Bands always talk about their live show being explosive or how it’ll ‘bring the house down’, but a famous British extreme metal band have taken that boast to a literal level, and had their gig plans scuppered as a result.
The Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum in the UK has canned a proposed Napalm Death concert for fears that the band’s loud brand of grindcore and plans to blow up a piece of art would quite literally shake the foundations of the venue, as The Herald Sun reports.
The Birminghan-born quartet were set to play a free concert at the museum on Friday March 22nd in collaboration with V&A’s resident ceramic artist, Keith Harrison, in which they would play live through a clay PA system that would literally explode due to their extreme noise, or as the band put, “clad with ceramic tiles, the structures will potentially disintegrate as the performance progresses.”
Napalm Death vocalist Mark “Barney” Greenway said the experimental show would explore the idea of “sound as a weapon – or a weapon of change… a very interesting concept.”
“The noise element of music should never be understated and this exhibition at the V&A will hopefully demonstrate that music can do interesting things beyond the realms of clipped production techniques,” said Greenway.
The V&A Ceramics Resident explained the process in more detail, “The raw, uncompromising energy of Napalm Death will be used to activate a set of three specially created ceramic sound systems based on the group of vivid blue and yellow tiled tower blocks on the Bustleholm Mill estate, West Bromwich where I was born.”
While the show had the blessing of the museum officials, they eventually reasoned that letting an extremem metal band play amongst precious artefacts wasn’t such a good idea after all; V&A authorities reasoned that not only would the ceramic sculpture blow up, but that it would also damage “the historic fabric of the building.”
A statement from the V&A reads:
It is with regret that we have taken the decision to cancel the one-off Napalm Death performance in collaboration with our ceramic artist-in-residence Keith Harrison.
This was due to take place in the Europe Galleries which are currently being refurbished and a further safety inspection has revealed concerns that the high level of decibels generated by the concert would damage the historic fabric of the building.”
V&A officials said that the museum was keen on staging daring and “exciting” events, but that “the safety of our visitors and building remains our priority at all times.”
Ahead of the event, V&A Residency Co-ordinator Ruth Lloyd was championing the unique diversity of the museum’s programme in hosting “aa wide range of audiences through artist led activities at the Museum,” including ceramic artist Harrison who “has led the V&A in developing a series of events aimed at heavy metal music and its fans.”
Following the decision to call the show off, the Napalm Death frontman has said that it was no surprise considering the band’s “cripplingly loud” music.
“[The V&A] had been making noises,” Greenway tells The Telegraph. “They started asking the sound guy fairly nervously ‘What will the volume be like?’ He was like, ‘What can I tell you? They make a lot of noise.’ He didn’t know what would happen to the plates.”
The vocalist added that the V&A was particularly concerned about an overhanging china sculpture, fearing the noise would bring it crashing down.
“Apparently there was some suspended china thing around the stage,” he says. “Obviously if we cranked [the music] out and it detached from the ceiling, that would be embarrassing.”
The V&A Museum are now believed to be working together with Napalm Death to reschedule the explosive ceramic gig with a new venue location.
In related news, the museum is kicking off an exhibition based on the illustrious career of David Bowie this weekend. Perfectly timed with the release of the 66-year-old icon’s first album of new material in 10 years, The Next Day, the V&A’s ‘David Bowie Is’ Exhibition has delved deep into the archives to curate an exhaustive look at his career; featuring more than 300 items including original costumes, handwritten lyrics, photography, film, music videos, fashion, set designs, and even some of Bowie’s own instruments.
