Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Location: Menza pri koritu, Metelkova, Ljubljana
Interview date: November 24, 2010
They’re a key link in metal’s evolutionary chain, and in the grand scheme of musical development they sit right where raw HC melts into the extreme side of metal. The first seeds of what we now know as Napalm Death appeared in the eighties, but thirty years later the band’s entire genetic code is completely transformed. All that’s left is the franchise, the name, and nothing has been the same since their first sonic assault. Scum happened, followed by a hellish avalanche of outstanding records – From Enslavement to Obliteration, Harmony Corruption, Utopia Banished, then Fear, Emptiness, Despair, Diatribes and on and on. Today, 22 years after the debut that set the standards for grind, they’re still here, defending the banner of socially charged critique with the album Time Waits For No Slave. On evolution, the latest record, the core of what the band is about and the ideas that give them their strength and charm despite all those years, we talked to the band’s singer, legendary guttural orator Mark Barney Greenway, on their return visit a year after the last one. The backdrop for our short chat was backstage at Menza pri koritu, the alternative epicenter of HC and punk, which lately has been serving up more and more brilliant, important and above all avant-garde metal names too. This time, just for RockHard and for you, loyal RockLine readers, Barney carved out a moment before the show and let us peek into the heart and mind of a loyal and unruly Napalmer.
First off, I’d like to say it’s a real honor and pleasure to have you back in Slovenia, where first contact with the audience was made long ago. So there are expectations – and above all, what kind?
Mark Barney Greenway: You know, as a rule I don’t dare expect anything, because I’d rather be surprised. When you have expectations about people, you’ve got to be realistic. People are unpredictable and always do only what they want to do. Because of that I don’t let myself get caught up in those usual thoughts. I’m excited, I think – like always before I step on stage and play a show. All that matters is that you’re fucking there, right?
So what will you be serving up to the crowd tonight: mostly old material, or something more modern-day Napalm?
Barney: Actually, since it’s been quite a while since we made and released the record (Time Waits For No Slave, ed.), we don’t really feel the need to focus only on, say, the newer stuff. We’ll serve a pretty mixed set of old songs, with just two or three newer ones in there. The rest will be old classics that we haven’t played for quite a while.
Grind missiles from Scum?
Barney: There’ll be something from every era.
Phenomenal. Let’s focus on the wild ride Napalm Death have been on so far. Next year it’ll be exactly 30 years since the band was born. You’ve been in the band without a break since 1989, apart from a one-year pause between 1996 and 1997. What do you make of the band’s development and the essence of what Napalm Death actually are?
Barney: Quite some time has passed. Without getting epic about it: there aren’t many bands that can boast such a long lifespan. And there definitely aren’t many that can boast such a distinctly unbroken line of sound running on from the first record. In my opinion, we Napalms sound pretty similar to how we did on the first record. Not literally, of course, but the basic core is still fast, chaotic HC, pretty much the same and unchanged. Of course there are plenty of new musical flavors and additions, which is natural, but we didn’t deliberately change the band as a whole, because we never wanted to and never aimed for that. We all stand behind the idea that the band’s basic concept is to play fast, chaotic music. I love the band’s ethics, its critical edge and its defiance of commercial expectations. That’s it!
It seems there’s more than enough raw material for criticism, and you’re inspired by what’s going on in society and politics today.
Barney: It’s more about general social observations than individual angles on politics. Politics is utter nonsense in many ways, just a small, narrow concept that means everything to a handful of people and nothing at all to the majority.
A big part of the crisis of values we’re facing today, which has been going on for quite a while – we’ve been in a dark age of recession, crisis and pressure on the little guy for some time now – comes from exactly that …
Barney: It doesn’t necessarily have to be framed purely through politics.
So what are you aiming for in these times, when there’s no shortage of material for writing, criticism and standing up against the rot of the system?
Barney: With Time Waits For No Slave, too, my goals stay the same. You have to bring out and express the human side of all this. It would be important to make the leap to the humanitarian view of it all. Human rights are still the central axis of everything. As for the recession – I haven’t actually talked about it much, but of course I experience and feel it myself as an individual woven into society. I know these times are hard on people. Do I have the tools to help people? Am I qualified enough to pass judgment on the situation we’re in? I think that goes beyond our turf and our reach …
But Napalm Death can freely voice some very sharp criticism of all this, and there are plenty of us who’d be glad to listen …
Barney: Of course banks and financial institutions are way beyond anything a single individual can do. These people who run and manage all of society and our lives, say, the lives of little people, of small countries that would struggle to survive anyway … And then these financial institutions come along and destroy the whole existence. It’s insane, but that’s just how the world turns. The systems support this kind of institution. So it’s impossible to successfully oppose it in one go. Personally, I think a time will come when the whole social structure will have to be shaken up and changed. Maybe these pillars of modern arrogance will fall soon enough. Once everybody claimed the Roman Empire was invincible and eternal, but look: the whole thing collapsed and fell apart. Systems and such “goods” come and go. It might take a generation or two, but change will come. And one of the driving forces is that these days more and more people have less and less, whether it’s material things or the right to object. Meanwhile the elite, a pretty narrow and thin layer of bigwigs, hoards more and more power in its hands. It’s almost impossible to defend, and an arrangement like that can’t last forever by its very nature. Whether we think that’s right or not – often it’s completely irrelevant. It’s something that will happen in the future out of sheer necessity. That destruction and replacement is at the heart of the system, because the white man and his lust for maximizing goods is a very powerful thing. Something has to give. People won’t put up with exploitation indefinitely. They simply won’t accept it as their reality!
It’s been a year since you released your latest record (Time Waits For No Slave, ed.). Has inspiration for the next one already struck, and are you maybe already working on it?
Barney: We’ll start work next year, and we’ll put the first sketches on the table as early as January. Recording is planned for May or thereabouts …
One interesting point to sum up – these days you have just one guitarist in the lineup, but there used to be two (after Jesse Pintado left in 2004, Mitch Harris handles all the guitar duties, ed.). Do you plan to expand the lineup again in the future?
Barney: No, the idea was on the table after Jesse left, but Mitch can actually handle the work of both guitars. Since he’s proven he’s up to it, we don’t need to look for anyone new. We’re all pretty much set up and calibrated the same way and get along really easily. It would feel strange and unnatural to have someone new join this family of ours when the four of us are already so tightly connected. We’re in great synergy. I’m not saying we won’t come back to those thoughts, but we don’t need to think about it now, and if we don’t need to do something – what’s the point of doing something else?
It’s almost time for you to get ready for tonight’s show, so just a few more questions. First: what are your short-term and long-term plans, as a band and as individuals?
Barney: The long-term answer is obvious – we intend to record and make a new album, which we’ll be doing for at least the next half year, and then it’s back to shows, tours and travels. That’s the long term for the band. Short term: I think that’s pretty much the record. We do have a festival gig booked in Estonia next July, so …
Doesn’t all this non-stop touring drain you, wear you out?
Barney: No, it’s not exhausting. It’s just a challenge for your mentality and physical fitness. We enjoy the work all the time. I mean, we’re Napalm Death …
And one last thought, some words from a metal legend for our readers.
Barney: I know this can get repetitive and sound worn out, but still: thanks for being with us all this time. Through good times and bad, at the shows, and for following us. After all these long years, we’re still here. There have been quite a few ups and downs along the way, but we don’t give in. That’s largely because we’re determined to follow our mission, and largely thanks to the support of people who have been with us either from the very beginning or for the last few years. Nothing is taken for granted, and we’re sincerely grateful for that and promise that the path of Napalm Death will keep going in the future too. Thank you!
interview by: Sandi Sadar Šoba
text translated and edited by: Sandi Sadar Šoba
The interview was made in collaboration with RockHard Slovenija and RockLine.
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