Alongside grind pioneers such as Repulsion, Helgrind and Terrorizer, Napalm Death is perhaps one of the longest and oldest continuous grindcore bands still active today.
It is fitting, then, that this band was interviewed by Antoine Grand, the author of the bestselling book "Slaves to the Grind: A Complete History of Grindcore Music" that covers the history of grindcore, as well as its various subgenres (goregrind, crust, crunk, slamming gore, etc).
Napalm Death vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway and bassist Shane Embury both explained their journey from humble hardcore punk beginnings, into forming one of the oldest grindcore band there is. The interview was translated from French.
Napalm Death: "There is an injustice in our society against the old"
The members of Napalm Death are themselves pretty old (Napalm Death was started in the 1980s). When asked if it was hard to continue playing such an extreme style of music as grindcore at such an advanced age, the answer was pretty clear.
Barney Greenway: Playing was never hard for me. We have the chance to write about the exploitation of poor people in sweatshops, about elderly abuse, about the hypocrisy of the modern world. We are just observers in that sense. It's not hard on us, because we only describe what's happening... so no, to answer your question, I don't think it's hard to write about injustice as long as we aren't the ones experiencing it.Shane Embury: We will be still playing when we are 90. It's a middle finger to the establishment, the fascists and the homophobes.
Barney Greenway: We live in a very hypocritical society, especially towards the elderly. People say "the elderly are better of now than two decades ago". I say NO. People don't realise the injustice of throwing people away to die once they outlived their usefulness.
This is an interesting turn of events, with members of Napalm Death now taking the side of "old people". As in the early days of Napalm Death, they were fond of the old punk rock saying "never trust someone older than 30". Now it seems they have changed their minds, somewhat like Glen Benton of Deicide who did an entire 180° on the subject.
On Napalm Death and Glam Metal
Greenway shares his love for what he calls progressive metal, meaning mostly glam metal bands like Opeth and Arch Enemy. He also complains about the lack of innovation, or "exploration" as he calls it, in modern metal.
Barney Greenway: Yes, I love [progressive metal]. I listen to a lot of things. Some are calmer, some are much more... dirty.Shane Embury: There are plenty [of non-metal and punk bands] that influenced Napalm Death when we started playing. It's not just hardcore all the time. We listen to a lot of different stuff.
Barney Greenway: We also make dirty music, but sadly many of the newer bands have become copycats of better bands before. [...] The same is true for us, people always tell me "you make such dirty music" but NO. There is nothing we play that hadn't been done before. I think it's sad that exploration is discouraged in today's metal.
About playing alongside goregrind bands, who are known to use gratuitous gore for shock value (ex: Cannibal Corpse), Greenway says he doesn't judge the artists (or the fans).
Barney Greenway: [Playing alongside goregrind and porngrind acts] is not something I would ever do. But I don't judge those who listen to this type of music.
They didn't say if they wanted to play alongside Limp Bizkit or BrokenCyde, though.
ALSO READ: Nargaroth's Kanwulf Interview "Black Metal Is Dead To Me!"
Napalm Death also addresses why they tried to have a festival in Norway (Blastfest) cancelled because Peste Noire, a black metal band sometimes tied to the NSBM ideology, was also invited. Originally, only Peste Noire was deprogrammed, but later several metal acts such as Horna and Goatmoon also pulled out in solidarity with Peste Noire, which led the whole festival to be cancelled.
Barney Greenway: You know, I'm not someone who will go up to another artist and start pointing fighters saying "he is a fascist". It's not my style, and it would be to negate the complexities of individuals. This singer [Famine, of Peste Noire]. I don't know if he's a fascist. I don't know. All I know is that when you look at the audience [of these black metal bands], even if the band itself isn't fascist, but the audience... we know there are always people at the limit of militias, the "brown shirts" you know. We don't want these types of peoples in events where we play, that's why we had to cancel the event.Shane Embury: We are internationalist. We are against borders and all that nazi ****. Napalm Death stands for racial equality.
An interesting way to conclude the interview with Grand. You can find the rest, as well as more interviews with prominent grindcore musicians, in the book "Slaves to the Grind".
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