There's no denying that with the release of 'Scum' back
in 1987, UK act Napalm Death earned themselves a place in metal history
as one of the forefathers of the grindcore scene. Almost twenty-five
years on, the highly influential grindcore/death metal legends still
continue to redefine their own existence within the scene with every
new release.
Eighteen months after the release of their highly acclaimed
comeback release 'The Code Is Red... Long Live The Code', Napalm Death
(who, since 2002, have comprised of vocalist Mark 'Barney' Greenway,
guitarist Mitch Harris, bassist Shane Embury and drummer Danny Herrera)
have managed the unthinkable and returned with an even stronger follow
up in 'Smear Campaign' (their twelfth full length release), which critics
have already hailed as a modern day extreme/death metal classic.
During a brief stop over in Dortmund (Germany, where the
band were playing a show in support of Disturbed), I managed to catch
up with the down to earth Mark 'Barney' Greenway, who was more than
happy to chat about their new album's unusual and unlikely guest appearance,
his reluctance to spend too much time in the past, his rediscovered
love of touring, the band's self imposed pressure to better 'The Code
Is Red... Long Live The Code' and ultimately reaching that personal
goal with the stunning 'Smear Campaign'.
"'The Code Is Red... Long Live The Code' was so well
received, and we f**king loved that album when we completed it, but
I have to be honest when I say that I think 'Smear Campaign' surpasses
it in many ways. That's a personal achievement, if nothing else."
It's a bold claim from Greenway, especially given that
when I spoke to Mitch Harris last year, he claimed that 'The Code Is
Red... Long Live The Code' was their strongest release to date.
"I think this one is. I've always kind of spread
myself in terms of claiming our new album is the best, especially 'The
Code Is Red... Long Live The Code' and 'Utopia Banished' (1992). But
definitively, I think this one is the best album that we've ever done.
I know people are going to say that musicians always say that, but if
you go back to some of the interviews I've done in the past, I've always
been honest about how our albums turned out in my own opinion. I think
this one is definitely the best all round album we've done. And there
are a number of reasons why. First, I think this album has the songs.
We're never going to write commercial hooks or things like that, but
in the context of extremity, I think these songs are really catchy.
Or at least I think they are. Two, I think the music and lyrics really
came together this time around, as in where they sit together. Thirdly,
I think the production is fantastic, and last but not least there's
the artwork. I think the artwork is f**king great. So everything all
round makes 'Smear Campaign' f**king great."
According to Greenway, placing themselves under pressure
is necessary when making a Napalm Death album as it only helps add to
the band's aggressive sound.
"We try not to be too relaxed when we're writing
songs because we feel that urgency and that on the edge sort of feeling
can be helped by not giving ourselves too much time to come up with
the material. I wouldn't want that kind of loose vibe that some other
bands have. I would think that we would kind of get bored if we had
to write an album that way. The momentum would be a little lacking I
think. We like that pressure. At times I'll find myself at my computer
tapping out lyrics with absolute ease, and other days I can have a complete
mental block and find myself screaming the place down. But at the end
of the day, that pressure to come up with stuff really works. I don't
know why, but it just does. I guess we've just found our little way
of making things work for us. This time around, we put ourselves under
a little bit of pressure, as we always do, went in there and came up
with whatever we came up with. There was no great master plan. We just
came up with some songs and recorded what we felt was good at the time.
It was the same deal as always when it comes to making Napalm Death
albums. Only this time, I think everything came together perfectly."
It's no secret that Napalm Death are quite prolific when
it comes to their studio work (especially given there's only eighteen
months between 'The Code Is Red... Long Live The Code' and 'Smear Campaign'),
but it does make you wonder if sometimes all four members are all prepared
in terms of having material ready prior to entering the studio.
"Well obviously we schedule studio time when we're
due to start rehearsing but I would say there are times when some of
us are on slightly different pages compared to others in terms of writing
new material, or being prepared beforehand. But it all works out because
one really does compliment the other. Embury compliments Harris in terms
of bouncing ideas off each other and writing material, while I compliment
the song framework with the lyrics. It just goes from there. I mean
Embury and Harris are the principal riff writers. I will sometimes help
them with that, but because I don't generally play guitar, my job is
centred more on the general arrangements. That's about the level of
involvement in regards to the riffing that I have. But yes, I do get
involved with the arrangements. But you know, Embury has his way of
writing, and Harris has his, and when the pair of them come together,
it really works, regardless of how prepared they are before entering
in rehearsals. Or at least I think so! (Laughs)"
One person that really deserves a mention outside of the
band is Russ Russell who has moved from behind the scenes to engineer,
record, mix and co-produce 'Smear Campaign' (with Napalm Death themselves)
"We've actually worked with Russell on four prior
releases (2000's 'Enemy Of The Music Business', 2002's 'Order Of The
Leech', 2004's 'Leaders Not Followers: Part 2' and 2005's 'The Code
Is Red... Long Live The Code'), but he was just a co-producer or straight
engineer for us at the time. We really wanted to use Russell's own abilities,
because we just felt that Russell could be a whole lot than just a co-producer
or engineer. Russell totally understands the band. He understands the
need for rawness and looseness, as well as the need to have a big sound
within that context. I think he totally succeeded in getting that for
us. Russ blows me away in terms of what production he's done for Napalm
Death. I don't think those other albums would be half the albums they
are without his assistance there. He's just amazing. Nothing really
changed in regards to the songs themselves but he did manage to give
us that sound we were really after."
Another unsung hero is artist Mick Kenney (who is also
drummer for Mistress, Annal Nathrakh and Frost), who has given Napalm
Death's latest album a distinctly detailed old school look.
"I totally agree. What we did there was skewer the
concept of the terrorist image a little bit to include the fish logo
on the forehead which is a symbol used for Christians. The reason behind
this is to suggest that sinister forces are at work where you may not
think and on an everyday basis. That's what the meaning is behind the
centrepiece there. And of course, the surrounding imagery is religiously
related stuff as well. The theme of the album is obviously religion
and while I know a lot of bands have tackled that issue in many different
ways in the past, I wanted to hopefully go a little deeper than most.
I actually wanted the lyrics to address a wide range of issues with
the hope to bring to the forefront some things that even irreligious
people could even absorb. Morality is the main issue really. Even people
that are really into freethinking don't want to have anything to do
with religion. We still want to get back to this thing that has been
ingrained into us, which is morality. And my whole point is to say,
'We don't need morality or judgement to live in harmony'. The better
way forward is not to have these divisions and judgements that make
other people seem irrelevant or inappropriate. It's better that we do
what's right for ourselves, and in turn we will begin to understand
other people a little more by our own happiness. I think that morality
makes judgements on people, and that just creates divisions and just
perpetuates conflict. The whole lyrical concept on 'Smear Campaign'
is mine, but I think it's something that everyone in the band agrees
on. I think it might be better to say that the other guys might not
think too much about this kind of stuff deeply, but then there aren't
too many people that do! (Laughs) That's why we're still in servitude
to morality and the moral guardians. But it was my concept. The other
guys in the band don't talk about it much and I'm sure they have some
slightly different perspectives on the subject matter, but we all pretty
much think along the same lines. I mean, when are you ever going to
get a band in this world where all the members truly believe the same
thing? We're all people at the end of the day."
With an outspoken front man on a whole host of issues
throughout the years, I had to ask if there were moments where a certain
member of the band had ever directly opposed the lyrical statement presented
in a song.
"That's a really good question. I don't really get
asked about my lyrics from the band all that often and I can really
honestly say that it's never been an issue with any other members of
the band. Embury and Harris have written lyrics in the past and Embury
wrote two songs on 'Smear Campaign' ('When All Is Said And Done' and
'Shattered Existence'), but there's never been an issue about lyrics
in the past. Most of the differing opinions that Embury and I have are
about how the band might work in certain ways. We're both into free
thought and things like that. We're free thinkers, or at least we try
to be. We also have that experience in life and that gives us the ability
to accept others opinions on matter."
Unlike 'The Code Is Red... Long Live The Code', 'Smear
Campaign' features only one guest appearance, who interestingly enough
is Anneke Van Giersbergen from Dutch progressive act The Gathering,
who appears on the opening instrumental piece 'Weltschmerz' and 'In
Deference'.
"Some bands might drag guests in for their album
purely for the sake of having that someone sing on their album. But
for us, we always do things in context. Jello Biafra (who appeared on
'The Great And The Good') was totally right for that track that he did.
In fact, when you listen to the original guide vocal I did before Biafra
did his thing, you can tell that he took the track to a whole other
place. That's the whole point. If you're going to bring in another guest,
they have to compliment the song, or add to the song rather than just
sound the same. And for this album, Giersbergen's contributions to both
'Weltschmerz' and 'In Deference' were totally in context. Some people
might say it's a bit f**king weird, but it's in context with what the
song is actually about. You have to hear the song, because without hearing
it, it does sound a little strange having someone like Giersbergen singing
on a Napalm Death track. I think both tracks sound very much like Celtic
Frost around the 'Morbid Tales' (1984) era. But then when you think
of other bands in the past, like Crass and Conflict, who always added
female vocalists, it's not that strange. I always loved that because
it was in complete contrast to what the male vocalists were doing. I
think it worked because they complimented the songs really well. I've
read what some people have already posted on some forums but stuff like
that is inevitable! (Laughs) They're saying things like, 'Ah! Operatic
metal vocals! What are they doing?' Those people haven't heard that
song yet. Once they hear it in context, they'll understand."
Taking into account that Greenway has already stated that
'Smear Campaign' is the strongest Napalm Death album so far, I had to
ask if there was a certain amount of fear in regards to following up
'Smear Campaign' the next time they head into the studio.
"'The Code Is Red... Long Live The Code' was a fantastic
album and it's still a great album but this one is just that little
bit stronger. I honestly had my doubts from the start of recording this
album about how the f**k we were going to top that album. But I think
we did. I don't want to sound arrogant at all but I really have the
vibe that we topped the last album. But having said that, I don't really
have any negative to say about 'The Code Is Red... Long Live The Code'.
It's still a great album for me. But yes, there's a certain amount of
fear and expectation about following up 'Smear Campaign'! (Laughs) The
only way we're going to achieve that is to not worry about it and just
go with whatever feels right at the time. That's all we can do. It goes
back to that thing where some bands start to believe their own hype
and all the bands that have ever done that in the past have made great
albums and then followed them up with some shitty albums. At least that's
what I think. I don't want to believe our own hype. I don't really take
the 'Legendary Band' hype seriously. It's very nice of people to say
those sorts of things but we're only as good as our next album. So we're
just going to have to do what feel right next time around."
In a sense, Greenway's philosophy about Napalm Death's
past is very similar to that of vocalist/guitarist/founder Miland 'Mille'
Petrozza and his band Kreator which is very much based around looking
ahead rather than behind.
"That's right. You can spend too much time on nostalgia
and forget where you're actually meant to be going. In a sense, Napalm
Death has a history but it doesn't really matter. We just have to keep
going forward. We can't live in the past. There are a certain component
of fans out there that want us to continually making copies of 'From
Enslavement To Obliteration' (1988) but I have to ask myself why? It's
not doing ourselves any justice and it wouldn't do most of the fans
listening to us any justice. It would be cheating. It's like trying
to recapture a moment in time. It's not going to have any substance
to it. Yes, it would have really fast songs, and perhaps some really
good songs, but it just would be the same."
With 'Smear Campaign' now on the shelves, Napalm Death
are ready to hit the road with their first leg of dates covering the
US (alongside Hatebreed, The Black Dahlia Murder and Exodus under the
banner of 'Monsters Of Mayhem'), and it's something that Greenway is
genuinely looking forward to.
"We're just about to dive in at the deep end but
it'll be f**king great. I'm dying to get out there and play some more
shows. I love touring! (Laughs) Touring very much depends on your own
feelings about yourself. Contrary to some romantic visions some have
about touring or being in a band, it's a hard f**king slog. It really
can be sometimes. You have to be ready to deal with that. Some people
just aren't built to tour. When I say that, I don't mean the hedonistic
side or the excessive side, because that's not what Napalm Death's about
anyway. It's hard in the sense that you're away from home, there's no
grounding and there's no personal touch about that nomadic life. You're
either in a van or sharing a bus with a bunch of people - just heading
from place to place. You have to be equipped to deal with that. I am
now but I wasn't equipped for that for some time. Now, I'm really positive
about life on the road. I like to make a positive out of anything. I'm
looking forward to it because I know that in the live sense, we're honed
to a point now where we really f**king go for it. We're finding that
we're really enjoying it now. It's great. We're even hoping to tour
Australia this time around. It just hasn't worked out in the past but
hopefully that won't be a problem from this point on. We f**king need
to be down there. It's been some ten years since we were last down there!
(Laughs) We definitely make conscious efforts to make a tour work down
there with our other tours (regions such as Japan and Asia), so hopefully
it'll be sooner rather than later."
From a greater personal perspective, Greenway seems to
have made the transition from being a musician on the road to a nomadic
traveller who soaks in the sights and sounds that surround him on a
daily basis, with Napalm Death's show only taking a small part of his
day as a roving musician/tourist.
"These days, I'm just brimming with positives. Sometimes
people tend to miss the simple things in life. It's very easy to sweep
them under the carpet. I sometimes take a very simple and logical point
of view on things so I try not to overcomplicate things too much. There's
no need to overcomplicate what is a simple issue. Some people might
say I'm simply after an easy life, but I say why not? It's a philosophy
I try to use on the road as well. I try and stimulate myself! (Laughs)
I read. I know that's something anyone can do but I try and open my
eyes and get out there and look around and just take in wherever I am.
I do a variety of things so I always manage to keep myself busy. Even
the simple art of conversation is a very helpful thing, whether that
is with your band mates, or some fan that's come down to the gig. It's
great to see them and sometimes you'll find yourself chatting away for
three hours conversing on a whole range of subjects. Again, it might
be nostalgic to a point but it's more about getting off on the art of
conversation. In many ways, it's a sadly forgotten art."
For more information on Napalm Death, check out - http://www.napalmdeath.org
© Justin Donnelly - justindonnelly@ozemail.com.au
