Interview with:
Mitch Harris
"Interesting timechanges are very important for us"
Napalm Death presented their new record in January in The Matrix (Bochum, Germany). I was there and was overwelmed by the sound of 'The Code Is Red… Long Live The Code'. The hardcore band is active since the early '80 and they are still the master of this scene. That night (22-01-2005) it is also the first time that Napalm Death play some new songs from the upcoming album. Mitch is a bit nervess: “It’s a bit scary, but at least people won’t notice when we make a mistake, or whatever.”
There’re a lot of melodylines in the new record, can you tell me how that came up?
,, We have melodic parts in songs for about seven years. Really a lot it is based on 'minor' or skills wich we don’t really know, but we just like the notes and taste the notes. Sometimes we find things and bring in some harmonies: like little things who make the song a bit more unique. With the vocals there’s a contrast with the extreem vocals."
The last song on the record is very dark, almost doom, can you tell me more about that?
,, The title is called “Morale” and we done other songs in the past like that. Something like that in 1989 and 1992, but this was the first time it came together perfectly. In a way that the vocals had a new dimension, it’s a different style of vocals like major depressing style. It’s influenced by a band called The Swans. They make extreem slow kind of music with a powerfull bass and drums. They use really depressing vocals. They also have disharmonic and melodic courts, so we were inspired by that. We use a lot of ‘noise courts’ how we call them. You put your finger in strange places and when it sounds good you try to remember that.”
Production
,, The production was done in a very simple way. We recorded everything with simple microphones. They are called SM57/58, you see them at all the concerts. A lot of times they use very expensive microphones in the studio, like 3000 dollar microphones, it can’t handle the signal sometimes because it’s too much. It’s better better for the vocals, but also for the guitars and sometimes the drums has a standard microphone that you can really drive and push very loud to make it sound right.
And a simple levelmix: the balance between guitar, drums, bass and vocals. We got a really natural sounding snarrdrum, the drums are natural. It’s a kind of cool, because it has personality. A kind like taking a picture, a snapshot from a really good performance or something, or the energy. Sometimes that’s more important than spending four days on a drumsound.
We spend 3 hours to getting the drumsound and recorded all the drums in about two hours. We trying to get the energy, when he has to do it more than twenty times and by the end you killed that engery. So it felt really good. Sometimes there’s one little mistake. I can live with the mistake, well we tried it again, but still is has to be the same feeling. The last six hours we were stuggeling to finish the production. There was no time to mess around. I warmed up and played the songs from beginnning to end, suddenly it came alive, and that was it.“
After all those years you still have inspiration to make a good Napalm Death sound.
,, It happens in a natural way. One thing I always take care of, is the sound. In the way of catching the sound, the way of mixing an album and technics to record. To get things, to come out better than the last album. In a real quick way: experiences with travelling to different studios and working with different producers.
One way - that we managed to get a different sound every album- is the recording: in a different studio every time. Sometimes you can work with the same team of people, but it’s just the nature way: the room sounds different and the grooves or the writingstyle improves.
In a way that’s more simplified and you get things to come across easier: less notes, well it’s more like controle organised chaos. We allready know what the guitartone is and what it’s supposed to sound like, within twenty minuts the guitar sounds ready to be recorded. You can’t really tell untill you overdone an other guitarline, so you can have a stereo imaging feeling. It makes the sound more powerfull and the riffs become more prenounced.
We rased the tuning a few years ago, because we play a lot of different kind op tempos and when you’re tuning too law the riffs are hard to hear. In a way that’s heavier to me: you can hear the notes better.”
Recording process
,,Talking about the ideas: to get a spontaneous feeling, what’s unpredictable. The best way for me to do that is by recording riffs: I play for two hours guitar and record everything, listen to the parts that work together and learn the parts later if it sounds good. It might be very simple to play, I can imagine a powerfull drumbeat, then we choose things like that. I wrote all my songs before we started rehearsing, so in three weeks we wrote the album. Barny (frontman - SD) wrote the lyrics, so within three weeks the album was ready to record. Than I got married and two weeks after I came straight back to the studio and went on tour. The album is not coming out untill april, but it’s allready recorded in september. It’s done, so we had time to be on tour with Cannibal Corpse and we did Xmass-festivals.”
During this interview Mitch talks very fast all the time and he is full of energya bout the new record. We’re standing in a dark corner of the bar, separeted from the press and other bandmember who doing their interviews in the next room. His voice is soft but he talks very fast, especially when he can tell more about the guitarlines. He is a good listener and most of the time he tells me more than just an answer.
Higher level
When I say that I had the idea that the record had more structure than the other records, Mitch smiles and says: ,, Barney was there too when we wrote the music. When we finished the songs, sometimes we learned how to extend parts in an other, to give space between parts. Sometimes you have things too short like verse, chorus, verse, chorus, and there’s no time to sing. By the time he sings, we change.
Together we worked out a system what works better for the vocals. Also there’re a bit of backingvocals what breaks it up and makes it more dynamic in different ways. Sometimes more hardcore ways and then more metal, but the vocals from Jamie (Hatebreed) when he comes in it’s a different approach. I never heard that style of singing with Napalm. Jeff from Carcass did something and he does one song with us tonight.
Also Jello Biafra (Death Kennedys) sings one song on the new record, what gives it a totally different feeling, almost melodic.”
Important for Mitch were not the raugh guitarlines, but as he call it “interesting timechanges.”
,, Also different time signatures like 4/4, 3/4, 7/8. In places it can break it up, just to give creative drumbeats and different vocal pattern. So the vocals in the end are different, because we haven’t used that timing. Even than when it’s a simple riff can be effective in a way that it breaks it up: not the same 4/4 all the time.”
When you look back, are you really statisfied with this record?
,, Sure, to me it’s a compact version of everything we done in the past, but in a way that’s fresh. So we’re not repeating ourselves, but it still has the elements we had on every album. There are still some melodic parts and did experiments with that.
So we learned a lot of trics and developed a style where we can still manage to put that stuff in, but in a way it’s more extreme and midtempo stuff. Sometimes it was too much the same slow drums and that makes the songs less energic.
When you play fast all the time and there’s no reaction from the crouwd, so you have to make a beginning with a fast part and than the middle with a catchy slow part. When you have enough songs with different breakes and variation than people react. I hate it to see an album with the same start and finish and with the same style, well that was good in the past. What to do after this album, I don’t know. Maybe the same in a different way.”
After some minuts of silent, he continues: ,, When someone talks to me about the last record I get an instant picture in my head: I hear the snaredrums, but it feels really good now about the sound of the album, so it’s like it can rest in peace and I know we’re happy with it. So when people don’t like it that doesn’t bother me, because it’s a good representation about what we were trying to do that time. So I hope it’ll last untill the next millenium or something: see how the guitartones sounds then.“ [laughts]
Simplicity
,, We all know eachothers strengh and together we develop something we like to play, without making it to comlicated or impossible to reproduce live. It’s about the sound, the energy and the feeling. The songs stays in your head: when you go home after the rehearsel, that’s a good sign. We try to reproduce everything recorded. Sometimes I have a creative part, so very important to me, but you have to ask yourself: Is it really necearry? It’s good riff but when I am not able to do it live, just forget it and keep it simple. Barny wrote stange vocal stuff, I would have written it in a different way, because I hear it different. Playing and singing at the same time, well a bit disconnect, because I have to play autopilot and do the vocals. I just there on my own, trying but I have to do it live, because it’s also on the record.”
Concert
,, You can’t prepare too much for a show. You can play for three months and really get sick of he songs, but than when you play it live, you’re moving around and there things going wrong on stage. The first two gigs are always where everything is chaotic and there’s a possitive energic. After four gigs you’re really settle into picking up a style who’s really relaxed. Your moving and get more into the swing. You can have a week of and come back, like you haven’t played it in a year. You have cramps in your hand and sometimes you have to re-arrange the set to make it more easier. You need a climax and have to play new stuff and old ones. Sometimes you have to stand up and say: ‘We have a new album, this is one perfect example we did in the past and you have to see it live because than it become powerfull.'
Unfortanly the music scene is two years behind us, in the way that when we recorded the record the recordcompagny want a tour to promote the album. People are just getting into it and it takes a long time to pick up the songs. It takes a while to get into the cd and than when you see it live you can appriciate it. Than we come back after two years with an other new record, so it’s too late for people to react. I need to be happy with a new cd, than I can rest. When I am not happy when the guitar are not loud enough, than I am dissapionted. People like it, but it doesn’t sound the way I intended. Now the album is more faster and more organised!”
Dreams
When a band saw everything in the musicbuiness I am always curious about the dreams they have. Mitch is very clear about that and needs no time to think about it:
,, There’s always this really big picture when we talk about the future of the band: when I first joined and how far we can take it. A vision of a perfect ending and when your album received well and it had an impact on the future of music, it changed music forever or some kind big impact. I could never point when it ended, because of personality changes (growning up together living like brothers, fighting like brothers) or materal problems. When it ended it would be ashame because the band never reached their pieck, it did in the early ’90, but from than on it was difficult with touring, who to go out with, no support from the recorcompagny and stuff. At some point to know that we done an album wich would be the ideal NAPALM DEATH record and we tried to do an other album what sounds very good: we’re not doing it for the sake of it. We start something to prove musicaly, lyricly and take the band to an level where it seems that there’s something really important and take it to the point when it stops we can relax and think: “I didn’t waste the last 15 years of my life. They were very important.”
After that Mitch has to go, because the band needs him.
I want to thank Mitch and the rest of the band for the nice day. Also the good organisation wo was in the hands of Mark Topp.
Copyright pictures:
- Caroline Traiter http://www.photopit.com/
- Napalm Death promo pictures 2005 http://www.enemyofthemusicbusiness.com/
Upcoming Shows
PERSISTENCE TOUR 2005
( f.k.a. Resistance Tour )
HATEBREED-AGNOSTIC FRONT-BORN FROM PAIN-A PERFECT MURDER-BLEED THE SKY
01.12.2005 Wiesbaden - Schlachthof (D)
02.12.2005 London - Forum (UK)
03.12.2005 Essen - Fun Box Amalie (G)
04.12.2005 Brussels - Ancienne Belgique (B)
05.12.2005 Hamburg – Große Freiheit (D)
06.12.2005 Nürnberg – Löwensaal (D)
07.12.2005 Wien – Arena (A)
08.12.2005 Solothurn - Kofmehl (CH)
09.12.2005 Amsterdam – Paradiso (NL)
10.12.2005 Dresden – Alter Schlachthof (D)
11.12.2005 Berlin – Huxleys (D)
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