Fuel Good Hit of the Summer

Few bands can claim to have had such canonical importance in the annals of extreme music as Napalm Death. Malforming in Birmingham in 1981, they were the group that first tore up the rulebook as to what punk or metal should sound like, marrying hardcore and metal to form a genre that soon became known as grindcore. Bassist Shane Embury is rightly hailed the ‘godfather of grind’, being the outfit's sole remaining member – he played on their legendary first single, ‘Scum’.

After almost three decades of non-stop sonic violence, he has had plenty of experience with bass guitars. “In the early years, I was like a lot of other bassists and definitely bounced from bass to bass,” he says.
“When we were starting out, around 1981, we were literally kids. I didn’t even intend to be a bassist. So the very first bass I eventually got was a sunburst-coloured catalogue one, the sort your Mum would buy for you. I can’t even remember what the brand was.”
As Napalm’s fame grew, constant touring meant finding a proper axe was a priority. “I used whichever one came to hand for years. But the bass guitar I’ve been playing for a decade at least now is a Warwick, which is a German company. They’re well known for providing good basses in other genres, particularly funk. I’ve found that they work perfectly for me.”
“They’re an extremely consistent type of bass and that’s what attracted me,” enthuses Embury, who favours a four and five string version of the distinct wooden-bodied Streamer Stage 5 Warwick. “It’s quite a heavy duty guitar. I just like that solid feel to it, particularly the wooden finish.”
When you’ve been playing as long as Embury has, you get to know a bass can only take so much punishment. “They get thrown around and whacked about onstage. It’s inevitable that sometimes things break,” he says, “The jack is the only thing which occasionally goes on the Warwick I’ve been using. It is quite an expensive brand, but worth it.”
Embury doesn’t like too many embellishments. “I keep it pretty simple with just a distorted and clean channel. I tend to play on clean for the most part. We’re generally making such a racket that you really want to provide as low a backing with the bass as possible, rather than keeping it too tonal with a pedal. I stick to Warwick bass rigs while touring. They’ve a good range of EQs, but I stick to just a simple line in and nothing fancy.”
Who are Embury’s heroes on bass? “Back in the day, Cronos from Venom was the big thing for me. He was the one bassist who I looked at and thought was great! But nowadays I’m a fan of many other bassists, obvious ones like Geddy Lee from Rush.”