In a recent interview featured in Guitar World, Max Cavalera reflected on the memorable encounter he had with his guitar idol, Ritchie Blackmore.
Cavalera recalled how the legendary British musician seemed hesitant to engage with “anyone” initially, but quickly became more receptive once the topic of football was broached.
Despite being a Brazilian metal pioneer, Cavalera discovered a simple method to break the ice with Blackmore — discussing sports instead of music. He cited Blackmore as one of his biggest musical inspirations, expressing: “It’s probably quite an obvious one, but I just love DEEP PURPLE. They’re so underrated in metal. They should be up there with SABBATH and ZEPPELIN. Listen to early stuff like ‘Hush’ and it sounds like a ’60s song. Then you hear ‘Smoke On The Water’, which is probably the most famous riff of all time and the one we all learn first.”
“Ritchie was special because he combined the classical symphony s**t he picked up from Beethoven with heavy rock. There’s this really cool video called Deep Purple Doing Their Thing that you can watch on YouTube. It’s a live performance where Ritchie is just shredding!”
Regarding on how he initiated their conversation, Max said: “I actually met him during the SEPULTURA days. At first we were in a circle with a bunch of people and he wasn’t interested in talking to anybody. But the minute I asked, ‘Do you like football?’ he said, ‘Yes – come with me!’ and took me to the corner of the bar. We talked for two hours, and whenever people came over to bug him, he’d say, ‘Get out of here! I’m talking to Max about serious stuff. Leave us alone!'”
“We chatted about Brazilian football and English football, things like David Beckham and Manchester United. That was a crazy experience I’ll never forget. My bandmates got jealous, asking how I did it. All you need to do if you meet that guy is talk football!”
