Mick Harris (GB)

About

Also known as: M.J. Harris, Michael John Harris

Mick Harris is the man who literally named grindcore, coining the term after describing the Swans sound as a "grind" back in 1984. As drummer for Napalm Death from 1985 to 1991, he was the only member to play on both sides of their landmark debut Scum, and is widely credited with popularising the blast beat, a technique that went on to define extreme metal globally. His work with John Zorn and Bill Laswell in the free jazz and extreme metal trio Painkiller pushed him toward entirely new territory, and by the mid 1990s he had left percussion behind to focus on electronic music. His main vehicle since then has been Scorn, the dark and bass heavy project he co founded with Nic Bullen in 1991. Scorn blended industrial hip hop textures with cavernous dub frequencies in a way that many now recognise as ahead of the dubstep curve. He has also worked as Lull, Fret and under his own name, collaborating with the likes of James Plotkin and Justin Broadrick. Scorn returned in 2019 with the EP Feather and the album Cafe Mor, featuring a contribution from Jason Williamson of Sleaford Mods.