Interview with Steve Tucker of Morbid Angel (2000)

from Kill The Hippy

KTH : Hey Steve, how are you? Thanks for answering this interview! Let's start with the new album, what does the title, g2000 stand for?
Steve : NO, problem ,we are between recording sessions. The title of the new album is not "G2000". That is just what it is being called until we release the real title. So there is no significance to the name at all. Sorry, but I cannot say the true title at this point.

Morbid Angel is a band that has never disappointed their fans, every new Morbid Angel album is another standard in Death Metal, what can we expect from g2000?
Yet, another standard for Death Metal to be set. We are very excited about the new album, We feel that is something very new and very brutal, but with a higher standard. I think this album has a very dark feel to it.

On 'Formula's…' all music and lyrics were written by Trey, did you get the chance to participate in the songwriting this time?
Actually, yes I have written most of the lyrics for this album and wrote quite a bit of music as well, Trey and I wrote very well together, I think. Some of the strongest material was CO-written by trey and I.

You'll be playing the summer festivals in Europe this year, are you looking forward to that? What are the advantages and disadvantages of big open air shows in your eyes?
Yes, I am definitely looking forward to playing in Europe this summer, we have not played live since December '99. That is an eternity for me, I love playing live.
As far as the Open Air festivals go, I think they are great for the basic fact that you (the band) get to play to a lot more people than you usually play to. The disadvantages being that usually the schedule for the festivals gets way off and sometimes your set gets cut down to a shorter time than usually planned, This rarely happens to us, but it is common for it to happen to smaller bands.

Besides the festival, are you coming back for a club tour?
I know that we are coming back to Europe in December, I believe that will be a festival tour. I don't think we will do a club tour on our own until perhaps 2001. I think we may come spring 2001 and do an extensive tour, hitting all the cities that we missed on the festival tours.

Do you keep up with the current Death Metal scene? Or do you think that in order to stay original you should sort of isolate from other bands?
No, I listen to everything I can, always in hopes of finding a new band that I really like, It is very rare that a Death Metal band comes out and has something new to offer. It gets really boring when I hear the same things over and over again. But when I do hear a band that has something special, I get excited and support them to no end. There are great young bands, like Krisiun, I think they are amazing. They have an aggression that to me is just devastating!!

Who was Steve Tucker before he joined Morbid Angel?
I was a guy trying to play Death Metal, but not having much luck in the city I was from, with the exception of when my former band Ceremony was together, but that ended and I spent two years trying to find true heavy brutal, talented people to form a band with. But it never happened, with the exception of Jared from Hate Eternal. That was when we became friends, he is very talented and fucking true brutal!
Pat O'Brien and I are releasing the Ceremony mini-CD through a combination of Hammerheart Records and Invictus Productions. It will be coming out in late August.
We decided to do this because so many people want to know what I did before Morbid Angel. So if you want to know look for the CD in August.

How did you become a member of Morbid Angel? And does being the frontman of this band fulfill the expectations you had at first?
I became a member of Morbid Angel, I think because of my views on a lot of topics including religion and spirituality. Trey and I seemed to want the same things and shared a focus of sorts.
As far as my expectations go, I came in with no preconceived notions, for this band, I looked at it the way I have always looked at life: I will bust my ass and do whatever is necessary to make it successful, regardless of the past of the band.

What's the status of Erik Rutan in Morbid Angel? Will he be heard on the new album? Will you take him on tour again?
Erik will be on the new album, yes. And of course he will be on the tours as well.

I noticed that you've been making flash intros for Nile and Pessimist, are you also going to make an intro like that for the Morbid Angel site?
The Morbid Angel site will be completely redesigned for the new album, and there will be a lot of interactive things on the site, it will be again very informative and also very entertaining.
I will be working with Steve Hoier (webmaster) he has done the Morbid Angel site for years.
Our goal is to make it the best site on the Internet.

What's your all time top five favorite albums?
TOP 5??? Brother I need a top 10, I love a lot of albums for different reasons ,but OK I will try to narrow it down.

5. Live Evil-Black Sabbath w/Dio
4. Haunting the Chapel - Slayer
3. Master Of Puppets - Metallica
2. Reign in Blood - Slayer
1. The "G2000" album - Morbid Angel

What have you learnt from playing with a band like Morbid Angel until now?
I have learned a lot of things, The world is not a very big place, and worldwide there is a common ground, music.
I have also learned that touring is a very hard job!
But I love it!

Well that's about it, thanks for taking the time and effort to answer my questions. Is there anything you'd like to add?
Yeah, thanks for the great questions, look for the new album in the fall We hope to see you all on tour by the end of the year. Stay fucking true!!