Interview With Richie Cavalera of Incite | MikeOnMetal Interview #1

In this debut episode of the Mike On Metal YouTube channel, I sit down with Richie Cavalera of Incite to talk about their upcoming album Savage New Times, dropping August 15. We dig into the making of the album, the emotional weight behind the lyrics, and how the band’s chemistry has levelled up with the addition of new members and fresh influences including some surprising ones like reggae and industrial alt-rock.

Richie shares what it was like to work closely with the full band in-person for the first time, how writing has evolved over the years, and what it means to finally be releasing this record through Reigning Phoenix Music. We also talk about the upcoming Summer Slaughter Tour, what fans can expect from their live set, and why Incite still works their own merch tables even when the venues get bigger.

🗓 Savage New Times drops August 15 and I’ll have a full review up closer to the release date.
🔥 Topics covered in this video:

• The writing and recording of Savage New Times
• Incite’s musical growth and influences Summer Slaughter Tour plans
• Why connecting with fans still matters Incite’s future and what’s next

📸 Follow me on Instagram & Threads: @mikeonmetal

Transcript of the Interview:

Mike: Hey metalheads, welcome to the very first video of the Mike on Metal YouTube channel. I’m kicking things off here with an interview I had with Richie Cavalera of the band Insight, talking about their upcoming album Savage New Times, which drops on August 15th. This is an album that hits hard from start to finish, but we’ll have a little bit more on that in a review a little closer to the release date.

Richie had a lot to say about how this album came together. We talked about the emotional weight of some of the lyrics, how the band’s chemistry has grown over the last couple of years, as well as some musical influences that you might pick up – reggae and industrial alt rock. Richie also shared what to expect from their run on the Summer Slaughter Tour, how they stay grounded and connected to their fans, and why Savage New Times feels like a major step forward for the band.

If you dig this kind of content, hit like, drop a comment below, subscribe to the channel. This is just the beginning, so I’m pretty stoked.

I’ve been listening to the new album Savage New Times and loving everything I’m hearing on it. It’s just a banger right from the start to the end. There’s just zero skip tracks on this, right?

Richie: Yes, like even “Dolores” – I’m not a big fan of the slower songs, but there’s just something about it that just pulls you in. So I mean, even the slow track on this one is just a banger.

Mike: Now so it’s coming out in August.

Richie: I love to hear that man. That’s definitely good to hear – the non-skip part. That’s how I feel about it too. It’s a complete record, you know? It’s no fucking around, totally.

Mike: Yeah, 100%. Now so with the new album coming out, what I wanted to find out – what’s your favorite part about recording a new album? Like is it the actual recording part, is it the writing, is it the touring, or is there something else that drives you in this whole process?

Richie: I think I love a little bit of every aspect of making a record. It’s like my healthy release in my life to clear up my inner emotions and demons and stuff. So for me it’s always a peaceful, exciting experience, especially making songs with really good friends and brothers – creating something from absolutely thin air. All of a sudden these drum beats and riffs will come, and then all of a sudden I’m working words into it, and it’s just really cool how it takes shape.

I’ve always found that to be such an interesting part of being an artist and making music. I think with this record we really were able to harness all the things that we’ve learned over the past 13 years together with me, L, and Lennon. Having a new guitar player on board opened our space to create songs like “Dolores” and add things that we’ve always wanted to or struggled with creating so organically and feeling so much like just a part of what we do. So that was just a great experience.

I love making albums – that’s why I’m still doing this 21 years in.

Mike: Like 2004 was when you guys founded or started?

Richie: Yeah, me and some buddies from school. That was just kind of like – I don’t think you have the mindset of what you want to do or want to be. You love all these awesome bands like Despised Icon and Black Dahlia Murder and Killswitch and all this stuff that was popping up around that time. So we just did whatever we could. We were 18, 17, 19 and just kind of hopped in a van, started playing some shows locally and around our state and stuff.

I think the guys just kind of realized it wasn’t for them. They thought maybe being with me they would have been in like a tour bus and roadies and on these huge tours, but it was like “No, we’re in a piece of shit van, we don’t make money, we’re not eating.” It was a brutal time.

I think the band finally got some bearings in 2009 – reformed, had a different vision for the band, finally got a record deal. It’s always been a grind. We’ve been with independent record labels and independent agents and all these small things to really just learn and grow and figure out what the hell I’m doing and how I want to do it.

I’ve had so much fun creating so many different records, working with so many cool players and musicians along the way, and finding my brothers now in Lennon and L, and Lane now really becoming that fourth guy that we’ve really missed and needed for a long time. I think we’re just having fun, and you’re hearing that through the new music, you’re hearing that through our attitude, you’re seeing it in the band’s development. So it’s a fun time and everybody’s really digging the record.

Mike: That’s awesome. Yeah, oh I mean digging it – I can’t even describe it. The first time I heard it, it just blew me away. It’s one of those albums that’s like you get done listening to it, you just want to start over again. I put this thing on at the gym and listened to it three times straight for a workout and an elliptical session and just let it go.

Richie: I love hearing that man, I love hearing that.

Mike: Now you had mentioned that this is kind of a way for you to sort of exercise your demons, I guess you could say. So Savage New Times – does that have any kind of relation to that? Like is this you breaking out of the savage times, or is this something new that you’re just kind of giving it your all, and so that’s why we’re getting such a kick-ass record out of you? Is that you’ve just said “fuck it” and it’s time for the savage new times to start for Insight?

Richie: Yeah, in a little bit of sense I think the Savage New Times refers to the period of what the album was like – what the lyrical content is of it and what it means to me. All the savage shit I went through, along with the whole world – the last five years has been pretty wild for all of us. It really just described that in the way I felt about the record when it was done. L came up with that after reading all the lyrics and everything, and I was really hyped when he said it. I was just like “damn, that is so perfect for this record.”

I just look back and think yeah, it was just a therapeutic release, and I was able to create a lot of killer lyrical content-based songs with this record. It makes it really fun. I think I finally fine-tuned what I wanted to do and how I want to present it and the styles that I can achieve – like you said, just kind of letting it all go and having fun with each other.

We used to have a really crazy guitar player that we didn’t really get along with, and making records wasn’t that fun. That finally ended, and then it was like all right, we made Wake Up Dead and Lennon became kind of like a big-time writer in the band, which was awesome. He knew the kind of music me and L and him liked, so it was easy to create these songs going forward.

Now it’s like bringing in Lane and having all of us on the same page musically. Steve Evotts coming in and helping us so much with pre-production and recording – I think one of the things that really stands out is the sound and the tone of the guitar. Everything is just like, I think in a metal album, perfect the way things sway from side to side and pan. It really came out spectacular with Arthur Risk and then the whole team coming together and putting the vision of it – the record cover by Marcelo and the videos by Tamara and all them. So it’s just been a killer team making it incredibly fun, and I think that’s what it’s all about. That’s what we wanted when we started.

Mike: I think that’s where the best music comes from though, right? Is bands that are cohesive. I think the ones that are disjointed, you hear it in the music. You can really pick up on it that even if it’s one guy, there’s just something that doesn’t mesh. And with this album like you said, I mean it just – right from the guitar tones to the drums to the vocals – it’s just… Yeah, I can’t even explain it. People are just going to have to fucking hear this thing.

Richie: I agree man. I mean that’s how we pulled out five singles. I think we wanted to give everybody a good taste while we’re introducing the band to a larger audience than we ever have before, having Reigning Phoenix on board as our new label and the amount of just power they have in music and their influence is just incredible. We’ve never had this, so it’s exciting to finally get our music out there at the right time with the right record. Everybody can go listen to those old things and they’ll find things that were cool, and I think we have songs that really stick out that didn’t get the credit they should have maybe with just the way we were running our business. But now I think everybody will really pick up and be like “damn, this band – kind of been sleeping on them” and have fun learning about us and all the music we’ve created.

Mike: 100%. Yeah, I knew about you guys before this, but I never really dug into your back catalog. There was a couple of tracks that – going back on it now after hearing this one, I went back and listened to everything again, and there’s songs that stand out to me that I’m like “Oh shit, I had no idea.” But now it’s… Yeah, I mean I’m looking forward to the reception from everybody for this album, and I’m also looking forward to your guys’ next fucking – if you can pull this out, what’s the next one going to be like? I mean once you guys get a little bit more meshed, right?

Richie: Yeah, that’s exciting too to think of. We’ve always recorded every album previous to this one through emails and Dropbox and all that stuff, so you never really together cohesive on the actual product. So this was really cool to have Lane and Lennon go to Texas, hang out, smoke tons of weed, drink, just really connect really tight and have a great bonding experience while writing this record. I think that also shows the vast improvement – that connection again of being bros and making songs.

Mike: Yeah, that’s awesome. Now are you the main writer? So we talked a lot about the lyrics and stuff – are you the main writer for the lyrics, or is that kind of a team effort again, or is it just you?

Richie: No, every guy writes their own parts. I write all the lyrics, and then L is my overseer – just listening to it, reading some of it, just making sure it’s vibing. I’ve always loved having that person to go to because writing lyrics can be really a mind-fuck, man. You can think of a thousand trillion bazillion words and lines and ways to say it, so to have someone that can finally shut your brain off and be like “Yo, this is sick” – that always helps.

But yeah, we write each part. Lennon, again, he’s a huge writer in the guitar and the drums and everything and the structuring, and Lane now writing with the guitar everything else too. So yeah, it’s each guy does their own thing, but then we come together and critique each thing and really join forces at that point.

Mike: Nice. Do you keep a book? Would you carry a book with you and when something sort of strikes you, write it down, or do you just kind of sit down and write it all kind of at once and then get feedback on the whole song?

Richie: Yeah, I mean I used to do that in the late 1900s when we used to write on paper. I loved that – that was my favorite thing in the early days of this. But now I just have the notepad on the phone thing, and I’ll just whenever I think of something or there’s the voice memo recorder – I can speak it now, which is pretty fun too because I can remember even the cadence that my mind thought of it.

I do that pretty much from the end of the last record to the beginning of the new one. I’m always writing things, I’m always feeling things. That’s always been my release of emotion. I’m very closed in – I don’t really talk too deep about what’s going on in my mind or what’s happened to me, and I just really use it to put it into the music. 100%. I think that’s why our performances live have always been so incredible with the energy and the passion, the aggression, because what it is is each guy putting their soul into it, not just being told what to play.

Mike: Nice. So speaking of live, we got Summer Slaughter coming up in a few weeks, starting what, July – I think July 9th?

Richie: Yes.

Mike: Now super pumped. Are you looking forward to getting back to it?

Richie: Yeah, I mean I think our last tour was like the end of 2023. We went through a huge process of recording the record, writing the record, doing a new record label, a new management company. We literally rebranded, rebuilt the entire band from the ground up. That had to be done right, and then get the right tours in place.

So Summer Slaughter – Jamie Jasta, Hatebreed bringing it back, recreating it – I’m pumped, man. I think it’s an incredible lineup and I think we’re going to see a lot of packed places and people enjoying killer shows, man. Malevolence is a great band, Fugitive I’m really excited to see, Bleeding Through a couple times I’m going to see them, and Squall Grind and Snuffed on Sight seems pretty dope.

So I’m pumped, man. We’re going to come out – we’re the first band, we’re going to absolutely set the bar extremely high for every band. We’re going to bro out, but we’re also there to kick everybody’s ass at the same time. I think we’ll bring a unique style and energy to that show and yeah, I think it’s going to be great. So definitely don’t miss it.

It’s all July, East Coast pretty much, and I think it’s just a small taste of what they’re planning for the future.

Mike: Any other plans, or can you reveal anything right now? Is there anything in the works, maybe you’re coming up to Canada so us Canadian boys can get our ass kicked by you?

Richie: Yeah, I mean I think we have obviously we have the Summer Slaughter, we have two more singles to come out, record’s going to be out August 15th, and then I believe they said we’re on tour starting about September 20th to October 20th. It should be North America from what I understand, so it definitely could possibly be some Canadian ragers, which we love.

We’ve done so many tours across all of Canada, we’ve went up there to play festivals, we’ve always loved it. We have a Canadian guitar player. I think the music scene up there is very special. With Brewharia and Dwell Abortions, we did 20 shows from west to east – it was just one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.

Mike: Nice. They actually – Dwell just played this town that I live [in]. We don’t get a lot of music here, we’re a small town, we’re like 100,000 people. Yeah, it’s starting – we’re getting a better music scene as it goes. We got a couple of promoters that are building it here, but Dwell just played here like two and a half weeks ago.

Richie: They’re legends, man. They’re one of the wildest bands I’ve ever toured with. I remember they would go play a house party after they played their set on the tour. It was just madness, man. They’d show up right before their set and just wing it and dip out. It was a great time for sure.

Mike: Fucking that’s crazy.

Richie: And Cancer Bats too – those are good brothers of ours as well, man. Love them.

Mike: Nice. So I saw a post that you put up that VIP for Insight is at your merch table. And I mean I gotta say that just killed me. I was just like so fucking awesome. I met Mario from Thrown into Exile at their merch, got a pick from him, had a great chat, and I think it’s just awesome when bands actually work their own merch table. There’s so many that are moving away from that now. Do you see yourselves ever moving away from that if you get big, big, big?

Richie: Oh no. I’ve even told the dudes, like even if we do a massive stadium where they put like four merch booths, I’ll station one guy at each booth. We might not be selling it then, but we’ll be hanging out, we’ll be enjoying just talking to people, rapping, being human like everybody else is.

I think that’s something we’ve always set out to be. I mean even every lineup – even dudes that hated talking to people would still come out to merch and hang out and just enjoy it because it’s what you do it for. I don’t do it to go sit in a dressing room or in my vehicle and just kind of hide. I know I understand some people can’t do that because diehards are diehards and it’s another level when you’re talking legendary status people, but for us it’s just something cool, man.

I think if people see that, they’ll come over and see how chill of a band we are and how badass each member is as a person, man. We’re a lot of fun and cool dudes.

Mike: That’s awesome. Well I hope I get a chance to meet you guys, hopefully hit a local venue, we can get together at least have a little chat in person. Now talking about the upcoming tours, so you got five singles being released – are there any of the songs that aren’t getting released as singles that we might get a sneak peek of at any of the shows?

Richie: Yeah, so this is cool. We have a few of our own headline shows mixed in with the Summer Slaughter, so depending on which show you see, you’ll get different tracks. We’re going to really play a lot of this new record. We want to eventually get to where we’re playing the entire thing live, so I would think yeah, it’s going to be heavy.

I think the first Summer Slaughter we’re doing “Just a Rat” for sure and then a couple of the other new ones. So come out, enjoy us playing brand new tracks, feeling good music, and raging a good time because that’s what we definitely do.

Mike: That’s awesome. Love it.

Richie: Yeah, I’m stoked, man. We’ll definitely be up that way. We play everywhere, anywhere. We’re all about it.

Mike: Killer. Well I got one more question for you, and I’m trying to kind of – this will be something I’m going to be asking everybody that I interview. It’s one of those types of questions where it’s like let’s just see where we go with this, but so you’re a metal band – what genre outside of metal do you think has influenced you the most in Insight’s either their sound or even just your vocals?

Richie: Interesting. I’d probably say like I’ve been listening to quite a bit of Crosses, which I wouldn’t consider metal by any means – more like a sound industrialized alt… I don’t even know how you’d genre that. But I love that, and I think that’s definitely influenced me to like a song like “Dolores” where I could dig in myself to find something like that influenced by music like that.

Also, a lot of reggae. I’ve been listening to so much reggae – Stick Figure, Rebelution, Bob Marley. All that stuff really came into my world like three years ago, and it’s just been awesome digging into the style of that. That probably had a little bit to do with some of the more bouncier feels that maybe you get on this record and even more of a positive lyric presence than past albums. Yeah, definitely I would say influenced it a lot.

Mike: That’s awesome, dude. Yeah, I love it, man. I’m having a great time. Cool. Thank you so much, Mike.

Richie: Yeah, I appreciate it really. Appreciate you talking with me. I’m looking forward to everybody seeing this or hearing this album. I think you guys are going to be just stellar. I think you’re going to be just huge as far as things go. I’m going to do a review of it, so I’ll make sure I post that and tag you guys on it. You basically already heard my review, but…

Mike: We love sharing this stuff too, so please tag us in everything. Just mad respect to you, all the listeners, watchers, everybody out there. Go pick up Savage New Times, support your local metal, and let’s always have fun.

Richie: Awesome. Appreciate it. Hey, have a good one, brother. Thanks, Richie. Have a great night. Bye, Mike. Bye.

Mike: All right, that’s it for my chat with Richie Cavalera. Huge shout out to him for taking the time to talk with me about Savage New Times. If you made it this far, I seriously appreciate you sticking around. I’ve got so much more planned for this channel, including additional interviews, album reviews, show recaps, and so much more from the metal community.

Hit subscribe if you haven’t already and keep an eye out for my album review of Savage New Times a little closer to that August 15th release date. All right, metalheads, until next time – support your local scene, buy the damn album, and stay heavy.