Interview with Steve Tucker (09.2000)
by Hellmut

from http://www.fegefeuer-webzine.de

What's new in Morbid Angel, have you got any news to tell?
News? Well, we're getting ready to do all the interviews, we're getting ready to release our album in a few days and then do the touring. That's pretty much, man! Yeah, I think there is a lot of shit new! Haha!

How did you like the Wacken open air?
I think it was great, I really had a fun time and I enjoyed it quite a bit!

Has your performance there been successful for you?
Yeah, I think so, the fans have been into it. On festival shows you don't have control like you have on a regular show, there are always some problems. But it was fun and that's what festivals are supposed to be. It was extremely fun!

I think Trey has been writing the lyrics and most of the music in the past. Has this situation changed or is he still doing most of the stuff?
He wrote the majority of the music. Three songs have been done by Trey and me and I wrote most of the lyrics on this record. Whatever is working for each song is pretty much what we do.

Lyrics is a good catchword. What are the lyrics on "Gateways To Annihilation" about?
A lot of things, this isn't an album where we are following a story line. Every song has an individual story, the only thing they all have in common is that they all are about spirituality.

Just like in the past.
Of course! That's one of the things in Morbid Angel, everything is pretty much about individual spirituality. Most of the lyrics deal completely 100% with that, it's for people to interpretate it as they wish to interpretate it.

How important are the lyrics in Morbid Angel? I'm asking this because I think that there are not many people who are able to understand them without a lyrics sheet.
They are extremely important! To be honest: they mean everything, that's why we put lyrics in the record so that people can actually read the words. Music touches your soul either you like it or don't, but words are expressions of personal opinions. That's why lyrics are so important, we definitely have ideas that we want to express.

To play the Morbid Angel songs you have to be a very skilled musician I think. So why haven't I ever heard your name before? Haven't you been playing in a band?
I have never played in anything that was really successful enough to even speak about, I've been playing in bands since I was 13 years old. I have a pretty strong musical background and I have always played extreme music as long as I played music.
I guess circumstances happen sometimes, sometimes luck is on your side and sometimes it isn't. Sometimes things happen for a reason, I think it was meant to be that nothing happened for me until I joined Morbid Angel. It made it better, I think if somebody from another band had been coming in the people would have slightly known what to expect, but so they didn't know what to expect.

What about Eric? Is he still helping out in Morbid Angel or has he become a permanent member?
Eric is a permanent member, he is an important part of Morbid Angel. He has always been and he always will be. He recorded "Formulas..." with us, there was some personal things that happened after David Vincent left. After we did the record we spent time working on that, getting everything worked out and Eric toured with us and we became a band as four guys.

He is a freak, a maniac I think.
Eric is a freak? Hahaha... he is crazy man, he is one of my very best friends. The guy is amazing, he is a great musician, he is very driven and he is very focused and versatile.

I did some really impressing photos on the Wacken show where he did some really funny faces.
Yeah, he does! Hahaha... but that happens when all the passion comes out.

Quite normal I think. What's your opinion on the internet? Do you think that it is a good tool to promote a band or do you think that it will kill the scene through mp3 and Napster?
I don't have any problems with programs like Napster! I think the internet is a great thing and a great tool. If you use it properly you can promote a band very well. There is something that should be said about buying CDs, this isn't ever gonna go away, it's maybe the form that changes, the same way it changed from records and cassettes to CD. People will still buy records, I don't think that's ever gonna go away.

I agree. I just have to think back when a new Iron Maiden album came out, I had to watch the cover again and again and again, I wouldn't ever download a complete album from the internet.
It's a good thing, people are putting stuff on there and people can download one song, if you don't have an extremely fast connection it will take something like 20 minutes to download a song. Most of them are downloading one song and if it's good they are buying the album. There's no difference if songs are being played in the radio.

That's exactly what I think about it!
All the musicians I have talked through over the years have all been very kind of most of them have had a sense of humor, so isn't it sometimes hard to hide this part of your personality?

To hide it? I don't even try, man! If I think that something is funny I laugh, if I think something is amusing then I am amused by it. I don't worry about being cool, I quit doing that when I was about thirteen years old. That's for people who are trying to impress somebody and are not real. I am real and if somebody doesn't like me because he thinks I'm silly he can kiss my ass.

I just thought that because on stage you really look evil.
To be on stage is a whole another dimension. I am really not the same person then, when I'm on stage I feel an overwhelming power and energy that I just don't feel at any other time in my life.

Do you still like the Death Metal scene, what it has become throughout the years?
The Death Metal scene is actually really good! For a while Black Metal was coming in when the hype for Death Metal over, now there are all kinds of new bands and they are mixing Death Metal and Black Metal, the Black Metal fans acknowledge our music now and we acknowledge Black Metal. It's one big thing now instead one many instead of a bunch of mini genres, it's all together now and I think that Death and Black Metal have become the same thing. And that's great!

That was already everything I wanted to know. Do you have anything left to say?
Enjoy the new record, we will soon be on tour, see you there!

 

Hellmut