Nicholas Bullen (sometimes called Nik Napalm; born 1968) is an English musician and a founding member of the

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. G ...

band

Napalm Death Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in 1981 in Meriden, West Midlands. None of the band's original members has been in the group since 1986. But since ''Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch ...

Biography

Bullen is one of the founding members – with

Miles Ratledge Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in 1981 in Meriden, West Midlands. None of the band's original members has been in the group since 1986. But since ''Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch ...

(Rat) – of

, the band credited with creating the

Grindcore Grindcore is an extreme fusion genre of heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, extreme metal, and industrial. G ...

genre.Mudrian, Albert (2004). ''Choosing Death: the Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore''. Los Angeles, CA: Feral House The duo had collaborated on fanzines and played together in a number of 'bedroom' bands from 1980 onwards and formed the first line-up of

in May 1981 (when Bullen and Ratledge were 13 and 14 years old respectively). Bullen was initially the vocalist in the group, but later began to play bass and vocals after

Justin Broadrick Justin Karl Michael Broadrick (born 15 August 1969) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the lead singer and a founding member of the band Godflesh, one of the first bands to combine elements of extreme metal and i ...

(

Godflesh Godflesh are an English industrial metal band from Birmingham. The group formed in 1982 under the title Fall of Because but did not release any complete music until 1988 when Justin Broadrick (guitar, vocals and programming) and G. C. Gree ...

and Jesu) was invited to join the group on guitar in 1985. Bullen had previously been a collaborator with Broadrick in the

power electronics Power electronics is the application of electronics to the control and conversion of electric power. The first high-power electronic devices were made using mercury-arc valves. In modern systems, the conversion is performed with semiconducto ...

project

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

in 1983 and 1984. Bullen left

in December 1986 (after recording the A-side of the band's debut album '' Scum'' which is credited with being the release which initiated the 'Grindcore' genre) due to an increasing dissatisfaction with the direction of the group and a desire to pursue his studies at university (where he studied English literature and philosophy). Bullen was invited to join

Mick Harris Michael John Harris (born 4 October 1967) is an English musician from Birmingham. He was the drummer for Napalm Death between 1985 and 1991, and is credited for coining the term "grindcore". After Napalm Death, Harris joined Painkiller with Jo ...

(a fellow ex-member of

) in Scorn in 1991: a more experimental project that moved away from the members previous work to explore dark breakbeat-driven rhythmic mantras informed by avant-garde modern composition, the reflective spaces of Dub and dark drone-based ambience. The core duo released 3 albums on the Earache label, along with a number of 12" singles featuring radically deconstructed remixes of album material and appearances on compilation albums (including the ''Isolationism'' and ''Macro Dub Infection'' compilations of the

Virgin Ambient series The Virgin ''Ambient Series'' was a series of albums released on the UK Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richa ...

). The group also released an album of remixes featuring artists such as

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, w ...

, Scanner, Coil and

Autechre Autechre () is an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both from Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are among the best known acts signed to UK electronic label Warp Records, through which all of Au ...

, and recorded 2 sessions for the

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

radio show. The group featured a revolving roster of temporary members including Paul Neville (

) and

James Plotkin James Plotkin is an American guitarist and producer known for his role in bands such as Khanate (band), Khanate and OLD (band), OLD but with an extensive catalogue outside these bands. He has played guitar for Phantomsmasher and Scorn (band), Sco ...

(OLD,

Khanate A khaganate or khanate was a polity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. That political territory was typically found on the Eurasian Steppe and could be equivalent in status to tribal chiefdom, principality, kingdom or empire. Mong ...

) in an ancillary role as guitarist. Bullen left the group in March 1995. Bullen continued to be involved in other projects during his tenure in Scorn: he worked with the avant-garde techno group Germ, the experimental soundscape project Umbilical Limbo and released material under his own name including an album called '' Bass Terror'' with bassist and avant-garde producer

. Bullen remained silent musically for the best part of a decade (during which time he gained another university degree in Computer Science) before returning to live performing in 2003 with the experimental electronic group Black Galaxy. Black Galaxy use a range of instrumentation (including laptop, tone generators, circuit bent instruments, tabletop guitar, preparations, and amplified objects) to blend rhythmic pulses with deep bass tones and abstracted sound. They also create satellite work related to non-rhythmic sound fields, live improvised film soundtracking, and regular collaboration with electro-acoustic musicians kREEPA. The group have played at a number of festivals (including Sonar (Barcelona), Supersonic festival and the

Sonic Arts Network Sonic Arts Network was a UK-based organisation, established in 1979, that aimed to enable both audiences and practitioners to engage with the art of sound through a programme of festivals, events, commissions and education projects. Its honorary ...

Expo). He also participates in a number of other collaborative projects which are predominantly focused on live performance and improvisation (including the Photon Hex ensemble and electro-acoustic improvising trio Migrant), and performs solo (as Alienist and under his own name). To extend this work, Bullen began the Monium imprint in 2006 with the intention of bringing together a loose collective of artists interested in the exploration of (analogue / digital, improvisation / composition, performance / recording) in sound, film and text. Bullen's work in the field of sound art has included sound installations, sound design for radio-based art, writing on the use of the voice in music and art, a tour of cinemas producing improvised sound responses to key pieces of 'experimental' cinema, lectures, and collaborations with artists at a variety of venues (including Tate Britain, Art Basel, Hayward Gallery, Schirn Kunsthalle, ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts), Arnolfini Gallery, Ikon Eastside, City Projects and New Art Gallery Walsall).Art Review September 2008
Artreviewdigital.com He also continues to develop an ongoing interest in Super 8mm film-making (with a particular focus on abstraction and hand-painted work). He is based in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullen, Nicholas 1968 births Living people Musicians from Coventry English heavy metal bass guitarists Male bass guitarists English heavy metal singers English male singers Napalm Death members English punk rock bass guitarists English punk rock singers Grindcore musicians