Justin Broadrick Discusses New Godflesh LP With Terrorizer

Published: July 02, 2014

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For those of you still reeling from Godflesh‘s incredible comeback EP ‘Decline & Fall’, the news that the influential duo are already hard at work on a new album will probably come as both a shock and a delight. We sent Jonathan Dick to catch up with Justin Broadrick and find out why Godflesh was something he “couldn’t live without”, the similarities between music and near-death experiences and why acid casualties often end up as bible bashers…

Over a quarter century into its existence and Godflesh remains a formidable musical force, as the bands seventh full-length ‘A World Lit Only By Fire’ is released in September. Even in the wake of Godfleshs dissolution in 2002, founding member and guitarist/vocalist/programmer Justin Broadrick wasted little time in following his seemingly endless creative impulses in whatever direction they led him, from projects such as Jesu to Pale Sketcher to a variety of collaborations. For Broadrick, though, the story of Godflesh was and is one that exists on an infinite plane in stark contrast to the categorically cold and exacting motion of the music itself. Broadricks obsession with the manipulation and deconstruction of sound is precisely his most valuable creative asset, and its one that finds the multi-instrumentalist not simply revisiting Godflesh but, according to our conversation with him, reviving an instinct that thankfully never went away.

Words: Jonathan Dick

Godflesh will release ‘A World Lit Only By Fire’ in September. Considering that its been thirteen years since the last full-length, ‘Hymns’, what led to the culmination of this record for you guys?
Justin: “Essentially, reforming the band for me wasnt just meant to be revisionist. It wasnt meant just to be a nostalgia trip. In fact, it wasnt intended as that at all, and I actually, by and large, ironically despise most reunions and reformations. Initially, the drive for me and the main source of motivation was wanting to make new material as Godflesh, which the irony is, weve spent a few years reformed, and heres our first records. All we did initially was go out and play classic Godflesh. Thats the ultimate irony, I guess.

“Ultimately we needed to tap back into the same creative pool that was Godflesh, and I think to go out playing shows of the classics enabled us to indulge again to be supremely self-indulgent because ultimately Godflesh is. One of the other interviews I did today was very concerned with what set of contemporary influences we have now, and they were quite surprised when they were met with the fact that I dont see any contemporary influences. And it wasnt meant to be arrogant. I was just being fucking truthful. We went back to ourselves to make a new record. Not that I needed reminding, but I needed to literally play this stuff again. I needed to have a physical connection again to this music. Obviously this is extremely physical music as well. For me its body music. Sometimes I speak to people at Godflesh shows who say Look, you know, I dont like other metal. I like you guys, but I dont like other forms of metal. Theyll say I like fucking dance music, you know, or dance music loosely speaking. Theyll be talking about the darker regions or the nether regions of essentially electronica but shit with a beat. They go out to clubs and they dance, and they come to Godflesh shows because they say the same thing. Its fucking body music, and thats right. Thats how I see it, and for me we needed to get back to the source to make these new records. We needed to tap back into the circle. Thats what it feels like for me get back into the cycle. And it took so little.

“Both Ben and I laugh about it, and weve said this to people when we do interviews together. When we first got back together we had almost about four days of rehearsal in front of us to get together like a sixty minute set. And within two hours of playing together we pretty much nailed every song. We were just like Wow. We had very little confidence in that we could just tap back into this, and some of these songs were literally songs that we hadnt played since the early 90s, but it made complete sense. We both realized that this is so instinctive. Its so ingrained. And this isnt just down to the obvious trappings of that Well, we toured this shit to death. Some of these songs wed only played a few times, and Im not kidding you that they just completely turned back on. Obviously doing that stuff when we were so young, again it gets back to some sort of weird, odd physical connection with the stuff where it literally felt like an extension of who we are just literally ingrained into our personas. So its been really simple, very simple. I often initially was saying to people that these new records had been hard, but theyve only been hard because Ive set in myself a standard. I wouldnt just be satisfied with pumping out what could be considered Godflesh-by-numbers, even though anyone who hears this stuff immediately says or seem to collectively say the same thing that this is so fucking Godflesh. Which is true, but to me its something past and beyond that as well. I find it even more of a reduction and even more pure than what we were somehow.

I think theres a tendency among extreme musics fans and artists alike to think that creation or inspiration occurs in a vacuum that youre imperceptible to that influence or change thats really inevitable with time. Looking at the creative approach of Godflesh in 1989 as opposed to 2014, what do you see as the largest distinction or change for you guys with that approach now?
Justin: “Its loaded, ultimately. I think its such a melting pot of emotions. This is something I didnt only need to revisit. This is something thats intrinsically a part of me, I think. Performing with Godflesh, to me, often feels like meditation. For me its another language. Its a way of expressing something that I cant put into words. If I was adept in a literary context Id write. I dont. I absolutely do not. Even the lyrics are intentionally monosyllabic because thats all that is needed. That is literally all that is required. The music itself is loaded even in terms of texture alone. Its ultra specific. This shit is ultra fine-tuned, yet its simultaneously ultra simple, and its something that I dont think I could live without.

“Its been two years doing these two new records, but that can also give the wrong impression. That suggests that Ive done nothing but write this music for two years, which couldnt be anywhere near the truth. Essentially I have pockets of time where I feel inspired in one context or another at work or something and then leave it, and I often come back to it and feel just dissatisfied. Its literally like that, but its instinctive in the context that I find it chooses me, you know. Because its like that. Its a music that is born from tension, obviously, and its born from frustration and resignation. Its extreme music, and its negative music, so its born from the hulk of emotion. For me, ultimately, the catalyst for this is just existing. Its needing to express this again. Jesu for me was not the vehicle for this expression, and I think obviously Im a person with an identity crisis. Im schizophrenic, and I wear these guises, but like I was saying to someone earlier, theyre not masks. Theyre externalization ultimately. They are me. Theyre just larger than me. Obviously Im known on a personal level as being an affable, nice, easy going positive person, but its debatable whether Id be this person in real life if wasnt for being able to channel the shit, or if I wasnt fortunate to be able to have these avenues of expression. [Laughs] Im always preoccupied with mortality and with death all the things one shouldnt be preoccupied with, I think, so I always feel that everythings endless and everythings just on one big great circle and, again, Godlfesh to me is just an infinite circle. And obviously music, just like art, it transcends time and it goes past you. Youre just a vessel as are all other artists. You just tap into something and let it go, and its there way past your existence. Hopefully my art will last past that if the fucking world does. Its just something I knew instinctively that I couldnt do without this any longer, really. Godflesh, its not therapy, but it has that, and its certainly not cathartic because that suggests an end. Its a cycle that I needed to draw from again and use again.”

Its interesting you mention mortality because its something that, at least from my perspective, has always been one of the most appealing factors with extreme music. This music is cathartic. Its deliberately very abrasive and confrontational with topics like mortality and the futility of existence. Have you seen your relationship to music change with regards to your own mortality now that youve grown older and are looking at it from that perspective thats based in a kind of urgency?
Justin: “Yeah, I mean ultimately Im closer to death. Thats the truism here as an artist as you mature, and I guess as an artist with a preoccupation with mortality. It is fascinating, as you said, that extreme music does have this relationship. I find music is near death. I view music as a near death experience. Ultimately, music that touches me the hardest has this inarticulate, illiterate whiteout to it, like youre literally staring into the void, staring into the great chasm of death. Like all fucking great experiences, I think theyre like the beginning or like the end. Obviously as you get older, and Ben and I have discussed this, hes fifty this year, and Im forty-five, and we often have just quite very, very simple basic conversations about the fact that deaths there on the horizon. [Laughs]

“Whats fascinating is that I was one of those rare teenagers that I actually recognized mortality whereas a lot of the kids around me were learning to drive, and some of them were driving it into a fucking wall or driving like they had no concept of death, which is actually a fact isnt it? Males dont have any actual death recognition until early twenties is it or something? Its some weird psychological fact or something that Ive read about only quite recently which is rare, really, as I think more people would think Id be more learned about that, considering my subject matter of choice. [Laughs] But very generally speaking, I think males particularly dont recognize mortality until their early twenties or something. I definitely had a concept of mortality at quite a young age, but I also had a mother who was also fascinated and obsessed with fucking accidental death. [Laughs]”

Youve always been very open and honest about that topic as well, Justin, regarding your childhood and just your having to grow up fast. You had a very real experience with that subject of mortality and dealing with many things that didnt resemble a normal childhood. Did that guide you to this music inevitably?
Justin: “Yeah, absolutely. Its almost entirely. For me, I dont think Id be here or would have made any form of extreme music if it wasnt for my immediate childhood experience not just socially and psychologically but also the environment. And not just the immediate environment but the landscape. I mean, its been well documented that Birmingham was known as being like Englands Detroit. So not only did I have odd familial background but also within the context of a landscape that was both overpopulated and urbanized and with the smell of factory smoke in the air next to drug-taking parents who were more concerned or as concerned with partying and getting fucked up as they were with bringing up their child. Coupled with a number of other odd facts is they also even flirted with religion for a bit like all good working class drug addicts did and do for a time. [Laughs] Again, its no surprise that people who get really heavily into drugs and particularly who are also often undereducated typically get into bible classes. Its classic over here. People like Jehovahs Witnesses turn up at the doors mostly of the working classes in the UK. Im not sure if its as similar in the US, but they quite literally prey upon the fucking working classes. Its brilliant. Lost souls. Lots of lost empty fucking souls just begging to be preyed upon with the promise of eternal life and fucking eternal positivity walking hand in hand with Jesus Christ and a fucking tiger. Theyre just classic vultures. Thats really a minor thing in urban England, though. I mean, the UK is fucking godless and some of these fuckers need god. [Laughs] They need a shepherd or they need the fucking grim reaper. They need one of the two. [Laughs]”

Looking at what Godflesh has influenced when it comes to bands you guys have directly influenced, its interesting to look at the trajectory or evolution of experimentation in music and that idea of originality. Godflesh was obviously referencing things that influenced you both but through your own creative conduit, and now its limitless or seemingly so as to what influences us and what we can absorb. Considering that, what do you personally see as the next step for experimentation in music?
Justin: “For me, like you just rightly pointed out, its ultimately and many musicians will say the same thing they feel like theyre a vessel. They feel like theyre tapping into something. Theres a source. Its intangible yet its most definitely a source. Im not here without a very, very strong set of influences. Theyre a unique set of influences as in I didnt know many people at the time in 1988 who wanted to put Public Enemy beats with down-tuned riffs that were a combination of somewhere between Celtic Frost, early Swans, early Discharge, and Killing Joke. Its an interesting blend, but I felt like it literally was just that. I was a product of my influences. I was consuming so much music that, to me, all was post-punk. I hate using that term now, because its an extremely overexposed term now quite repulsive almost to the extent of where we have endless poseur bands who essentially are just carbon copies of people from the early 80s and that, by and large, does not remotely interest me.

“I had a recent conversation where this person and I were just marvelling at the abundance of information and not just music but art and anything just two clicks away on a computer now, and how empty younger generations appear to be. Its nothing but a teenager with a grumpy face now staring at their iPhone, messaging someone about the last shit they had and how fucking pissed off they are, yet theyve got this endless pool of information where youd think people like you and I, at that age, would be fucking overwhelmed. And maybe thats it? Theres too much. Theres no effort. Theres no search any more, and theres no limits. People need parameters, and they need limitations. They need guides, and they need time, and they need space. One surely cannot fucking absorb this much information and apply it appropriately to any area of their existence philosophically without feeling fucking emptied. For me, that emptying experience is everything I am anyway. That is what Godflesh is ultimately its overwhelmed and choking on being emptied by all experience of life and the hulk of it, good and evil, the core of what we are.”

‘Decline & Fall’ is available now via Avalanche Recordings.

The post Justin Broadrick Discusses New Godflesh LP With Terrorizer appeared first on Terrorizer.

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