Oh, boy, where does one start? Even though Soulfly has only been around since 1997, there is a ton of history to Soulfly. I suppose I will start with Max leaving Sepultura.

Back in 1996, Sepultura as a band fired then their manager, Gloria Cavalera (Max's wife). The disagreement came in about the new direction and other management issues with the band. Apparently, Max wanted to go in a different direction than the rest of the band which included his own brother, Igor. This event, coupled with the widely known death of Dana Wells, Max's step son, further separated Max and the rest of Sepultura. So, as a result, Max left Sepultura, the Brazilian metal giant, in search of something new.

In 1997, Max landed his first member of Soulfly: drummer Roy "Rata" Mayorga of Thorn (New York band). Shortly after, he recruited bassist Marcello D. Rapp, who had been a roadie with Sepultura. They had known each other a long time. Lastly, Max found guitarist Jackson Bandeira of Chico Science (the band) and NACAO ZUMBI. Chico Science (the man) had died a while ago thus provding Jackson the opportunity of joining Soulfly.

With the band members set, the album was in the works. The self-titled hit came out on 4.21.98. It featured many appearances of Sepultura/Max fans. The long list includes: Mario C. (Beastie Boys producer), Burton C. Bell, Dino Cazares, and Christian Olde Wolbers from Fear Factory, Fred Durst and DJ Lethal from Limp Bizkit, Chino from Deftones, Benji from Dub War, Eric Bobo from Cypress Hill, and Jorge DuPeixe and Gilmar Bola Oito from Chico Science. The album was produced and mixed by Ross Robinson, whose works includes KoRn and Limp Bizkit.

Following the album, Soulfly toured with much enthuaism. They were on the Dee Snider's Strangeland tour with dayinthelife..., (hed)pe, and Snot. Fans of Sepultura (me!) embraced Soulfly with much joy.

With the tour however, came changes in the lineup. Jackson Bandeira left to work with his former band. Logan Mader, who abruptly left his long time band Machine Head, joined; however, that didn't last long. A few months later, Logan left the band to pursue his own band. Thus, Mikey of Snot, who had just suffered the death of their lead singer, Lynn Strait, joined Soulfly as a temporary sub for the guitarist position.

And in July of 1999, as Soulfly was touring with Neurosis and Hatebreed, Roy Mayorga, the original drummer, was fired by the band. Tension grew very intense between the band and Roy. Soulfly continued the tour with a temporary drummer.

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