“…the music of Napalm Death and the ideas…it’s like running into a war! To make the whole experience of what it should be for people! Napalm Death is everything all at once, all the time!”
– Barney Greenway
On the verge of once again pummeling Australia to its knees on the back of their 2020 release Throes Of Joy In The Laws Of Defeatism, legends Napalm Death are about to tour here once again this September. TheIR legendary and iconic frontman Barney Greenway graciously gave Metal V and HEAVY a mere fleeting moment of time to give us insight into his magnificent and brilliant articulate mind on many topics from his recent ankle break injury and his refusal to let the fans and touring bands down and continue touring (albeit singing whilst seated on a chair on stage), getting older, and its relevant impact on performing and writing, plus choosing some of his favorite Napalm tracks to play and why he chose them.
Napalm Death as we are all too well aware, have been at the forefront and influential in all things extreme metal-wise for forty (give or take) years. Barney explains his rationale behind keeping things fresh and relevant, “those are not things that we can think about, those are exterior factors. All my interest is, is to make the band creatively as interesting as possible. For me certainly to maintain that extremity! Extremity comes in many different forms, that the ideas are cut through and that they are pertinent; I guess it’s those three things!”
He reflects further personally – “as long as I do that, as long as we satisfy ourselves and put it out there, however relevant it is to people, that’s not something that’s in my/our control. We can only do the best we can and whatever criteria it meets beyond that point is up to other people!”
Barney is never one to shy away from honesty. He is unashamedly open and forthcoming regarding his life experiences and the mission statement that is his life as a writer, performer, artist and activist. Those factors being a large factor of his overall influence in metal, I asked how aging has had an impact on these past years in Napalm.
“It’s not a factor to be honest with you…Nothing changes basically! I’ve never been the sort of person that places an emphasis on age being relative to how effective something is or a person is. To me it’s meaningless almost. I don’t treat it any different.” He elaborates deeper saying (aging), “it hasn’t mate to be honest, it has no bearing on it at all. On performing, no difference! The only thing is this broken ankle that I’ve been getting over recently. I mean, I’ve done it a lot of times, three times the same ankle in ten years. The medical people are a little concerned that I’ve done permanent damage and lose a fraction of mobility. But I haven’t, so relative to performing on stage I’m ok. But I will say there is a lesson to be learned and it has nothing to do with age because it was the same when I was in my twenties, I need to just be a little bit more respectful of my environment when I’m on stage and not run into things.”
Barney chuckles here at the thought of such minor, or major performance malfunctions and goes on to say, “My brain at that point thinks it’s a good idea to not worry about things that are in the way. I can’t do that anymore, that’s not gonna help. If I get injured again I might not be so lucky with the long term mobility, I’ve just gotta be more careful. But everything else? Age has nothing to do with it. I’ve always been mindful of taking care of yourself. Even more so over the last few years. My general level of health and fitness is the same as it was in my twenties and thirties!”
Regarding Barney breaking his ankle and then as unrelenting and determined as we all know him to be, we, the fans, saw the footage of him taking to the stage almost immediately to continue to tour, seemingly undeterred by his injury, I asked Barney if pushing through this issue was a no-brainer? “Well yeah. I was never not going to do the shows because there was a lot of people relying on me doing that. Not only Napalm but the other bands that were on the tour as well, so I was going to do my utmost to make it happen, so I did!…How I normally approach being on stage, sitting on a chair was a little deflating, but what else can you do? I made the most of it while I was in there, sitting in that small space… That was the choice I was left with, ”either do it or don’t!” and I chose to do it.”
The last time Napalm were in Oz was in 2017, the almighty tour with Carcass, so Barney looks forward to coming back here and New Zealand for the Campaign For Musical Destruction tour featuring special guests, Singapore’s killer grind merchants Wormrot.
In closing, I ask Barney to divulge to us what song is his favorite to perform live and what song, in his opinion, encapsulates or epitomises the Napalm Death legacy, so to be enlightened you will have to listen to the full interview.
NAPALM DEATH with WORMROT performing at:
Sept 5th – Magnet House, Perth
Sept 7th – Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide
Sept 8th – The Factory Theatre, Sydney
Sept 9th – The Croxton, Melbourne
Sept 12th – The Triffid, Brisbane
Sept 15th – Meow, Wellington
Sept 16th – 12 Bar, Christchurch
Sept 17th – Galatos, Auckland
