SOULFLY frontman Max Cavalera says that former guitarist Marc Rizzo has been spewing out “lies and bullshit” in his recent interviews regarding his split from the band.
Rizzo’s departure from SOULFLY was officially announced on August 7, however it was widely speculated that he had split from the group two days earlier when it was announced that FEAR FACTORY’s Dino Cazares would be handling guitar duties on SOULFLY’s upcoming U.S. tour.
Max Cavalera recently discussed Marc’s departure from SOULFLY in a new interview with Metal Kaoz. Regarding what caused Rizzo’s dismissal from the band, Cavalera said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I don’t know. He had a mental breakdown. I don’t know, man. This is crazy. And I don’t really understand all these accusations too; it’s so out of character for him. I don’t know.
“When you’re in a band, the way I am, sometimes you tour for three months, and sometimes you come back from tour and it’s nice to have the space from the [other] musicians. I had that with my brother; sometimes I go six months without talking to Igor, and then we go on tour again. And it’s the same with Mike [Leon, bass], and it’s the same with some of the crew, and it’s the same with Marc.
“All these accusations — it hurts,” he continued. “It hurts to hear. After everything that we did for him, which was a lot — we put him on all the records and always took really good care of him, always really, really gave good treatment to him. To hear him backstabbing us like that, it’s just not nice. He’s obviously trying to get fans to be against me and make him the victim.
“I don’t have bad things to say about Marc myself. He was cool during SOULFLY, and we made great records. But I think maybe it just ran its course. I noticed it was a little bit stale; the situation was a little bit stale. The last show we did was in Mexico, and I could tell something felt a little bit different. But I was getting ready to tour, getting ready to go back on tour. And then we started hearing all these crazy accusations from him. He even said in one of the interviews he had a mental breakdown a month ago or something.
“I don’t know, man. It just sucks,” he repeated. “We’re not supposed to do that to each other, to musicians that we play with. A lot of ex-SOULFLY guys are all friends of mine — Roy [Mayorga], Johny Chow, Mikey [Doling], Logan [Mader]. It’s nice. You had your time in SOULFLY, and we keep the friendship. He seems just very bitter about everything. It just sucks to hear all that. It definitely hurts me when I hear all these accusations that I know are lies and bullshit; it’s all fabricated by his crazy mind. I don’t know. It’s a strange situation.”
Cavalera said that he found himself in a situation where he “had to fire” Rizzo. “I had to do something,” he explained. “So in July, I made the decision to have him no longer be in the band. And it was not an easy decision because we spent 18 years together, but it was a decision. I had to make that. I had to look out for SOULFLY. And then I had the idea to invite Dino to be on the tour. ‘Cause we already had the tour booked.
“I think we grew apart also,” Max said about his former bandmate. “Little by little, on every tour I noticed him hanging out less and things like that. Even musically, I don’t think we liked the same stuff. I like a lot of the newer, heavier stuff. I don’t think we even liked the same stuff anymore. So it’s one of those things — you grow apart from each other.”
According to Max, he would like nothing more than to remain on good terms with Marc. “I don’t want to turn this into an ugly thing,” he said. “I don’t wanna talk bad about him; I really don’t. Of course I don’t like those accusations, and it’s bullshit, but he has the right to say whatever. But I think we treated him really good through all those years. We put him on the map pretty much. When he joined the band, not many people knew him. Just a little bit of gratitude would have been nice. Because even on ‘Max Trax’ [Cavalera’s a twice-weekly Internet video series in which he discusses the inspiration for many of the songs spanning his nearly 40-year music career], when I mentioned that I fired him, I thanked him for the 18 years of SOULFLY, and I said good luck on his projects. I’m not bitter. I don’t wanna be a bitter guy.
“It’s a tough business, man. It’s tough,” he said. “These things happen, and you have to have thick skin. There’s many fans that agree with him or [disagree with him]. Whatever. It is what it is. I tried to make the best of the situation. That’s why I have Dino, a friend, a great riffmaster, a great shredder. And I’m looking forward to the future projects.”
You can listen to the full interview at this location.