LIFE LESSONS
DERRICK GREEN
The Sepultura frontman talks travel, vegan life and getting sober
WORDS: DOM LAWSON
PICTURE: MARCOS HERMES
FRONTMAN WITH LEGENDARY
Brazilian brutes Sepultura for the last 24 years, Derrick Green is modern metal’s favourite gentle giant. To celebrate the release of his band’s new album, SepulQuarta (a starstudded live set culled from weekly lockdown sessions), Derrick chatted with Hammer about the joys of punk rock, the benefits of a healthy lifestyle, the power of positive thinking and the surprising but delightful outcome of an alcohol-free existence.
LOUD, AGGRESSIVE MUSIC IS THE BEST MUSIC
“Music was introduced into my life at a very young age because my mom was a music teacher. So at home we had a piano, and she’d play classical music all the time. She also played gospel music, because she played at church. But I got really into rock music once I started meeting other kids who introduced me to The Beatles and AC/DC and Judas Priest. I was like, ‘Yes! This is so cool!’ I started ordering tapes, from Cheap Trick to Pat Benatar and even Ted Nugent at the time! Ha ha! I didn’t know! But then I really dove into hardcore and the punk rock scene and there was full-on slamming and stagediving. I’d never seen music drive people to do those kinds of things and I just knew. This was what I wanted to do.”
BECOMING A VEGAN WAS AN INFORMED CHOICE
“It all started when I was 14 or 15, when I started going to shows. One band in particular was Cro-Mags, this band from New York. They came and played and they had books. Some of them were about the Krishna lifestyle, because the singer was very into that, and they were vegetarians and vegans. I just dove right into it. At the same time I started reading a lot of different books about the whole production of meat. As time went on, I started to become knowledgeable about the industry and also, through that time period, started to realise how it was having an effect on the planet and how they’re destroying it. So I really decided I didn’t want to give any money to these companies anymore, or to support them.”