Napalmed Interview Interview by Joselito, Answered by Radek, Done June 25, 2004 thru email 01/ Hello Radek! How are you? Tell us about NAPALMED (both label and band) Hi Joselito! Thanx for asking, all is O.K. here. Nothing special w/NAPALMED activities. I try to lead industrial/noise band since middle of 1994 year. We play live performances from time to time, once or twice per two months, we record (mostly just me personally) studio trax. We change line-up again, new member Pavel join the band on our last live show. Nothing special w/label too. Last item I put out was various artists CD compilation 'Anomalous Silencer no.6'. No plans for the nearest future. 02/ Well, to others do not know yet NAPALMED (band) could you tell us a short history, how they started? I started the band on 21.05.1994. I asked some members (Petr Beranek - bass & Martin Beraxa - drums of KREVEL, Martin Holy - bass of SCAPEGOAT/LUCRECIA) to perform short noisecore improvisation. We created 5 minutes long intense 'noise' with my voice. It was recorded on VHS-C camera, sound of it was also used as our absolutely first demo. For some time we used these instruments, plus some half-playback tape recording on the live performances. Than pals feel chained by instruments, so we stopped use them and started using unusual things as like metals, electronics, simply stuff we use til now. Our first album ('Up to the ears in tinnitus') was recorded these times in that line-up. After some time after that, Petr Beranek and Martin Holy leave the band, I found new member Franta Pacan (keyboards of OAZA), a bit later Mira Vlcek. In that new 4-piece line-up we create another 'studio' album 'Never mind the MSBR, here's the NAPALMED', which was released by NAPALMED label in finnancial collaboration of PLAZZMA > [email protected], EPIDEMIE > http://www.epidemie.cz. Franta Pacan leave the band too, and at the same time we started oficially collaborate with Petr Kopecky (long time friend of NAPALMED). As the life is sad sometime too, Mira Vlcek leave this world on 04.01.2004, we were just three for some time. Now new boy Pavel is in the band. We will see the continuation. Stay in touch. We found our personal 'rehearsal' room, not to start rehearsal, just to save metal garbage stuff and record some new sounds. We thought about another full album in the new line-up. 03/ Mostly what kind of equipment do you use to make noise or do you also use some samples, like some line from movie, excerpt from song, etc? We used for long time all scummy and shitty stuff: strange pieces of metals junk, iron scrap, woods, glass, plastic bottles, paper, some destroyed/prepared instruments (accoustic guitars, keyboards), prepared and home-made electronics, various used/second hand microphones, home electronic equipment (tape decks, CD/MD players and recorders, digital EQ) and last but not least effectors too (guitar pedals, studio ones too). May be I forgot something. I use samples/loops from other musical recordings mostly for 'Mixes' series. Just once we performed live on some loops, and created improvisations on them. It was at our supporting of MELT BANANA [Japan] in Prague city. 04/ NAPALMED shown lots of split projects but I never seen any project with other punk band like Oi, ska or rockabilly band. Why? Are you willing to make split project with this type of band or do you prefer only same type of band as NAPALMED? I don't listen these styles you mentioned too much. I like intense, garage, fast, brutal, weird, etc. bands/projects. May be this is my selection and limitation. May be I'll hear sometime any cool Oi, ska, rockabilly bands which will catch my ears. Not problem to make split release with any band which will sound interesting to me and secondly which will be interested in what we do. Many punk, metal, rock bands on some compilations we joined through the history. 05/ I've always seen on your site your live schedules. And it looks like you've always booked with lots of live shows and it looks people from Czech love noise. How hard is to perform live with NAPALMED compared to live performances with other usual band with strings and drums and mics? I'm sorry, but it just looks as you wrote. No extra interest, no huge noise scene. We try to play each time someone ask us. It depends on free-work-time and finally on car and driver as none of us have a driver license and no car. Moreover I don't wan't to play often. It is enough to performed once per month. For me personally our show is really intense, power-sucking. After each show I'm really down of it. We like to play with other style bands. Very important is that the pal who invite us know what he orders, what we do, what NAPALMED is all about. 06/ And have you been invited also outside Czech republic? What is the people reaction also? We play two performance outside of Czech republic. First was in Germany/Muenchen and second time in Switzerland/Zofingen. Both were good organized, with solid audience. I think it is needed to play more outside the border of our country, but no free time to do that. 07/ Mostly the gig you are playing is also a show only for a kind of band like NAPALMED (noise) is or there are also some other bands like thrash, metal, punk, HC, etc playing with you? Most shows we performed before join metal, grind, punk bands. That is underground all about. Also here are some industrial/electronic projects on the scene, but many of them don't play live, what is really shit on my mind. Some of shows were done in cooperation with DO SHASKA! (ethnic driven rhythms industrial), VO.I.D (power electronix noise), EINLEITUNGSZEIT (power noise), S/M (impro-sampling mania). As I said before we are oftenly on stage with musical bands (metal, grind, HC). Many of them are really interesting. 08/ If you still remember when and where was the first show/gig of NAPALMED? What do you feel about the show and how many people are involved in playing live with NAPALMED? Is this your solo performance? It was on 21.05.1994. I asked some friends of Most-city underground (Petr Beranek - bass & Martin Beraxa - drums, both of KREVEL; Martin Holy - bass of SCAPEGOAT/LUCRECIA) to perform short noisecore improvisation. We created 5 minutes long intense 'noise' with my voice. I never play solo. I think it is good to spice sound production with other members thoughts, different elements, non-verbal communication. It is same as normal music band itself. True is, I recorded some 'studio' recording by myself only, but oftenly it is because I need to find new sounds, read inner structures of materials and effects. But on stage we are more pieces. Minimal two, maximal four, what is full complete band. 09/ What is the audience reaction when they see you making noise? Is this their first time to see people making noise live on stage or there was already noise band performed live before? It is plusminus still the same since our start, 90% (or 100%) of audience are shocked. People say NAPALMED is better on live, but I think it is due to the fact they could see the action of creating, manipulating, what is a bit easier to understand noise. When the listen CD at home, they are just alone with the sound and personal fantasy. I think they are 'afraid' of that all, people don't want to searching new ways, listening intense. People like to clap hands, make rhythms by foot on ground, eat harmonies, sing melodies inside with the band. It si musch simplest for them. When we played live around Most town, friends shout on Martin Baxa, let's play drums, make rhythms. They were lost in abstract form of sound. They need an culture order. I love all that too, I am widely open minded for many musical styles, but I always try to look for new elements in music. Therefor I stopped listening thrash, death metal as too much cliches there which are still the same (for me). 10/ We know that all type of music have different style like on grind there is HCgrind, grindcore, thrashgrind, industrialgrind, etc and also punkrock, HCpunk, grindpunk, etc. What about NAPALMED? What type of noise can you classified NAPALMED? (I guess industrial noise.) NAPALMED presents 'spontaneously improvised harsh industrial noise'. This is the main presentation of ours. We could do (and sometimes did) mix recordings from other elements too as like pure industrial, ambient, power electronix, field recordings. I often wrote: No music here just abstract sounds. 11/ And of course influences. We know that all of us start with an influences. What was your first noise demo (no noisecore, but noise like NAPALMED)? I was influenced by noise & noisecore since the start itself. All 'studio' recordings are more/less noise. Small problem was at our first live performances, as players used instruments and its is a big problem to make strange sounds on them, moreover when the palyers are musicians, ha-ha. So the old previous livers are a bit noisecore type. But is is not problem as my favourite bands are ANAL CUNT, old MEAT SHITS, 7 MINUTES OF NAUSEA, MERCILESS NOISE, SORE THROAT. First 'noise' I heard were recordings from EINSTUERZENDE NEUBAUTEN - 'Kollaps', some MERZBOW, GEROGERIGEGEGE - '45 RPM performance', 'Tokyo anal dynamite', ... but influeneces come also from other intense styles as like structured metals, and many more. 12/ And obviously you used titles for every noise (or whatever you called it is) you create, but is there any meaning behind the noise you have made that you want to express or feel about it? No extra expression there. It is the hardest shit to give titles to the trax. Mostly I named situation, stuff or make jokes. It is just for people to make an orientation. Titles are not too important. Main is to listen to sounds and let the personal fantasy flow here and there. 13/ What about the noise scene there in Czech republic? How is it? It looks like lot of kids love noise coz' NAPALMED got live shows once a month or every week. Here are list of some '+/- experimental' projects/bands from Czech/Slovakia: CRYPTOSONIC, DEDECKOVA TAZNA ZVER, TABOR RADOSTI, SKROL, AGHIATRIAS, DO SHASKA!, VO.I.D, EINLEITUNGSZEIT, S/M, URBANOX, DETI DESTE, KOTEL C.26, STEAM SYMPHONY, NOISE LABORATORY, GM ELECTRONICS, the THREE, NEURO, ... No extra scene or huge crowd of real fans. We are just small shitty land. 14/ What can you say about "noise band is a joke band". What is your view about this comment? If there is a sense of humor in the band's creating, not important what style, it is O.K. It is no needed to be too serious, but I don't like 'joking'. I need to trust to people, to what they are doing. 15/ Let's talk about NAPALMED as a label. When and where is started and what keep you motivated to start this kind of label? NAPALMED as a label is just additional activity, not the main. I need to cover our releases under some name. Why to do a new name or mark, so I just find idea for other logo. Not all releases were done with catalog numbers, so you can see it is really not important label. The main line is ANOMALOUS SILENCER series. It is experimental CD compilation. 16/ Tell us how many releases do you have been and mostly what type of band you prefer to release? NAPALMED label is "small unofficial label". No plans, no views, just to cover some releases under mark and catalogue number. I am prepare to release something and/or help other band, offer them service, if there is any idea. Both distribution and label need many, many special time I want, need for, NAPALMED as a band. But as all is connect I work on all edges. 17/ Your ANOMALOUS SILENCER have a unique idea on packaging, the stuff you did on vol.5 with wooden stamper, or vol.2 covered into "oil-stained steel mesh", which was named as real "smelly-dirty-industrial" package, etc. Who got the idea for this kind of packaging? All works, inc. ideas came from me. I LOVE special packaged releases, if they are useful too. There are also some useless, really weird pieces (piece of beton block - not my), ultra limited to minimal copies. When I prepare release and package for it, all depend on money, idea, time and material availablity. I got many strange ideas but some of them expensive or later hard to transport, re-pack, etc. 18/ What is your idea for making this ANOMALOUS SILENCER project and do you have any plan to do another compilation as it is? The idea is just one. To help other bands/projects (mostly unknown) spread their sounds. To say truth also spread our own sounds. I thing it is good way of co-operation to put ideas & money together. Many co-payed compilations in the metal underground last time, so we could see that system is very useful. We received many offers for that. But I'm afraid, that most of them will be bad produced, done just to make money on that. Family of ANOMALOUS SILENCER is not big, but people who invited my project know I ever did solid work, best I could. It is not just another title in the scene, but artistic thing, collectible item, etc. 19/ What about the album "Never mind the MSBR, here's the NAPALMED"? What the album title means? And how's the people reaction when they heard this? NAPALMED made parody on SORE THROAT, who made parody on SEX PISTOLS album title. I feel connection of punk, grind, noise line. Also both (three, inc. MSBR - japanese noise fabric) bands are interesting for me. No extra reaction from people, zines. Only one or two get that right meaning. 20/ By the way, this is usual question I always ask foreign people, but I'm curious only. What do you know about the Philippines? Simply I can write: Manila, Davao, national sport no. 1 basketball, guerilla "wars", terrorists, dictator Marcos, cheap cigarettes and alcohol, ... I'm not specialist on Indonesia, sorry. 21/ O.K. my friend, that's all for now. Thanks for the time and effort you gave to NOISE ATTACK webzine. It's your time to say anything you want. Thanks! Thank you too. It is really nice you gave time and space to NAPALMED, small band from small unknown place called Czech republic. People feel free to send any additional questions, visit our website, listen our sound experiments, but please note there are millions of better bands all over the world, ha-ha! (For everyone knowledge!: NAPALMED is the first noise band I've heard and this band got me interest to listen lots of noise bands like NAPALMED - Joselito) RadeK.K. NAPALMED Radek Kopel Lipova 1123 434 01 Most Czech Republic [email protected] http://napalweb.unas.cz
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