We Talked to the Grindcore Band Who Are Fronted by Their Middle-Aged Mum

Mum’s are great. Not only are they responsible for almost every single human in existence, most of them support their children relentlessly – selflessly wiping up their poops, putting them through school, and bestowing their offspring with near infinite love, money and food.

However, one benevolent mother has taken supporting her kids a little further than most: joining her son’s grindcore band to take on the role of lead vocalist. The band are called Corrupt Leaders and you can watch one of their videos below. As with all wacky videos, like that one where the old guy screams “fuck her right in the pussy”, it went viral. The band are now planning to release an EP dedicated to the video called Grindmother.

I talked to Rain – whose mother is in the band – about making music with her, their potential future working together, and why screaming is better than golf.

Noisey: Alright, let’s cut to the chase here. How’d your mum end up in your band?
The video happened unintentionally. We had talked about doing a punk song together, because over the years she has come to appreciate the anger and message behind punk. I think she wanted to do a project together for fun and to show her support for my art and lifestyle.

Is she usually around for practice?
She was in town for a visit over the holidays, and we happened to be recording a new Corrupt Leaders EP, so I asked her if she wanted to try recording a few screams. She’s very open-minded so she decided to give it a try. We’d been filming the whole recording process so the camera was right there and I just turned it on and let it run.

What did you think of the video when you listened back to it?
It wasn’t until after I watched the footage that I realised how funny she was, and I decided to edit a short version for friends and family. I didn’t intend to post it publicly but the band thought it was really funny so we just said “fuck it!”

Was your mum into punk and metal during the seventies?
No, not at all. She used to play some Beatles and other songs on guitar when I was a kid though. When I was a teenager I would read her Dead Kennedys lyrics, which were probably a little intense for her at the time. She was just really into meditating and stuff like that, but over the years our paths have become very aligned.

What does she think of your band?
I don’t think she’s listened to much, although she collects all my records. I would say she is a real humanitarian, so she’s very supportive of the overall message behind this type of music. Even the negative aspects of it, she knows we all need to vent our frustration in this insane world.

What kind of metal do you think she’d be into?
Musically speaking, I’ve never heard her bumping Repulsion or Napalm Death before, but I can tell you she had a cathartic experience recording those screams and she wanted to do more the next day.

How loud does she usually scream?
She’s a very calm person so she doesn’t scream at all these days, although I’m sure she rightly screamed at me quite a few times when I was a kid. Mums are probably the most qualified of all screamers. If we could harness all that rage there could be so much more grindcore in the world.

What do the both of you gain from the screaming?
Ironically, what you can gain from screaming is peace of mind. It can be an outlet for self-expression and much-needed stress relief at the same time. Golf or ping-pong does not blow off enough steam for everyone. Playing in a punk band is a great way to let out all the pent up rage, and then maybe you can leave some of it behind when you put down the microphone.

Is she thinking of forming her own band now?
I don’t know if starting a band is on her to-do list, but she does want to do more. She would like to try some actual lyrics as opposed to just a guest scream. We will probably still do some songs together, separate from Corrupt Leaders, as we originally planned. It’s cool that this happened, but we don’t intend to dwell on it too much as a band. Having said that, we decided to call the EP Grindmother as a nod to this rare occurrence, and we would totally love to play live with her on a talk show so we can trade off vocals.

Thanks Rain!

The Grindmother EP will be coming out this Friday.

Follow Dan on Twitter: @KeenDang