Although the four members have heavy music backgrounds, their main projects are diametrically different styles of heavy music, and it’s unlikely anyone would have picked the members to wind up doing a project together. Arguably the highest profile member Max Cavalera, of Sepultura, Soulfly, Cavalera Conspiracy and Nailbomb fame, joining us from the backyard of his home in Phoenix, Arizona, thinks that it’s those very diverse backgrounds within heavy music that make Killer Be Killed such a different listening experience.
“I think so,” he agrees, “because if it was with really similar guys, like if I was doing this with Lamb of God, Devildriver and Machine Head, it would have been cool, don’t get me wrong, it still would have been cool, but it would have been a little more what people expect. Because me and Troy (Sanders, bassist from Mastodon) and Greg (Puciato, vocalist from Dillinger Escape Plan) and Dave (Elitch, former drummer of The Mars Volta), are so really different, you know? Mastodon is totally different from Soulfly, and Soulfly is totally different from Dillinger Escape Plan, it came out really different.”
One major point of difference is the surprisingly melodic nature of some of the tracks, amid the metallic fury. “I think it’s different from everything else I’ve done,” he surmises. “For me, to be involved in something melodic is quite cool actually, nobody was expecting that, it came out of nowhere.”
With such massive differences between the members and their respective bands, Cavalera is interested to see how the bands’ very different audiences will mix, once Killer Be Killed eventually hit the road and play live.
“Those bands don’t even mix,” he opines. “We don’t even have the same crowds; it’s kind of crazy, you know? Like, Mastodon have their own crowd, Dillinger’s got their own crowd, Soulfly have their own crowd. That’s the crazy part, that we mixed all of this together and made it into one thing. I’m just curious to see how the crowd’s going to react. I think they’re going to like it, I honestly think they’re going to think it’s cool.”
Unfortunately, at this stage he may have to wait a little while to have that curiosity satiated, as the band members may not be able to find time in the demanding schedules of their main acts to tour Killer Be Killed until 2015.
“That’s the idea, man. But we’re probably going to have to do it next year,” he reveals, “because we are busy with our own bands, I’m busy with Soulfly and Cavalera until the end of the year, and Greg’s busy with Dillinger and Troy’s busy with Mastodon, we’re all doing a bunch festivals, but I think that’s cool.”
No stranger to our shores, Cavalera is confident that Killer Be Killed’s touring plans in 2015 will include Australia. “Hopefully we can come down and do a festival in Australia,” he says. “One of the big festivals you’ve got down there, to be part of that would be really cool.”
In the more immediate future, Soulfly’s touring plans take Cavalera into uncharted territory very shortly, and a country you wouldn’t normally associate with a heavy metal tour.
“Yeah, we’re heading to Kazakhstan next week,” he states. “I’m really excited, we’ve never been there before…they’re very excited to have us and those type of shows are always great. Some of those fans have been waiting 30 years to see me play live, and that’s pretty exciting!”
BY ROD WHITFIELD
