by Niklas Göransson

In the late 1980s, Nuclear Assault was riding the thrash wave across Europe. Meanwhile, Danny Lilker found himself increasingly enthralled by the emerging grindcore scene, culminating in the birth of Brutal Truth.

 

DANNY LILKER: In 1988, we signed with I.R.S. for the second NUCLEAR ASSAULT album, “Survive”. They had no idea what the fuck to do with a thrash band – but having witnessed the rise of the ‘Big Four’ and so on, they decided to acquire one just to stick their fingers in the thrash pie.

I.R.S. Records released NUCLEAR ASSAULT’s “Survive” in June 1988. By then, the Big Four of thrash metal – METALLICA, SLAYER, MEGADETH, and Danny’s former band, ANTHRAX – had firmly established themselves as the genre’s leaders.

Come December that same year, NUCLEAR ASSAULT teamed up with MANOWAR for a string of New England shows under the name Thrash Bash. WARGASM and MELIAH RAGE joined a few of the dates.

DANNY: I remember we played at a big expo centre in Boston, right off Interstate 93; the venue was fucking huge and nowhere near full. MANOWAR followed NUCLEAR ASSAULT – but after our set, about two-thirds of the crowd cleared out. So, it looked even worse because now there were only… I don’t know, three or four hundred people in this giant shed that looked a lot better with an audience of 1,500. But it wasn’t MANOWAR’s fault, more the case of a mismatched bill.

How did you get along with them?

DANNY: MANOWAR had this thing where the members felt obligated to put on almost a pro-wrestler persona; ‘Hello brother’, and so on. It was like having four Hulk Hogans walking around. But if caught off-guard, just sitting around drinking coffee, they were more, ‘Hey man, what’s up?’ I also remember their backstage passes for groupies: laminates with ‘PLEASURE SLAVE’ printed on them.

MANOWAR recorded the song “Pleasure Slave” for their 1988 album “Kings of Metal”. However, due to its controversial lyrics, it was only featured as a bonus track on certain international versions, such as the European one.

DANNY: The groupie laminates also had artwork of this beautiful, scantily-clad woman. And then there were these big, beefy, three-hundred-pound chicks walking around with that on their fucking jackets. I was like, ‘Oh, the juxtaposition.’

 

In February 1989, NUCLEAR ASSAULT returned to Europe for a tour with EXODUS. One date took place in the DDR – meaning Soviet-era East Germany – before the fall of the Berlin Wall and unification with West Germany the following year. Given the stark contrast between the two societies, I’m wondering how their respective metal contingents differed.

DANNY: The East Germans seemed more fanatical because they didn’t normally get such opportunities. That’s not to say the West Germans were lackadaisical, but man, these Easterners… you could see the passion in their eyes; it was great. And weird. Then, after the wall came down, I played a whole bunch of shows over there when it was no longer the East but still mentally the East.

Three months later, NUCLEAR ASSAULT performed in South America for the first time: in São Paulo, Brazil, alongside SEPULTURA. A professionally shot video of the entire concert is available on NUCLEAR ASSAULT’s YouTube page – and it shows absolute pandemonium.

DANNY: Not to generalise about South Americans here… well, in this case, I probably can – and you know this, having been down there yourself. They’re just super-intense like nowhere else, and I’ve travelled to a lot of places. I don’t want to stereotype the ‘passion of the Latin people’ or anything but dude, I’d never experienced that kind of intensity.

I concur. The metalhead crowds in countries like Colombia, Peru, and Chile are – or at least were – especially feral.

DANNY: I mean, the enthusiasm of American and European metalheads is pure and heartfelt, but this felt more ravaged. I remember talking to Anton from the Chilean PENTAGRAM, and he said, ‘When I grew up, everybody had to know all the lyrics to every song. If you wore the wrong shirt, you’d be in big fucking trouble.’ So, that show in Brazil was a real eye-opener, man.

 

In the autumn of 1989, NUCLEAR ASSAULT toured Europe to promote their third full-length, “Handle with Care”, recorded earlier that year. Joining them were California-based thrashers DARK ANGEL, who’d just followed up “Darkness Descends” with “Leave Scars”.

On the UK leg, NUCLEAR ASSAULT returned to the Hammersmith Odeon – but as headliners this time.

DANNY: That would’ve been one of those career goals I mentioned earlier. It was a big one, especially for someone who grew up with MOTÖRHEAD’s live album “No Sleep ‘til Hammersmith” in his collection. Of course, we had to take the classic picture in front of the venue.

What kind of career aspirations did you have at the time?

DANNY: Fortunately, I was sensible enough to realise that NUCLEAR ASSAULT would never attract the kind of popularity METALLICA and ANTHRAX had. I’d also been getting into more intense music from the Earache and Relapse rosters. I listened to NAPALM DEATH and MORBID ANGEL and all that stuff and wanted to move in a heavier direction.

 

Once NUCLEAR ASSAULT returned home, in November 1989, I.R.S. Records had secured them a spot at Thunder & Mud in Los Angeles. Aired as a pay-per-view television event, it combined athleticism with artistry in the form of female mud wrestling and live metal music.

DANNY: Mm, Thunder & Mud was a bit of an endurance test – horrible fucking idea. When our label told me we were set to appear on a TV special with female mud wrestlers, I was a bit dubious to say the least. ‘What the fuck does that have to do with what we’re doing? Both lyrically and musically.’ Although that’s how we got Jessica Hahn to be in the “Critical Mass” video – we met her there.

American model and actress Jessica Hahn gained notoriety in the late 1980s due to her involvement in a scandal with televangelist Jim Bakker. Hahn accused Bakker of sexual misconduct, which led to his resignation from the Praise the Lord ministry and subsequent legal troubles.

DANNY: The other band was a bunch of LA glam rockers called TUFF. Nice guys, but the backstage fucking reeked of aerosol hairspray. I even laughed at them, waving my arms, like ‘Jesus, dudes. I can’t breathe!’ ‘Sorry man.’ Anyhow – yeah, it was inappropriate and stupid. But NUCLEAR ASSAULT were on this label that gave us a hundred thousand dollars to record an album, so we complied with their unsuitable demands.

 

Could you support yourself from music at the time?

DANNY: Well, I lived with my parents in the 80s and 90s and earned enough from touring to scrape by. New York would’ve been way too expensive to pay full rent; I’d never have been able to do it. Of course, my friends laughed at me, ‘You’re twenty-two and still haven’t moved out!’… only to then, five years later, be like, ‘Dude, I wish I lived with my folks.’ When I wasn’t on tour, I worked various bullshit jobs.

One such employment was at the warehouse of Important Records, the distribution company of Combat Records – home of US acts such as POSSESSED, AGENT STEEL, DARK ANGEL, MEGADETH, and EXODUS. Combat also licensed many European bands.

DANNY: My job was picking records and then bringing them to the shops. ‘Here’s the crate of shit you asked for.’ Some titles wouldn’t sell, so the stores returned them. Unfortunately, BATHORY’s “The Return of Darkness and Evil” – which just says “The Return……” on the front – would constantly come back, and everyone went, ‘There it is… the return!’ Killer album though.

Released in 1985, “The Return……” is the second album by Sweden’s BATHORY. Despite the initial reception, it has since become widely regarded as one of the pioneering works of first-wave black metal.

DANNY: We Americans dug the fuck out of “Under the Sign of the Black Mark” (1987) and “Blood Fire Death” (1988). But after that, people really weren’t down with “Hammerheart” (1990). BATHORY had lost both Satan and the speed – all of a sudden, it was… hmm, are you aware of Elmer Fudd from the Bugs Bunny cartoon? Okay. So, the vocals on “Hammerheart” sound kinda like him. You know, ‘That wascally wabbit!’

I think now might be the time to change topic.

DANNY: Um, yeah – I apologise. I’ll be vewy, vewy qwiet. But you do know that all this is MANOWAR’s fault? Quorthon (BATHORY) said, ‘If these guys from Syracuse, New York, are gonna say they’re Vikings, then I’ll have to show ‘em how it’s done!’ I shall forever hold that against MANOWAR: they brought out the fucking Elmer Fudd. Sorry.

 

Another consequence of Danny’s constantly evolving musical preferences was the formation of grindcore act BRUTAL TRUTH in 1990.

After bringing in Scott Lewis and Brent ‘Gurn’ McCarty on drums and guitar, respectively, they recorded a demo called “The Birth of Ignorance”, engineered by NUCLEAR ASSAULT drummer Glenn Evans. All three members shared vocal duties, but once the demo came out, they found a dedicated singer in Kevin Sharp.

Soon after the band’s formation, BRUTAL TRUTH started performing live. One of their early shows took place in New Jersey alongside US black metal legends PROFANATICA, who would’ve been in their heyday then.

DANNY: They weren’t naked, no – if that’s what you’re asking. Paul Ledney (PROFANATICA) was actually kind of weird and insecure. He’d do these crazy blastbeats while screaming his head off behind the kit. After PROFANATICA sound-checked, Ledney came up to me and went, ‘Hey man, do you think my vocals are sick? Am I playing fast enough? Do I suck, dude?’ I said, ‘Nah, it sounds good.’

Had you heard of PROFANATICA before?

DANNY: No, I wasn’t familiar with any of that stuff. I do remember them having this kind of Spinal Tap moment on stage. There was a little Virgin Mary statue in front of the kick drum; at one point, Paul Ledney strode out and very dramatically knocked it over with his foot. He’s a bit of a strange one.

Were BRUTAL TRUTH’s audiences very different from what NUCLEAR ASSAULT would draw?

DANNY: Absolutely. Not only was I going back to what you’d call ‘square one’ with a new band that didn’t have anything out, but we also played way more intense music. Obviously, I should’ve fired my business manager. However, people knew me by then, so BRUTAL TRUTH got a good slot at Milwaukee Metalfest – one that another grindcore act formed the same year before might not have been offered.

Founded in the late 1980s, Milwaukee Metalfest is a prominent annual festival held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

DANNY: So, I didn’t have unrealistic expectations, like, ‘How come there’s not eight hundred people here?’ We were a newer band, still at the demo stage, and the music was twice as fast as anything I’d done before. I also made it a point not to exploit the whole ‘Oh, but I’m Danny Lilker from NUCLEAR ASSAULT!’ I doubt that would’ve worked when playing death metal and grindcore.

How did NUCLEAR ASSAULT fans react?

DANNY: People often asked me, ‘Why are you doing this?’ But what it really comes down to is why you chose to play music to begin with. I was never, like, ‘Oh no, now I’ll have to perform in front of fifty people for a $250 guarantee again.’ It would’ve been more, ‘This is what I wanna play. And if I must take a couple of steps backwards in order to step forward later, then that’s what I’ll do.’

 

Meanwhile, leading up to their fourth album – aptly named “Out of Order” – NUCLEAR ASSAULT underwent internal strife. Due to Danny’s incessant urge to push the music in a more extreme direction, he’d often clash with drummer Glenn Evans and guitarist Anthony Bramante.

DANNY: At one point, Glenn and Anthony even suggested we try to come up with a ‘hit song’. But what these guys proposed would’ve been a radical departure from what NUCLEAR ASSAULT were known for – they wanted to write something in the vein of POISON.

POISON, as in “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” – not the German thrash band?

DANNY: Exactly. I told them, ‘This is a ridiculous idea for two reasons. Number one: all our old fans are gonna go, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ And none of the people who like that hair-metal shit will ever buy a thrash record because it has one glam song. So, forget it. And if you proceed, I refuse to play on it. I want the credits to say that I did not perform on this track and strongly disapproved.’

Suffice it to say, this ‘hit song’ never happened.

DANNY: Of course, by that stage I wanted to play grindcore anyway. So, the mere mention of glam was just a fucking… uh, what do they call it now? Hard pass. My inspiration was gone – I felt done with thrash and wanted to pursue faster and more intense music. In a way, it was unfair of me to stick around that long.

The recording of “Out of Order” was a rather miserable and uninspiring affair. Referring to Danny’s autobiography, Perpetual Conversion, the studio session was at least made slightly more bearable by the unlimited quantities of cocaine and cannabis available.

DANNY: No crutch is ever gonna work if the candle has gone out. Then, it doesn’t matter what you have lying around the studio: it might make things somewhat tolerable at the moment, but that’s like getting shitfaced every night because you’re in a bad marriage. You’re just escaping something you’ll eventually have to deal with. So no, I don’t have good memories of that record.

 

Danny looks back far more fondly on the spring 1992 recording of “Extreme Conditions Demand Extreme Responses” – BRUTAL TRUTH’s debut album.

In Perpetual Conversion, Danny outlines how they achieved the groundbreaking production. Their overarching plan was to do what the British grindcore greats did but perform it tighter, more controlled, and with a clearer sound.

DANNY: BRUTAL TRUTH took an American approach to certain things the Brits did very well. Listening to NAPALM DEATH and CARCASS, we thought, ‘Just imagine how much deadlier and sicker this would sound if every note and kickdrum were audible. But! You’d still have all the gnarl and distortion.’ There are ways to achieve definition without making it sterile – and that’s the art.

How is this best accomplished?

DANNY: It’s all about how you assemble stuff. And I don’t mean ‘assemble’ in a cynical way – like packaging a product – but ensuring that everything is solid from the get-go, playing hard as fuck with the right tones. Gurn dubbed four guitar tracks, just to make it as heavy as possible.

Swedish producer Dan Swanö mentioned something similar about AT THE GATES’ 1995 album “Slaughter of the Soul”.

Swanö explained that the engineer, Fredrik Nordström of Studio Fredman, achieved the sound by making the drummer hit hard on every beat, as well as having one person play all guitar and bass parts to ensure tightness and consistency. This created a dense and synchronised wall of sound – combining a polished, almost pop-like clarity with the crude intensity of metal.

DANNY: As far as hitting hard with the drums, there’s an inverse ratio between speed and power that can’t be helped. You know, that’s why drummers invent all these tricks – from the old Hellhammer two-stroke, the Rich Hoak chopstick, or whatever.

The two-stroke is a technique where the drummer plays two strokes per beat, creating a powerful, driving rhythm. The ‘chopstick’ refers to the use of lightweight drumsticks for increased speed and precision.

DANNY: It can also be difficult to capture vocals through the microphone so what comes out of the speakers sounds exactly like it did coming out of the person’s throat. Once you have all the ingredients and know what to do with them, you can create something extremely powerful. Then, all that remains is hoping it doesn’t get fucked in the master.

 

In a black metal context, grindcore – especially with ‘socially conscious’ lyrics – is typically as uncredible as it gets. But even black metal-obsessed older friends of mine are staunchly unapologetic about worshipping the BRUTAL TRUTH debut. MkM from ANTAEUS is one such example; he demanded that I ask Danny where the Earache repress is.

DANNY: Good question! I don’t know. Coming soon, I hope, because Earache are always putting up pictures of me on their Instagram page. They find random photos of me wearing a NAPALM DEATH shirt with my bushy hair. Actually, you can tell MkM… wait, I have his tape right here.

The cassette Danny refers to is DESTRUCTION RITUAL’s self-titled 2021 demo, released by Spikekult Rekords.

DANNY: It’s great – really cool and different; maybe not quite as balls-out as ANTAEUS. Anyway, I wish I could give him a direct answer, but hopefully soon.

“Extreme Conditions…” might not be Danny’s most commercially lucrative album, but my impression is that it’s his most style-defining and influential release.

DANNY: I agree. Listening to the end result gave me a feeling similar to when we mixed the first S.O.D. record. Mixing an album is a very boring process, so you need to clear your head – even if you just step out into the lounge and sit on the couch for a couple of minutes. It’s important to get that outside perspective. So, I’d taken a break, and when I walked back in and heard “Fuck the Middle East”, I just… ‘Wow, this is pretty fucking intense’.

How did your friends react to the recording?

DANNY: NUCLEAR ASSAULT played a show up in Maine shortly after BRUTAL TRUTH finished up in the studio, and then everyone went to an after-party. I’d brought the advance tape and played it for the dudes I was smoking weed with. They were like, ‘Holy shit!’ John Connelly – our singer, who’s not into grindcore at all – overheard some of it and went straight to Glenn and Anthony. ‘Danny just made an amazing record; I’m pretty sure he’ll be out the door soon.’