Brute Force

Photo by Nick Mangan

are a band of grind enthusiasts from Melbourne who are into giving themselves elaborate names. There’s Grind Fed Bathory Hen on vocals, Extraordinary G on guitar, I Quit on drums and Vegan Straight Edge on bass. They’re not like your average, judgemental grind/crust/hardcore band. These guys want everyone to have a fucking good time and throw down in the name of grind, regardless of whether they’re a straight edge sociology major or a beer guzzling loser at the show solely to get laid. Their recent gig at Bar Open erupted into one of the most brutal, celebratory, insane, agro party pits I’ve seen in a long time. There was a twenty dude deep stacks-on which culminated in one dude gleefully smashing a pint glass into his own face. I invited a couple of them around for a beer to see if they were actually nice guys. Vice: Thanks for coming along. What does 731 mean? GFBH: It’s actually the number of a Japanese military unit that tested biological and chemical weapons on humans. They tortured Koreans and Chinese and cut off limbs to see how long they would last. Extraordinary G brought it up one night and said, “What do you think of that?” and I was like, “That’s fucking brutal man”. Right and you’re calling your next album Raw Grind Violence? GFBH: It’s all about brutally violent concepts. I Q: Violence isn’t cool. Violence has no general purpose. GFBH: Someone called us power grind. That’s probably better to describe us. How did the band come together? GFBH: I was working in this chicken shop and I Quit was a regular customer. One day he just asked me if I’d start a band with him. He kept hassling me. One day he gave me a DVD of his other band, Odious Embowel, and I was blown away. Then, Vegan Straight Edge, who is the angriest dude in the world, heard about it and told us he had a bass and wanted to be in the band. It’s good because he plays it well and is as angry as shit. Is he the only member of the band that is actually angry? I Q: I get angry when I have to go to work. So what is grind all about? GFBH: Just letting rip. I Q: It doesn’t matter what music it is: jazz, techno, metal, fucking canned heat, as long as you let rip. What satisfaction is there in playing to a bunch of people that want to physically attack you? GFBH: We don’t care at all. My favourite is the growl howl. This is when you finish a song and if dudes are really excited, they just throw their head back and go “eeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!” Fuck, it’s the best compliment. What is the essential aim of a grind band? GFBH: There are all these sub genres like power grind, gore grind and it’s all different. For us it’s about big riffs, party times and brutality. MICHAEL BRAY
731’s Raw Grind Violence-Live On PBS 106.7 is available for $5AUS postage paid anywhere in Australia or $5US anywhere in the world by emailing grind731@hotmail.com. myspace.com/731grind