Interview with Steve Tucker (November 2001)

from TARTAREAN DESIRE WEBZINE

This interview with the former Morbid Angel member Steve Tucker was done through e-mail in November 2001.

Hello, how are you?
Tucker: I am doing well , I have gone through some very big changes in my life lately , I lost some one very close to me, but I am doing very good , considering!!!

You are now officially no longer a member of Morbid Angel. Even though the official statement wasn't released until now I suspect you have thought about leaving for a long time?
Tucker: Well I actually left the band at the end of March, beginning of April ,and it was not a thing I decided to do without much thought. I felt that there were things in MA that were not what I wanted to be a part of, I believe the words I write and sing, and I live by these same standards.....There were issues of trust and brotherhood between another member and I that I could not truly get past , I felt things would not change ,so I decided to leave.

Being a father I suspect you want to spend more time with your family?
Tucker: Yes, of course, though I can truly say that this was not the reason for me parting MA, there were people who felt it necessary to put the blame somewhere other than where it truly lay , I have enjoyed being a father and a musician, I take great pride in both...

Will you be leaving the music business completely or what is going to happen now?
Tucker : No, I have played music most of my life and it is extremely paramount to my stability and sanity , The release that I achieve with music is something that I get nowhere else...I have just finished work on a mini cd with my new band, it is called SHAANK... we will have shaank.com up and running possibly by the time you post this interview, so if you want to check it out ,feel free, there will be mp3's and info, it is not a deathmetal project , but it is very personal to me ........

You have been with Morbid Angel for something like four or five years now. What has it been like?
Tucker: It has been great and it has been not so great at times, on the good hand,I have made many friends worldwide, and that is brilliant !!!! I can say that anyone that I met on the road that held a conversation with me ,met the real me and I hope to meet them again some time in the near future, our world is very small ,and filled wioth a lot of shit people ,so the true people should embrace each others knowledge and power . And I met s lot of very true people while in MA.

What are your best memories from the Morbid Angel years. I suspect the tour with Pantera and the Wacken show are two of them?
Tucker: Wacken will always be something extremely precious to me and I will never forget it for the rest of my life, you could say it was life changing!!! The Pantera shows were fun, but to be honest i really enjoyed MA headlining tours because there were so many friends I looked forward to seeing from day to day. That is the one thing I miss ......

You only had the chance to participate on one album namely "Gateways To Annihilation". Do you feel that your presence can be heard on that album?
Tucker: If you don't feel my presence on that album then you aren't listening to it!! There arte some very person lyrics and invitations into my mind and soul on that record, look at the credits, I wrote a lot of the album, not just lyrically , musicaly as well!!!

What things will you be missing and what will you not be missing now that you have left Morbid Angel?
Tucker: I ahve already stated things that I miss, fans!!! As for what I don't miss , I really don't want to get into that, there are a lot of things I won't miss..

I know you have been very interested in computers for several years, is the interest still there?
Tucker : Yes, I use my computer to record on, it is something I cannot do without !!

Any final words of wisdom for your fans?
Tucker : As always, stay true to yourselves !!! Thanks for all the great conversations throughout my years in MA. You kept me sane while on the road!!! Tucker