Napalm Death have made history as one of the heaviest bands ever to perform on NPR Music’s acclaimed Tiny Desk concert series.
The legendary UK grindcore pioneers delivered an uncompromising performance in the intimate setting, bringing more than four decades of extreme music to one of the most unexpected stages in modern music.
Reflecting on the experience, vocalist Barney Greenway said: “I’ve dipped in and out of Democracy Now! via NPR Radio for decades now to get my unvarnished yet thoughtful North American news. So when the NPR Tiny Desk thing came up, it kind of blew my tiny mind a little bit.”
Greenway noted that the opportunity allowed the band to reach a much broader audience, while emphasizing that Napalm Death had no intention of toning down their performance.
“We realised that we were going to reach far more people than usual with the Tiny Desk performance, but as you might expect from Napalm Death, we were never going to temper the performance to any degree. We hope everybody at least gets something from it, even if it’s just an understanding of musical abrasion being pushed to the nth degree.”
He also encouraged continued support for public broadcasting.
The performance was curated by NPR Music producer and writer Lars Gotrich, a longtime supporter of heavy music who said it was important that Napalm Death become the first grindcore band to perform on the Tiny Desk series.
“The first grindcore band at the Tiny Desk had to be the founding fathers,” Gotrich said. “There is only one Napalm Death, not only exemplary of extreme music but also what it takes to be human in what feels like an inhumane time.”
Watch Napalm Death’s historic NPR Tiny Desk performance below.
