*Marc** **Rizzo***

*Soulfly**, **Ill** Nino, Solo*

*Interview by: **Cameron** **Edney** *

* *

*So far this year many metal albums have been released that we know will be
talked about for some time, one of those albums is defiantly the new Soulfly
slab 'Dark Ages' an album that has mixed old-school Sepultura with the new
sound Soulfly. I recently caught up with guitarist **Marc** **Rizzo** who
has come a long way from the days of forming band Ill Nino. These days Marc
is shredding the guitar in the studio and onstage with Soulfly who are
currently on tour, Marc also has been busy with the re-release of his
instrumental album 'Collasol Myopia' an album that combines both thrash
metal with flamenco style guitar playing. This is one of those albums that
all respected guitarists will enjoy and an album that all new comers will be
blown away listening to. When I caught up with Marc we spoke about the
re-release of his solo album, the new Soulfly album, the possibility of
releasing a live DVD, touring Australia, those comments Max recently made
about touring again with Sepultura and much more. It's time to take a trip
through the Dark Ages with **Marc** **Rizzo**. *

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Hi **Marc**; hows things mate?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: Good thanks how are you?

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: I well thanks, **Marc** first of all thank you for putting
some time aside to answer these questions for our readers. I would like to
start by congratulating you on what is by far the best Soulfly album
released to date. Were you guys happy with the outcome of 'Dark Ages'? *

* *

MARC RIZZO: Oh yeah I am 100% happy with the outcome of the new record. I
think we all were about recording this past year on tour & I think it came
out better than we expected. We really challenged our selves & really pushed
ourselves to limits to make this record.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: I love the new album it's somewhere along the lines of old
Sepultura meets new Soulfly!*

* *

MARC RIZZO: Exactly! Joe & I are both huge thrash metal fans as is Max. We
wanted to get back to that style. We love the Soulfly stuff but we really
wanted to get back to solos & great thrash riffs.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: How long did it take to record the new album? *

* *

MARC RIZZO: Not long at all; it took about a month to record the basic
guitars, bass & drums. Max took a bit of time doing the vocals & going over
the world to find those weird instruments. It took us about six months all
together.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: When it came time to record 'Dark Ages' did you approach it
in a different way to albums you have worked on in the past?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: I think we talked about getting back to the thrash style because
Joe & myself are really into that style of music & we're both well schooled
in that style of music. Max also wanted to go back into more of the world
music vibe that he's always had. He continued to go around the world to look
for strange instruments to use on the record.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: What guitars did you use on the new album? Did you pull out
any vintage guitars for this one?*

MARC RIZZO: The new record I was using ESP Viper for basically the whole
record, I used a Strat nothing to old just one from the eighties. I used
that on all the clean parts. All the clean sounding parts were the Strat,
all the acoustic parts were done with a Yamaha nylon string acoustic but the
heavy rythems were all done on the Viper.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: How would you describe your guitar playing on the new album?
*

* *

MARC RIZZO: It similar to my instrumental CD there are a lot of solos on it,
I love Sepultura, Cannibal Corpse, I love a lot of the death metal bands,
the whole thrash era. I defiantly brought that style back into the band.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: In a few words can you tell us the first thing that comes to
mind when I mention the following tracks:*

* *

*Carved Inside:** *That was a song that we wrote in the studio. That one was
done pretty quick man; it was just one of those songs. Max & I both had
riffs for it. I had sent Max tracks for some of the basic riffs then Max
came up with some riffs for it & boom!. Basically we wrote that song in a
day.

* *

*I and I:** *That's an awesome song that Max brought to the table, he pretty
much had everything in there, & we just went in there & did it in one or two
takes. I really loved the recording the guitar parts for this track all the
weird effects, it was cool.

* *

*Babylon**:** *It's funny with 'Babylon' it was the last song that we wrote
which is obviously now the lead track on the record. On the majority of the
record there's a lot of fast, up tempo songs. Basically we came up with the
riff on the spot, then recorded the drums, went back & did the guitars. That
was another one that we knocked the whole arrangement for the song in a day.

* *

*Feel the Hate:** *That's another song where Max came in with a riff & we
collaborated on it. Basically all the songs we had the arrangements done in
an hour or two. We went in & did drums in one day, basic rythem & bass
tracks in one day.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Its amazing that something that sounds so good can be
knocked up so quick in the studio, when you hear that some bands have spent
six months writing one song [laughs].*

MARC RIZZO: You know what, I think it's a joke when some bands spend
forever in a studio, it's just rock man! We're not writing 'Beethoven's
fifth'. If you practice everyday & you're well schooled in the type of music
you want to play, write & improvise. If you know your scales & you know your
chords, know what works & what doesn't, why would it take you so long?

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Tell us something about the other guys in the band that we
wouldn't know? *

MARC RIZZO: Oh everybody's really cool. Max is awesome. I'd never met
Maxbefore joining the band. He is one of the coolest people I've met
in the
business. Max is open to ideas. He wants you to be happy just as much as he
wants to be happy. The rest of the guys in the band are like that too.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Recently you re-released your solo album 'Collasol Myopia'
on Shrapnel records in **America**. When I heard this album I was really
impressed, it's somewhat a departure from the work you're doing in Soulfly.
I believe this project has taken a couple of years it wasn't something that
you just threw together over night. Can you tell us how the project came
about?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: It's basically something that I've wanted to do for a long time.
I had released this Cd on my own record company & I put it out, then it got
picked up by shrapnel records. Basically it's an instrumental shred CD. It's
a mixture of Yngwie Malmsteen & Paco De Lucia who are two of my favorite
guitar players; I've always been a huge fan of flamenco & Latin guitar music
& of course heavy metal, [Yngwie] Malmsteen, Jason Becker, Marty Friedman
etc. Basically I wanted to do a record that combined those two styles
together. Mike Varney, president of shrapnel records really dug the album &
signed me up, gave me a record deal & hooked me up to write a couple of new
songs for the record & put it out. I can't wait to make another one.

*INSIDE_OUT666: So is this just something you're going to continue to do as
a side project or would you consider leaving Soulfly to do concentrate on
that full time? *

* *

MARC RIZZO: Oh I want to continue to do both. I love being in Soulfly & I
love doing my instrumental stuff. When I'm not on tour with Soulfly then I
wanna go out & tour for my instrumental album as well. Both are very
important to me.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: I believe the original version of 'Collasol Myopia' is
becoming quite the collectable. When you signed with Shrapnel whose idea was
it to re-release the album with new artwork & extra tracks? *

* *

MARC RIZZO: That was Mike Varney's idea. He came out to one of our shows in San
Francisco. He said that he would love it if I'd do more metal shred work &
also have the record leaning towards flamenco music. Both Mike & Max were
the first two people that were cheering me on to do rock solos. For a long
time nobody wanted to hear heavy metal solos. Having those guys in my corner
really pushed me in the direction to record more metal shred tracks. I
pushed myself on that album & was really happy with the outcome.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Do you know if there is a release date set yet for 'Collasol
Myopia' here in **Australia**?*

MARC RIZZO: You know, I'll find out. I don't know if they plan on releasing
it down there. I would love for it to get released there & I would really
love to come down to Australia & play some shows for the album. I know it
has been released all over Europe & it has been released here in the states.
But I'm not too sure about Australia. For now if anyone wants to order the
CD they can get it direct from shrapnel's website
http://www.shrapnelrecords.com/storehome.jsp

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: **Max** recently said in an interview that he is looking
forward to playing shows again in the future with Sepultura. With statements
such as that & yourself having side projects, what does the future hold for
the Soulfly?*

MARC RIZZO: I think Soulfly will be going on forever. For as long as Max is
around Soulfly will continue. If Max put Sepultura back together that would
be awesome, I'm the first person who'd love to see that. I'm a huge
Sepultura fan, I grew up on Sepultura, & they're still one of my favorite
bands.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Now Soulfly are heading back out on tour this month, what
can fans expect to see this time around?*

MARC RIZZO: This time around we're going to do everything off the new
record; the fans can really expect to see a thrash set. We're also going to
be doing all the old classic Soulfly songs & a lot of old Sepultura stuff
like 'Inner Self', 'Dead Embryonic Cells', 'Territory' & 'Mass Hypnosis'. We
try to get all these songs perfect, note for note cause we're such fans of
the music. I think you can expect a fast, brutal & heavy set from us.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Do you guys have any plans to return to **Australia** in the
next year?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: I hope so; I have never been down there. I would love to go to
Australia & rock out.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: That's true you never toured here with **Ill** Nino either
did you?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: No we never made it down there, I'd love to come down there &
play.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Over the years you have shared the stage with many great
bands. Who have you enjoyed touring with the most?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: Hmmm, I would say the two bands off the top of my head are Black
Sabbath & Morbid Angel. Obviously the Black Sabbath tour was awesome; we did
the whole tour with them in Europe a couple of months ago. Walk down the
hallway and there's Ozzy walking past you [laughs] it's crazy man. Tony
Iommi's dressing room was over from mine & every night I would listen to him
warming up, just jamming out before the show. Morbid Angel was another band
I really enjoyed touring with. They were great man!

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Do you do anything specific to warm up & prepare for a show?
*

* *

MARC RIZZO: Yeah I usually like to get my work out done before I go onstage,
so I will go for a jog, do weights or whatever I can do. I always have a
guitar handy, I practice all day long. Before I go onstage I will do some
scales & think about the songs that we're gonna play that night & go over
them then just get ready to get out there & play.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: **Marc**; name some of your biggest musical influences?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: Oh, I would say Marty Friedman, Yngwie Malmsteen, Greg Howe,
then on the flamenco side of things I would have to say I'm into a lot of
flamenco guitar playing I wouldn't know where to begin. I love all the
thrash metal bands from the eighties, Metallica, Slayer, Sepultura, Megadeth
that whole style. It's some of my all time favourite music.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Wow, thrash metal to flamenco music! Its one extreme to the
other isn't it?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: Yeah defiantly! I love both styles I think they belong together.
I think that flamenco is some of the most demanding style technically to
play on the guitar & then you've got metal on the other hand which is just
as demanding & definitely fits the criteria.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Did you always want to be a guitarist?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: Oh yeah I've been playing guitar since I was eight & I'm twenty
eight now. I don't even want to play any other instrument. I have always
been a die hard guitar fan man.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: What was the first guitar you owned?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: I had a little acoustic guitar when I was about eight years old
I started on that, it was about a year later that I got my first electric
which I don't even think it had a name. It was just a little black guitar
[laughs].

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: In between the touring & recording what do you like to do
when you do get some spare time?*

MARC RIZZO: Play guitar basically [laughs]. Anytime I am at home I'm
constantly playing guitar & working with some other projects that I have
here at home.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Which record/song would define **Marc** **Rizzo** to a
complete stranger?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: I would say the opening track of my new instrumental album
'Collasol Myopia' that basically sums me all up it's got the metal thread
style, the Flamenco style. It's everything I am about.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Now you guys were just on touring, you're taking this short
break then the plans are to head back out this month. Can we expect to see a
live DVD anytime soon?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: Actually we just recorded some shows in Poland. I figure they're
putting it out sometime this year or early next year! I don't really know
what they plan on doing with it. I can't say at this stage if there will be
extra footage or not. I do know that the footage of us playing in Poland is
fantastic. Every time we play in Poland those kids go insane for us. We've
got great fans everywhere but in Poland they are just so hungry for Soulfly.
It's really too early to say what's happening with the DVD, but I would
expect it to get released in the next few months. I can't wait to see it
myself.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: From all the albums you have appeared on what one would be
your favourite to listen to & why?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: I would say there is two of them; one is my instrumental CD
"Collasol Myopia" the other is the new Soulfly album 'Dark Ages' I love both
of them. I really put out more of myself on those records. It's the type of
music I love & the styles of music that I listen to is on both of those
albums.

*INSIDE_OUT666: Are you currently listening to any of the newer Hard
Rock/Metal bands? If so who?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: Yes, I love all the new bands that are out there right now. I
love Lamb of God & Shadows Fall. I think Shadows Fall is one of the best
bands to come out in a long time. God there are so many great bands right
now that I can't even remember them all off the top of my head [laughs].

Now, people are really fed up with a lot of the nu-metal stuff & the
pop/metal bands. I liked a lot of the nu-metal bands but it's great to see
thrash metal comin back to the frontline & great to see that people are
craving musicianship again.

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: If you could put a band together consisting of musicians
passed and/or present who would they be & what would you call the band?*

* *

MARC RIZZO: Wow, that's a tough one! I would want everybody in that band.
All the great guitarist, all those great drummers, oh I'd have to say Dave
Lombardo [Slayer] on drums, Zakk Wylde [Ozzy Osbourne/Black Label Society]
on guitar, Les Claypool [Primus] on bass & as fas as a singer I would want a
rock singer like Sammy Hager [Van Halen]. I'd call the band The Greats!
[Laughs]

* *

*INSIDE_OUT666: Any last words you want to share with our readers? *

* *

MARC RIZZO: Hopefully we will be down your way to play soon, I have never
been to Australia so I can't wait to play for all our fans their, the home
of Ac/dc right! We will get down there & rock out!

*(c)** **Cameron** **Edney** October 2005 *

*Not to be re-printed in any form without written permission.*

*For all the latest info on Marc & Soulfly check out the following
websites:*

*http://www.soulfly.com*

*http://www.marcrizzo.com*

*http://www.myspace.com/soulfly*

*http://inside_out666.mysite.freeserve.com*

Soulfly are currently out on tour, make sure you catch them at the
following shows.

All dates are correct at the time of print:

* *

*Sun 10/16/05 **Atlanta**, **GA** The Masquerade*

*Mon 10/17/05** **Tampa**, FL The Masquerade*

*Tue 10/18/05** **Jacksonville**, **FL** Freebird Live*

*Wed 10/19/05 **Fort Lauderdale**, **FL** Culture Room*

*Thu **10/20/05** **Lake Buena Vista**, **FL** House Of Blues*

*Sat 10/22/05 **Winston-Salem**, **NC** Ziggy's*

*Sun 10/23/05 **Towson**, **MD** Recher Theatre*

*Mon 10/24/05** **New York**, **NY** **Irving** **Plaza***

*Tue 10/25/05 **Hartford**, **CT** **Webster** **Theatre** / Underground*

*Wed 10/26/05 **Boston**, **MA** Axis*

*Thu **10/27/05** **Philadelphia**, **PA** The Trocadero & Balcony Bar*

*Fri 10/28/05** **Allentown**, **PA** Crocodile Rock Cafe*

*Sat 10/29/05 **Levittown**, **NY** Voltage*

*Sun 10/30/05** **Cleveland**, **OH** **Peabody**'s Down Under*

*Mon 10/31/05** **Milwaukee**, **WI** The Rave / Eagles Club*

*Tue 11/01/05** **Columbus**, **OH** **Newport** **Music Hall***

*Wed 11/02/05 **Fort Wayne**, **IN** Piere's*

*Thu **11/03/05** **Detroit**, **MI** Harpo's*

*Fri 11/04/05** **Sauget**, **IL** Pop's*

*Sun 11/06/05 **Saint Paul**, MN Station 4*

*Mon 11/07/05** **Chicago**, **IL** House Of Blues*

*Tue 11/08/05** **Carter** **Lake**, IA Chez Paree*

*Wed 11/09/05 **Denver**, CO Ogden Theatre*

*Thu **11/10/05** **Salt Lake City**, **UT** Lo-Fi Cafe*

*Fri 11/11/05** **Albuquerque**, **NM** Sunshine Theatre*

*Sat 11/12/05 **Las Vegas**, **NV** House Of Blues*

*Sun 11/13/05 **Anaheim**, CA House Of Blues*

*Mon 11/14/05** **West Hollywood**, **CA** House Of Blues*


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