INTERVIEW 1

This band originated in Birmingham, England. While trends come and go Napalm have slowly built up their sound and their fan base. This album will add to their hordes of fans with their ultra-heavy side and on this one, some catchy experimentation.

Q&A with Barney Greenway

Sheila Rene': Thanks for taking the time to call from England.
Barney Greenway: Yeah, yeah. No problem.

SR: You and Jesse came on board around the same time, correct?
BG: Exactly the same time.

SR: I'm confused here. Are you in the band or you not? This is the one they said you wouldn't record on.
BG: I'm still in the band. It just wasn't for a while. Everything is fine at the moment.

SR: I guess the hardest things on the road is just living so close to another band mate.
BG: One of the hardest things, for sure. Yeah, everyone gets stir crazy.

SR: I thought it was pretty ironic that Extreme Noise Terror asked for you to sing on their album as they take ENT's Phil Vane into your group.
BG: It was pretty dumb all the way around. ENT were just looking at their options and I was part of that. It wasn't a calculated move.

SR: Shane did most of the writing this time.
BG: Yeah, on the last few albums. That was one of the problems. The democracy was slipping away. It was becoming a two-man thing. Everything got distorted because of that.

SR: Is there a common thread through this album? There seems to be a lot of references to birth and breeding.
BG: Well, of course. It's the rebirth of the band. The album title says it all, Inside The Torn Apart.

SR: It's tough to keep the outside influences out completely.
BG: Everyone listens to a different tune. We've always had to struggle over the extreme music we make.

SR: You brought in Colin again. What's the plus he brings?
BG: We've made him a friend and he always brings in a new perspective. Colin is very familiar with our music and he's very talented.

SR: You're out with Machine Head in Europe now.
BG: It's great to be hanging out in England for a few days. We take off tomorrow to rejoin Machine Head.

SR: When someone refers to your band as "legendary." Does that put more pressure on you?
BG: The only way we can go forward through that is to be ourselves and not worry about anyone else. Pressure is always there.

SR: What was the easiest tune to record. You all go in separately, yes?
BG: I wasn't in the band when they started. I didn't write anything on this album.

SR: Did the other members just call you up and apologize, then ask you to come back?
BG: Yeah, just like that.

SR: Did Coalesce come to you with the idea of working together?
BG: We had talked a while about a collaboration. It finally happened. The split just came about from our good working relationship.

SR: You two songs on the 7" came from where?
BG: These songs were left over from the last album.

SR: Ten years ago, where were your influences?
BG: They are still the same. I'm probably the only member in the band with the same influences. That's American death metal and early hardcore.

SR: Who was the first death metal band you liked?
BG: Venom from England is at the top of the list for me.

SR: Several people have said Forbidden.
BG: They was the West Coast/Bay Area influence while Venom were from U.S.

SR: What was the regiment on a day to day basis in the studio?
BG: They instruments came first and then my vocals. Believe it or not even with the aggression of the music that we turn out the studio vibe was relaxed. Even with all negative stuff going on in the band, it was still a laid back session among the band members.

SR: Do you take care of your voice in any special ways?
BG: As I get older I do feel the need to take care of it. Having said that, to no great extent. I take in plenty of liquids when I'm recording and gargle with a natural throat spray. I don't smoke or drink so I'm a pretty healthy person.

SR: How many voices do you have? I hear more than one on this album.
BG: I tailor it for the track. I never used to do that. It's just the last couple of albums. To be perfectly honest, none of that was rehearsed. It was spontaneous on each cut.

SR: I'm thinking about "The Lifeless Alarm." I've never heard that voice before. Not a lot of verbiage because on this one it's not needed.
BG: I think so. We've done tracks in the past like this. On this song, we tried to put lyrics to it. It didn't come out the way we thought it should. We fooled around with it and when it came for the final taping we decided on keeping it instrumental.

SR: What's the best album from this band so far?
BG: I have two favorites, the new one and Utopia Banished. The vibe in the studio on both of these albums was great.

SR: Do you think about ever singing straight, without the death metal sounds.
BG: Obviously, we've experimented. I have done a progression of voices so far. I'm happy to carry on with what I have. It has aggression and it just jumps out at you. It's not just a gruff voice. I feel comfortable with the way I sound.

SR: You don't use any enhancers on your voice, right?
BG: I've got a flange on my voice in places which give a tunnel effect.

SR: How are you traveling over there?
BG: By bus all the way.

SR: I hope it's maxed out with toys.
BG: Not really. We got the cheap deal because we didn't have the money. It would have been better if we were sharing a bus.

SR: Full headline in July in the U.S.
BG: Yes, then back to Europe in September and November.

SR: Your fans are just rabid as hell.
BG: All our fans are radical. Fans are the same everywhere. Our fans are definitely loyal. There are some pretty naughty people out there.

SR: I got the promo. Is that cover the same as we'll see.
BG: Yeah, it's the same. We will have a nice booklet and all the lyrics will be there. It's a stipulation in our contract. It's important to us.

SR: What influenced you to join a band?
BG: I was just in the right place at the right time, honestly. I was a death metal fanatic. I got into Napalm because I had followed them since '85 and they liked my voice.

SR: And you're still loving it.
BG: Let's not pretend that everything is okay all the time. We're talking with each other more.

SR: What are you looking forward to with this band?
BG: Just to make good music and not stray from the original concept. Take one day at a time and if success comes to this band we'll keep things going on our own terms.

SR: You've got a lot of websites on your band out there?
BG: What's the word out there?

SR: No one is talking about this one yet. I didn't read anything about the split from my point of view. I don't enjoy chat too much. The Internet is a great place to get information.
BG: It's great for research. I'll have to look into it more.

SR: What is the code of Napalm Death?
BG: Follow your head and your heart. Do what you believe in and you won't go too far wrong.

SR: You're playing the Milwaukee Metal show in July. I'd love to be there.
BG: There was a point where we talked about it. I was objecting to it for a while because of a band that was playing there. Apparently that band is not playing and we are. It'll be fun.

SR: A word for your fans.
BG: We appreciate all the fans who've stuck by us all these years. We really do care about our fans. Stay aware, keep your eyes open and stay safe.

SR: I feel you guys have leveled out and this is the band to keep in tact.
BG: Yeah, this the line up. No one can predict what the future will be but everything is going well.

SR: I'll see you later this year.
BG: Yeah, come on out and enjoy the music. I really appreciate your time.

INTERVIEW 2

by Jeremy Wernow

It's strange to think that Napalm Death has been around as long as Metallica. Originally forming in late '81/ early '82 with absolutely none of the same members that they have now, Napalm Death have managed to stay around and become one of the more successful bands in their genre. The group went through a drastic line-up change in the mid-eighties, leaving only one original member by the time their first album, Scum, was released in '87. This was originally only available in the States as an import, and only to people with access to stores with a good import section (I was not one of those people).

Following the releases of From Enslavement to Obliteration and Mentally Murdered, the band had another drastic line-up change and headed to our area of the country to record their first domestic American release, Harmony Corruption. Now in addition to Europe and Japan, they put an American success under their belts. The line-up since then has been fairly consistent; the only replacement being drummer Mick Harris (no relation to Mitch, eat your heart out Duran Duran), who left to pursue interests in Scorn. After adding current drummer "Danny Herrera" and pounding out many more albums, EP's and side projects, the band found itself at the beginning of 1996 with the release of not just another one of their many EP's but the release of a full length album, Diatribes, to accompany it. Just before Christmas I received a call from Mitch Harris, guitarist since the Harmony Corruption days, while he was visiting family in his original stomping ground of Las Vegas.

Band Of The Past

me: Where are you calling from?

Mitch: Las Vegas.

me: Ah, out by Area 51!

Mitch: I'm totally into that whole trip, that whole field.

me: Have you always lived there?

Mitch: When I was ten, I moved here from Queens, New York

me: In the past few years you have toured in some places that you have never been before. You played giant stadiums in Russia, you toured South Africa, and played places in Canada that nobody ever played before.

Mitch: We found out why too. We wound up in Thunder Bay, Canada, it was worth doing Canada to check it out. I have nothing bad to say about it but you're better off playing less shows and traveling sometimes. As far as Africa goes, I was honored, I never thought I would get to Africa in my life! Who would think to play in Africa?

me: Is there much of a scene there?

Mitch: Yeah, it's weird, the white people have their own scene and the black people are on their own trip. They don't fight, it's mellow but it's separated. They have their own record companies, and shops that distribute Earache and Roadrunner stuff. There were twelve hundred people in Johannesburg, and three hundred in Durban, Fort Elizabeth and Capetown, all cool shows. Russia was two nights with seven thousand people each night in a hockey stadium, which to me was surreal. With the type of music we play I would never imagine that many people would turn up. At the time the barriers were coming down and they're very interested in western culture. They are totally into extreme music, they went from the Beatles and then they didn't have anything, they were shut out. Then suddenly they're open again and they go for the craziest stuff they can find. The price was 25 cents to get in and there was military security there; it was intense. The people were still restricted, the craziest thing they could do was swing their coats around.

me: Was there a pit?

Mitch: No, the military wouldn't know what was going on, they would see it as a riot. Being American, we all grew up being bred that Russia was the enemy. They had nuclear power, we were afraid of them, they were afraid of us. I figured they were people, they were just as scared of us as we were of them, nobody wants a war, it's all the governments shit. So we got to go there and see what it was really like. We talked to soldiers who were total Napalm fans, we took pictures together and it was totally cool. They were normal people just like us. When we were there, they were in a depression like we had in the thirties. We went back once since and played a festival. We could easily do 40 shows in Russia, but we kind of have to do a record. There's still South America. There's still Australia and Japan. We've had problems getting to places lately for one reason or another. Last record we only did like a hundred shows.

Band Of The Present

me: Tell me about the new album, or actually I should say "albums", since you9re releasing a full length and an EP.

Mitch: Utopia Banished was just all out speed. To us, at the time, it was the ultimate blast album. After that we were like "OK, what do we do now? We want to do something different." So we experimented, we tried off-time drum beats, different song structures, more aggressive tempos rather then relying on speed all the time. If we had done another Utopia Banished, there would have been no where to go. Then we did Fear, Emptiness, Despair, that went over real good I thought, there were some good songs on it. We looked at everything and focused on new elements that were not on the last record. This record is a big change but it's actually more of an evolution process since we've been in the band. It's been tough to move on in a credible sort of way, without losing the traditional elements but still doing something new. Now there's a lot of dynamics to the sound, a better production, there's different guitar lines going on. We never got into sampling and that whole trip, we just used the guitars for noise. We did some hypnotic slow stuff, we did fast up-tempo stuff that breaks into unexpected parts. We laid down the basic song structure and tried to get the basic riff across, and then arranged it so that by the time you hear the song, it sticks in your head without being boring. We wanted a nice sound, pleasurable to the ear; I think it worked real well on this album. Obviously we are going to have to do something different on the next album, now that we've seen what works on this album, we can bring that into the next album as well as incorporating new stuff, try to keep things fresh. Barney [Greenway, vocalist] wasn't sure what he was capable of doing, but he experimented and I thought he did a good job. There's more to his voice then what everybody knows.

me: What have you been listening to lately that influenced you to write the music that you did on this album?

Mitch: What we've gotten into since we joined Napalm [Death]... I got into Jane9s Addiction just before I joined. At one point I totally got into Zeppelin again, I was real into Pink Floyd when I was a kid, then the metal years came along and I grew out of it, then later I got back into it again. I got into that and Cocteau Twins and Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Smashing Pumpkins, I freaked on that, Quicksand. We've got our old influences like Celtic Frost, and DRI, our style comes from there, but now we're just learning how to develop different stuff into it. There's so much stuff out there, that we can actually get an idea from Cocteau Twins, The Cranberries, The Sundays, the mellow stuff, mix it in, and it works. It's hard to do, it's taken us six years to do it. Slowly adding dynamics to it, it kind of makes the heavier parts heavier though. Makes it have more of an impact when things go up and down. We wrote like 18 songs for this album, we were all sitting around waiting for Collin Richardson to finish what he was doing because we really wanted to work with him. We kept waiting and writing, at the end we had 18 songs and it was total confusion. We tried to put an order for the album together, at the end we got frustrated and gave it to the record company. We split it, whereas I wanted "Self Betrayal" and "Cold Forgiveness" on the album. The mini album was basically to promote the full album, so that people can hear it, so they can know what we're doing and so that they can know that we're different. For the price of the single they can get seven songs and see what they're like. Actually it's supposed to be the price of a single but I went into the shop the other day and saw it for like nine bucks, so that went out the fucking window somehow. That was basically just to let everyone know that there's a new album and that we're going to tour.

me: Since you're in Las Vegas now, is it tough having band members in England and the states?

Mitch: Actually we live in England; that was one of the conditions of joining the band. I'm just home for vacation. It's no problem being in England though. Sometimes it's a problem keeping us in the country, immigration and all that shit. Jesse and I used to tape trade, all that underground stuff. I sent my demo all around, for my old band Righteous Pigs. We were both trading with Napalm Death, we were basically listening to the same stuff at the same time, so when we joined the band it wasn't culture shock. Just two guys from the other side of the planet, and it worked out. We're totally comfortable with the Napalm camp, and the music has totally flourished., we know each others styles in and out. We spend a lot of time on writing songs nowadays. Recently I spoke with Lee Dorian of Cathedral, and he expressed a lot of happiness about not being on Columbia any more. What are your feelings about being strictly on Earache now?

Mitch: I had no problems being on or off Columbia; we were signed to Earache and they licensed us to Columbia. We had more money to work with we didn't have to worry about the budget. We came out of it OK. We did the record, they put it out, they didn't try to tell us "don't do that, don't do this". Imagine a label like Columbia ‹ there's five hundred or a thousand people working for the label, and there's four people working on your record. It's hard for them to get the records to the right shops, get their point across, get it linked to the underground. The four people who worked on it knew what they were doing, but how much can four people do? There's no hard feelings between us or them. It obviously didn't live up to their sales expectations. We parted ways, and we're back on Earache now, they9re more in touch with the underground, and they9re doing a good job. It's actually less pressure on us. [Earache] have no choice to put it out whether they like it or not. They've always liked it though, but if they don't, fine, we're into it. What do you think when you see a band on stage who sounds just like you?

Mitch: If that's what they're into then that's cool, influences are influences. It just makes me want to veer away, but it's in your face, especially when there are people out there who don't notice it's influenced by what we've done ‹ that frustrates me. When people at least give credit to Napalm or what ever other band they are influenced by, then that's cool.

me: You tend to put out albums fairly quickly whereas bands like Metallica put out albums every three or five years. How long, on average, does it take from when a song is written to when it's on an album and released?

Mitch: [Metallica is] in a position to do that. I don't think Rage against the Machine is in a position to wait four years between albums, they haven't built up enough of a following to do that. People are always into the next thing, they get into the next trend real quick, things come and go, flavor of the month, whatever. We have always been into doing what we are doing and releasing it as quick as possible, but work at it and do a good job. That's more important then putting out two albums a year. If we were to take four years to do an album, there's so many bands out there we would probably become a thing of the past; we try to be on top of it. We have songs that have sat around for two and a half years before making it to a record, the average is about a year. My favorite stuff is always the new stuff, obviously; we've played the other shit a thousand times, it gets old. The fresher it is the more psyched I am about it. The last couple of records my favorite songs have been the last ones we put on the record. Everyone's got their own little way ‹ Shane's already got six. By the time we go do the record he'll probably hate half of them. There's always stuff there, we could do another record, but we want to concentrate on this one.

me: You can always save the other tracks for the Napalm Death Box Set. Now that Napalm Death is (fairly) popular, what type of magazines do you talk to? Zines, small magazines, major publications?

Mitch: I talked to a lot of zines, Jesse does, Shane does, Barney does, which is good, they don't feel alienated from Earache. Earache is more in touch with those people then Columbia is. A lot of people are actually coming out of the woodwork that we didn't hear from on the last record, we didn't hear what they thought. The underground plays a huge part in the state of music in the country today, so we never turn a cold shoulder on that. What's weird is six guitar magazines picked up on this record. I remember seeing something in Rolling Stone a while ago about grindcore with Napalm Death.

Mitch: Yeah! I thought they were going to slag us off but, it was favorable. Now there's bands like Metallica who are breaking new grounds for everybody. I don't care what anybody says, they still sound like Metallica, and they are breaking new grounds commercially. At the same time it's made people appreciate what's heavier.

me: Are you going to do a video, and if you are, how do you plan on going about promoting it in America seeing as how there is no national metal video show any more?

Mitch: I don't know. We're doing a video for "Greed Killing." We didn't spend much money on it, , seeing as how it's not really going into rotation. We found a director with a good idea and said fine, go to it, we didn't want to rack our brains. We're pretty happy with it; it's definitely different for Napalm. Our only two friends who play our videos in America are Beavis and Butthead.

me: What did Beavis and Butthead say about your video? I know they weren't very niceŠ

Mitch: They trashed it, it was kind of funny. They said Barney sounds like Godzilla, which is about right.

Band Of The Future

me: What's in the future for Napalm Death say a year, five years or ten years down the line.

Mitch: We're going to tour until the end of summer then be back in the studio by November. You have song ideas already?

Mitch: Oh yeah, we held back on this album. By the time we get to the studios the songs will be a year old. Now we know what worked for this album, we have songs we didn't use. We have an idea or a concept of what we want for that record, that's as far as I can see. When that's done we stop and see what's been done so far, carry on from there, it's a one record at a time thing. I'd like to progress in a way that gets us to the year 2000, try different things, innovate a bit, try to tour, get to places we've never been before.

me: Is there anything else you wanted to say?

Mitch: Nope, just keep an open ear, and an open mind towards our new record. Don't limit yourself to one type of music, there's something in all types of music.

INTERVIEW 3

ABHFR: What have the people you have talked to thought of Diatribes?

MITCH HARRIS: So far the people I've talked to have been into it. They've been happy that we've moved forward with it and at the same time pleasantly surprised with the change, but also glad that we didn't wimp out or nothing. It's still true to Napalm but it's fresh. That's like the reaction I've gotten so far. What do you think?

ABHFR: I like it, I like it a lot. I do agree that it's a huge step forward. What do you think of it?

MITCH HARRIS: I think it's a step forward too. I'm totally happy about it. Finally I'm happy with the sound of it, I have no problems with the sound. It sounds good to me so that's cool. I think we moved forward just enough to open doors for us to move on in the future. It'll do for me this year. Till then just do the next record, tour and stuff.

ABHFR: Why did you decide to release Greed Killing first?

MITCH HARRIS: They wanted to put out a single or something just to promote the album. We figured we'd give 'em some value for their money and put like seven songs on it cause we recorded 18 for the record. So there were like four songs that wouldn't fit on the album, you know physically impossible kind of thing, so we just said put it on the album and we'll do a small promo tour of the States and Europe to try and promote the album properly and all that kind of thing. Make sure people know there is a change of direction in the band before the album comes out, maybe build up some hype and give people value for their money.

ABHFR: I was talking to Gordon (Earache Rep. Now at Relapse -ed.) about the tour that your doing of the US. He said it was going to be all small clubs. How is that possible?

MITCH HARRIS: Well, we've been out of the States for about a year. We kind of wanted to do a tour of the US and see what we're worth at the moment. A lot of things have changed in the world of music here. A lot of things have come and gone. There's new bandwagons and this that and the other. We're going to just try and pack out a few venues, judging from the reaction on that tour, do a tour of the album when that comes out. They want us in the States as the album comes out. We're kind of just here.

ABHFR: So two tours then?

MITCH HARRIS: Well, yeah. I'm sure we'll come back after the album comes out. Hopefully with another band. We don't have time physically to do the whole country all at once. Europe is already booked for March. The album comes out January there and we need to tour pretty soon after that. We're just doing a test the water kind of thing. What do you think of that idea?

ABHFR: Well, he just mentioned that it was going to all small clubs, and I know that the last time you played here in Minneapolis it was packed and that wasn't that long ago.

MITCH HARRIS: Minneapolis... Yeah, that was cool.

ABHFR: Minneapolis is strange because there was a time when no one went to shows and then all of a sudden people have been just packing them in.

MITCH HARRIS: Yeah, it's going to be hard to find the right venue. The smaller the venue the fucking shittier it's going to be. I mean it'll be cool for the crowd, it's always a cooler atmosphere at a smaller venue. You don't know if the sound is going to be good or if the people are going to bee familiar with the club. It'll take a lot of research I guess. Then again it's better to play to a packed club than to play a venue you're not sure you can fill and not fill it, you know? Might as well use the space that you've got.

ABHFR: So for that tour are you touring with anyone in particular?

MITCH HARRIS: No, we're not sure yet. We have some ideas, but nothing is even close to being signed.

ABHFR: So what are you doing after the tour?

MITCH HARRIS: We've got the small tour, then the European tour, then we'll be back in the States. Then there's still like Japan, Australia, and South America and a lot of other places as well. We're going to try and get all of that done over the summer and be back in the studio in November to come up with the new album.

ABHFR: So do you think the new album will be along the lines of Diatribes?

MITCH HARRIS: Well, do you think that this album is along the lines of Fear Emptiness?

ABHFR: Sort of.

MITCH HARRIS: Yeah, it'll be like sort of. It's hard to say. I'm not saying that we're going to move in such a way that it's going to blow people's minds or anything, but it's hard top say what's going to happen until we get there. The idea is definitely to branch out. Not like to commercially branch out, but just to try new things. There's lot's of different ways we can go now, it's just trying to figure out which way to go for the time, for what we're into. It'll be different, I'm just not sure in what way. Each record is different from the one before it. You know how Fear Emptiness differs in a big way from Utopia, or how Diatribes differs from Fear Emptiness in a big way, well the next one will. I don't know, it's hard to say because I didn't really think that this one was that big of a departure, but a lot of people think it's totally different. If we think we move on a lot, people might think it's a total change. I don't know, I'm just rambling on.

ABHFR: That's all right. What are you looking at as an approximate time frame for that album?

MITCH HARRIS: If everything goes as planned we'll be in the studio in November. Which means they'll maybe have their act together and have the album out by March so we can tour over the summer, but we have to get our act together first.

ABHFR: Right. Well, I know a lot of the band members have side projects. Tell me a little about those.

MITCH HARRIS: Well, I did an album in a band called Meat Hook Seed called Embedded with Shane about three years ago, since then I've been concentrating on Napalm. Now that I know what direction Napalm is taking, it's easier for me to write for Meat Hook. That's one thing. Shane has Blood from the Soul and Jesse's working on some stuff that doesn't have a name yet. Barney I think writes for magazines and stuff, he's like a journalist. Danny, our drummer spends all day practicing his drums, so he doesn't have time for a side project. It's always good to have these other bands to try new stuff. Napalm's been built a certain way, and if you want to try something that you don't think is suitable for the band, you can try it outside the band so you don't change the whole perception of what Napalm is.

ABHFR: So can we expect another Meat Hook Seed album then?

MITCH HARRIS: Yeah, definitely. I hope it'll be done by the summer time. It's just working out the plot. The first album I had the idea four years before I decide to get off my ass and do it. I don't think Dig from Earache could give a fuck if there's a new Meat Hook album. I just want it to be as good as it can be and I just haven't had the time to focus on it, because of Napalm and I just had a kid recently and my girlfriend is in college so I've been like Mr. Mom. Been kind of hard to work out the computer sequencing shit. I know what I want to do, it's just translating it into fucking sound waves. Finding the time since I'll be busy with Napalm and finding who'll play on the album and all kinds of stuff. It's different now than it was then.

ABHFR: Is it still going to be an Industrial Death kind of thing?

MITCH HARRIS: I don't know if Death is going to be anywhere near it, but I'm trying to keep the guitars to a bare minimum because in a way I think that's what limits the band. It gives it potential in one way, but I find it's hard to get it as fucked up as I want it to be when I'm concentrating on the guitars. I'm trying to work on the underlying stuff first and then decide where the guitars are needed later to make it climax Trying to make like a mixture of a lot of different elements and give it meaning.

ABHFR: Well, that about covers it. Anything to add?

MITCH HARRIS: Not really, just check out the record and keep an open mind. Hopefully the people who have been into the band can understand why we needed to develop. What do you think?

ABHFR: About what?

MITCH HARRIS: That Napalm needed to develop.

ABHFR: Well, I don't really like bands that just put out albums that all sound the same. I was pleasantly surprised and I think everyone else I played it for was as well. It's been a good reaction here.