Andreas Kisser

Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser has been churning out distinctive guitar leads and blistering riffs with his fellow Brazilians for over 20 years. He's not the original guitarist, but he's been with the band since 1987. The departure of the Cavalera brothers left Andreas steering the ship by himself, with original bassist Paulo Jr. still along for the ride.

Calling from his home in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Andreas talked about his new double CD, the status of Sepultura and fatherly advice.

Metal Mayhem: What's going on with Sepultura?
Andreas Kisser: We've been playing shows in Brazil, we're still touring for our album A-Lex. We just played in Chile with Faith No More, we have a festival coming up with Jane's Addiction next year in Europe. It's our celebration of 25 years, and it's very good to celebrate.

MM: What motivated you to create the music on Hubris I & II? Was it nice to step away from Sepultura and create something this awesome for yourself to enjoy?
AK: Well, I started out playing the acoustic guitar, then the electric, but I always kept both. I started playing classical guitar (before joining Sepultura). I've always loved the classical guitar style played by Randy Rhoads and Ritchie Blackmore, and classical music and old rock 'n' roll. Some songs are 15 years old. I have a mini-drum machine and started recording and organizing demos until I had enough for the concept for a double album. I experimented a lot, as much as I could. My friends from Brazil play on it, and we had a blast. It took a long time to make it in between breaks from Sepultura. It's very different but I am happy with the results. We did some shows in Brazil and had some good response.

MM: What was the concept behind the album, and what does hubris mean?
AK: Hubris is of Greek origin, and it means arrogance, a human being who thinks he's God, creator of the universe. It's related to men flying, an arrogance toward nature that drives us to grow in technology; trash, pollution, putting the planet in jeopardy, the extremes. That's what the cover art explains, with the brain covered in barbed wire, it symbolizes human relations. Music is spiritual, it has different cultures and freedom of expression. I tried to create each song as an experience of what I was feeling.

MM: On the songs that actually have vocals, they are mostly sung in your native Portuguese , and the music sounds like it is rooted in the Brazilian/South American culture. How important was this to convey while writing the songs? Was it a conscience effort?
AK: I did everything here in Brazil, all the musicians are Brazilian. Brazilian people have a way of playing music, whether its metal or classical. Being Brazilian, living here and the culture, being exposed to a different style of music, it's always fresh. Being here, that experience came out in the music.

MM: Where did you draw your influences from on Hubris I & II?
AK: Heavy metal is what I play. Everything I play has metal intentions, always deep and heavy, and I try to explore that all the time. But I also love the classical guitar as well as classical music composers 600 to 700 years ago. It's great to have a different perspective of writing. If you have classical guitar training, you can play any style of music. It's great to explore the classical side. Also the blues, guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughan, as well as Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. I don't like jazz that much, though ...