Godflesh Encyclopedia

Throughout this document, I will refer to Justin Broadrick often, as he is the main member of Godflesh and the source of many side projects and related projects. All other items/names will be linked but not always Justin, as there's really no need.

16-17

Formed in 1983, this band featured Alex Buess (Ice, The Bug) on saxophone and Damian Bennett (Carthage, Deathless, guest appearance with Techno Animal) on bass.

Links:
  16-17 Discography

Avalanche is the name of the studio in which most Godflesh records were recorded. This 'studio' was essentially Justin's basement in England.

Avalanche Master Song appeared on the band's first recording, a title possibly influenced by the titles of several Leonard Cohen songs. This is likely where Justin got the name.

Based on the name of the band's studio and track from their first EP, the band's website and record label carried the name AvalancheInc.

A long rumored release, the Black EP was a set of 4 songs recorded after the band's first EP but prior to Streetcleaner. Earache had just signed Godflesh to a record deal and wanted a full length record first. These 4 songs were later appended to the CD release of Streetcleaner.

-Also see Tiny Tears

Founder of Napalm Death, Nik met Justin in England in 1985. Mick Harris joined on drums shortly after and this is the lineup for the legendary Scum recordings (well half of it at least). Both Nik and Justin left the band by the time that record came out in 1986. Bullen rejoined Harris in 1992 for the first Scorn record, which also featured Justin as a guest. Bullen remained in Scorn for several years before leaving. Little more is known.

See Brian Mantia

The main source behind this site and this document. Born in Birmingham England in 1969, Justin got into music at a very early age. His first project, Final may have been started by the time he was 13. He joined Fall of Because and Napalm Death in 1983, Head of David in 1986 and formed Godflesh in 1988. While he plays guitar with Godflesh, he began in FoB and HoD on drums.

Alongside Kevin Martin, he produced and later joined God and Techno Animal in 1990. Other projects with Martin include Ice in 1993, The Sidewinder in 1996 and Zonal in 2000.

Without Martin, Justin had a fair share of other projects, Sweet Tooth (1990), Youpho (1996) and Saskwatch (1999) as well as solo projects Solaris BC (1996), Krackhead (1998), Cylon (2000) and Tech Level 2 (2000), among numerous other guest appearances, remixes, production credits etc.

Kevin Martin's main solo project when he's not working w/ Justin on their numerous bands. Dave Cochrane assisted on one of their releases.

Links
   The Bug Discography

Project by Paul Neville, who appeared on several Godflesh records. This also features Steve Hough who toured w/ Godflesh in 2000 as well as Dermot Dalton (also toured w/ Godflesh as well as writing credits on several Final records).

Links
   Cable Regime Discography

The locale featured on the covers of both Songs of Love and Hate and Love and Hate in Dub.

Little is known of this percussionist of God and Ice. He was involved in several other projects as well, including Slab, Eardrum, Laika, Mass and Spleen.

Very little known project of Justin's with John Roome of Witchman. It is unknown whether anything was ever released by the duo.

Dave Cochrane (bass) appeared alongside Justin in several different projects, spanning many years. He first played with Justin in Head of David in the 80s and they both left the band around the same time. In the early 90s with Scott Kiehl, Cochrane and Broadrick founded Sweet Tooth. In the mid 90's, they partnered up in God and Ice, both featuring Kevin Martin. Cochrane teamed up with Martin again in 2000 on his The Bug project.

Links
   Head of David Discography
   God Discography
   Ice Discography
   Sweet Tooth Discography
   The Bug Discography

Not directly related to Godflesh, Leonard Cohen has released music for over 30 years. His 3rd record Songs of Love and Hate shares the same name as Godflesh's 4th LP and also contains a song entitled Avalanche, the name of Justin's studio and record label. Cohen's first LP has a track Master Song while Godflesh has a song on their first record, Avalanche Master Song. Finally, the lyrics to the Godflesh track Mothra is straight out of one of Cohen's songs.

Alec Empire and Techno Animal collaboration from 1998. A working title for this was We're Great, the Machines are Shit.

Another release is set for the near future.

Links:
  Curse of the Golden Vampire Discography

A D&B side project of Justin's founded in the late 90s. The only released material can be found on a compilation released on Manifold Records.

Links:
  Cylon Discography

Recorded a split 12" with Techno Animal in which each band performed one song of their own and remixed the other band's respective track.

Links:
  Megaton/Classic Homicide entry
  Techno Animal Discography

Bassist for Cable Regime alongside bandmembers Paul Neville and Steve Hough, all of which played with Godflesh at one point in time. Hough and Dalton played with Godflesh for their European tour in 1999. He now performs with Justin in Jesu

Dalton also assisted in several Final and Solaris BC recordings as well as being part of the unreleased Saskwatch recordings w/ Justin and Hough. Additionally, Dalton recorded some material with Hough under the moniker Line. No releases are known from this project however.

Links:
  Cable Regime Discography
  Jesu Discography
  Line Discography (no known releases)
  Saskwatch Discography

A project featuring Damian Bennett (appeared as a guest on Techno Animal's Re-Entry record). Justin has production credits on several Deathless releases as well as doing a remix on their Inextasis/Antilectual release.

Earache signed the young Godflesh to a multi-record deal in 1989 after hearing the band's first eponymous EP from 1988. The band stayed with the label until 2000 when they split.

Links:
  Earache's Website

A series of compilations put out by Mille Plateaux. There were 5 of these multi disc/record releases, each featuring Techno Animal.

Links:
   Techno Animal Compilations

Well known for his solo work and his work with Atari Teenage Riot, The Curse of the Golden Vampire was a collaboration between Alec Empire and Techno Animal.

A 12" released by Justin and Kevin Martin with no band title. This is considered a Techno Animal release, but with this duo having as many projects as they do, it really doesn't matter. It isn't a separate project, and no further releases will come to be.

See Also
    Techno Animal Discography

A project formed around 1983 with Ben Green, Paul Neville and Justin Broadrick. Playing numerous shows across the UK, this project dwindled as Justin joined Napalm Death and later Head of David.

When Justin left HoD, he rejoined with Ben Green (and later Paul Neville) from FoB to form Godflesh.

FoB released a demo in 1986 called Extirpate but no full length was to see the light of day until the late 90s. Originally scheduled for release on Justin's hEADdIRT label, the LP went through delay after delay, jumping from label to label before finally being released in 1999 through Alleysweeper (a subsidiary of Invisible). The studio material on the LP was recorded in Birmingham in 1986 as well as several live tracks from 1986/87, some of which features Nik Bullen and Mick Harris (both of Napalm Death and Scorn among other projects). Several tracks were the basis of future Godflesh songs, including Life is Easy, Devastator and Merciless. Finally, a segment from a live portion of the LP was used as the 3 minute intro to Love, Hate (Slugbaiting) off of Pure.

Links
    Fall of Because Discography

This was likely Justin's first project. Started when Justin was very young (probably as young as 13), this began as a noise project, lots of feedback and screaming. Several cassettes were 'released' through Justin's Postmortem label around 1985.

As Justin became involved in his other bands, this project seemed to die out. In 1993, the first CD was issued, entitled One, which featured material ranging from 1985 to 1993. After that, Final released a number of CDs, 7"s, and compilation tracks before quieting in the late 90s. Both Ben Green and Dermot Dalton assisted in some recordings. A new release is scheduled for the near future.

Links
    Final Discography

God was a project created by Kevin Martin in the late 80s. Initially, they played live in the UK, much like the projects of Justin. Justin had met Martin by this time and he was responsible for producing the band's first 2 records, Breach Birth and Loco, the latter being a live record. By this time, Justin had joined the band on guitars, replacing Shaun Rogan.

As the years went on, the cast grew, and by the time they decided to disband, there was upwards of 10 members.

Links
    God Discography

Benny George Christian Green was a long time friend and bandmate of Justin's. They first met around 1983 when they got together in the band Fall of Because (along with Paul Neville). They became friends rather quickly and eventually formed Godflesh in 1988, after Justin had experimented with several other bands. Ben was responsible for many of the images found on early Godflesh records, even though a number of them were simply pictures taken of the television. His driving bass sound was easily recognizable and considered to be an integral part to the Godflesh sound.

In 1997 Ben recorded his first side project, Vitriol, a recording that wasn't released until 2001 through Neurot Recordings.

In mid 2001 Ben left Godflesh, after a 13 year tenure. He desired to go back to school and sadly is reportedly no longer involved in music. His permanent replacement was Raven of Prong.

Links:
    Vitriol Discography

Robert Hampson played in a band called Loop in the late 80s, a band that was always difficult to categorize. They had several releases and toured through Europe with Godflesh. In 1991 they released the split 7" Loopflesh covering Like Rats while Godflesh performed their song Straight to Your Heart.

When Loop disbanded in 1991, Robert mentioned that the only band he'd be interested in playing with was Godflesh. Later that year he joined, as Paul Neville had left to pursue his other interests. Hampson played with the band for only a short while, appearing on several cuts from Pure and Cold World, before departing to concentrate on his newly formed project Main alongside ex-Loop member, Scott Dawson.

Dawson left in the late 90s, but Robert continued putting out excellent ambient/minimalistic recordings under the Main moniker before moving on to form Chasm as well as participating in numerous side projects.

Links:
   Chasm Discography
   Loop Discography
   Main Discography

Joined Justin and Nik Bullen in Napalm Death in 1983. While both Bullen and Justin left by 1986, Mick stayed with them until 1991, releasing several other records and becoming famous for his sheer speed.

In 1992, Harris began Scorn, where he has found much success. Justin was a guest on their debut LP Vae Solis and Nik Bullen was part of the band for several years before departing.

For anyone impressed by the number of projects that Justin has been a part of, it might come as a surprise that Harris has been part of many more. Harris has been involved in scores of collaborations, compilations, record labels. Keeping track of all this is far beyond the scope of this site, so please check the links below for more details.

Links:
  

Head of David released 2 albums prior to Justin's arrival in 1986. At that point, Justin had been playing for both Napalm Death as well as Fall of Because. At a split concert of those two bands, HoD asked him to join. He left ND about two weeks after joining the band but still continued to drum for FoB.

Justin played drums for them for about 2 1/2 years before leaving to form Godflesh. At this time Dave Cochrane left as well. He appeared on only one album during that time. A remix album and a Peel Session album came out after his departure, both still featuring him on drums. The band continued on to record 1 more record, and then split up.

Links:
  Head of David Discography

Little is known about this small label that shares a Godflesh song name. It was part of the PDCD label and only saw 2 official releases, one by Justin's side project Sweet Tooth, the other by Skullflower.

Guitarist for Cable Regime, Hough shares a very similar bio to Dermot Dalton. Both were members of Cable Regime alongside Paul Neville. Both performed with Godflesh during their 1999 tour of Europe. Additionally, both worked on a project called Line as well as Saskwatch with Justin.

Links:
  Cable Regime Discography
  Line Discography (no known releases)
  Saskwatch Discography

Ice was reportedly built out of the members of God, seeing as how the latter contained up to 10 members at once. With so many people, how can one make any money? Regardless of the reasoning behind the formation, Ice is named after the drug, a very potent drug.

The members are mainly the same as the core of God, with Justin, Kevin Martin and Dave Cochrane. John Jobaggy played drums for their first release Under the Skin and Lou Ciccotelli taking over for their later releases.

Their first LP Under the Skin was somewhat similar to God and the first Techno Animal record, Ghosts After taking several years off, the project resurfaced with a completely different approach in 1998 on their Bad Blood record, the first Justin project to include actual rappers and MCs. This was to be the last Ice LP, and after several singles, the project seemed to die.

Techno Animal did pick up where this left off in a sense, with three releases from 2001; Dead Man's Curse, a split record with Dälek and ultimately the LP Brotherhood of the Bomb.

Links:
    Ice Discography

Justin K. Broadrick's alter ego for many side project releases.

The name comes from the final song on the final Godflesh record, a fitting title for Justin's next foray into rock music.

While virtually every side project was electronic-based, Jesu is guitar-based. In 2003 Justin began writing material for this project by himself. The initial tracks that would appear on the Heartache EP were performed solely by himself and reflect much of the time period of his life.

By the end of 2003 however, a full band was put together, featuring Dermot Dalton on bass and Ted Parsons on drums. Both members played in Godflesh at one point or another.

Links:
    Jesu Discography

Kevin Martin's alter ego for many side project releases.

Apparently this is Justin's music whilst under the influence of crack. Very high bpm D&B essentially. Though a number of records were scheduled for release, nothing other than a pair of compilation tracks were issued. As with many older projects, if the material wasn't released when it was new and fresh, the likelihood of it ever getting issued is minimal.

Links:
    Krackhead Discography

A project of Dermot Dalton and Steve Hough (both performed live with Godflesh as well as several other side/related projects). No releases are known, however one track did appear on the Lo Fibre Companion.

Links:
    Line Discography

A 12" only label run by Justin in the late 90's. Only 4 records were ever released, 3 being Justin's own side projects.

Invisible Records put out a double CD set in 199? titled the Lo Fibre Companion and this featured several tracks from these 4 releases. It also contained several cuts that were scheduled for release on the label, including Final, Saskwatch, and ....

A unique trance rock back out of the UK in the late 80's, this featured Robert Hampson who later joined Godflesh as well as creating Main (along w/ ex-Loop member Scott Dawson). It is rumored that one time bassist Bex was married to Robert Hampson.

Loop and Godflesh released a rare split 7" in 1991 called Loopflesh where each band covered the other's song. Shortly after the 1990 European tour and split record, Loop disbanded with several members going to The Hair & Skin Trading Company.

Links:
  Loop Discography
  Loop Discography (off-site, excellent!)

The Clawfist Singles Series released split 7" records monthly for subscribers. Each 7" featured bands covering each others songs. In April of 1991 Godflesh and Loop put forth the legendary Loopflesh or Fleshloop split. Limited to 1400 (as were all these singles), Godflesh performed a cover of Straight To Your Heart and Loop recorded Like Rats. These tracks can be found on no other recordings.

Formed by Robert Hampson and Scott Dawson, both ex-members of Loop. Robert joined Godflesh after Loop's demise but his stay was short. During the Pure sessions, Robert recorded a pair of 12" releases through Beggar's Banquet. These 12"s were limited, but came out as a CD package later on as Hydra-Calm. By the time this was released, Robert had left the band to concentrate on Main full time.

Several years later, Dawson left Main but Hampson continued the project until the late 90s. Ben Green appeared on their 1994 record, Motion Pool.

Links:
  Main Discography
  Main Homepage

A label featuring a number of obscure artists, ranging from noise to ambience. Final released several items on this label. One compilation, Economi$ed featured a Cylon track.

Links:
    Manifold Records

A studio drummer, Brain was asked to play drums on the Songs of Love and Hate record in 1996. This marked the first time live drums were incorporated into a Godflesh record, though drum machines were also used. Brain has appeared on a number of other recording and has been a member of Guns N' Roses and Primus in the last several years.

Long time friend and partner with Justin and their numerous side projects. Kevin formed the Pathological label in the early 90s and formed God as early as 1987. Justin met Kevin shortly after and eventually joined that project. Alongside Justin, Kevin formed Techno Animal in 1990, Ice in 1993, The Sidewinder in 1996 and Zonal in 2000. Martin also has his own project The Bug

Links:
   God Discography
   Ice Discography
   Techno Animal Discography
   The Bug Discography
   The Sidewinder Discography
   Zonal Discography

Nik Bullen created Napalm Death in 1982 and Justin joined in May of 1985. Later that year, Mick Harris joined the ranks and completed the cast for their first major recording. After several years of playing gigs in the UK, they recorded the sessions that would become the first half of Scum. Justin and Nik both left the band before that record was released. Mick Harris stuck around through several LPs until 1991 when he quit the band.

In 1990, Justin joined the band onstage for a rare recording of Avalanche Master Song. This was released as a live 7".

Links:
   Twisting the Knife (Excellent page)

An original member of Fall of Because alongside Ben Green and Justin Broadrick. Later rejoined the duo for Streetcleaner and Slavestate. Neville also founded Cable Regime with Dermot Dalton and Steve Hough. Justin produced several of their records.

Links:
  Cable Regime Discography
  Fall of Because Discography

A supergroup project featuring Bill Laswell, John Zorn and Mick Harris. Justin and Ben Green appeared as guests on 2 tracks on 1992's Buried Secrets record.

Ted Parsons was a member of Swans and Of Cabbages and Kings in the 80s as well as appearing on every Prong record. Ted joined Godflesh for their 1996 US tour, but did not appear on a record until Hymns from 2001. Also in 2001, Ted's prior bandmate from Prong, Raven joined Godflesh upon the departure of Ben Green.

He now also plays in Teledubgnosis and alongside Justin in Jesu.

Links:
  Jesu Discography
  Of Cabbages and Kings Discography
  Prong Discography
  Swans Discography (incomplete)
  Teledubgnosis Discography

A compilation put out by Kevin Martin in 1990. This is when the friendship between Kevin and Justin had begun and Godflesh released 2 songs on this record. These 2 classic tracks (My Own Light and Love is a Dog from Hell) could not be found on any other official release.

This compilation also features several other related bands, Terminal Cheesecake, God among others.

Pure Dope Can't Damage. A label from the early 90s which released several hEADdIRT recordings. hEADdIRT was a label Justin was involved in.

John Peel conducts a regular radio show in the UK which features bands playing live. Virtually every major UK band has performed on his show at least once. These are often called Peel Sessions, and Godflesh performed live in 1989. 2 of these tracks were released on the In All Languages anthology from 2001, but the band played 4 songs. The last track, Pulp featured Kevin Martin on saxophone.

Remixed a track off of Techno Animal Vs. Reality as well as doing a split record with TA under the title Symbiotics.

Links:
  Symbiotics entry
  Techno Animal Discography

Also see Uprising Productions

Justin created a small noise label in 1985 (at the age of 16), featuring a number of bands from his local Birmingham. The main project was Final and all recordings were released on cassette only. This label was originally called Post Mortem Productions, but for a short while, changed to Uprising Productions before being changed back to Post Mortem.

Links:
    Record Labels
    Interview w/ Justin - 1985

A rock band from the late 80s/early 90s. This featured Ted Parsons and Raven, both current members of Godflesh.

Links:
    Prong Discography

Originally the bassist of Prong, Raven joined Godflesh in 2001 after Ben Green left the band. Raven's bandmate from Prong joined Godflesh 5 years prior.

One of the founders of God, Shaun played guitar prior to Justin joining the band. He appeared on the first 2 records only I believe.

A short lived project composed of Justin, Dermot Dalton and Steve Hough (both of Cable Regime). One track was released on the Lo Fibre Companion, suggesting that a release was scheduled on the label. This was the only track to be come out however, and Justin stated that the remaining 50 minutes (roughly an hours worth of material was recorded) would never see a full release.

The main project of Mick Harris, who played with Justin in Napalm Death. The band's first release, Vae Solis is substantially different from it's later material, but featured Nik Bullen and Justin, the classic Napalm Death lineup. Justin was just a guest musician on that recording, and later, Bullen left.

After several 'retirements', Scorn continues to release material.

Links:
  Scorn Discography

A short lived project with Paul Neville and Dave Cochrane from 1992. A demo was recorded, but never released. Credits are given to this project on Ice's 1998 record Bad Blood but no other releases are known.

A side project featuring Justin and Kevin Martin. Essentially a side project of Techno Animal, this was a short lived project that released one LP and one EP as well as several compilation tracks.

White Viper was a side project of The Sidewinder, based on a track White Viper Sound System.

Links:
  Sidewinder Discography

The name of a split CD featuring Justin and Andy Hawkins of Blind Idiot God. Justin's tracks were solely guitars (named Guitar 1 through Guitar 4). This CD came in a green jewel case, and may be out of print.

A noise project from the late 80s which featured Russell Smith (once of God.

Links:
    Skullflower Discography

A short lived band from the late 80s which featured Scott Kiehl (God, Sweet Tooth) on drums. Kiehl left in 1989 and his replacement was Lou Ciccotelli (God, Ice, Eardrum, Laika, Spleen).

Links:
    Slab! Discography

See Solaris BC

Originally titled Solaris, this was a side project of Justin's with releases on his Lo Fibre label. All were under the title Solaris but Justin later changed the name to add the suffix BC due to the large number of bands sharing the same name.

This project merged with Final and while there are several recordings that were pending release, it's unlikely that these will ever come out.

Links:
    Solaris BC Discography

A band from the 80s/90s which influence Justin much in his early years. Ted Parsons played with them for several records.

Links:
  Swans Discography (incomplete)

A side project of Justin's in the late 80s/early 90s. This was a short lived band, that is unlike most of Justin's other projects. It was a rock based band, featuring Dave Cochrane (God, Ice, Head of David) on bass and Scott Kiehl (Terminal Cheesecake) on drums.

Their first and only LP came out on a subsidiary of Earache Records in 1989 with a live record to follow on Justin's hEADdIRT label. The project seemed to dwindle after that, and no other releases are known.

Links:
  Sweet Tooth Discography

A D&B side project of Justin's releasing vinyl-only recordings. Several 12"s were issued since 1999 and besides Techno Animal, this seems to be the only truly active project of his. TL2 played several dates on Techno Animal's European tour in 2001.

Links:
  Tech Level 2 Discography

Short for Technological Animal, this is the most successful side project of Justin's. TA also features Kevin Martin as well as a number of guest musicians and rappers (on later recordings). Started in 1990, the band's initial release Ghosts is very different from all later material. 1995's Re-Entry came out on Virgin and is often considered the band's best work. Since 1995, this project has put forth a flurry of collaborations (see Porter Ricks & Alec Empire), limited 12"s, remixes and compilation tracks.

Links:
   Techno Animal Discography
   Official Techno Animal Site

A band from the late 80s/90s whose music was rather psychedelic with numerous drug references. Terminal Cheesecake featured Russell Smith (God, Skullflower) on Bass (?). They released a split 7" with God through the same singles series as Loopflesh.

Links:
  Terminal Cheesecake Discography

After the release of the Godflesh EP, the band recorded 4 tracks to be released as an EP under the title Tiny Tears. Shortly after, Earache signed the band and requested a full LP to be recorded and released. The Tiny Tears EP was later appended to the CD release of Streetcleaner.

As this was never released, rumors arose of it's existence. It was sometimes referred to as the Black EP.

Also see Post Mortem Productions

Justin created a small noise label in 1985 (at the age of 16), featuring a number of bands from his local Birmingham. The main project was Final and all recordings were released on cassette only. This label was originally called Post Mortem Productions, but for a short while, changed to Uprising before being changed back to Post Mortem Productions.

Links:
    Record Labels
    Interview w/ Justin - 1985

A side project of The Sidewinder, featuring both Justin and Kevin Martin. This was based on a track White Viper Sound System. Only one compilation track and one 12" was issued by this project. There will be no future releases.

A Techno Animal side project with Justin and Kevin Martin. Only 1 record has been released, through Avalanche Recordings in 2000. This has been discontinued, and a new version may be issued in the future.

Links:
   Zonal Discography