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Baker's Dozen

Life In Death: Shane Embury's Baker's Dozen
Kez Whelan , September 20th, 2023 08:05

Napalm Death stalwart Shane Embury takes Kez Whelan through his thirteen favourite records, from his friendships with Repulsion and Cardiacs to his early years shaped by Venom and AC/DC

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My Bloody Valentine – Loveless

I read about My Bloody Valentine in NME or something like that. Then you see the record in a record store and you go ‘Right, well I’m gonna go for it.’. I loved how it seemed like it was slowing down and speeding up, and I just marvelled at that – especially in the partying days, when you’re a bit younger! That definitely embeds itself, that ‘How is this making me feel?’ and ‘How can I translate what they’re doing into what I want to make?’ And of course, they were insanely loud, which I thought was a contrast with how delicate they sometimes sounded, especially when the female singer came in.

In the early 90s, they were on my turntable all the time really, it pretty much soaked into my DNA. When we put songs together with Napalm, and I’m showing an idea to the other guys, I’ll say ‘Well, this bit here is the My Bloody Valentine part’, and you listen back and you go, ‘Well, it’s not really’, but you can see – or I can see – where it came from.