MORBID ANGEL Frontman Talks Upcoming Album, Organized Religion

NZRock conducted an interview with bassist/vocalist David Vincent of MORBID ANGEL when the band played New Zealand on May 20, 2009.

NZRock: Can you go through the chain of events which led to you rejoining MORBID ANGEL?

David Vincent: Well, I got a call from the band's manager. Basically there was a situation where there was a South American promoter who I was friends with actually. I hadn't seen him in a while but he explained to me that the band had some shows booked down there that they'd already had to postpone twice and there was some issue still unbeknownst to me that the other guy was done or that there was some conflict. Anyway, he asked me if I'd be interested in doing these four shows. I thought about it and I was like, "Hmmm, that sounds interesting." And it was like this whole fresh thing that happened, it was really cool. And that's all it was ever going to be, just four shows in South America. Well, we got along really well, the crowd was really jazzed, and no sooner did we get home then the band's booking agent just started getting calls from far and wide saying hey we want this and that. And he said, "Hey, do you guys want to do a tour?" Basically, picking up as if there was no gap, just picking up where I left off, you know what I mean?! And yeah, you know, it seemed like there was a really good vibe, everyone got along really well, so we did just that. Then we started working on some new material for all the right reasons… good vibe, really organic, it felt good, we were all having fun and that's a great reason to do something you know.

NZRock: What was it like working with Trey [Azagthoth, guitar] again. Did you find your personalities had changed over the time away even though everything has come together so well?

David Vincent: Well, everyone is probably a little more mature than they were but we're all essentially the same people. Trey is just like this massively creative guy, he always has been. As familiar as you are with something, you just need to be reminded, and I was reminded. Not that I ever forgot about that, but you know, getting back together with the guys, it just kinda reaffirmed that, man, what a fucking great band we are! That's cool, and obviously it's been reinforced by the enthusiasm that we've seen from the audience, which just makes us work that much harder too. When you're delivering on stage and they're giving you back ten-fold the energy, then all you do is add more to it so the shows have been really, really good.

NZRock: When you do the new recordings, have you got any procedures in place to keep them from being distributed early through the Internet?

David Vincent: Well, you know, somewhere along the line some people… and I don't know what reason for it is, whether it's limited home training or their preception that the Internet all of a sudden makes everything free. It's kind of a problem in the sense that… I buy CDs, I support the bands that I like because I'm a fan and I want the bands that I like to continue putting out stuff and the best way for me that I know to reward hard work is with a dollar, you know?! If I buy their CD, then hopefully it'll be profitable enough for them in the long run, if I'm part of their profitability to where they dont have to go home and get a job flipping burgers or whatever they can do, and they're back working on music. And I think that if anybody who calls themselves a fan of music would mind their P's and Q's and do just that, then that's what makes music continue. If they don't do that, then you know, I don't think they're being real fans, they're just being posers. If you're really a fan, music is worth something. People put a lot of love, a lot of blood sweat and tears into their art, whether its a painting, music or a film; it costs a lot of money and takes a lot of years out of people's their lives — there are these amazing commitments that happen. You wouldn't expect to go and get a burger or a new car for free, so why would you expect to get your entertainment for free? And I think that if everybody is mindful of this… we need to police ourselves, is what it is. I buy CDs, if I can do it then everybody can.

NZRock: I read a couple of interviews where Trey said that he's been listening to some heavy drum n bass music. Is there any chance some elements of that may end up on the [next] album?

David Vincent: Well, here's the thing: there's a certain energy that comes from that kind of music. Obviously, in that kind of music there's no guitars and there's no real drums so… you know, Trey is a guitarist and we have a drummer, so are we going to be putting out a dance record? No. There are different ways to go about stuff, I think what it is, is being able to include the essence and the energy of stuff. When he's talking about the stuff that he's into, it's severe, it's really brutal, like the Rotterdam stuff. It's very aggressive. It's literally death metal minus the vocals, the guitar and the real drums. But, I mean, in terms of the energy that you're feeling coming out of it, it's richter. It's as extreme for its genre as sort of death metal is for the metal genre.

NZRock: It's said that having an interest in the occult draws that energy to you. Have you ever had any sort of supernatural or occult experiences? I've always been interested in this.

David Vincent: Absolutely. Well, listen, humans are very creative people, creative beings and if you get rid of preconcieved limitations of thought its amazing what the human mind can come up with. And if you don't allow yourself to stagnate and you don't allow youself to be sort of be funneled into preconcieved notions, the sky's the limit in terms of where you can go, where your thoughts and your dreams and your aspirations can take you. We've always tried to encourage people to look beyond the obvious, because nothing is as it seems, it never is. There's a lot more to life out there, you just have to take the time and meditate and find your place. Challenge yourself to think outside the box. It's very easy to think within the box, because the box is where the world makes its money, predicting what people want to eat, predicting what sort of medical ailments are going to trouble someone and designing a pill to cure those ailments without necessarily addressing the root cause of it. "Hey! Listen!" shows a guy at a ball game eating a hotdog that's got chilli and all kinds of slop on it and then he's got a stomachache later and here, take this pill and you'll feel alright. Well, the fact that you have a stomachache is that your body is telling you that you're not getting anything out of this food, it's not good for you. So the only thing the pill is doing is turning off your body's [message] that I don't want this, this is crap, why are you putting this in me? The ball game still makes money on their concessions and now the drug company makes money on selling you something that's just going to turn off something you could've made a better choice of anyway. It's a vicious circle and we could go on about this for days! [Laughs]

NZRock: You've been affiliated with the Church Of Satan for a long time now…

David Vincent: I don't deny it, but I'm not really active in terms of like this heirachy. That can be just as much of a country club, you know, political thing as anything else can be. I joined because I felt like it was a good idea and it's a great antithesis to a number of things out there. And it's certainly a book — Dr. LaVey's original book, and even the subsequent books — it's a good read. And for anyone who has questions about things, that's a great place to start asking questions, because I really feel that organized religion is really at the center of a lot of problems and a lot of closed-mindedness that we have in this world. Wars, I mean, hell, Islam is the worst offender, I mean as bad or worse than Christianity. Probably the only organized religion that I don't have a problem with would be Buddhism, because it's almost paganism. It's just a different path that works, these other things they don't work. Any religion that has this belief, this system that just subjugates women the way that they do, I just have no respect for it at all. I'll try to break this down the best way that I can. When you're in an environment that is all about thought control, and it's really not even so much the church anymore. I mean, that was a good thing to rally to, to get everyone thinking along the same lines. I mean, Christianity is by and large done in terms of their worldwide influence at this point but there are a lot of laws out there that are based on that dogma that need to go away. And I think it's even as simple as… I mean, there are actually places that they're not allowed to sell alcohol and beverages on a Sunday because that's what the Lord said… I mean, come on! But there are some vestiges of laws that were adapted out of people being concerned about those things and you know, it's time that they're done. And Islam, that whole thing just needs to be erased. It's silly, it's causing a lot of problems and its simply not compatible with anything. It's not compatible with human rights, it subjugates women, it's violent and it's just bad news. That's my opinion.

Read the entire interview from NZRock.

Fan-filmed video footage of MORBID ANGEL's June 5, 2009 concert at The Metro Theater in Sydney, Australia can be viewed below.