Echoes of Ancestral Battles by GALLIC HAMMER Salut katurix ! Ton one man band Gallic Hammer est basé en Suisse. Peux tu nous en dire un peu plus sur la genèse du projet ? Salut Pierre, Tout d'abord, je tiens à te remercier pour cette interview. je me réjouis de répondre à tes questions. Ayant officié longtemps dans divers groupes et projets underground, en tant que batteur, cela faisait longtemps que j'avais envie de créer mon propre projet solo, que je puisse diriger comme bon me semble, au rythme qui me convient . J'aime composer de la musique donc c'était naturel que ça se fasse un jours ou l'autre. Cela a débuté en 2019, sous le nom de Tales Of Invasions. Mon idée initiale était de partir sur un projet viking-epic BM à la Bathory. J'ai donc composé et enregistré une première démo dans la foulée, qui contenait 5 morceaux, dont les pistes "Taïga" et "Fall of The Warrior King()" *qui apparaissent également sur le premier EP de Gallic Hammer...
FATHERS OF GRIND ! INTERVIEW WITH NAPALM DEATH (Mark "Barney" Greenway)
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What can i say ? Napalm IS GRINDCORE ! Period ! Ask anyone involved in Grind and you will have the same answer. This interview will be also published in my forthcoming book about Grindcore : "Scum : Une Histoire du Grindcore" at Camion Blanc publishing. Let's enjoy this great moment with Mark "Barney" Greenway, singer of the crew, and appreciate his views about Napalm in paritcular and Grindcore in general ! Thanks to him !
All answers: Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway
Napalm Death. This name is like
thunder in the sky. When I was a teenager and discovered you I was really
scared (late 80’s). Was it one of your goals, to be scary ?
Interesting question. I
think subliminally, yes, to scare and shock – but with the motive of exposing
injustice and inequality in the world. So not in the traditional sense of pure
escapism of something like that. I suppose a good example is the cover of the
‘Scum’ album. I suppose it’s sort of scary looking – and very monotone and
bleak – but of course it’s more about iconic misery in terms of exposing multinational
corporations and their actions.
Can you remind us the conditions of
Napalm creation ?
I’m not totally sure of
your question there…but I think you mean the origins of the band. Obviously I
was not in the band at that time, but I was around them certainly. Effectively
Napalm death was firstly formed at school with a group of friends – originally
called Civil Defence actually. They grew into – and outwards from – the very
vibrant punk and hardcore scene around the UK. I remember those times quite
well – they were amazing. And I saw Napalm Death in the very early days as a
three-piece. Totally blew my mind and I could see they were going to be
something special.
You were involved in the UK hardcore
scene, how did you discover US extreme metal bands, Japanese and Swedish HC
that helped you create your sound ?
I think people know about
this by now, as it has been widely documented. But, yeah, tape trading. It
might not seem like much now, but waiting for the postman for the latest C-90
cassette tape to drop through the door was great fun. This was a worldwide
network and of course you could easily be writing to people from bands such as
Anti Cimex or Systematic Death – or equally on the death metal side Devastation
or Paradise Lost or somebody like that. Or maybe just a person not in a band
with tons of trading connections and fountains of enthusiasm. People mostly
liked a bit of everything: punk and hardcore, death metal, noise rock, ambient
noise…whatever.
So hearing those bands
just made Napalm Death want to play super-raw and in fact beyond that try to push
the boundaries of noise and beats per minute as far as possible.
My book will be named “scum”. Well, I
don’t need to explain more. After all these years what does “Scum” represents
to you guys ?
Stepping outside of the
band…it’s a milestone not only in extreme music, but I think also in the more
general musical sense. I think it’s still a very relevant album today and I
love playing the songs live. And in terms of the subject matter, well you know
that multinational corporations have not cleaned up the way they act in the
world.
Also, for me on a
personal level, it speaks to me of a time of great friendship in Birmingham and
beyond: people without much in terms of possessions looking out for each other
and loving the simple pleasure of life and confrontational music.
If I say Grindcore, what can you tell
us about it ?
Well, it was Micky the
last Napalm Death drummer who came up with that genre term and he defined it as
anything from ridiculously fast to painfully slow. So while that seems quite
wide and simplistic, what Micky said really connected with me. I do find it
quite funny sometimes though when people argue over small details of what is
Grindcore and what is not. We can all see that the genre has gone in a million
different directions and that is at it should be. Even though I have my own
personal tastes and don’t like everything that’s out there, it’s not for me to
say where the genre should or shouldn’t go.
when you were young punksters in the
early 80’s did you ever imagine that one day you’ll be the engineers and “gods”
of a music genre ?
No, I mean, it’s nice to
be complemented on things, but I never gave a shit about being put on a
pedestal like that. You need to have a grasp on reality, or you can end up believing
your own hype and becoming egocentric and probably losing your creative edge
completely.
NAPALM DEATH CREATORS OF GRINDCORE
Your favorite ND album, and why ?
Impossible to narrow it
down to one album. As purely a Napalm
lover, I think ‘Scum and ‘FromEnslavement…’ are inseparable. I love that both were breaking through
musical barriers but in their own chaotic ways. Since I’ve been in the band,
‘Utopia Banished’ I really loved making – it’s so raw and for me was a little
bit of a welcome antithesis to the polished nature of ‘Harmony Corruption’
before it. I also think that ‘Apex Predator…Easy Meat’ hits the sweet spot in
terms of the band amalgamating its many opposing influences without losing any
of the rawness.
After 30 years on the road and in the
studios are you ever tired of all this ?
We’re all human – some days
we don’t feel great about either things around us or about ourselves when we’re
bouncing around the world. But for me personally I feel we have good creative
urges and I think we go for it live as a band.I still feel there is much for us to do and say, so that kind of desire
outweighs the small day-to-day mood swings. Honestly, the day that Napalm Death leaves my particular
universe I would feel like I’d lost a limb or something.
Can you tell us what do you think of
crust/grindcore evolutions as Goregrind, pornogrind, black/grind and so ?
I don’t judge things
based upon the genre – I take a band by its merits – or lack of - individually.
I don’t think it says much to make judgment on such wide sweeps.I just want to hear bands hopefully with that
special something in their sound and approach no matter the genre or subgenre.
Napalm is now an institution, how can
you stay so true ? Is it a discipline ? Is it because of your ideals ?
Ah, Napalm Death being an
institution is just one perception of us. Really, when you strip it down we’re
a band still making albums and still touring fully and still saying what we
think needs to be said and try to contribute to making a difference. It’s just
us continuing to try and make Napalm Death the best thing it can be in terms of
all its activities.
What I certainly wouldn’t
want us to be is some kind of glorified tribute band or parody of ourselves. No
thanks.
NAPALM DEATH GRINDCORE STILL BANGING SINCE 1981
Is Napalm still a politicized band ?
Yes and no – and I think
that goes for Napalm Death now and when it first started. I think you could
reasonably say that many of the ideas come from the ‘left’ perspective in terms
of exposing exploitation and standing with the exploited etc. But I also think
you could call the band apolitical for the same reason. Because, really, politics
means nothing without people. For me, it becomes mostly about rediscovering
humanity because until we do that as a global population we are not going to
rediscover the ways to make the world fairer or stop oppression. And in turn
open our eyes fully to other sentient beings and the evolving word around us.
Your top ten albums ever, in every
genre you wish ?
Not in any particular order…
Motorhead – Ace of spades
Discharge – Why
Swans – Cop
Celtic Frost – To Mega Therion
S.O.B – Don’t be Swindle
Gauze – Equalizing
Distort
Siege – Drop Dead
The Young Gods – The
Young Gods
GBH –Leather, bristles,
studs and Acne
Siege – Drop Dead
What are your recent musical
favorites ? And how do you see the evolution of the scene nowadays ?
I have to be honest and
say that I literally haven’t heard anything new lately – I’ve been working for
long periods on the forthcoming Napalm Death album. For good or bad, I tend to tune
out from other music for months on end whenever we’re making a new one.
As far as the scene, the
key word there is evolution. It’s a very natural thing and I have no – and
should have no - control over it. I also have no real catch-all opinion about
it – it will go the places it needs to go. As I mentioned earlier, I take
individual bands by what their merits are to me. Like any music lover, some
things I will like and some things I won’t.
Will you still play grind/death in
ten years ?
I couldn’t have
reasonably assumed I was going to be still playing now thirty years ago, so for
that reason I think there’s a very good chance we / I will be making abrasive
noise and jumping around onstage in ten years time. Why not?
A blank space : you’re free to tell
everything you want to the readers :
Time just seems to fly
by, but we’re still here making a tremendous amount of noise. So we wouldn’t be
able to if wasn’t for all you lovely people who have consistently supported us.
Simply, thank you.
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