There comes a time when you've simply had enough - enough of the pissy, smug faces; the convenient angst; the generic 'dum de-dum-de chugga-chunka-chug', guitar sounds that you could quite happily go out and machine gun the entire population of a small town to...
This irritating state of the current popular rock scene was a subject broached over many Birmingham-based Saturday nights on-the-town in late '98 by Napalm Death men Shane Embury and Jesse Pintado, and then Cradle of Filth drummer Nick Barker. Fuelled by a sea of strong lager, it also got them talking about the good old days; not of cheap fares on public transport - but of bands like Dark Angel, Death, Repulsion and Slayer at their bulldozing best. Very soon it was decided that putting their frustrations to music was the only way forward.
And so Lock Up was born. With a decidedly low budget that barely scraped past double figures and a desire to bash an album out in double quick time to preserve the rawness, Shane and Jesse set to work. A few sessions on a 10-watt practice amp and unpredictable four track recorder later, they were ready to go into producer Andy Sneap's backstage studio. What - no rehearsals? Not quite. Not even with the drummer? Absolutely not. Basically Mr. Barker parked his butt on the drumstool, asked "What do I do to this one then?" and proceeded to blur through the album in one take. Job done, and there was a small matter of recruiting a singer to contend with. Leafing through the little black book of growlers, they happened across Peter Tägtgren - Hypocrisy singer and workaholic extreme metal producer. With rabid excitement he agreed to do it and so, fittingly, the rest of the band made the journey to deepest, darkest Northern Sweden to Peter's Abyss studio. In keeping with the spontaneity, the screams and growls went to tape instantaneously with all the subtlety and restraint of a bull elephant. Nice. Had you blinked you'd probably have missed the entire creative process of the resulting "Pleasures Pave Sewers" album. But this doesn't mean that it smacks of four impulsive loons who wouldn't actually figure out quite what they were trying to do the morning after. Far from it. Capitalising on the longtime experience from their regular day jobs, "PPS" is tight, raw-as-radiation burns, and above all just plain brutal. From the mid-paced 'Delirium' to the untethered, eye-popping speedcore of 'Afterlife in Purgatory' this is an album the deprived death metal/grindcore scene has been crying out for: zero keyboards, zero withering gothic vocals, zero fucking around. As for which particularly nasty lyrical subjects underpin the whole thing, "It's not to be taken too seriously" says Shane, yet "it's very anti-censorship, with an extra reminder of how our indulgences can be our own undoing..." he adds ominously.
Since the release of "Pleasures" the band sadly had to part company with Peter Tägtgren - this was due mainly to the band wanting to do more shows, and with Peter's very busy schedule occupying most of his time they decided that maybe they should get someone else. The parting was amicable and Peter and the rest of the band still remain good friends. So who did they get to fill his shoes? - none other than Tomas Lindberg (formerly of At The Gates and a few other bands - The Great Deceiver, Disfear etc.).
In late February 2001, Lock Up entered the Framework Studio in Birmingham, England to record their second album. Produced by Russ Russell and engineered by none other than Napalm Death guitarist Mitch Harris, Hate Breeds Suffering became another old-school grindcore monster. Recorded and mixed in 6 days there is no other band around nowadays with as much anger, hate and raw power. Dirty noise for dirty minds. Let your ears wallow in filth.
