IGOR CAVALERA Explains Why SEPULTURA Wore Swastika T-Shirts During Band's Early Years

In a recent interview with Drew Stone of The New York Hardcore Chronicles, ex-SEPULTURA drummer Igor "Iggor" Cavalera addressed the fact that he and some of his former bandmates were photographed during the group's early years (see video below) wearing t-shirts emblazoned with a symbol which is synonymous with the Nazi party, white supremacists and the persecution and killing of Jewish people during the Holocaust.

"There's some old pictures where I was wearing a t-shirt — not only me, Paulo [Xisto Pinto Jr., bass] [and] sometimes Max [Cavalera, guitar/vocals] — with a swastika on, which a lot of people are, like, 'What the hell were you guys doing?'" Igor said (see video below). "But, as you know, in those times, in 1982, '83, punk was pretty big, and Sid Vicious [SEX PISTOLS] had a t-shirt with a swastika, and we, as stupid kids, we thought it was cool to wear that. And I remember that at one point, one of our friends from a different band, DORSAL [ATLÂNTICA], he came up to us, and he was, like, 'Guys, this is not shocking. This is stupid.' And then, from that day on, we never wore the shirt again. But that was the thing with punk at that time — 'Oh, we wanna shock the world. We wanna wear this.' But it was just plain stupid.

"I think the most important thing and lesson about this is you need to learn and you need to evolve as a human," Igor continued. "And that's why I think education is so important, so people can be educated and they can know about history, about those things in a deeper context — not just wearing for the fact of shocking values. There's a lot more behind this."

Igor left SEPULTURA in June 2006 due to "artistic differences." His departure from the band came five months after he announced that he was taking a break from SEPULTURA's touring activities to spend time with his second wife and their son (who was born in January 2006).

In 1996, Igor's brother Max exited SEPULTURA after the rest of the band split with his wife Gloria as their manager.

For a decade and a half, Igor has been part of the MIXHELL DJ/hip-hop/electro project with his wife Laima Leyton.

Two years ago, Igor teamed up with Wayne Adams (BIG LAD, DEATH PEDALS, JOHNNY BROKE) to form the PETBRICK project. The band's debut album, "I", was released in October 2019 via Closed Casket Activities in the U.S.

Igor's other current musical projects include CAVALERA CONSPIRACY (alongside Max) and SOULWAX.