A course of actions
by More Betty
Political lyrics were an important part of the band’s initial writing, although it hasn’t exclusively been the case over the years, it was never abandoned. “It’s not always political; it goes beyond that. Let’s be honest; politics, if you take the main definition, is fucking worthless. Mainstream politics is very self-serving, satisfies a few people and then after that it’s kind of meaningless,” says Greenway. “The thing that underpins the ethos of the band is the humanitarianism, a respect and understanding for sentient beings, for humans and animals… that is the starting point. The world right now is a very inhumane place. People will do anything, anything whatsoever to get to get ahead … and it’s been a problem for a hundreds and thousands of years.”
Napalm Death has been around since the 1980’s so one could credit them for being key players in the architecture of the grindcore genre. “There are references to Napalm, but Napalm came from somewhere,” says Greenway. He describes Napalm’s influences to come from American, European and Japanese hardcore and death metal but also says there is an ambient influence from bands such as Swans, Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine. What he is listening to lately happens to be the most ‘ungrindcore’ of things: Swans, their new album and Kraftwerk. “Kraftwerk is so appealing because it’s so ludicrous,” says Greenway and others such as re-master of first Crass album, “the lyrics and the whole thing is still captivating, they’re genius.” On the topic of lyrics, he mentions Jello Biafra. “If I can write lyrics of that kind of quality, I would be extremely happy.”
Longevity and perseverance is about working through the challenges. “There were times when we could have given up, like the mid to late ‘90s but part of our ethos is to keep going,” says Greenway. “We are not doing it because we want to be multimillion album sellers, we are doing it for other reasons and we owe it to ourselves to give it the very best shot.” And what would you do with such a lengthy history? “Stopping is unthinkable unless something dramatic happens. The time to stop would be when it doesn’t feel as vibrant, as fresh and chaotic perhaps, musically speaking.” But the band has an unspoken something that seems to work and people tell Greenway that no two albums sound the same.
Upcoming projects involve a Napalm Death split with the Melvins covering a UK band called the Cardiacs from the 1980s. “Sparks, Devo, Toy Dolls but heavier, you talk about original heavier music, this is very original!”
Napalm Death plays the Rickshaw Theatre November 9
