A Conversation With Gloria Cavalera
A humble Libran by nature, Gloria prefers to keep her accomplishments on the DL—but the impact she’s had is impossible to ignore. I was lucky enough to speak with her about her decades-long career, from managing Sepultura, to carving out a life rooted in music, family, and fierce loyalty. We could have digitally yapped for hours.
Gloria, can you take us back to the beginning…before you became a manager; when did your relationship to music start to shift?
I have had many different types of jobs. When I was a teenager I worked at a wood factory to save money to move to Colorado and be a hippie. In Colorado, I worked at a ski resort for one season. Talk about fun!!!! Then I got a coveted job at a famous pizza restaurant and within a year, I was the manager. It is still in the top 10 pizza restaurants in America. 5 years later, my brother was working as an oil surveyor. He called me one day and asked me to get a bar with him. That changed my life’s road into music!
Was there a specific shift that made you go from being a fan of music to someone who wanted to build a career in it?
We bought a pool bar full of rednecks in Phoenix, Arizona in 1983. A couple months into it, a garage band asked if they could play. They pushed the pool tables over and played in the corner. The club was packed!! We quickly did our best to run out the rednecks and go Metal. We had a Heavy Metal Luau, Heavy Metal Arabian Nights, Battles of the Bands, you name it! We paid for Flotsam and Jetsam’s demo which got them signed. Sacred Reich started there. Poison played there several times before they exploded. One day we went to work and the city had locked our doors and said we were “like the punks.” It shattered us. They stole our entire club. For about a year I was a promoter, then my bro, Jason Rainey of Sacred Reich called me asking a bunch of music questions and I asked him if he wanted me to manage them and he said yes. If course I was pretty raw.
Am I correct in understanding your “don’t take no for an answer” approach? I have been known to break a ‘door’ in here or there too.
While I was starting my business I got a job selling TimeLife books about the supernatural. I learned to not take no for an answer because I was a single mom starting my own business which brought in no money. I am a Libra so I am always planning, thinking, rearranging my thoughts. I am stubbornly fair. I believe anyone can find their dream. If you fail, it is a lesson not a finale. I am emphatic to a fault. That was why I took Sepultura. I felt sorry for them.
What was that first ‘big risk’ you took in your career?
That is an easy answer. Starting a job in a word dominated by men. There is a reason many women aren’t here.
You’ve kept such a rich archive of your life and career through your blog and Instagram. Has journaling always come naturally to you?…does reflecting on your story shaped the way you see the past—and your place in it?
Yes I’ve always made lists, kept diaries, wrote random stories. I have about 48 journals so far. There were some years I didn’t write anything in them. I’ve done that since I was little. I wrote my blogs just to tell stories, that’s all. I never really thought about my place in anything. You know I spent 35 years making sure everyone was looking at someone else. Lol.
You’ve built a life & a legacy managing not just bands, but family. When you look back, what part are you most proud of?
I am most proud of my family. My children sacrificed a lot of time without me so I could build a life for us. When I met Max, I was a single mom with five children. Yes, I was a successful manager with Sacred Reich, but at the same time, I worked from morning till night, I never wanted to be on welfare or borrow money from people or complain. I wanted to show my children what I could do because they could do it too. Of course, when I look back in my career, it’s amazing to me. In the daily grind, I was never looking at myself. One day, I did an interview for Metal Hammer UK, and Eleanor Goodman said, “What are your accomplishments?” and I said my family, and she was shocked. Until that very question, I never looked at what I did and then I started. Now that I’m older, yes, I did many things that I was told I could not do, and I’m very happy. For example, I never thought I would organize a recording with a tribe in the rainforest of Brazil, but I did!
For anyone reading this who feels like an outsider—someone with no connections, no “in”—what would you say to them? What mindset do they need to survive and thrive the way you have?
I can only tell them what I did. Go to small clubs and when you find that band that makes your heart beat, help them. It’s not about money. The first year I managed Sacred, I only made $48. I worked for Sep for free for one year and redid their entire record contract, signed them with booking agents, merch companies and got them endorsements. I worked for free for one year just to see if we would get along. I booked their tours by calling promoters and begging them to trust me because their previous tour had been so fruitless. I know many managers that sit in the dressing room on their throne or in an office. I was never like that. Hell I can’t count how many times I’ve cleaned the bathroom on the bus! There was no one back then or even now to help you. It’s such a cutthroat business. After I worked with Sepultura for a year and I had gotten them off to a good start, another manager called my house on Christmas Day because he knew they were there and tried to steal them from me. Very shabby behavior. I’ve never taken a band that was known. I love the small unknown baby bands the best! There’s real satisfaction working with them. Start on the ground and work your way up.
Can you talk about the importance of having a mentor and what mentorship has meant in your journey?
My mentors were probably people who didn’t realize it. My mother was my biggest mentor. My grandmother as well, but she passed when I was quite young, but her story means a lot to me now. She was so strong she was able to get herself and six children out of a concentration camp! Sharon and Ozzy Osborne gave my family the gift of love and true compassion when Dana was killed. I will never ever forget that. It was such a beautiful feeling to have someone who actually cared in a world of people who didn’t. Cees Wessel, the owner of Roadrunner Records, taught me so much. I really had a great relationship with him. He’s someone I will always look up to.
I guess I’m a mentor now. Every day, I literally talk to hundreds of people because I personally answer all my messages. It gets overwhelming, but I figure if they’re messaging me they really need someone in their life. If I had a lesson to teach someone, it would be to believe in yourself. Don’t look over your shoulder and always remember that those hot coals will eventually cool.
I love that you personally answer everything. Any other words of wisdom? I could use some.
Love the Earth. Love yourself. Love others. Music heals. Follow your dream, and even if it fails, simply try something new. It’s so easy! When I run into trouble, I ask myself… do I flop like a fish on the ground or do I keep walking forward? I always know the answer.
Many thanks to Gloria for taking the time to share her words and experience with me…it was a pleasure.
Image Credits
Banner Image by: Glen LaFerman
Final Image: Shelby Vercelli
Ozzy + Max: Unknown Source
All other Images sourced from Gloria’s Blog + Instagram.