Napalm Death frontman Barney Greenway was recently interviewed by Elliott to talk about the release of the band’s crushing new album Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism. In this interview, Barney touches on his eagerness to chase extremity during childhood as well as absorbing as much information as he could in school. He also goes into detail on the album’s cover art, the state of humanity and much more.
On the subject of his childhood, Barney stated the following: “At 12, 13 years old, I was on that path of searching for extremity, even back then. That’s why I guess I’m in the band that I’m in. I was always after the extremity.That was around the time, a couple of years later we started to get Celtic Frost, the first Slayer album, and also punk bands like GBH, Discharge, ya know? So it was a fertile time for my 12 year old self, you know.“
Barney also discussed the meaning of the song “Invigorating Clutch” in the interview, in which he stated: “We’re basically standing in the defense of marginalized people. Against things like racism, homophobia, etc. So the invigorating clutch is holding onto somebody’s throat, you know? If you really hate somebody, you know, I think sometimes people have that image of wrapping their hands around somebody’s throat. And I guess the conclusion is ‘How can you hate somebody that much that you want to do something of that nature to somebody.’ So peace and love, my friend. All the way.”
Later on in the interview, Barney touched up on his childhood and his willingness to learn as much as he could in school which included things that he didn’t agree with: “In terms of school, I’ve always been a willing information sponge. I just love to know what’s going on. Even for stuff that I find that I don’t agree with, I feel that I should know. That I need to know, I need to have an understanding of things, you know?”
Throes of Joy in the Jaws of Defeatism was released on September 18th and you can keep up with the band here: https://napalmdeath.org/scum/
Watch the full interview here:
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