THE 12th ANNUAL D-LOW MEMORIAL FESTIVAL

SOULFY RETURNS HOME TO ARIZONA FOR FALLEN FAMILY MEMBER'S MEMORIAL
by Jason K. Walsh

It has been a very busy year for Max Cavalera: a long-awaited reunion with brother and former Sepultura bandmate, Iggor for the Cavalera Conspiracy project, the release of a new Soulfly record, tours worldwide for both, and now the 12th Annual D-Low Memorial Festival will wrap it all up in Tempe. The tribute to Cavlera's departed stepson and best friend, Dana Wells a.k.a. D-Low, will feature both Cavalera Conspiracy and Soulfly, as well as Sacred Reich and Incite.

"It's the Dana show," Cavalera said. "All the songs are about Dana. It's not really even a Soulfly show. It's more of a memorial show, a little bit of a different kind of show, but I really dig it. I really like doing it every year. It's a tradition and it should be a lot of fun. It's going to be a killer show."

It was 1996 when Dana Wells was tragically slain in a fatal car accident in which there is still, to this day, beliefs by the family and members in the community that Wells and his two passengers were targeted by local gang members. There have been no arrests in the case and the two surviving passengers in the vehicle, driven by Wells, maintain they both suffered amnesia in the events leading up to the wreck.

Cavalera was on tour with Sepultura, when he and wife Gloria, then manager of the band, received the news of Dana's passing. Just having arrived in London for the Donnigton Metal Festival, the two returned to the States, by way of a private jet lent to them by Ozzy Osbourne, who has also playing the festival. After the funeral, they spent a great deal of time with the legal proceedings that followed, yet would never unearth those responsible in the collision. Then, in a controversial decision by the band without Max's consent, Gloria was fired that same year. In one of the most bitter breakups in the annals of metal history, Max Cavalera, who founded Brazil's Sepultura in the 80s with his brother and two close friends, departed the band following Gloria's ousting and later went on to form Soulfly.

Now twelve years later, Soulfly has become one of the metal community's premiere acts, while Sepultura continued on without Cavalera, with limited success and became more a bitter memory to metalheads of the better days long passed. "Conquer," released this year on Roadrunner Records, is Soulfly's sixth studio release and according to Cavalera continues where they left off on their last record.

"I think it's really a continuation of 'Dark Ages,'" he said. "This got deeper into everything we started with 'Dark Ages.' To me, it's really awesome to go even heavier and even faster, more experimental even with 'Conquer.' Everything about it I think was really exciting, from the album cover to the themes to the songs to the way everybody plays on it to the way the songs came out. It's really exciting kind of watching the album grow from the beginning to the time it was finished."

The "Conquer" tour kicked off this November in Victoria, Texas, which is one of the many unorthodox cities on the tour. Cavalera chose to pick locations and venues the band might not usually hit so they could see fans that might miss their shows.

"I'm excited for the tour," he said. "I look at the dates and I know there's a lot of places where I normally don't play or haven't played in a long time. That's really exciting to me because we'll be hitting some crowds that normally have to drive to see us, so we're actually going to where they are. It's a very cool thing to do this kind of tour. Some bands don't do this anymore. They just play the big cities. But, I think it's pretty cool because coming from Brazil, I know how it is to go to a show especially when the band doesn't come there very often. I know the feeling of it, so it should be killer."

Along this tour that leads to an end at the festival in Tempe, regional metal talents will be afforded a unique opportunity.

"We also have local bands playing on all the shows too," he said. "That's cool because you have local bands opening the show and playing in front of more people than they normally play and that's always good, you know. That's how it started for us like twenty years ago in Brazil. It's the way to do it, if you have a chance to open for somebody."

The D-Low Memorial was originally scheduled for August at the Marquee Theatre but unscheduled divine intervention moved the date back.

"It was postponed because lightning hit the building and I think it took the power off the whole neighborhood," Cavalera said. "So, it was kind of a crazy thing to happen. The show is going happen now on November 29, the last show of this tour, and yeah, we have Sacred Reich on it too, which is an old band from the past from the thrash times, back in the thrash days, so it should be a lot of fun."

Cavalera Conspiracy made their first appearance at last year's Dana memorial, and was followed by the album, "Inflikted" as well as a supporting world tour. This was the first time the two brothers from Brazil, Max and Iggor, stepped on a stage together since the fallout of Sepultura. Cavalera Conspiracy will be making a return appearance to the festival this year and although the future of the band is uncertain, brother Max alluded to possibly continuing the project.

"Yeah probably, man. It was really fun, you know, and I just love playing music. The more, the better, just keep doing it. That's what I am here for."

THE 12th ANNUAL D-LOW MEMORIAL FESTIVAL
featuring CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, SOULFLY, SACRED REICH, INCITE
NOVEMBER 29
6:30 PM
THE MARQUEE THEATRE
730 N. MILL AVE.
TEMPE, AZ 85821