Web hosting Custom Email SiteBuilder

Napalm Death is playing a one-off gig with the Melvins at The Garagein London, a dank, basement-like venue with gas station ambience (the neonsign above the bar reads " Lubrication"). It's the band's firstofficial UK show in two years, though they did perform a non-advertisedsurprise set of a Camden club two weeks earlier. The Garage is packed andthe crowd psyched, getting into the five songs off the yet-to-be-releasedFear, Emptiness, Despair nearly as much as oldies like 'Mass Appeal"and 'Suffer The Children'. Joyful stagedivers take their time, embracingBarney Greenway as he lunges about the stage or trying to chat with theshredding Shane Embury, before tossing themselves back into the fray. Napalmis clearly in fine form, the new stuff sounding particularly punchy. Theset is over much too quickly. 'It was OK, says bassist Shane, Napalm's longest-standingmember, the next day, over his 'Devilled Chicken Wings (he couldn't resistthe menu description: "satanically smoked and barbequed"). "Wegot sort of a strange reaction from the audience. I think we were expectingthis one to be really good for us. We were thinking the show a couple ofweeks ago was going to be 'ugh', and that was really good. That's just us.People can come back afterwards and say 'That was a killer show!'...l guesswe're just moody people." He does agree that the new songs-'Twist 'TheKnife,' "Hung," 'Remain Nameless,' 'Plague Rages' and 'State OfMind'-went over especially well. 'No one's heard the album yet, but at thetwo shows we played, my impression is that the fans really got into it.That'ssomething you don't usually get from Napalm songs. It's probably becauseof the beats we used; the tempos are a little more interesting, it's notjust constantly fast.
Here lies the charm of Fear, Emptiness, Despair, to this writer consistent,compelling rhythms. One hates to use the word 'catchy in conjunction withsuch extreme music, but it's easy to get caught in these grooves. That,in fact, was the band's intent. 'When I started writing stuff for this album,'says Shane, 'I wanted it to be a little bit different, not to rely on thetypical formula, like blast, discharge, blast, whatever. And it so happenedthat Mitch (Harris, guitarist) was thinking the some thing, so was Jesse(Pintodo, other guitarist); like a general sort of evolution. We tried toconcentrate on our rhythms. That's why the album has a lot of differentbeats and flavors that we never really had before." 'I've been hearinglately that it's more industrial,' adds Mitch, 'but I wouldn't say that.it's probably one step forward into making Napalm harder to classify.' Shaneexplains, 'People are using the word 'industrial' for anything that's notstraightforward, typical metal. If there happen to be songs with dischordantnotes or whatever, automatically they think that's industrial. There's quitea lot of complex drumming on the album, that's the only thing that wouldcome across as being technical really. The riffs are very basic, very simpleto play.'
Because the band were obviously on the some composing wavelength, songscome together quickly this time. No doubt this was due to the fact thatNapalm's present line-up is three years old now (newest member Danny Herrerajoined in July'91), quite a feat, given their revolving door past. Aditionally,accordng to Shane, 'I think we get on a lot better now, even if we havea lot of arguments. Me and Mitch can get close to fighting. The next daywe'll shake hands, we were drunk or stupid. We all argue, but we work itout better now. That was the problem in the older days. As band members,we were very isolated from each other. I lived in one part of the country,Bill (Steer) lived in another, so did Lee (Dorrian), so did Mick (Harris).We never hung out together really." These days everyone lives in thesome house in Birmingham, except Barney, who resides in London. Says fellowBom native Shane of living with the three Yanks, "It's good, like anadopted family." Adds Jesse, 'It's cool because sometimes Mitch willsay, 'Hey, check out this riff' and it's not even a song or anything yet.Three months down the road, he goes, 'check this piece out' and I've heardit, I'm used to it. By the time it gets around to rehearsing, picking upa guitar and learning the piece, I'm already familiar with it. Or Shanewill talk about an idea he's writing about, maybe he got pissed off or whatever.When it's actually finished, you're so much more into it because you'veseen the thing grow.
"Barney may have nothing to do with the initial songwriting process,but he's quite serious and passionate about Napalm's music and his maindepartment, lyrics. Though tired and ragged-voiced after the Garage show,he graciously holds forth at dinner in a noisy Chinese restaurant (A sometimecorrespondent for this very mag, he well understands journalists' needs!)'I pretty much base myself around the some subjects 'every album excepteach time I'll try to express it a lot differently. I do use intricate languageand stuff without trying to make it sound undefinable because I think creativewriting is good for the songs, but without being too vague or complicated.I'm trying to find a happy medium." As for those themes near and dearto him, like white supremacy ('I'm Retching On The Dirt'), he doesn't elaborate:'I'm sure I don't have to go into a lengthy discussion about that becauseeveryone knows how I feel ... I'm very high strung in pared to go to mergewith what has become today's the sense that I think about things reallyintensely and I'm basically like that all the time. Not that he writes constantly."No. I won't jot things down. I have a couple of occasions but it alwaysturned out the stuff I have written down was never used".
So, the lyrical floodgates open only when it's time to write for an album,though the pressure is helped somewhat by Barney's ability to draw on thepost. 'in a year's time, if something happened in this conversation, I wouldthink back to it and could actually write, using it as a reference. Thatsounds really weird but...". Since he is a part-time journalist, Iwondered what he would want to know, were he interviewing Napalm. "Iwould ask: How far are you prepared to go to merge with what has becometoday's mainstream metal? Is that what you're working towards? Do you stillhave the urge to be uncompromising?" And how would Barney answer? 'Asfor as I'm concerned, I don't conform to anyone," he states. "Imean, I don't give a fuck. I would do things on our terms; I'd be so ashamedto kiss ass. Integrity to me is believing in what you're doing at the endof the day." He's pretty disgusted by recent trends in music. 'A lotof bands have taken to conform now and a lot of people's sight is beinghazed over by what is hip now; the whole 'hip' thing has so overshadowedthe fact that a lot of these bands are conforming and people don't see that,just that the hand is being 'Cool." He refuses to get sucked into it.'I've got a passion for music. When I hear something that strikes me asbeing soulful, coming from the heart, then I'll gel into it. I'm quite stubborn,you know, I'm really picky. I can't force myself to like something to becool. When people look at my musical tastes, they turn their f.cking noseup of me. Why should I be ashamed?' He's referring to the fact that in additionto old underground hardcore and 'all sorts of hard rock, death metal, thrashmetal, punk rock,' he also appreciates Journey, Foreigner and 'check thisout, this is totally going to faze you, but I love Richard Marx.' Wow, hereally doesn't give a shit about coolness, eh? Admirable. (ironically, somepeople will think Barney ultra-bad for liking someone so unhip, which is,of course, exactly not the point.) Likewise, certain current bands are definitelynot his cup o Tea. 'Rage Against The Machine ... I don't like being preachedto. I've got nothing against them, but they don't do it for me.'
One person who feels even more strongly about this is Shane, who says asmuch in his lyrics for 'Plague Rages.' 'I just think it breeds a certainfan who's like 'Yeah, man, they're politically correct, I'm politicallycorrect' and they're not even questioning what's right or wrong. They'renot even thinking for themselves, trying to adopt their own ideas. They'rejust like, 'Fuck you, Iwon't do what you tell me!' It's very fashion-oriented.On the weekend, after the 9-5 job. They're screaming out, but they're notreally understanding ... RATM almost promote what they're not meant to bepromoting. They're about free thought and individuality, but the way theycome across, it's very much like 'I'm right, you're wrong."
Shane, like Barney, is very much an individual thinker. His lyrics on 'StateOf Mind' were inspired by being on a panel of Foundations Forum right beforeour last presidential election. 'They started discussing American politics,which I don't know much about, but the subject come up, 'Let's vote forthe lesser of two evils.' Well, if it's lesser, it's still an evil. It'sthe some way in England...Shouldn't people have the choice not to chooseuntil someone comes along that represents them? I think people just actlike sheep; they just do it out of duty. If you're always content to gowith somebody who's a bit better, but he's still no good, then you're nevergoing to change anything.'Though it's evident the Napalm guys feel stronglyabout certain issues and their lyrics reflect that, live shows are purecatharsis. Interestingly, the hand has played some hot spots, includingIsrael, Russia, and South Africa, where Barney got involved in a heateddebate with bigots on national radio. (That country's fucked,' he maintains,'No matter what they say, it's still fucked.") They've witnessed somedisturbing stuff abroad, but, says Shane, 'With all the problems that variouscountries have, when it comes down to a Napalm Death show, it's always thesame. The problems are all forgotten, people get into stage diving mania,crazy energy, that's the same all over. If Is kind of good, like a meetingplace to get rid of your fears and depressions, whatever, which is f heway I always look at Napalm, for myself anyway: a nice way to get rid ofyour anger and tension.' What more could one really ask of any band?