NAPALM DEATH's MARK 'BARNEY' GREENWAY: 'Contradiction Is A Very Necessary Part Of Life'

Tristan Pratt conducted an interview with NAPALM DEATH singer Mark "Barney" Greenway at this year's Download festival, which was held earlier in the month at Donington Park in Leicestershire, England. You can now watch the chat below. A couple of excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On NAPALM DEATH's upcoming follow-up to 2015's "Apex Predator - Easy Meat" album:

Barney: "It's being worked on at the moment, slowly but surely. We are a fair way into proceedings, but there's still quite a bit to go. So, yeah, we'll get there in the end."

On whether NAPALM DEATH's upcoming disc will follow a similar musical approach to "Apex Predator - Easy Meat":

Barney: "Similar, but NAPALM, through the ages, has always moved some steps with every album. It will definitely be NAPALM DEATH — it will be horrible, almost excruciating and quite offensive, sonically. Lyrically, it'll be hippy-dippy bullshit. But no, it will be the usual very wide palette of influences. And yeah, we'll take it from there, and hopefully it sticks with people."

On why NAPALM DEATH continues to work with producer Russ Russell:

Barney: "In the same way that we are moving on as a band, constantly evolving, Russ also understands the need to evolve the production. So when I say 'evolve,' we're going more and more organic with every release. So once you get somebody that you trust and [who] understands the need not just to carbon-copy what you've done before, or, equally as importantly, what other bands are doing, then why change?"

On the lyrical direction of NAPALM DEATH's upcoming album:

Barney: "There is kind of a concept, loosely speaking."

On writing political lyrics:

Barney: "Here is the thing: NAPALM gets called a political band, and I kind of get that — kind of — but it's also an apolitical band in terms of it recognizes that politics is not always a means to an end of achieving humanity. Politics can actually have the opposite effect. And that's a contradiction, because, for me personally, I was always, I guess, a person from the left — that's how I grew up; that's how a lot of my opinions are. But another part of me is completely apolitical. In other words, I see how politics is fucking stupid and how it gets in the way of actually achieving equality and making it so some human beings in some part of the world are suffering immeasurably while everybody else over here is relatively doing quite nicely. I see the two different angles. So, yeah, at the end of the day, you have to understand that while some people might be really sort of dismissive of contradiction, contradiction is a very necessary part of life, and it actually helps you to see from different perspectives."

NAPALM DEATH will support SLAYER on the second U.S. leg of the latter band's final world tour. The 20-date trek, which will kick off on July 26, will feature additional support from LAMB OF GOD, ANTHRAX and TESTAMENT.

NAPALM DEATH released a special 2CD, 2LP and digital-download compilation titled "Coded Smears And More Uncommon Slurs" in March via Century Media Records. This special collection includes a total of 31 songs with a playing time of over 90 minutes, compiling rarities and exclusive earworms spanning 2004-2016.