How Paul Gray Impressed Max Cavalera When They First Met

Max Cavalera by Hannah Verbeure Paul Gray WikiMedia Commons
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The metal world was a bit darker once Paul Gray passed away.

Even in a band as scary as Slipknot, Gray was one of the most easygoing personalities, beloved by fans and bandmates.

Outside of Slipknot, Gray also had an intense love for Sepultura.

In a recent interview with Louder, Max Cavalera talked about meeting Gray for the first time saying,

“My friend brought Paul to my house and he confessed he was a member of the Sepultura fan club, the Nomadic Warriors. He had the card with him in his wallet, pulled it out and showed me. That was fucking cool man, it was a moment.”

Cavalera was also a big Slipknot fan at the time, mentioning being shellshocked by their debut saying,

“He showed me ‘Wait And Bleed,’ and I loved that first record – it was phenomenal.”

Before his death, Gray came close to working with Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser before passing away, with Kisser remembering,

“We even were talking to do something together, a special project. He was in my band Hail!, with me and Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens and Paul Bostaph. But it was the week he died. He was rehearsing for us to get together and go on tour in Europe and stuff. So we kind of were working together something. And Hail! was the first thing that we started. And, unfortunately, it didn’t happen.”

While it didn’t work out, Kisser was gutted to hear about Joey Jordison’s passing, saying,

“They were too young. It’s very shocking. They were so creative, so nice people, so sweet, so easy to work [with] — great ideas, and et cetera. my condolences to all the Knotfest people and the Slipknot fans and everybody involved. It’s a great loss for all of us. But I’ll have great memories forever with them.”

Despite never getting to hear Gray make something with members of Sepultura, it’s always better to remember the good times.

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