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SEPULTURA's ANDREAS KISSER leaves European tour, replaced by Jean Patton (PROJECT46)

24-06-2022

SEPULTURA guitarist Andreas Kisser has been forced to leave the band’s current European tour due to a “family emergency.” He is being temporarily replaced on the road by Jean Patton of fellow São Paulo, Brazil-based heavy metal act PROJECT46.

Earlier this week (Wednesday, June 22), SEPULTURA released the following statement via social media: “Unfortunately, @andreaskisser has returned home due to a family emergency. However, the show must go on, so we’ve tapped fellow Brazilian @jeanpatt6n (of @project46_oficial) to riff with until Andreas‘ return. Huge thanks to him for jumping in on short notice (practice is sounding great already!). Please join us in welcoming Jean and wishing Andreas the best. Tour continues tomorrow at @festival_kilkim_zaibu”.

SEPULTURA played its first show with fill-in guitarist Jean Patton (PROJECT46) yesterday (Thursday, June 23) at the Kilkim Žaibu festival in Lithuania. Fan-filmed video footage of the performance can be found below.

This is not the first time Kisser has sat out SEPULTURA shows since he joined the band three and a half decades ago. Back in December 1991, Kisser was unable to perform due to an arm injury and was temporarily replaced on a European tour by KORZUS guitarist Silvio Golfetti.

Last September, Kisser revealed during an appearance on TRIVIUM frontman Matt Heafy‘s “GLHF” podcast that his wife had been diagnosed with cancer in February 2021. He said at the time: “She’s going through chemo, like surgeries and stuff. She’s doing great; she’s doing well; the treatment is fantastic. But it’s an atomic bomb one after another — pandemic, cancer and stuff. And regardless of that, we’re strong. We’re very united, we are growing as a band and as a family, and myself as a human being.”

Last July, Kisser told A&P Reacts that he quit drinking alcohol right before the pandemic hit. “It was one of the best decisions I made in my life,” he said. “Not that I was a fucking out-of-control alcoholic, but alcohol was a part of my life, of everything I did. In certain degrees less and more, but it was there. It was taking control of my life, of my choices, of how I dealt with people or with a special occasion or something. Alcohol was involved in everything. And I don’t need that. And I proved now that I don’t, because I’m having a better life. I’m doing exercises. I have the routine I never had touring.”

He continued: “When you are on the road, every time you’re in a different place, in a different time period. Or you go to a bathroom and you don’t shower and you have to travel, et cetera. That was our life. And with the pandemic, I had finally a routine. I kind of complained before because I couldn’t do exercises, I couldn’t have my diet, I couldn’t study classical guitar. Now I have all that, and I appreciate that a lot.

“The stuff that I have with my wife and my kids, that I’m never home when SEPULTURA is in the middle of an album cycle, I’m always here now. It was a difficult time, but we recreated ourselves kind of. We are a better family now — a much better family now. And that’s very special. And I have to be thankful for that somehow, that I was able really to make the best out of something so terrible.”

According to Kisser, “it was very easy” for him to give up the bottle. “Once you have a clear idea in your mind, there’s no discussion,” he explained. “I didn’t put the responsibility on a saint or, let’s say, in a church, or ‘I will stop for a year’ or ‘I promise you, my wife, I don’t drink anymore.’ No. It’s not for them. It’s a very personal attitude. It’s me with me — not more. I don’t have to put the responsibility away from myself, in a time period or in a certain religious belief or my family. They don’t deserve that. This is my problem, and I resolve it with myself. So I’m in peace with myself with that. It’s not something that bothers me. I can be around alcohol, I can be around parties, I can be around backstage, as I did with my KISSER CLAN band here and stuff. People drink around me, and I don’t care. I don’t even feel the wish to drink, which is great. So I don’t have a battle, let’s put it that way. I’m not running away from anything. I just decided to stop. That’s it.”

SEPULTURA comprises Kisser, vocalist Derrick Green, bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. and drummer Eloy Casagrande.

SEPULTURA was formed in Belo Horizonte by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera, who are no longer with the band.

In February 2020, SEPULTURA singer Derrick Green told Australia’s Everblack Media that Casagrande has had “a tremendous impact” on the group since he joined in 2011. “It’s undeniable because he’s such a strong force,” he said. “He loves playing metal music. He’s one of the most talented drummers I’ve ever seen, honestly. That power is consistent from beginning to the end. It really has rubbed off on all of us to really push ourselves further. He’s such a perfect match for the band. He really is always influencing us in so many ways to really go beyond — above and beyond.”

In 2019, Eloy told Drumtalk that he didn’t care about the long-simmering feud between founding SEPULTURA members Max and Igor Cavalera and his current bandmates. “I respect all the history,” he said. “I have total respect for the past drummers, Igor and Jean (Dolabella). They are amazing guys, incredible guys, but we just live in the present. I really don’t care what happened, what didn’t happen. I respect all the music. I respect their music nowadays. It’s just that we have to follow our path and that’s it.”

SEPULTURA‘s latest album, “Quadra”, was released in February 2020 via Nuclear Blast. The LP was created at Sweden’s Fascination Street Studios with renowned producer Jens Bogren.

SEPULTURA comprises GreenKisser, bassist Paulo Xisto Pinto Jr. and Casagrande.

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