LIFE LESSONS
BARNEY GREENWAY
He fronts Napalm Death and he’s still fighting the good fights three decades in. Don’t call his band political, though. Wait, what?!
WORDS: STEPHEN HILL
PICTURES: GOBINDER JHITTA
AS THE FRONTMAN of Brummie grindcore pioneers Napalm Death, Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway has become one of the most important and recognisable voices in the world of extreme music. Since joining Napalm in 1989, Barney has watched his band grow from noisy underground curios to a genuine cult phenomenon, his frenzied vocal style and impassioned political stance a key factor in their success. We spoke to him to find out what he’s learned in his years of service.
ALL HAIL LEMMY
“Motörhead were the first band that encapsulated everything that music could be for me. They didn’t toe the line with anything, they always did what they did. There was a bit of music snobbery at that time about how well you could play, and they just didn’t care about that at all; they just played as raucously and as fast as they could. They were a 360 experience for me. I had never loved anyone as much as I loved Motörhead at the time. They were head and shoulders above everybody.”
MY LOCAL SCENE TAUGHT ME I COULD BE A MUSICIAN
“I used to go to a lot of gigs, but when I started going to shows at [Birmingham venue] The Mermaid, and a few other places, and cottoned on to bands like Napalm in those early shows, I really felt like I could be part of something. All of the bands I saw back then had a real ‘If you can do it, do it’ feel about them, and that DIY energy was inspiring to me. I did a few knockabout bands, nothing really serious but a bit of laugh, but it showed me that I could at least do something.”