The story of this interview, most appropriately, begins during the 2025 U.S. co-headlining tour featuring West Coast wonders the Melvins and U.K. legends Napalm Death. Editor-in-chief Albert Mudrian, after attending the Baltimore stop, sent Decibel’s co-nerds on official business to the Philly date the following night. While not exactly the target audience for our plucky column, our fearless leader clocked that guitarist John Cooke’s wardrobe would be of interest to us. Upon arriving at the venue, Napalm’s tour manager and longtime friend of the magazine was kind enough to set up a brief chat with the six-stringer before doors opened to the show. A short wait later, our man of the hour appeared in a well-worn Time Crisis shirt, immediately cementing his spot as a future guest without uttering a word.
Fast forward to 2026 and the unexpected collaboration of Napalm Death and the Melvins has manifested in the form of full-length LP Savage Imperial Death March. The album offers both bands the opportunity to push whatever remaining sonic boundaries remain for each other and, more importantly, the chance for us to finally link up with our new Namco-loving pal. Though his appearance in the Kill Feed arcade has been a long time coming—our fateful meeting at Union Transfer in Philadelphia happened over a year ago—the conversation picked up right where it left off without skipping a blastbeat. As Napalm Death is currently ripping through another trek across North America, learn all about Cooke’s adventures retro game hunting in Japan, his love of single-player games, the band’s surprising connections to the gaming world and much more. Who knows—maybe Napalm Death will one day return to our neon lights.
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The post KILL FEED 084: John Cooke of NAPALM DEATH Prefers a Solo XP Grind appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
