Napalm Death: playing fast and furious

Formed in Thatcher's Britain 30 years ago, the grindcore band are back with their 14th album
Napalm Death
'Barney' Greenway (left) and Shane Embury of Napalm Death. Photograph: Gary Wolstenholme/Redferns

'What we do is fast, chaotic and off the rails. It's like Motörhead times 10. We work our arses off and we're driven by passion for what we do," says 42-year-old vegetarian and fervent socialist Mark "Barney" Greenway in his Brummie accent. "We're always ready to eat shit and bullets, know what I mean?"

Greenway – a figure with a desert-dry sense of humour – has been the singer in Napalm Death since 1989, and shows no signs of losing his passion. For anyone who listened religiously to John Peel on Radio 1 in the late 80s and early 90s, the band's name has long been shorthand for the notion of sonic extremity. Notorious for their insanely fast and breathtakingly brief songs – such as the two-second You Suffer which, as students of such things will know, was only pipped at the post for the title of World's Shortest Song by fellow Britcore peers the Electro Hippies' one-second Mega Armageddon Death – they have existed in a variety of forms for an astonishing 30 years.

In fact, if the Sugababes have a metal equivalent, it is surely Napalm Death, because none of the original members is still with the band, but the present lineup was settled by the close of the 80s. Self-deprecating bassist Shane Embury was enlisted in 1987 and well remembers his first encounter with the group. "Me and a friend went to Birmingham on 22 March 1986 to a pub called The Mermaid and that's where I saw them for the first time," he recalls. "I was into metal and hardcore, always searching for the next extreme thing. They blew my mind. After that they were my favourite band. There were other bands playing fast, but there was something special about Napalm. No one else came close and that's something we protect to this day."

Napalm Death were originally part of the firmly off-the-radar anarcho-punk scene, but their sound evolved into something they proudly dubbed "grindcore" – a ferocious mixture of light-speed punk rock and churning, primitive metal, as showcased on their seminal debut Scum in 1987.

It was the subsequent patronage of John Peel and the numerous sessions they recorded for his show that enabled the band to dip a toe or two into mainstream waters. There were particularly memorable appearances on Chris Evans's Channel 4 show TFI Friday, including one where they recreated the famous Jim'll Fix It moment with a group of schoolchildren eating lunch on a rollercoaster.

"I get a certain perverse kick out of ambushing the mainstream like that," says Greenway. "There's a great number of people who really get what we do, but at the same time it's great when we go out in front of people who have perhaps heard the name but not the music, and then we start playing and you see their stunned faces. That's some achievement when people are so blase about everything. And to be honest, going on TFI was a laugh. We're a serious band in many ways, but we're not that po-faced."

Nonetheless, the band have never been afraid to espouse strongly left-leaning political views. Greenway is particularly passionate about the importance of what he terms "a humane and ethical way of looking at the world" and cheerfully insists his band's beliefs are an integral part of what Napalm Death have always been about.

"Right from the start, the band's name was a simple anti-war statement. Don't forget, it was Thatcher's Britain when Napalm began, with the sham of the Falklands war and all that," he says with a weary sigh. "The paradox of this band is between the brutality of the music and the lyrics, which are humanitarian and pro-pacifist and deeply critical of injustice on any level. I like that contradiction, because life isn't always cut and dried. It's a mixed-up beast and Napalm Death is like that too."

Their forthcoming 14th studio album, Utilitarian, once more belies the notion that Napalm Death are simply makers of impenetrable noise, showcasing a love of experimentation as well as the desire to push the boundaries of what is physically achievable with guitars, drums and the human voice. Songs such as Protection Racket, Think Tank Trials and the charming Everyday Pox (which features a suitably swivel-eyed guest appearance by avant-garde sax hero John Zorn) owe as much to the fearless noise worship of Sonic Youth, Swans and the Jesus and Mary Chain as they do to any straightforward metal band.

"In the early days we always attracted people from a wide range of different musical backgrounds," says Embury. "You'd have metal and punk kids standing next to Wedding Present fans and they all got something from it. That seems to be the case now too. We've never been afraid to try new things or to embrace all of our different influences. We've always just shared our passion for music with each other and somehow it just works."

The next year will again see Napalm Death grind inexorably forward through an annual schedule of more than 100 gigs all over the world. If there is a credible explanation for how a band that makes such a terrifying din can survive for three decades without slowing pace or losing heart, it must have something to do with passion, commitment and unerring belief in the idea that if you say something loud enough, people may find themselves with no choice but to listen.

"If your idea of music is something structured around a sensible, restrained, underlying beat, you're probably in the wrong place," Greenway laughs. "But your readers should be able to relate to us better than most! We're a contrary bunch of fuckers, for a start. We believe in equality and social justice in the truest form and not this 'Big Society' bullshit. And we hate the fucking Tories, if that helps!"

Utilitarian is released on 27 February through Century Media Records