Extreme Noise Terror



"'ENT [Extreme Noise Terror] were amazing. So were their fans. Any track more than 20 seconds long was greeted with derisive cries of 'too long, too slow' or 'fucking prog-rockers' from the faithful, most of whom looked as though they had but recently risen from shallow graves alongside the A12, the arterial road that runs from London to Ipswich. The only disappointment for Sheila, William and me was that the band weren't loud enough. We wanted to leave the show with blood trickling from our ears.' (John Peel, Introduction to 'Choosing Death - The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore' by Albert Mudrian (Feral House, paperback). Reprinted Loud And Proud, Guardian Unlimited, 2004-12-12.)"

Extreme Noise Terror were formed in Ipswich in 1985, and as a band local to the area were vigorously supported by John. Along with William and Sheila, he was a regular attendee of the gigs they played with Napalm Death at the Caribbean Centre in Ipswich, following a recommendation from the Stupids. They are often credited with turning crust punk into grindcore, but guitarist Pete Hurley disliked the term and stated that they were a hardcore punk band first and foremost. ''"Their songs are brief, ear-splitting, played at a desperately fast pace and characterised by the use of two vocalists."  Peel wrote about them in the Observer, "Extreme Noise Terror play so fast and with such fury that I found myself turning to Revelation (sic) for suitable comparisons." ''('Extreme Noise Terror,' 05 June 1988. Reprinted in Olivetti Chronicles, pp.113-5, Corgi edition.)

During the second Peel Session, they recruited former Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris, although he left soon afterwards and was replaced by Tony "Stick" Dickens from Doom. On their return from Japan in 1990, they were invited to record a third Peel session, and vocalist Dean Jones gave Peel a clutch of records he had purchased there. Dean also visited Peel Acres and later sang with Raw Noise.

The original second vocalist Phil Vane died in his sleep in 2011.

3 A.M. Eternal
Towards the end of 1991, Bill Drummond of KLF heard ENT on the Peel show (when he was having a bath, apparently) and decided to approach them with the idea of a collaboration, having first considered Motörhead. The result was a fast, brutal version of KLF's techno anthem 3 A.M. Eternal, the premiere of which was intended for the Top Of The Pops Christmas special, but the BBC bailed out, considering the song unsuitable for daytime TV: consequently, KLF boycotted the show for the remainder of their career. The song saw a limited release on their own KLF Communications label, but, despite Peel's dedicated support of it (including a competition to win copies), it failed to chart. The two bands worked together on The Black Room, but all recordings of the sessions were deleted when KLF broke up.

The song had one last memorable hurrah, however. KLF won the Best British Group award at the Brits (ironically, jointly with Simply Red), and were booked to open the show. ENT performed 3 A.M. Eternal with Bill Drummond (who was suffering from a broken leg) and he closed the act by spraying the audience with blank machine gun bullets. Their publicist / announcer Scott Piering stated, "Ladies and gentlemen, the KLF have now left the music business" (despite the fact that conductor Sir Georg Solti walked out of the show in disgust, Billy Bragg can be seen in the audience applauding enthusiastically). This was indeed the end of KLF. 3 A.M. Eternal made the 1992 Festive Fifty (see below), and was simultaneously the only entry for ENT, the KLF and extreme music as a whole.

Festive Fifty Entries

 * '3 A.M. Eternal (with the KLF)' 1992 Festive Fifty #44

Sessions

 * The band recorded four sessions for Peel's show, the last two being separated by a considerable gap (11 years). All except #4 available on Grind Madness At The BBC (Earache).

1. Recorded: 1987-11-10. First broadcast: 17 November 1987. Repeated: 02 December 1987, 29 December 1987. 2. Recorded: 1988-05-01. First broadcast: 11 May 1988. Repeated: 06 June 1988, 15 August 1988. 3. Recorded: 1990-02-06. First broadcast: 08 March 1990. Repeated: 03 May 1990. 4. Recorded: 2001-02-28. First broadcast: 27 March 2001. No repeats. No known commercial release.
 * False Profit / Another Nail In the Coffin / Use Your Mind / Carry On Screaming / Human Error / Conned Through Life / Only In It For The Music Part 2
 * Murder / Take The Strain / No Threat / Show Us You Care / Propaganda / System Enslavement / Only In It For The Music Part 3
 * Work For Never / Subliminal Music (Mind Control) / People Not Profit / Punk Fact Or Fiction / I Am A Bloody Fool, In It For Life / Deceived / Shock Treatment
 * When Gods Burn / Awakening / Screaming Bloody Murder / Being And Nothing / One Truth One Hate / No Longer As Slaves

Other Shows Played
(The following list was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive. Please add more information if known.)

1987
 * 1986
 * 02 December 1986: No Threat (LP - Chaos UK / Extreme Noise Terror) Manic Ears
 * 04 May 1987: Only In It For The Music (shared LP with Chaos U.K. - Earslaughter) Manic Ears
 * 1988
 * 16 May 1988: Conned Through Life (12" - The Peel Sessions) Strange Fruit


 * 18 May 1988 (Rockradio): 'Only In It For The Music (split LP with Chaos U.K.-Radioactive)' (Manic Ears)
 * 30 May 1988: 'False Profit (LP-Peel Sessions)' (Strange Fruit)
 * 01 June 1988 (Rockradio): 'Another Nail In the Coffin (12" EP-The Peel Session)' (Strange Fruit)
 * 21 June 1988: 'Subliminal Music (Mind Control) (split LP with Filthkick-In It For Life)' (Sink Below)
 * 27 July 1988: (JP: 'Here's an inspiring letter from John Whitmore, who writes to me from Colkirk near Fakenham in Norfolk, saying in part, "When I was driving in my dad's car the other day, I got him to put on your show on the pretext that you sometimes play jazz records if somebody notable has died. Anyway, you then played some Extreme Noise Terror and after a sort of stunned silence, my mum goes, "It's a lot like Little Richard, isn't it?" John, your mother is a woman of considerable insight.')
 * 19 December 1988: 'Another Nail In The Coffin (12"-Peel Sessions)' (Strange Fruit)


 * 1989
 * 07 April 1989 (BFBS) (Peel 101 (BFBS)): 'Carry On Screaming (Compilation LP-The North Atlantic Noise Attack)' (Manic Ears)
 * 12 April 1989: 'Carry On Screaming (Compilation LP - The North Atlantic Noise Attack)' Manic Ears ACHE 017
 * 23 October 1989: 'Subliminal Music (Mind Control) (split LP with Filthkick-In It For Life)' (Sink Below)
 * 26 October 1989 (BBC World Service): 'Subliminal Music (Mind Control) (split LP with Filthkick-In It For Life)' (Sink Below)
 * HO John Peel 16 1989: Work For Never (split album with Filthkick - In It For Life) Sink Below SINK 1
 * 30 October 1989: In It For Life (shared LP with Filthkick - In It For Life) Sink Below
 * 04 November 1989 (BFBS) (Peel 122 (BFBS)):  'Subliminal Music Mind Control (split LP with Filthkick-In It For Life)' (Sink Below)
 * 11 November 1989 (BFBS) (Peel 122 (BFBS)):  'Punk: Fact Or Faction? (split LP with Filthkick-In It For Life)' (Sink Below)
 * 27 November 1989: 'Punk: - Fact Or Faction? (split album with Filthkick-In It For Life)' Sink Below SINK 1
 * 14 December 1989 (Rockradio): 'Punk, Fact Or Faction (split LP with Filthkick-In It For Life)' (Sink Below)


 * 1990
 * 23 August 1990: 'Work For Never (LP-Peel Sessions)' (Strange Fruit)


 * 1991
 * 23 March 1991: 'In It For Life (shared LP with Filthkick-In It For Life)' (Sink Below)
 * 14 July 1991: 'I Am A Bloody Fool / In It For Life (LP-Peel Sessions)' (Strange Fruit)
 * 07 December 1991: 'Knee Deep In Shit (LP-Phonophobia)' (Vinyl Japan)
 * (JP: 'Ipswich should be proud of them. We should be proud to have them live amongst us, as a matter of fact. That’s Extreme Noise Terror, and nobody does it better, they really don’t.')


 * 08 December 1991: 'Lame Brain (LP-Phonophobia)' (Vinyl Japan)
 * 21 December 1991: 'Knee Deep In Shit (LP-Phonophobia)' (Vinyl Japan)
 * 26 December 1991 (Radio Mafia): 'Knee Deep In Shit (LP-Phonophobia)' (Vinyl Japan)
 * 28 December 1991: 'Lame Brain (LP-Phonophobia)' (Vinyl Japan)


 * 1992
 * 04 January 1992: '3 A.M. Eternal' (private cassette)
 * (JP: 'It seems about 3 or 4 weeks ago Bill Drummond was listening to this programme, in his bath it was the way it was told to me, and he heard me playing a track by Extreme Noise Terror, and he had the idea of getting them to work with him and the KLF, to rerecord 3AM Eternal for the Christmas Top Of The Pops. Now if you watched the Christmas Top Of The Pops, you'll know that this actually never got shown, but I was sent an acetate of it, which disappeared into the internal Radio 1 Christmas post, and has not as yet resurfaced. So this afternoon before the match at Portman Road I met up with Dean from Extreme Noise Terror and he gave me his tape of it.')


 * 11 January 1992: '3 A.M. Eternal' (acetate)
 * 19 January 1992: '3 A.M. Eternal' (acetate) (Peel wanted to reveal the winners of a singles competition to win this, but he hasn't physically got his hands on the prizes yet)
 * 08 February 1992: 'Pray To Be Saved (LP-Phonophobia)' (Vinyl Japan)
 * 15 February 1992: 'Lame Brain (LP-Phonophobia)' (Vinyl Japan) (Peel says watching Extreme Noise Terror with KLF at the Brit Awards he felt like their (proud) dad - "these are my boys.")
 * 20 February 1992 (Radio Mafia): 'Self Decay (12" EP-Phonophobia)' (Discipline)
 * 15 August 1992: You Take Part In Creating This System (v/a 7" - Discharged: From Home Front To War Front) Allied Recordings ALLIED No. 7
 * 24 August 1992 (BFBS): 'You Take Part In Creating This System (7"-Discharged: From Home Front To War Front)' (Allied)
 * 18 December 1992: '3 A.M. Eternal (with KLF) (7")' (KLF Communications) 1992 Festive Fifty #44
 * (JP:'  A great moment. Only 2 minutes and 45 seconds of it, but it was excellent stuff.')


 * 1994
 * 18 June 1994: 'False Profit (12"-Peel Sessions)' (Strange Fruit)


 * 1995
 * 10 February 1995: 'We The Helpless (CD - Retro-Bution)' (Earache)
 * 10 March 1995: 'Work For Never (CD - Retro-Bution)' (Earache)
 * 17 March 1995: 'Human Error (CD - Retro-Bution)' (Earache)
 * 18 March 1995 (BFBS): 'Murder (CD - Retro-Bution)' (Earache)


 * 1997
 * 06 January 1997 (John Peel's Classic Sessions): 'Shock Treatment' (from session #3)
 * 18 September 1997 (BFBS): 'Damage 381 (CD-Damage 381)' (Earache)
 * 08 October 1997: Utopia Burns (CD: Damage 381) Earache


 * 1999
 * 07 January 1999: Carry On Screaming (LP: The Peel Sessions) Vinyl Japan
 * 10 June 1999: 'False Profit (LP-Peel Sessions)' (Strange Fruit)


 * 2001
 * 02 January 2001: 'Through Mayhem (LP-Being And Nothing)' (Candlelight)
 * 16 January 2001: 'When Gods Burn (LP-Being And Nothing)' (Candlelight)
 * 30 January 2001: No Longer as Slaves (LP: Being and Nothing) Candlelight
 * 07 February 2001: 'One Truth, One Hate (LP-Being And Nothing)' (Candlelight)
 * 21 February 2001: Detestation (CD: Being and Nothing) Candlelight
 * 02 December 2001: Through Mayhem (LP: Being And Nothing sampler) Candlelight


 * Other
 * 25 November 2004 (Rob Da Bank): 'Only In It For The Music Part 2' (The Peel Sessions) (Strange Fruit)
 * Best Of Peel Vol 40: 'Lame Brain (LP-Phonophobia)' (Vinyl Japan)
 * Best Of Peel Vol 50: You Take Part In Creating This System (v/a 7" - Discharged: From Home Front To War Front) Allied Recordings
 * Best Of 1991 Vol 1: 'Knee Deep In Shit (LP-Phonophobia)' (Vinyl Japan)
 * Best Of 1992 Vol 1: '3 A.M Eternal (7")' (KLF Communications)