In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station, SEPULTURA frontman Derrick Green, who resides in Los Angeles, spoke about how the coronavirus pandemic is continuing to affect everyday life. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s slowly getting there. There’s definitely those ups and downs. After Fourth of July, people were, like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re out of the woods,’ and then two weeks after Fourth of July, half the people I knew had COVID and were really screwed up. The delta variant really wiped a lot of people I know — it really wrecked them. Some of the people I know still can’t smell, can’t taste, have a lot of lung problems still. And these are healthy people. So this was kind of terrifying.
“A lot of people here are really taking [the pandemic] seriously, but then again, there’s people that don’t and they’re doing whatever they wanna do,” he continued. “It’s something I always expected — that people are gonna really not sometimes see the big picture. It’s hard when you’re confined in a space for such a long period of time. And especially in the U.S. — being confined within the U.S. and not being able to see how this is playing worldwide, it can really warp your perception of how things really are. But I guess people are going from where they are locally. So now people are going out. They’re still masked up a lot of places.
“I’ve gone to a few concerts,” Derrick added. “I went to my first indoor-type concert a week ago. I went and saw JINJER and SUICIDE SILENCE play. And it was great — a great show. But I was masked up. There were some young people there that were just, like, ‘All right. I don’t give a damn. Life is back,’ in the pit and everything. But, of course, to meet up with those guys [in JINJER], I had to take a COVID test and show my vaccinated card and everything to get into the show and then do a COVID test to see those guys backstage. Because they’re on tour, and most of the bands I know that are touring, somebody gets it. [JINJER‘s] drummer already got it, and he was vaxxed, but his recovery was three days, and he was back playing again… And those guys are coming from the Ukraine into the U.S., so I don’t even know how they managed to do that with all the restrictions and everything, but they were able to make that tour happen. And they’re packed — sold-out shows.
“So, I think things are getting back to normal. I think here in the U.S., things are changing rapidly — quicker in getting back to some type of normal faster than other places. So that’s a good thing.”
Green also talked about his decision to take the COVID-19 vaccine, saying: “I’ve never been into putting things into my body chemically, as far as stuff like that. So it was difficult, but it was not that difficult. Because I have. I was, like, ‘I don’t wanna be a hypocrite, but let me think about all the horrible things that I put into my body that I never questioned.’ … But I was just, like, ‘You know what? It’s not gonna be a big deal.’ I’ve taken vaccines to travel the world — yellow fever and hepatitis and things like that — and those are horrible; I felt like crap after taking those. But I survived and they worked. So I was, like, ‘You know what? Let’s do it.’ I didn’t wanna have any restrictions in where I’m gonna go. I’m gonna need to travel, so I was just, like, ‘Yeah. I’m not gonna mess around. I just wanna do this.’ And take care of myself at the same time.”
Green went on to take issue with people who are defiantly against taking the COVID-19 vaccine, saying: “There’s a lot of things people are eating that, I’m sure, are much worse — all this processed food that gave everybody all these pre-existing conditions, like high blood pressure. All that was happening way before COVID. If you asked any doctor, like, ‘What are they in here for?’ [it would usually be] some type of heart disease or some type of blood — something that is very connected with their lifestyle and the food that they need. Horribly overprocessed food, chemically induced. It’s just, like, come on. You’re gonna whine about a vaccine, you’re eating at fucking McDonald’s and shit. It’s not rational.”
Three months ago, Green told “The MetalSucks Podcast” that “it’s really important that each person takes responsibility of being as safe as possible. So if you’re going to a [concert], then it shouldn’t be a problem to take a test,” he said. “And if you have a card, then just show your card. I think in these times, it’s different from any other times, so you have to take precautions because you don’t wanna get other people sick. And you have to be selfless. A lot of times people are just thinking of themselves — unfortunately, only themselves — and they feel that they need to go out and do what they need to do regardless of the consequences that may cause other people. And that’s a horrible attitude, I’ve gotta say. It’s really frustrating dealing with people that have this type of ‘me, me, me, me’ attitude, and it’s really slowed a lot of things down. So I think if people are able to just take precaution, have some restraint and just be safe, including the bands, then we can get through this a little bit faster and we can get back to enjoying some type of normalcy in our lives. I don’t even know if ‘normalcy’ is a word [laughs] — or normality in our lives.”
Cleveland native Green went from fronting hardcore band OUTFACE in Ohio to relocating to New York and then living in São Paulo, Brazil for nearly two decades before moving to Los Angeles in 2018.
Last year, SEPULTURA launched “SepulQuarta”, a weekly event where the band gave insight into its colorful history, took part in question-and-answer sessions with fans and performed music while in quarantine. Some of the musical collaborations, including those with members of MEGADETH, TESTAMENT, ANTHRAX, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, TRIVIUM and SACRED REICH, was released as a full-length album, also titled “SepulQuarta”, in August.
