Justin K. Broadrick

Justin K. Broadrick 2009

Justin K. Broadrick (born August 15, 1969 in Birmingham ) is a British musician.

In his youth Broadrick was part of the grindcore band Napalm Death , he is one of the co-founders of the industrial metal pioneers Godflesh and has been active with his project Jesu since 2003 . He made remix versions for various bands and worked as a producer of various albums. In addition, Broadrick was the founder and operator of various music labels.

Life

After experimenting with spherical and for the time unconventional sound structures under the name Final as a teenager , after meeting Nicholas Bullen in 1985 he turned increasingly to punk and eventually became guitarist in Bullen's band Napalm Death . The group quickly attracted attention because of their uncompromisingly hard and radical sound and with their combination of grunting vocals as well as punk and metal influences are among the founders of grindcore .

During some of the appearances that the band performed with Head of David , Broadrick's enthusiasm for the sluggish and, from him, more complex sound of Head of David grew . Shortly afterwards he left Napalm Death to become a drummer with Head of David .

After he was not satisfied with the musical development within this band after a short time, he separated from the group in 1988.

Since he had already had contacts in 1986 with the Fall of Because formation of GC “Ben” Green and Paul Neville , Broadrick contacted GC Green again after leaving Head of David and finally founded Godflesh together with them . Broadrick again took on the role of guitarist. The duo decided not to take on any other musicians for the time being, so that the part of the drummer - still quite unusual for the time - was taken over by a drum computer , which Broadrick programmed himself based on his experience as a drummer. Even if Godflesh later used real drummers live and on some albums, the recurring use of a drum computer should be a trademark of the band.

The Godflesh project lasted from 1988 to 2002. During this time, the duo worked with various musicians in changing line-up, most of whom had known both of them for years.

From 1991 to 1992 Broadrick was guitarist with Scorn and played with them the album Vae Solis .

GC Green decided in October 2001 to end his music career and to leave Godflesh. Broadrick initially continued the joint project. When a new US tour of the band was imminent, however, Broadrick realized that Godflesh was no longer Godflesh without the long-time bandmate and he finally dissolved the project on April 10, 2002. This realization and the associated pressure led to a mental breakdown of Broadrick. In addition, he was burdened with financial demands due to the cancellation of the US tour, as well as the separation from his long-term partner.

In 2004, Broadrick released two songs that had already been conceived and recorded in 2001 under his new band name, Jesu . An album that was recorded with long-term companions from other projects was released at the end of 2004. Since then, Jesu has been Broadricks ' core musical project. On the side, Broadrick continues to publish experimental electronic music as part of his oldest project, Final .

In addition to his main activities in the field of industrial metal with Godflesh, Broadrick has in the past also produced techno and rap albums as well as remixes for other artists, released them under various project names and even operated his own labels at times. His most famous projects include his collaboration with Kevin Martin under the name Techno Animal , including the album The Curse of the Golden Vampire , released as part of this project with Alec Empire .

Others

According to some interviews, Broadrick's music is mostly influenced by the consumption of THC- containing intoxicants such as marijuana or hashish .

Web links

• Justin Broadrick at MusicBrainz (English)