When Sepultura invited French industrial percussion outfit Les Tambours du Bronx to perform with them at the famed Rock In Rio Festival in 2011, very few could predict the outcome of taking two powerful live acts and piecing them together onto one stage to create one unmemorable evening.

The evening was captured for their latest DVD, Sepultura and Les Tambours du Bronx, and gave viewers a visual behind what they had missed. The veteran Brazilian metal outfit has been known to collaborate with a number of international artists on past recordings, from Japanese taiko drumming group Koto (on Against) to a variety of musicians within the hard rock and heavy metal community ranging from former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted, Jello Biafra, Korn vocalist Jonathan Davis and Faith No More vocalist Mike Patton.

Since the DVD performance, the two has worked together “Structure Violence (Azzes)” off 2011’s Kairos.

“Much like past collaborations, this one took it to the next level with a live performance at a major Brazilian music festival. “This was the second time we did Rock In Rio, but the first time we recorded it on the main stage. They had a special stage for two artists on there together, where it was first to collaborate together. We’ve done the smaller stage at Rock In Rio. The last Rock In Rio was recorded on the main stage. It was received so well and so many people wanted us to perform on the main stage,” explained frontman Derrick Green, about how this came together.

So how did they cross paths with the French outfit? “We played with them at a festival. There were many different bands playing and we happened to catch their show. We were really blown away by it. We stayed in contact with them and at some point in time we would record something together. Years later we thought about doing Rock In Rio together. We thought about playing together with another artist, and this was perfect. It was powerful and it captured it well.”

“It’s a mixture of a lot of percussion and electronic genres. It’s really hard to describe what their main genre would be. That’s what it is about them,” he added.

They had discussed what songs would work well within their set list for that night. While they performed their staple cuts such as “Refuse/Resist,” “Territory” and “Roots Bloody Roots,” they worked it in a way where both Les Tambours du Bronx’s percussive stylings shined through as well.

“Way before the show, we talked about exchanging the set list back and forth,” said Green. “Actually we listened to a lot of their songs and digging up their songs we thought we could do together. They brought songs they thought they could…they have a certain way of getting certain songs that would be with the drumming. So we got together a list of songs that would go well together.”

Filming the live show for the DVD and using the visuals from the show gave unfamiliar viewers a better idea of what Les Tambours du Bronx was about. Their eclectic sounds brought out a slightly different flavor out of Sepultura and enhanced their well recognized powerful live show in front of their home country’s audience.

“That was the idea. We thought the DVD would be much easier to show exactly what we did and to work with other festivals. We’ve already done it at Rock In Rio, which went really well. We did it at the Wacken Festival in Germany. It was amazing. It blew the minds of a lot of people. It would be a great thing to do this in the States. I’m hoping we could do this next year (2015). We’re talking about it and I think it’s going to happen.

Interview By Rei Nishimoto

Sepultura on Facebook
Les Tambours Du Bronx on Facebook
Sepultura on Twitter
Les Tambours Du Bronx on Twitter