page_title: Cavalera Conspiracy
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Cavalera Conspiracy / History / Background
caption_attribution_description: Photographer&#160;: Nicolas Keshvary English: Cavalera Conspiracy at the Eurockéennes 2008 Français&#160;: Cavalera Conspiracy aux Eurockéennes 2008
context_page_description: Cavalera Conspiracy is an American heavy metal supergroup founded by Brazilian brothers Max and Igor Cavalera, currently performing along with American musicians Marc Rizzo and Tony Campos. The band originally formed in 2007 as Inflikted but changed its name for legal reasons. The group's creation marked the end of a 10-year feud between the Cavalera brothers who founded Sepultura in the early 1980s.
  Following the brothers' falling out, Max Cavalera had formed a new band, Soulfly, and Igor had recorded four studio albums with Sepultura before leaving the band in January 2006. In July 2006, Max received an unexpected call from his brother, and by the end of the conversation, Max had invited Igor to visit him in Phoenix, Arizona, to perform in a Soulfly show. Igor joined Soulfly in concert and performed two Sepultura songs. After the show, Max suggested they begin a new project, and Igor accepted. To complete the band, Max chose Soulfly guitarist Marc Rizzo and Gojira frontman Joe Duplantier to play bass. The group then recorded their debut album at Undercity Studios in Los Angeles with engineer and co-producer Logan Mader in July 2007.
context_section_description: On 16 August 1996 at 1:43 a.m., Max Cavalera's stepson Dana Wells, was killed in a car accident at the age of 21 in Phoenix, Arizona. At the time, Cavalera was the lead vocalist for Sepultura which was on tour promoting its sixth studio album, Roots, in England with Ozzy Osbourne. After hearing the news, Ozzy and his wife Sharon Osbourne hired a private plane to take Cavalera and his wife, manager and mother of Dana, Gloria, back home. After the funeral, Max returned his focus to Sepultura, and the band resumed its European tour. Then, following a sold-out show at London's Brixton Academy on 16 December—later documented on the live album Under a Pale Grey Sky—drummer Igor Cavalera, guitarist Andreas Kisser, and bassist Paulo Jr. told Max they wanted to replace numerous members of the band's staff, including Gloria. Andreas, Paulo and Igor proposed ending the contract with Gloria and hiring a new manager for Sepultura, saying that she paid more attention to Max than the band. The trio suggested that she could continue as Max's personal manager but that someone else should manage the band. Gloria refused. Max felt betrayed by his mates, especially his brother.
  Max decided to leave Sepultura, as he felt that his band mates were "biting the hands that feeds". In an interview with Revolver magazine's May 2008 issue, Max explained that Gloria had worked for Sepultura for two years without earning one dollar, just for the passion of the music. Disagreeing with the other Sepultura members, Max said, "If this is how it's going down, I'm out. I quit. I can't just put a mask on and backstab a bunch of people that trust me." Later, Max stated that it was the hardest decision he had to make in his life.
  His departure from Sepultura caused a 10-year feud between the Cavalera brothers. During this period, Max formed a new band, Soulfly, which has released nine studio albums. Igor continued as Sepultura's drummer, appearing on the group's next four studio records before leaving in January 2006 to work on his DJ project, Mixhell, and to spend more time with his family.
  In July 2006, while Soulfly was on tour, Max received a call from his brother, and by the end of the conversation, Max had invited Igor to visit him in Phoenix for the tenth anniversary of D-Low, an annual memorial show for Dana. At the concert, Igor joined Soulfly and performed two Sepultura songs, "Roots Bloody Roots" and "Attitude," for which Dana had written the lyrics. In an interview with Chad Bowar for About.com, Max stated that performance was "the birth of Cavalera Conspiracy". After the show, Max suggested they begin a new project after Soulfly finished touring. Max confessed to Bowar that he had lied to Igor when he said all the songs were ready when he had only finished one. He added, "It was one of those good lies. Everything rolled from there. What I like about the Conspiracy is that nothing is really planned. One thing leads to another. There's no pressure and it feels like a different project than anything I've done."
caption: Max Cavalera stated that leaving Sepultura was the hardest decision he had to make in his life.
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