MORBID ANGEL Frontman Interviewed On FULL METAL JACKIE's Radio Show (Audio)

Bassist/vocalist David Vincent of Florida-based death metal veterans MORBID ANGEL was interviewed on the September 30 - October 2 edition of Full Metal Jackie's nationally syndicated radio show. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

To see a full list of stations carrying the program and when it airs, go to FullMetalJackieRadio.com.

Interview (audio):

A transcript of the chat follows below.

Full Metal Jackie: MORBID ANGEL recently released a brand new album, "Illud Divinum Insanus". It's obviously your first MORBID ANGEL album in 16 years. Now that you've had a couple of months to kind of absorb it, and you've been playing a few tunes from the record, what do you realize about the album now that maybe wasn't so obvious when you guys were in the studio?

David Vincent: Well, I tell people that my job is done. Once I release something, it's released, it's done. I just kind of shoot from the hip when it comes to a creativity standpoint and this was another exercise in that. The new songs are going over really well live, so that's a good thing; I'm glad that people like it. I'm looking forward to continuing to travel around. We've been to Europe, we've been to South America, we're going to Japan and we're going back to Europe and then we're probably going to have some announcements to make about North America that I will share with you and then you can share them with all your listeners.

Full Metal Jackie: How do you feel about the response to this record?

David Vincent: You know, it's really interesting. It has been quite varied and different people like different aspects of the record for different reasons and I found that this is it's almost like a territorial thing. When we initially went and did and initial press listening session at my label, Season Of Mist, over in Marseille, France, they got sort of the editorial staff from multiple magazines around Europe to come in at the listening session and then a [question-and-answer session], shared a few adult beverages. It was very interesting to me that upon first listen, different people from different regions were attracted to different aspects of the record, so I'm like, "It's very interesting." I like it when things are interesting. I mean, if you do the same thing over and over again and there are people that do that, there are people that do that very well. We're just not one of those bands.

Full Metal Jackie: I was fortunate enough to get a chance to see MORBID ANGEL perform in Germany at Wacken [Open Air], which was an incredible experience, such a great show. Did you guys have a good time playing that festival?

David Vincent: You know, I tell you, the European festivals, they have something really special going on there. It's not a tour, it's more like a Woodstock thing, if I had to put it into words, very bohemian, people from all different walks of life, just fans of music, people that are really music fans, planning their entire summers around it. In the case of Wacken, people travel from all over the world to come to this thing and I know this because they're standing in front of me waving the flags of all of the various countries that they're from. So yeah, it's a really special thing for us, it gives us the chance to share our music with people who may or may not be MORBID ANGEL fans or have been previously exposed to our music. It's exciting for us, it's certainly a very powerful feeling when you hear 70,000 people chanting along with the song.

Full Metal Jackie: You were mentioning the different places you've been around the world performing, and there's footage online of Chilean fans forcing their way into your show in Santiago earlier this month. It's really intense watching security trying to slow the rush of people. What do you think it is about MORBID ANGEL that gets people so frantic?

David Vincent: Well, I hope that I wouldn't just say that it's MORBID ANGEL, I just think that fans in general and specifically Latin American fans are just really really passionate about the music. What caused that particular scene hopefully no one got hurt it didn't look like anyone did but this just shows the level of fandom, not cynicism but fandom, [that] goes on outside of our country; it's definitely something to behold.

Full Metal Jackie: There's a couple of various shows that I know you've played in the U.S but up next you had mentioned you guys are going to Europe. Can we expect a proper U.S tour in 2012?

David Vincent: We are working on that. Generally speaking, when we have something definite to announce, that's when the announcement is made. There's been a lot of talk on the Internet, but until you see it on MorbidAngel.com or the MORBID ANGEL Facebook site, it's probably just rumor. We will have an announcement to make shortly and we'll probably let you make it. How about that?

Full Metal Jackie: Alright, I love that. You've been around in the metal world and the music business for a long time. Tell us what your vibe is on the metal scene today as opposed to earlier MORBID ANGEL days.

David Vincent: Well, there certainly are a lot more bands but I would say that there's a lot of good stuff out there. I listen to a lot of music. There are a number of bands who are really pushing the envelope some are younger, some are older. Aside from the fact that the industry as a whole, being in a band and being able to earn a living the way that you used to, now that people have chosen not to purchase CDs like they used to. I can tell you, I buy CDs I either buy CDs or I buy a download. The word "buy" is the key there either off of Amazon or iTunes because I realize that it's important, for me, that a band that I like continues to write good music and they're not able to afford to do so if, somehow, the people who call themselves fans of the band just choose to steal the music off the internet. So I put my money where my mouth is and I buy the music and the t-shirts of the bands that I like. Hopefully everyone else realizes the importance of that and they will do their due diligence to follow my lead, if nothing else.

Full Metal Jackie: Who did you grow up listening to?

David Vincent: You know, BLACK SABBATH, JUDAS PRIEST, KISS, ALICE COOPER, you know, probably the same set of things that a lot of people grew up listening to.

Full Metal Jackie: So what was the metal scene like, when you were growing up?

David Vincent: Well, the metal scene, I don't know if there really was a metal scene or not. I mean you had the people who would listen to AC/DC and JUDAS PRIEST and then you had the people that were more into VAN HALEN, the happier-sounding stuff. I was always into the darker-sounding stuff, personally.

Full Metal Jackie: What does David Vincent do on the off time, when you're not touring?

David Vincent: There's never any off time; I keep myself as busy as possible.

Photo credit: Alex Solca