Terror’s Scott Vogel Is Finding New Highs in ‘Still Suffer’ Album

You might be surprised to find out that these are the best of times for Terror frontman Scott Vogel, especially when you consider their new album is called Still Suffer. But the singer shared with Full Metal Jackie that a significant lifestyle change is to credit for his current enthusiasm.

Though the album carries the title Still Suffer, Vogel says Terror's latest hardcore gem was really inspired by significantly cutting back on his drinking. "This record lyrically is pinned to the title, record, everything, lyrics are all pinpointed to one thing, which if you know me well enough, recognizing that I've drank excessively for about 15 years and finally finding a way to get away from that," shared the singer.

Later within the chat, he declared his modern day was as enjoyable as when the band was first starting out for him. "This period right now where I am not hungover, I have so much energy," says Vogel. "My focus now is cleaning the bandwagon, doing my laundry, getting haircuts, walking 20, 30, 40,000 steps a day. I do I'm gonna call it yoga, but it's glorified stretching. It's a totally different world for me and right now just being super present and what we'll call is healthy is this whole new world that is really enjoyable for me and I'm gonna say right now is my favorite period."

Elsewhere within that chat, Jackie spoke with Vogel about the very personal title track and how he feels about fans assigning their own meaning to it, what it meant to have New Found Glory's Chad Gilbert and Hot Water Music's Chuck Ragan contribute to one of the album's songs and the singer spoke to the authenticity that Terror continues to strive for.

Vogel also addressed being the rare hardcore band to reach this state of career longevity. Check out more of the chat below.

It's Full Metal Jackie and we are gonna crank it up today as we welcome Terror's Scott Vogel to the show. The band is back with their 10th studio record, Still Suffer. Scott, it feels like a very apt title for the record with the album dealing in themes of self-doubt and working through personal pain and trauma. Was there anything in particular fueling this record? And what does it mean to have music as a means of expression to work through things?

This one's really easy for me to answer 'cause this record lyrically is pinned to the title, record, everything, lyrics are all pinpointed to one thing, which if you know me well enough, recognizing that I've drank excessively for about 15 years and finally finding a way to get away from that.

Music in general is such an emotional thing. I'm always a lyric guy when I listen to music. I would assume guitarists are more like music-driven, but me as the frontman, I've always just leaned into the lyrics and connecting with them. So for me, this whole record's about, and I just wanna preface this with I figured out a way to have a beer, so I can still have a couple of sips of beer, but I'm just not going down that bottle of vodka a day thing. But it's just all about why I got to that place, getting away from it, and title-wise, Still Suffer is just really pointing out that when I stopped drinking heavily, that's really when I could see all the problems.

Maybe you think you put the bottle down and everything becomes like a rainbow and flowers, but for me, it took like a year or two to really get through all the bull. And that's when the real problems started for me.

Terror, "Still Suffer"

Scott, we just played the title track. In the song, you speak to the price of pain. While this can be a cathartic way to work through things, the other thing music is great for is bringing a voice to something the listeners may be feeling. It feels very authentic and personal. What does it do to you when the fans come back at you with their own attachments to songs like this one?

Something I've done myself in my life 'cause I love a lot of music, and when people do it to me, I could break down for someone exactly line for line what it's saying. A lot of times, myself and other people, they get a fully different meaning from it and they attach their own experiences to it and they paint a completely different picture. Sometimes there will be some similarities and some lines are so direct that you know exactly what it means. But a lot of times, I've painted pictures of songs that mean so much to me and then like I'll hear an artist like this talking about it and they have a whole different meaning. I think that's like a really great thing.

There's also the thing where there's like classic songs of bands that I thought they were saying something but they're saying like actual different words and I've attached meaning. But I think the big picture is that you're getting an emotion, you're getting a feeling, you're getting a release from these songs, where the music and the lyrics all mold into this whole ride that you're taking with them.

And I think that's the whole meaning of music to me.

Scott, ten albums feels very much like a landmark moment and a time to reflect. In the early days, did you ever imagine that Terror would get to this point in their career? And how close are we in 2026 to what you envisioned your career might be when you were first starting out?

Yeah it's crazy, 'cause I look at it so many different ways. Just me in particular, I've done a few notable bands that had records out before Terror and they all were like two years, got a little momentum and died for whatever reason. People quit, the bands ended, whatever. So I never imagined when this band started we would go for 20-plus years, consistently, never breaking up, putting out music all the time.

When you look at it, the world we come from, the hardcore scene, the world we are very still active in, there's only maybe 10 or less bands that have done what we've done.

I don't take any of it for granted. We are blessed to still have people that come out to our shows, listen to our music, connect with our music, give us the energy at the live shows. So we are super, super blessed and take none of it for granted.

But the real simple answer is that it is wild and insane.

Scott, this new album includes some special guests on here, but I wanted to ask specifically about one song. "Fear The Panic" gets a guest turn from Chuck Ragan and was co-produced by New Found Glory's Chad Gilbert. How enjoyable is it when you're able to open the doors and bring in some friends from other bands that you respect? And also, what was your experience working with Chuck and Chad on that song?

Okay, let's go to Chad first. Chad produced two of our past records and one of our  landmark records, Keepers of the Faith. That's like a favorite of ours and a lot of people. And Chad had so much to do with that record, like I can't even over-emphasize how much he put himself into that record and really shaped the band in a new way where we learned so much from him in so many ways.

So, we wrote this song and thought, like, "Okay, this could be a song that if we had Chad's brain on it, he could really push it to a new level." 'Cause he's such a musician and he makes things so catchy. He was really nice enough to just give us his time and his opinions and change some things, so that's an amazing thing.

And now going to Chuck, totally outside the box, no one that really knows Terror would think Hot Water Music and Terror, but the fact is Hot Water Music is my favorite band ever. I love them so much. We've become somewhat of friends, not super close, but we're tight with Hot Water Music. We play festivals with them.

The catchiness I was just talking about, getting Chuck to really lend us his voice and his energy, it's something people probably don't expect, but to me it's just perfection. I love it, and it just makes me like a little happy kid to have Hot Water Music on a Terror song.

Terror (Featuring Hot Water Music's Chuck Ragan), "Fear the Panic"

Scott, from the studio to the stage, one thing Terror has always been about is authenticity. It's just the nature of things that time has brought about evolutions in studio production and even stage presentation giving you more options. What do you view as being authentic in 2026 and do you feel especially in hardcore there's enough authenticity amongst what you're seeing from the current scene?

That's a good question. Let's focus on Terror. I do believe, I know we're authentic. The way we present ourself onstage, in the music we play, the way we carry the band, to be a full-time band and live off what I'll call a straight-up hardcore band is not easy and sometimes you get maybe a little itch or a little temptation to steer the boat in a direction that would maybe not be authentic but may be beneficial. But we really, at this point, we don't really do that. We're really happy and secure in who we are and we just keep going forward with the comfortability and somehow it just works out for us.

Do I think... Yeah, there was a time in my life when I was way more judgmental and I would be up onstage saying stuff that now is kind of embarrassing about, "You gotta be hardcore. You're not hardcore enough. How dare you call yourself hardcore," and though I'm in my 50s now. I'm worried about Terror and I gotta let go of that, let everyone do what they're doing.

There's great bands out there. There's young bands smashing through walls that we never did and I'm just happy for everybody and I'm focused on myself and my friends and bands doing maybe left turns or doing things I don't completely understand.

More power to them. Go get crazy and in the end it's gonna work out for everybody 'cause we're all playing music, being creative, traveling and meeting people and exploring who we are in this world.

Scott, having been there since the beginning, do you have a favorite period from your time in Terror? It doesn't necessarily have to be the band's best album but just sort of a period in which you enjoyed most being in this band.

Okay. Two answers. The beginning, 'cause like I said, I've been in a bunch of bands and they've always got a little momentum, but when Terror started, it was just this crazy explosion and we were just doing everything so fast, so that was really exciting.

And, again, I'm gonna go back to I am not a straight edge, I am not sober. I'll still have a beer, but this period right now where I am not hungover, I have so much energy. My focus now is cleaning the bandwagon, doing my laundry, getting haircuts, walking 20, 30, 40,000 steps a day. I do, I'm gonna call it yoga, but it's glorified stretching. It's a totally different world for me and right now just being super present and what we'll call is healthy is this whole new world that is really enjoyable for me and I'm gonna say right now is my, my favorite period.

That's amazing. It's the grown up Scott.

Yeah, and I don't want everybody to think that I'm this Buddhist nice guy 'cause I still do [drink] every day, but it's better than before.

Thanks to Scott Vogel of Terror for the interview. The band's Still Suffer album is available now. Stay up to date with the band through their website, Facebook, X and Instagram platforms. Find out where you can hear Full Metal Jackie's weekend radio show here.

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