SUICIDAL TENDENCIES Frontman Says Upcoming EP Will Be 'A Little More Political'

Finland's Kaaos TV conducted an interview with SUICIDAL TENDENCIES frontman Mike Muir before the band's June 30 performance at the 20th-anniversary edition of the Tuska festival in Helsinki, Finland. You can now watch the chat below, A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On his previous comment that SUICIDAL TENDENCIES may not ever release another full-length album to follow up last year's "World Gone Mad":

Mike: "What actually the origin was I said that with 'World Gone Mad', I felt that that was a great record that if it came to the point that we didn't do anything else that I would happy with how everything fell together. And you go back to the record before — we hadn't done a record for thirteen years — and you look around with everything that's happening, you don't know… I just had a friend that was just crossing the street and is in the hospital now. You never know what's gonna happen. The other side is we've had our own studio, as everybody does, for so long that a lot of times we record music all the time. It's a different process between recording stuff and then doing a record and putting it out. With this one, we've been out for… I mean, basically, we were out for a year before the record came out and we're going all through next year. So to even think about doing a record… We've done an EP which we're gonna put out in the fall which was originally gonna come out before this record and then we switched it and put the record first. But we're always recording.

"I think a lot of people get into the habit of just, 'Okay, it's time to do a record. We'll do a record, put it out, tour, this and that.' And I'm not gonna really be in that habit.

"When we did our first record, one of the first interviews [I gave], they said, 'What are you gonna be doing in five years?' I said, 'In five years, I don't think I'll be in a band.' So I try not to plan that far ahead.

"The music that I love I love, and I don't necessarily feel like the process is as important. I'd rather play shows, and then there'll be a time when that's not gonna happen anymore. Not to sound defeatist or whatever, but I never thought I would make it to thirty years old, let alone doing the band for thirty years. So we look at it more of a sense, like I said, not to be defeatist, but in the situation, like, 'Hey, this may be your last show. And if it's your last show, you want it to be fucking great.' Where I think other people… You see them, especially in Europe on tour, you see the people staying at the same hotel at a festival and they just look beat up. And you're, like, 'Wow! How long you've been out there?' 'Two weeks.' [Laughs] And we're, like, 'Oh, man! They're already sick [of the road].' And I'm, like,' Wow! Okay.'

"If you don't want to be where you're at, then something's wrong."

On whether he feels SUICIDIAL TENDENCIES even needs to release new music at this point:

Mike: "Well, I think, obviously, having Dave [Lombardo, former SLAYER drummer] play [with us] live and on the record was very important; that was very cool. I think that lyrically and musically, the last record, we're really excited about. It's a record that I love. I know that I put it into the parameters… When I was sixteen, I was quite the music critic. If I could go back in time and someone played me that record, I'd be going, 'Now I can get into that and stuff.' So I think that was more of the barometer of what we wanted to do. I think I'll always do music. There's a lot of different vehicles to do it. I don't like the part of doing the interviews and the whole promotion, like you're trying to sell something — that's the part that I don't appreciate. And sitting there and going through five hours of interviews a day for six days in a row, you forget who you're talking to or what you're saying. And trying to do that while quote-unquote being at home and dealing with everything. Not to complain, [but] I never was good at that, I don't like doing that, I'm not comfortable doing that."

On the upcoming SUICIDAL TENDENCIES EP:

Mike: "It's actually… I would say probably it's the first record that it's a little more specifically a statement of the time and a little bit more… It could be interpreted as political. People always say, 'Are you political?' I say, 'I'm not political. I just don't like to be fucked with, and I don't like when people fuck with themselves.' People will very easily say, 'Oh, the politicians, they're fucking with me.' And if you watch them in their life, I go, 'Dude, you're doing more fucking damage to [yourself] than any politician ever has.' And this one's a little more political, maybe, [in its] approach and stuff. So it'll definitely not be for a lot of people — it'll piss a lot of people off, unintentionally. I find that a lot of people feel like, 'Mike, you need to say this,' and what they think that I need to say is what their opinion is. And they only want their opinion; they don't wanna hear anybody else's opinion. I think people aren't thinking. I think they're standing behind opinions, and it's just standing behind opinions, they're not standing behind facts; they don't want facts to get in the way of their opinion. And I'm not saying that I know what is right, but I think the point is people need to re-evaluate certain things. My dad always said, 'I'm not gonna tell you what to think. I'm just gonna make sure you are thinking. And if you're thinking and you come to a conclusion that's based upon investigation, knowledge, open-mindedness, and then you get there? That's fine. And if you're willing to always look around and see what it is. But when you put the blinder on your face and believe just who you want to believe, then you're emotionally deaf.' And I don't like that. You know, I have three kids, so I worry about that."

"World Gone Mad" was released last September. The follow-up to 2013's "13" disc was the group's first to feature former SLAYER drummer Dave Lombardo and guitarist Jeff Pogan, who replaced Nico Santora in May 2016.