to take care of himself, otherwise he's going to end up dying, if he continues like this, it's going to end badly for him'," he recalled.
After some time, especially after learning of the death of Dana , Gloria's son, Lemmy forgave Max Calavera . "Our relationship was always kind of strange, sometimes he was angry with me, but I always looked at him in a special way, as an idol, and without sucking up or brown-nosing, that's what's coolest," he concluded. "Our story is a little different."
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