DON'T FEAR THE REAPER

DON'T FEAR THE REAPER

FEATURES

"We are kind of ugly...we're not an image band in terms of being cute." —Nick Bowcott

John Neilson

Every so often in this business of music, the Powers That Be sit back, take stock, and take time to give credit where credit is due. Bands who’ve spent years slogging it to the top of the heap, with nothing more to show for it than a lot of money, can look forward to those few precious moments in the glow of celebrity, with envious eyes of the world upon them, and the long-coveted Grammy finally in their hands...

Grim Reaper, it’s safe to say, will never win a Grammy.

It’s also safe to say that they probably don't care, having recently received an honor NO other act can claim:

“That’s true,” guitarist Nick Bowcott admits, with obvious pride, “one of the greatest things of last year was being in the top-ten-worst bands of the year in CREEM—that made it for me!”

“Ten worst Bozos!” corrects singer Steve Grimmett. Actually, both are being modest here, for the award in question was actually Anastasia Finn’s epochal Ten Biggest Bozos Of The ’80s list, which Grim Reaper topped over the likes of W.A.S.P., Missing Persons, Frankie, Billy Idol, and the already-forgotten A Flock Of Seagulls. Tough competition, to be sure, and all the more notable for the fact that of all these stinkeroos, Grim Reaper were the only act that hadn’t sold ump-

teen zillions of records. Obviously something about this band had made an impression—on Mrs. Finn, at least—and her patronage was rewarded with a note of ‘Thanx’ on the back of their album, Fear No Evil.

“I’d rather have someone say ‘I think the band is great’ or ‘I think they’re dreadful’ rather than go ‘they’re awright.’” Bowcott is nothing if not philosophical. “I’d rather have it totally positive or totally negative— nothing in between. ’Cause at least then they’ve thought about you. They remember your name long enough to write it on a toilet wall somewhere.

“We had some gross press last year,” he continues, “like someone wrote ‘Listening to the album is as pleasurable as having your frontal lobe removed with a blunt breadknife.’”

Pardon my ignorance, guys, but in the wacky world of heavy metal scholarship, isn’t a quote like that considered a compliment?

“Yeah, I think that’s great. Playboy gave us two words: ’Must Avoid. ’ And then there was ‘I took this alburn home and played it and my dog died of a brain hemorrhage and severe internal bleeding.’ I think that’s great—whoever wrote that, thank you.”

Grim Reaper were cult figures for years in native England before their recent rise to the top of the international slagheap. Their demo tapes would show up in the metal charts of the weekly music press

long before they had a record out, and after winning studio time in a few battleof-the-bands contests they were able to cut the tapes that got them signed to Ebony Records. Ebony released See You In Hell, and an American deal and tour soon followed.

“We did some gigs with Exciter, and we finished the tour off at the Country Club in L.A. on Halloween night. That was quite a memorable gig, purely because everyone went sort of nuts and they all came in these really bizarre costumes...

“Especially those two...” Grimmett interjects with a grin.

Bowcott looks uncomfortable at the recollection.

“Hmm.Jt was quite weird, actually.”

“One was dressed as God,” the vocalist adds with a laugh, prodding him on, “and one was dressed as the devil!”

“He was dressed as Jesus, actually, and he introduced us, and they had this devil throw him off the stage.”

“He was dressed in white, and he had the beard, the long hair, and everything...”

“...the crown of thorns, and they put ketchup on his hands and feet...” Bowcott pauses for a second, before adding sheepishly, “It was pretty sick, actually, but it was quite funny, and Halloween’s a fun night anyway.”

So level with me, guys—why is it that nearly every new metal band acts as if they had to trade in their souls for their Marshall stacks?

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“This may sound stupid,” Bowcott answers after a moment’s thought, “but I’ve grown to accept the fact that Heavy Metal is a gloomy sort of music. It’s got a lot of power, and it’s quite ominous.

“We’re the musical equivalent of the Hammer House of Horror films—we are no more satanic than, say, Vincent Price

is, or Christopher Lee. I must admit I’ve been...almost upset by things written by people trying to read as if we are sort of the devil incarnate, and were trying to sort of encourage people to devil worship. But it’s just music, and hopefully people buy our records purely and simply because they like the sounds and not because they want to read some weird and wonderful thing into it and play it backwards and all that stuff.”

So what is the fascination with the imagery, then?

“Up until we came to America I never even thought about people reading devil worship into our music,” he protests. “It’s certainly not intended that way.”

“Vincent Price doesn’t have the trouble we have,” Grimmett adds, “It’s not meant to be satanic in any way.”

“It’s like when we were in England— solely in England—we had no problems at all. ‘See you In Hell’ we wrote as an anthem, something the kids could sing along to, and that’s how it worked. But it’s been blown up that we are devil worshipers and that every song we do’s got something to do with satanic rites and stuff, but that’s not the case at all.”

“(Nervously) I HATE anything to do with

it, to be quite honest, because it frightens me. If I watch a horror movie, it frightens me—good ones, I’ll put it that way. So I wouldn’t touch it, because it scares me.”

“He’s basically telling you he’s a wimp,” the guitarist cuts in.

“That’s what it boils down to,” is the singer’s timid reply.

“This may be going off the point a bit,” Bowcott says, “but I think it’s important that a band name lends itself to— especially when the people in the band are ugly—some sort of theme that can be carried through. And in the case of Grim Reaper, right away it’s a guy with a scythe. I think it’s a great image!”

Sort of like Iron Maiden’s mascot, Eddie?

“Exactly!” When Bowcott informs me that the Reaper they constructed for their truly amazing video was nicknamed “Freddie,” I’m barely able to keep from choking on my beer. What hath Spinal Tap wrought?

“I like the idea that it’s something to cover up an ugly band,” he continues, “and we are like kind of ugly. We’re not an image band in terms of being cute.”

“Ugly Rock!” Grimmett cries.

The portly singer may be on to something here. In addition to being, er, uncute, Grim Reaper can be said to be unmelodic, unoriginal, and especially unnecessary, given that they are an undisguised pastiche of sub-Van Halen guitar meanderings and sub-Dio “why won’t Satan let me get girls” yowling. Playing it a little close to the book, fellows?

“I haven’t got tunnel vision,” Bowcott states. “I even listen to people like Go West—I’m not ashamed to say that I like that band. I’d say that’s the best album I’ve bought this year, so far. I don’t just look to metal for my influences. I think it would be wrong to do that.”

“I think what people tend to forget is that the overall playing standard in HM is very, very high. A lot of people who aren’t into metal as such tend to belittle it—almost ridicule it—by saying, ‘they’re a bunch of long-haired fools who only know three chords, they just crank their amps up to ten (!!?) and play bullshit songs...”’

“Whereas if you analyze it and you read readers polls, the people who consistently win are predominantly HM. Maybe I haven’t been looking far enough, but I can’t think of a major instrumentalist from a pop band.”

But that’s all technique, guys. For all it’s badass posturing and life-on-the-edge machismo, however, metal is easily the most staid and conservative popular music going. Will Grim Reaper be churning out the same stuff ten years from now, or are there changes in the works?

“Nothing radical,” Bowcott predicts. “I’m not saying we’re playing it safe or anything, but HM does have a definite formula, which is part of the appeal.

“Hopefully in five years time, the band will still be together. Hopefully we’ll be selling records. I’d love to see us have the longevity of someone like Judas Priest. And hopefully our fourth album won’t sound like the first one—like we speeded the riffs up a bit and turned them around backwards and put different words to them. I hope we can evolve musically and evolve that magical fifth chord.”

I don’t know how to tell you this, but it’s been there all along. It’s just a question of using it.

Hey, you wanna hear something really strange? I played some Grim Reaper at home, and my dog got zits. Weird, huh?