Napalm Death Interview

September sees the return of the Brummie Gods of Grind with their new album, "Smear Campaign". The much anticipated follow-up to 2005 "The Code Is Red....Long Live The Code", Metal Chaos spoke with Barney to understand the pressures of recording, touring and life inside the goldfish bowl that is Napalm Death.

Hey, how are things with you guys?
Yeah good thanks. Busy and knackered, but good.
18th of September sees the release of your new album “Smear Campaign”. For those yet to hear the record how do you best describe it?
Bloody hell! It is an extension of "The Code Is Red....Long Live The Code" I think. That album from our perspective was a really good album. Whilst we always go into albums fairly open minded and do what we do, and what comes out always works out in the end sort of thing. We did have in the back of our mind on this one as "Code" was so well received are we going to be able to match that or go beyond that? In my opinion this album surpasses "Code", it is more extreme in places, the songs are better, the experimental parts on the album are more focused. It is all there. So we are pretty chuffed about the whole thing really.
You made mention of the variation of styles that “Smear Campaign” has, do you think this may surprise a few people. How intentional was it to mix things up or was the process an organic one?
To a point. "Code" put us much more in peoples ball park because of a number of reasons. A) Once we signed for Century Media, and slightly before to a lesser extent, we were free of certain situations with certain record labels that were enough to keep you awake at night. When you are faced with those sort of worries the creative side can suffer to a degree, and that is why maybe some of our albums, while not bad records, lacked focus. B) When you have a good support system behind you it gives you less worry and allows you more time to do what we do. When the spirit is good collectively in the band then you are going to come up with something that is more than likely to be better than without that support. We've also refocused ourselves musically, we've gone through the experimental years and come out the other side and now we have moved back toward the more traditional elements. While still trying to keep it fresh. We have always had that spread of things in our music, it is just notice it more on records where you are supremely focused. The new album doesn't go into something else you wouldn't expect from Napalm and you go "well that is the mood kind of dropped out of that one"! It doesn't do that. It is all in context with everything else and flows really nicely.
Russ Russel, who has worked on the past three Napalm Death records, again produced the album. What does bring Russ bring to the process that makes him so important to the process?
More specifically Russ did the last two [records] on his own and he was with Simon on the previous two. The thing is Russ is fine in his own world with production. Russ doesn't need any assistance, and it is very rare to find someone who knows the bands sound. Yes they might know guitars or drums, but never the whole thing that can turn it into a hard hitting wall of sound. Russ has achieved that and he has done it again for us and probably better this time. At this point I wouldn't us anyone else except Russ as it would be really foolish to do so. Why not get the guy who knows his onions and appreciates that we need to have that rawness and looseness along with clarity and big sound.
You also chose to again return to Foel Studios. Where there specific factors that lead you to return to this studio, and is the studio an environment you enjoy as an individual?
Why fix something that isn't broken? Foel ticks all the boxes for me. It is isolated, five miles to anywhere in any radius and when I go into the studio I like to be away from everything. I don't want distractions as I'm there to put down an album, so that is one thing. Secondly the general set up there is perfect with the equipment. Thirdly the people who run the place are as sound as a pound and last but not least you can sleep there. When you take all that into consideration for the price you would be a fool not to go there. In mean we were there for three solid weeks.
September sees you head out on the US Monsters of Mayhem tour alongside Hatebreed, Black Dahlia Murder, Exodus. Then a solid month of touring follows across Europe. You must be looking forward to the tour?
I am very much so. The end of this year is completely full for us now and with the momentum of the new album we have got to pick up the baton and run with it. We just got to put the work in, not that we have ever been shy of getting out there and getting amongst it. All these tours we are going are not us doing it for the sake of touring, they are all going to help us. I mean the Hatebreed tour goes without saying, the Japan dates, we go out and do a festival straight after the tour of America, then to Europe and then back to America on a headline tour. So it is all going to work for us, and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm a touring veteran now and you've got to know how to handle it. Especially with that length of touring. I don't have to really prepare my voice for any tours, as my voice is super strong. We rehearse a little bit then it's just go for it. The best preparation you can do is make sure you take a bag of books, as there are times when you are sitting around and you need stimulation.
The band is fast approaching the 20th anniversary of the release of “Scum”. Did you ever believe Napalm Death would still be making music this many years on?
I don't think be it extreme music or Napalm Death specifically, we ever really thought about it. I remember just after I did my first tour with Napalm and come back and began assess what I'd done, and thought maybe a good two or three years if it all goes well. Little did I expect almost twenty years later to be talking about music let alone playing shows and making music. But that all goes back to perseverance and spirit of the band. As we've had our problems as much as the next band and if it is to be finished then we will finish it, no one will do it for us. Not when some third party fucks us over.
So did the move from Earache to Century Media feel like you'd finally gotten a monkey off your back?
Like taking a JCB off your shoulders! It really was like that. The problems were well documented so I don't want to go into all that, not because I worry about talking about it, it's just it's all been said. It does stick long in the memory though. It was a blessed relief. Dreamcatcher and Spitefire where nowhere near as bad as Earache, they started out OK and then petered out a little bit. To be able to forge ahead in a positive way was a good thing.
Given that many attribute the band with creation of the Grindcore genre. Do you ever feel any pressure when it comes time to writing / recording a new album?
No not at all and I say that with all honesty. Any pressure would be from the outside and would be peoples expectations, not from us. Whilst it was in the back of our mind, that is where it stayed. You've got to go into the studio and make positive steps forward. If you fuck it up you fuck it up. We know what we want these days and we're not going to fuck it up, we won't allow that to happen. You just have to focus on what you are doing and it will all come good.
How do you approach writing a Napalm Death record? Collective or individual process?
	First of all Shane and Mitch usually have riffs on tape, and not just riffs but riffs with drums. Four track programmed with a drum machine you then have the basics. Mitch takes a little longer to get his stuff together, but Shane is very prolific it terms of writing. He will come up with stuff in an afternoon. They bring them to rehearsals, we all listen to them, we put the beats down and Danny plays through them and then I take everything away once we have decided how the song looks. I have sets of lyrics hanging about on my computer at home or I'll start something afresh. So yeah it is a very basic process but we put pressure on ourselves as that is what keeps us edgy.
	So do you therefore feel that you then have to deliver a more extreme record than before?
	It's maybe what is expected of us but I can safely say that we just try to do the best we can. We are going to write that way anyway, once we are together we'll play as fast as we can. So it is like riding a bike, so naturally any album we're going to write is going to lean in that direction anyway. What comes out is what comes out and bob's your auntie.
	The band is no stranger to taking a political view, and this record is no different. I suppose given the shocking state of world affairs
there I can only assume there was no shortage of subject matter for the album?
It's very specific this album. There isn't a spate of world affairs that are dealt with on the record, it only deals with one topic, and that is religion. We're looking at the religious intervention in our lives, where perhaps sometimes we don't even release it. It questions morality, and bear in mind that morality was an invention of the religious forefathers to control the people. While morality sounds like a nice thing, if you think about it, it is very restrictive. What it does is rather than establish a good framework for good relations it judges people as immoral, that is a direct consequence. Therefore you are creating divisions right away, as you're saying this person is less relevant as they choose to do this, this or this. Keeping in mind it is based on mythology, which is what religion is as it is unsubstantiated, then you have to think why should I trust that? Why can't we trust ourselves? To know that I'm not going to go out and kill somebody on the street, I can decide that for myself. When you reach that point of self satisfaction then that permeates into people around you. So that that non-judgmental approach in my view will create more harmony in the long run than morality ever will.
“Smear Campaign” what is the significance behind the title?
Well what is a smear campaign? The general definition is a course of words or actions that are designed to discredit or destroy something figuratively speaking. That to me is what this part of religion is, it's a smear campaign. It convinces you that you shouldn't trust in yourself and that you need their morality. If people want to be religious then fine go and do what you gotta do, but lets get away from the set in stone "we have to live by a mythological lifestyle".
What are your thoughts on many of the bands from back in the day reforming, touring and recording? Do you think it demonstrates a lack of new music out there at the moment?
I think it comes down to the individual band. If a band have decided that they want to give it another go then more power to the elbow. If they are doing it because they got their enthusiasm back then cool, if it's being done for pure financial reasons then not so cool. Of course everyone has to pay the rent at the end of the month, but to do it purely for money, it is going to be sadly lacking I think in that case. I'm not going to criticize them for reforming, it's there choice and good luck to them.
Thanks for the time. Any words for all the ND fans reading this?
It sounds like an old cliché but thanks for the support everyone has given us. Don't forget we've been around for me personally seventeen years, I see people coming to shows since I first joined and probably before I joined. Yes we are always going to go out there and give it 110%, but the kids who have always been there don't realize what it does mean to us. I genuinely mean that, I'm not saying for the sake of it, it really does mean a lot to us. Which means we always want to do our best for them.

All images are the property of Claire Whelpton and used with kind permission of Napalm Death.