NAPALM DEATH Frontman: 'If I Do Something, I'll Do It 100%'

MetalSucks conducted an interview with NAPALM DEATH frontman Mark "Barney" Greenway when the band played New York City on April 11, 2009. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

MetalSucks: None of you are original members from back in the "Scum" days. I've always wondered if that's part of the reason NAPALM continues to be so good. It seems to me that the four dudes currently in the band are four dudes who really want to be doing NAPALM DEATH — it's not just some guys who are doing it for a paycheck.

Barney: Yeah, of course. Personally speaking, I wouldn't do that. What's the point? Why string it out for this long if it's just like you can make so much money. It's not something that drives me. If I do something, I'll do it 100%. I don't half-do something or do something for a certain motivation. It's got to be something that I have an absolute drive to do. Of course, we need to earn money to pay the rent and put food on the table like anyone else who goes out who works a job. Not that we treat it as a job, but you get the point that I'm making. That's not the justification for doing it by any stretch of the imagination. I think that hopefully people can sort of recognize that when they listen to the band.

MetalSucks: I want to ask you a little bit about the theme to the lyrics of "Time Waits for No Slave". I saw that there was a video on your MySpace page where you talk about it being anti-violence music.

Barney: That is sort of a paradox with NAPALM. The music, sonically, is like super-violent, of course. Actually, the thought behind it is passive and peaceful as you can imagine. Speaking for myself, again, you can pigeonhole me as a pacifist. I don't engage in violence. Yes, if someone attacks me, I will defend myself if I think I am in danger. But I would never actually go and attack someone. In the past, it was different. I used to fight like crazy. I don't feel the need now, and in a wider sense I think that's part of the evolution of the human race. We should all consider ways to resolve things or to achieve things without using those kinds of aggressive means. I think that if people think that violence is the only answer, you can really ask, "Have we really evolved or only evolved on a physical level?"

MetalSucks: Like we were saying that there were no original members of NAPALM left, do you see NAPALM as something that is, at this point, bigger than any one person? Can you imagine a time when NAPALM will continue without you guys?

Barney: I mean, who has a crystal ball to see something like that? Circumstances can take and life is unpredictable. Stuff happens. I think that if the band lost a member, then it would roll along with someone else. Of course, some people will challenge your band at that point. You can't worry about that stuff, if it's the right thing to do then just roll with it and who gives a shit when people act negative about it? If there were a couple of members going, then I think that this would be the last sort of lineup of the band. I'm not sure. I could be wrong. I just don't see it [continuing on after this lineup].

MetalSucks: But you don't see a time in the foreseeable future when you're going to want to hang it up.

Barney: No. If it got to where the albums were getting generic or the live gigs are a drag, then I would be like, "Fuck it." I make no bones about that. What's the point if you're walking out on stage hating life every night or every other night? Kids pay fucking money to come in here. The least you can do is give them something to enjoy.

Read the entire interview from MetalSucks.