NAPALM DEATH Will Follow 'Very Rigid Protocols' On U.S. Tour With GWAR To Avoid Catching COVID-19

NAPALM DEATH frontman Mark "Barney" Greenway spoke to That Drummer Guy about the band's upcoming fall 2021 U.S. tour with GWAR, which is scheduled to kick off on October 28 in Norfolk, Virginia. The trek will mark NAPALM DEATH's first appearance in America since taking part in last month's Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest in Philadelphia, where Greenway and his bandmates performed a special one-time-only set of songs exclusively from their "Harmony Corruption" and "Utopia Banished" records.

"We've done two gigs since we were able to do two gigs — since the gigs we were planning on doing weren't getting canceled," Greenway said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). "So we've done two gigs. Speaking for myself, it felt really good. I just felt like I was kind of — not to overdramatize it — but I felt like I was reborn again a little bit. So, yeah, it just felt really good.

"The touring life cycle is not hard to adjust to in and of itself," he continued. "But, obviously, I think people would understand that with this GWAR tour being 39 dates in 50 days, it's not like doing a festival [like Decibel Magazine Metal & Beer Fest] where it's one gig and therefore the persistent risks of COVID — well, percentage-wise, probability-wise, nothing's gonna happen in one or two days that you spend in Philadelphia. But, of course, if you're out on a tour for 50 days, the chances of anything happening in terms of COVID stuff is significantly higher. So there is some very rigid protocols that we've gotta follow on this tour. But that's not a bad thing.

"Certainly what NAPALM DEATH doesn't need, as an overseas band kind of stuck in America, what we don't want is for one of us to catch it, and then you have to quarantine in a place for 10 days," Barney added. "And the tour is gonna move on — of course it is. It's not gonna wait behind for one member from a band that's not headlining; it's gonna move on. So, obviously, we're gonna try our best to observe protocols — distancing stuff, caution over going places that are crowded where we don't need to, as individuals. So, yeah, that's the way it'll be.

"It's not a problem. It's definitely not like a normal U.S. tour where you're footloose and fancy-free and you run around all over the place. No, you can't necessarily do that. But that's the way it is for now."

This past spring, NAPALM DEATH signed a new deal with Century Media Records, extending the long-running co-operation between the parties once more.

NAPALM DEATH released its latest studio album, "Throes Of Joy In The Jaws Of Defeatism", in September 2020 via Century Media Records. The follow-up to 2015's "Apex Predator - Easy Meat" was again recorded with longtime producer Russ Russell and features artwork by Frode Sylthe.