LOCKUP To Play UK Shows, Record New Material

LOCKUP, featuring NAPALM DEATH bassist Shane Embury, NAPALM DEATH guitarist Jesse Pintado, former AT THE GATES/THE CROWN frontman Tomas Lindberg, and DIMMU BORGIR drummer Nick Barker, are tentatively scheduled to perform a one-off show in London in October. Plans also exist for the group to play a couple of shows in Ireland and a Scottish show prior to the London gig. More information will be available soon.

In other news, LOCKUP hope to hit the studio in the next month or so to record several new tracks to be included on the band's upcoming Japanese live CD. A couple of as-yet-undisclosed covers will likely be tracked during the sessions as well.

In a recent interview posted at Wicked World, Embury commented on the similarities between LOCKUP and NAPALM DEATH and LOCKUP's plans for the next studio album, which is not expected to surface before ate 2003 at the earliest. The following quotes are taken from that interview:

Q: How do you justify the need for LOCKUP when you're already active IN NAPALM DEATH? The two could be considered similar styles.

Shane: Well, I don't like having to justify anything, really. I do what I want, and if people like it, cool. If not, whatever. I'll live. But the way we put the band together was really to have a little release from stuff we do in our other bands... Sure, there is a similarity musically, but in some ways it's also pushing me harder, and in turn is making me demand more from NAPALM now, musically, so it's a great devil's advocate. Lyrically, it's a lot more removed from NAPALM as well as I am personally not too much into the political side of things. Lyrically, I like to go more personal and deep, as I think people can maybe relate more and also I don't like to write about subjects that I have little knowledge about, In some ways, LOCKUP is our alter-ego. It's a band where our personalities fit more comfortably and we can be who we want as we all share the same vision — more or less, anyway."

Q: LOCKUP is often seen as a continuation of [LOCKUP/NAPALM DEATH guitarist Jesse Pintado's old band] TERRORIZER, yet it's you, not Jesse, that writes most of the material. If it's not TERRORIZER reborn then what is the philosophy behind the band?

Shane: Well, to me, it wasn't a case of trying to reinvent the TERRORIZER thing or whatever. Perhaps people got the wrong idea. I dont know… It may have came from some of our interviews though. Jess has a distinct style, but musically — especially the stuff I do — it isn't the same. What is similar, though, is the way we record the albums, as we don't like to fuck about, We want to capture the energy that some of the earlier grind albums had, and I think that comes from one takes in the studio and stuff like that. Personalities in the band are usually hyped to the max in the studio, and that helps to get what we want. I have always said that LOCKUP consists of the worst of the worse regarding its band members — we are very intense people and LOCKUP is the end result. Our philosophy is: everything to the max!!"

Q: LOCKUP seems to regenerate the basics of NAPALM DEATH — speed, blasts, chops but is more retro based would you say, whereas NAPALM is always trying to push the envelope perhaps?

Shane: As regards to the first two [LOCKUP] albums, yes, it's more retro, but I think with the next album, we are gonna push the envelope a bit — the emphasis to be faster than the previous albums will still be there, but we have been working more as a band recently, and that is helping us with some ideas, so the new songs, I hope, will have a different feel —weirder, more sinister riffs, as well as the [band] is becoming more and more serious."