NAPALM DEATH Frontman Talks American Politics

Charlie Steffens of KNAC.COM recently conducted an interview with NAPALM DEATH frontman Mark "Barney" Greenway. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

KNAC.COM: I've read a lot of about your views, and I understand that the upcoming album will deal with religion and creationism.

Greenway: "Yeah, creationism is going to be one of the things - the intelligent design. I think that things are really coming to a head as far as that stuff goes. A lot of bands do albums where they criticize the whole …the real powerful, ultra-powerful side of the Christianity, but I'd like to think that NAPALM's goes deeper. A lot of stuff will be stuff that people already know about, but I think that it really needs to be forced at this point in time. It will also have Satanism as well, you know, but both religions are of no use to me. I don't need a theory to live my life in a peaceful way. Of course there are other things surrounding the religious issue, which is well documented, which is the freedom of choice. I'm very much a believer on the abortion issue - women have the right to choose - and I'm vehemently in favor of that. The other day - I'm not sure if the listeners are aware, but there was a law that passed in - I think it was South Dakota, actually, that says that all abortions now are illegal, even in the case of rape and stuff like that, so that's quite depressing. So then I think it's about time to have to really force the issue out from a freedom approach or perspective."

KNAC.COM: Right. Not really a blatant - "I'm imposing my belief on you", but just the whole wrong of it.

Greenway: "No, I mean the wrong aspect of it …this divide often gets dealt with as well; it's the wrong, which is from my …from our side, if you like, versus the right, which is God's word. But, you know, the abortion issue to me is fundamentally an attack on human rights - that's what it is, basically. A fetus is not a living being. It cannot survive outside of the mother's womb - that's why it's there on that support system. So therefore it's not a being - you couldn't take it from the womb and then let it develop on its own accord without the help of all the medical technology. So there's a human rights issue there, and it's the interference of church and state again on the individual being."

KNAC.COM: What do you think of Hillary Clinton?

Greenway: "Well, if she's anything to go by …if she's representing the Democrat party right now, then I don't really think too much of that all. It's good that potentially a woman could be President, because it helps the sense of equality - of course it does, there's no question about that …America needs a radical change right now. It doesn't need someone who's going to make token gestures, you know? It needs someone that will basically - and people might not appreciate me saying this— America needs to be turned on its head. The social welfare system and the lack of healthcare, the schools … Bush's 'No Child Left Behind' policy - what the hell's that? I think Ralph Nader has the ability to take things forward, and I just wish people would give him a chance - build up his percentage of the vote, or whatever. You need to give someone like that a chance."

Read the entire interview at KNAC.COM.