Nailbomb are one of metal’s great one-album wonders. The duo, featuring Sepultura/current Soulfly frontman Max Cavalera and Fudge Tunnel singer/guitarist Alex Newport, released a single studio album, 1994’s cult industrial metal classic Point Blank, before putting the project on ice.
Thirty years after Point Blank, Max unexpectedly resurrected Nailbomb with a gig in his adopted hometown of Phoenix, Arizona in November 2024. Although Alex Newport was absent, the line-up featured members of Pig Destroyer, Repulsion and another of Max’s bands, Cavalera Conspiracy. Now he’s bringing Nailbomb to Europe in August, including a date at Bloodstock on August 8.
“The main reason is that I just really love the Point Blank record,” Max tells Metal Hammer of his reasons for relaunching Nailbomb. “It’s one of my top five records of all time. I learned so much from making it, that there’s this other way of making music, which is total freedom.
“It came from me and Alex just jamming here in Arizona,” he continues. “We loved Ministry and Nine Inch Nails and Young Gods, but we thought it could be a little heavier, a little more pissed off, so we thought, ‘Let’s make our own version.’
“We recorded anything we wanted, how we wanted. It was an extremely selfish record, just doing the stuff that we thought sounded great and sounded pissed off.”
While Alex Newport isn’t involved this time around, having gone onto a successful career as a producer, Max says his former bandmate has given the new version his blessing.
“We’re still in contact, but mostly it’s my wife, Gloria, who is in contact with him,’ says Max. “He’s doing great. It’s actually funny, he told her he’s so happy right now that he wouldn’t fit in Nailbomb. He’s extremely happy, and I’m happy for him. But he said, ‘Go ahead and do it, they’re great songs.’”
Nailbomb only played just two shows during their brief original run, both in Eindhoven, Holland. The first was a low-key warm-up gig at the town’s Hollywood club on June 1, 1995, the second a performance at the Dynamo festival two days later, where the line-up featured members of Biohazard, Fear Factory, the Dead Kennedys and Neurosis.
“It was so much fun finding musician friends that just wanted to jam,” says Max. ‘We created this ensemble, almost like a noise orchestra, for the Dynamo show.”
Max tells Hammer that the upcoming tour was inspired by the response to the comeback gig last year.
“We did the show in Phoenix, and it was just so cool,” he says. “It was, like, ‘It would be a waste not to play this live.’ The good thing about now is that you’ve got this whole generation of kids that want to see those things. They want to experience these things from the 1990s, and it’s amazing to see the reaction.
“Point Blank is a nihilistic record. It’s more relevant now than when we made it. It fits the times we’re living in like a glove. There’s a lot of uncertainty in the world right now, especially here in the States. We like to think we’re civilised and that our leaders know what they’re doing, but sometimes I don’t think that’s the case. The guys that are in charge, most of them are morons. It’s fucking scary, but there’s a cool magic in the Nailbomb attitude of giving zero fucks. It’s got a true, primal anger.”
Nailbomb’s return prompts the question of whether we’ll finally get a follow-up to Point Blank.
“If it was all entirely up to me, I’d love to do it,” says Max. “Being the kind of person that I am, I love working, I love creating music, this is what I was put on this planet to do. But I don’t think it’s gonna happen because Alex is too happy right now. It’s actually cool that you have one cult record that people from all walks of life like. So I don’t think it’s going to happen, but we’ve still got the live stuff. To me, Point Blank is an amazing record to play live. Bloodstock is in for a surprise – they’re gonna see some amazing stuff.”
