During a conversation about Motorhead, ex-Sepultura frontman and current Soulfly frontman Max Cavalera spoke about his past “tumultuous” relationship with the late Lemmy Kilmister.
In a conversation with Revolver, Cavalera was asked about the first time he heard of Motorhead’s music, how the band inspired him, and memories related to meeting the late Motorhead singer Lemmy Kilmister.
When it comes to the latter, Cavalera spoke to first meeting Lemmy and how their relationship “was always a little bit tumultuous.”
Per Cavalera:
“My relationship with Lemmy was always a little bit tumultuous. It was a little bit awkward at times. The photo shoot [in the early Nineties] at Kerrang! … I had a bottle of wine and I was throwing wine all over and I don’t think he liked that very much. The one thing that was cool, I never tried to kiss his ass. I think that made him like me a little bit because of that. I wasn’t a yes man around him. I think we had this really weird relationship … After all that happened [during Motorhead’s Eureopean tour, which Sepultura opened]: going onstage naked with socks on our dicks, being Brazilian pirates and he got super mad … He brought [Sepultura’s manager, and now Cavalera’s wife] Gloria [Cavalera] to his dressing room and gave her a whole lecture. [Laughs]
“After all that, my stepson Dana passed away in ’97. I met Lemmy at some award ceremony in England and he gave me this great hug and told me how he felt so much for me and the passing of my stepson. And that showed the human side. It doesn’t matter man, he’s got a great fucking heart. He said everything between us was all good. There’s no … we don’t have any beef or anything wrong with our relationship, it’s all good. And I was like, ‘yeah, killer!’ It was cool, I like to think that I had a very different relationship with him than most people. He probably hated me for a while, which is cool. Like, ‘I pissed of Lemmy!’ That’s hard to do. [Laughs] And him giving advice to my wife, saying I wasn’t going to make it in rock & roll if I kept acting like that. [Laughs] Coming from Lemmy, it’s like, ‘Holy shit that great!’ [Laughs] I love all those little things that our relationship had. It’s something I always keep close to my heart, especially the one time in England when he gave me the big hug. That was just amazing. … Motörhead for life, brother!”
What are your thoughts on Max’s past relationship with the late Lemmy Kilmister?
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Words by: Michael Pementel