INTERVIEW: Richie Cavalera – Incite

After fifteen years in the business and being born into the world of metal, prodigal son Richie Cavalera has more and more tricks up his sleeve. INCITE‘s fifth album Built To Destroy is as fresh as groove metal can get in 2019 while also making an eager throwback to the golden age of metal that made trips to the record store a true adventure. Distorted Sound sat down with the frontman to discuss the band’s near future, how axeman Dru Rome has managed his first record with the band, and the band’s lethal game of ‘death ball’.

Was there any pressure in your family to end up in a metal band?

Richie: Not really, when I was really young even pre-Max Cavalera, my mom started the first metal bar in Arizona in the early 80s. When I was born, I went right to the metal bar, so from day one it’s been my life and I don’t think I really knew anything different. I looked at my friends as being weird, not us. It was everything I knew and everything I did, I never felt any pressure. I’m sure they’d have been more happy if I went to college and became a doctor and all that because they know how unpredictable and hard this can be, so I’m sure it wasn’t their first choice for us by any means. We were on the road from birth so when we turned 18, I didn’t turn around saying I just wanted to be in a band because they could help me. It was something I always loved since the age of 13 playing on stage with NAILBOMB and SEPULTURA right up to starting my own band, there was this kind of natural order of things is how I always looked at it.

You’re back with your fifth album after three years. Has that felt like a long time to work on one album?

Richie: It was definitely nice, the last two records had a rush on them with getting new members wanting to have their music be the band and that was the way everything worked out. For us, unfortunately, we didn’t feel that was the best move to ever do when you’re making music or art. It needs to have time, it needs to be able to saturate in your mind and make changes along the way. With this one, it was nice to have that, that’s why you see such a caliber in the music compared to all the previous ones. I think the previous records are great but this one jumped to a whole new level and I attribute that to having the time instead of just touring and writing, touring and writing. It’s better feeding off that vibe of working constantly as a band and having the same guys to build a cohesive vibe. The vibe people give to bands is that you have to put things out fast and it’s making music not as good in my opinion. The bands that take time are putting out better things and are able to create more.

How are you coping without Kevin McAllister on guitar?

Richie: When Kevin left, we had made the transition really easy with Dru Rome coming in, he hadn’t really toured or done things so it was easy to groom him from day one. He had the talent and the stage presence, but everything else was just falling into place and helped him learn as a writer. It was nice to have Kevin to step up on the Up In Hell record and write that, even though he wasn’t in the band at the time, as well as writing half of the Oppression because it helped to keep the continuity of the sound of the band going forward. Now with the new album, Dru was able to really do his thing, letting him be the riff guy, be the one that laid the foundation of the album. We couldn’t be happier with what he did, his skills have grown so much and not everybody can write songs, but for him to step up and write a record for a band that’s put out so many albums already, that was definitely stressful on him but he kicked ass and I absolutely love it.

How was the writing process this time around?

Richie: It was easy for me, Lennon [Lopez, drums] and EL [bass] because we’ve been through the process a bit more with writing a record, but once we had everything in demo form, it was cool to just come together and have everybody improve, put our say in, do our parts, add things, take things away. Something you can get into with writing is just doing the same thing over and over without noticing it. So when you bring in the other minds to touch it up, that makes everything a lot more Incite at that point.

What was Steve Evetts like on production for a second time after Oppression?

Richie: That was cool because we already built this great vibe with him. At the end of Oppression, it goes back to that not having enough time, we just felt like the record was not what it could’ve been and all of our records could have been like that. It was like, “you’ve got 18 days, go in and record it, write half of it, get it done.” This time, the label was letting us do what’s right and have the pre-production go for 10 days, be in the studio for almost two months, make it right and not have any second thoughts later down the line. Working with Steve, we knew what to expect and he made it that much better, he was killing it. Having Deuce put the master on it and the final touches was a dream come true for us. We’ve had an experience with a bad producer before when the whole vibe was wrong, which sucks because we had such great songs and you keep thinking, “man, if we had this person, how much better would it have been?” So it’s definitely better for every band to have the right dude.

Whose idea was the killer Giger-like artwork for Built To Destroy?

Richie: For this one, I took a step back and let the other guys be more involved, I told them “here’s what the album’s about, here’s the concept, take it from there.” I let EL take over the cover work, he’s an old school metal dude that knows everything about every band ever. He’s a tattoo artist as well so he’s been big with the merch designs lately. So EL and Andre Bouzikov came up with a killer expression. It brings that ’80s early metal that I was big on when record covers were everything to an album. We’ve been fortunate enough to work with Dan Seagrave and Andre. It depicts just how we feel about this band, we feel everything we’ve been through has led up to this. It’s built, in metal terms, to destroy. We grew up going to vinyl shops where you couldn’t hear the music and you didn’t have four singles out before it came out, so you’d have to go there, look at the covers and be sold that way. For us, that’s always been a huge thing with this band and it will continue to be just as important as the songs for us. Everything else that goes into it is all part of the big picture, like making a movie.

What was it like bringing Kirk Windstein from CROWBAR and Chris Barnes from SIX FEET UNDER for guest slots?

Richie: Kirk is unbelievable, he’s one of the most humble guys in the business. What happens with our guest spots, we always want it to be someone that’s been close to the band over the years, someone that’s been cool with us and not just some random guy who’s famous. CROWBAR took us on tours over the last few years so we made songs that were for these guys in specific ways and to have them with us was a dream come true. They’re legendary dudes and two of the coolest guys. Chris is controversial but when you get to know him and smoke a joint with him, he’s one of the coolest dudes you’ll ever meet in your life, Kirk as well. He was at the merch stand partying with everybody and you don’t see that in this day and age with people that have been doing it as long as they have. We’re very honoured and I think people are going to trip on those two tracks.

Which lyric on the new album are you most proud of?

Richie: The whole body of work, to me, was a very huge feat. Coming into the fifth album and making topics different and not repeating yourself is a big thing, not sounding like a ten year old kid anymore. Because I’m growing up, I’m 33 years old so I have more adult things that come about. I’d have to say Backbone because it might be the first positive INCITE song, we’re all tested and broken down and some of us are able to come through and be reborn from the struggle we go through. Getting older, those are the things you try to articulate in your music now. That song definitely resonates and I think it’ll be a cool one for people to hear and relate to, it’s a lot easier than a lot of metal songs that’s for sure. I think growing up, it was all about having things more relatable and now I’m married and you go through financial and relationship problems, there’s so many different things you can talk about and relate to, it still resonates in the current environment of the world – from climate to politics to everything. There’s no shortage of things for people to open up about right now.

How are the new tracks going down live so far?

Richie: They’ve been killing it, we were on our headline tour with SIX FEET UNDER and we were doing the title track Built To Destroy and Ruthless Ways and they were already starting pits without people really knowing them and that’s exciting. With this tour we have coming up, we’re gonna be playing five new tracks out of nine total, so we’re definitely coming heavy with the new music to push it out there. I think that’s what’s important to each album, you want to put it as the centrepiece of what you’re doing. For us, those are written for live shows and we’ve just gotta pummel them for everybody. Shit, we’d play the whole thing live if we could, it’s that cool with us! You’ve got to be proud of your new album and keep it rolling.

So the 15 years you’ve had together have paid off well?

Richie: The early years were just a mess, we were young and stupid and to me, it was just about learning music more than officially being in a band. Once The Slaughter came out, we were kind of figuring things out and I was personally getting the wheels going. We’ve been through a lot of setbacks, labels going bankrupt and everything in between, but I think now it’s all come together and what you’ve gotta have in this business is patience, that’s the most important thing. I’ve never been able to find something outside of playing live that makes that same feeling happen.

So with 15 years out on the road, what’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever seen in an INCITE crowd?

Richie: In 2007 or 2008, we were doing a thing called ‘death ball’ where we throw a ball into the pit and whoever ended up with it would get a free shirt at the merch booth. One of the guys one time ended up coming to the merch booth and gosh, he was beat up, shirt ripped off him, everything in between. That was definitely one fan that’s always stuck out with me forever, we’re still friends to this day and he still comes to all the shows and rages and parties with us, so that was definitely a cool experience. It was so dangerous and that was the last time we ever did it because we knew that was a fast track to getting sued for sure!

Finally, how excited are you for Bloodstock this year?

Richie: I absolutely cannot wait for that show, we’re blown away because that’s been our dream. We’ve been posting about it and asking about it, really wanting it for years. We want to see what our songs and our live energy can do to 20,000 people, especially all metalheads. We’re the first main stage band on Friday so we’re gonna set it off and make everybody have to work because we’ve gotta be remembered after 80 bands and the legendary bands! We’re super stoked that they took a chance on us to give us that opportunity, it’ll never be forgotten.

Built To Destroy is out now via MinusHEAD Records. INCITE are featured in the latest digital issue of Distorted Sound, subscribe to our Patreon page to gain access. 

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