Kak (demo)

Kak is the 3rd demo recording by the group Napalm Death.

The recording was made in Knowle (near Birmingham) on 1 April 1983 as a live recording (with no overdubs) on to a 2-track recorder.

The line-up for the recording was:

  • Nik Napalm (Nicholas Bullen) - Vocals
  • Robbo (Graham Robertson) - Guitar
  • Fin (Finbarr Quinn) - Bass / Backing Vocals
  • Rat (Miles Ratledge) - Drums

The cassette never received an 'official' release: it was sent to friends of the band but never sold. As a result, the recording was never released with a cover.

The Title of the recording (created by Miles Ratledge) is English slang for excrement and was originally intended as a self-deprecating comment on the contents of the recording.

Track listing

  1. "Curfew" (Music: Quinn)
  2. "The Good Book" (Music: Robertson / Lyrics: Ratledge)
  3. "The Glue Bag Song" (Music: Robertson / Lyrics: Ratledge)
  4. "Traditional Society" (Music: Robertson & Fideski / Lyrics: Ratledge)
  5. "The Crucifixion of Possessions" (Music & Lyrics: Bullen)
  6. "Punk Is a Rotting Corpse" (Music & Lyrics: Bullen)
  7. "Blame" (Music: Quinn / Lyrics: Bullen)
  8. "(K)Rappers Delight” (Music: Quinn)
  9. "What is My Country?" (Music: Robertson / Lyrics: Ratledge)
  10. "The Doomsday Cometh" (Music: Bullen & Robertson / Lyrics: Bullen)

‘Curfew’ is an instrumental originally played by Quinn’s previous band Curfew. Although an instrumental, it began with a spoken introduction and scream by Bullen.

‘The Good Book’ was originally chosen by Crass as the song which would be included on the ‘[...] Detector – Volume 3’ album, but the band asked that the song was not included due to discomfort with the lyrical content.

‘The Glue Bag Song’ is the original version of the song ‘The Mushroom Tea Song’ which appeared in a live version on the B-Side of the original cassette release on the ‘Hatred Surge’ demo by Napalm Death. It features different lyrics.

'The Crucifixion of Possessions' was later included (in a re-recorded version) on Volume 3 of the '[...] Detector' compilation album series by the Anarchist group Crass in 1984. The version featured on this recording contains an introductory section which was removed from the version included on the Crass Records compilation.

‘Punk is a Rotting Corpse’ was the first song written by the group in December 1981.

'The Doomsday Cometh' was inspired by a line from a poem written by the singer of the Anarchist punk group [...]'' which appeared inEnigma'' fanzine - Issue 3.