Nicolas Royles was the right guy in the right place at the right time with the right equipment (a camera). Exposed to Napalm Death at a time when they were just establishing themselves as a force, Nick was able to take some great photos of the group prior to putting out their groundbreaking debut LP, "Scum". When the aforementioned album came out in 1986, Nick's photos were featured prominently in the layout.

Also known for playing drums in UK bashers Sore Throat and Cracked Cop Skulls among others, Nick also authored How We Rock zine in the early '90s and was witness to many of the highlights of the late '80s UKHC scene. In an interview with Negative Insight, Nick speaks fondly of the period and offers many details about live gigs, taking photos at Rich Bitch Studios, and lots more about all of the bands that became fan favorites.

*Note that this interview goes along with the Negative Insight component of the A Network Of Friends vol. 5 zine, which features an interview with former Napalm Death bassist Jim Whiteley and Nick's photos.

How'd you become acquainted and friends with the Napalm Death guys?

I saw them in March 1986 at the Mermaid. It was a great gig with Heresy, Instigators, Skummdribbluurzz, Potential Threat, Deviated Instinct and Amebix. I managed to travel with the Instigators who were a local band to me. I'd seen Skumdribbz quite a few times but the other supporting bands were unknown to me but had heard about them through the grapevine so I was pretty psyched to catch Heresy and Napalm in particular. I thought the Mermaid was a great place and came back for much more in the following years. We had Adam & Eve's in Leeds which had a great promoter in Nick Toczeck, but it was more of a night club than a gig venue even though there had been many amazing gigs there, the Mermaid was just a big grimy room and separate bar above a predominantly Irish pub. Perfect for these gigs.

After this gig I started going to the Mermaid on a pretty regular basis catching BGK, Anti-Cimex, Sacrilege, Antisect, Depraved, Government Issue, Chaos UK and Napalm Death. I was quite lucky to have a job at the time as many of my mates were unemployed. I had bought a car so I was finally able to travel to gigs in the Midlands on a regular basis. The Mermaid became a regular haunt, almost my local scene in a way for a while. The Mermaid had such a large pull that I would see other faces from the Northern scene from Manchester and Liverpool on a regular basis. Hammy from Peaceville Records and Johnny from Deaf Records would regularly come down with me to gigs helping Hammy to cement releasing a Doom release. After seeing ND live a few times I started taking photos, but the first few times I was more interested in going crazy at the front. I think I mainly started taking photos from the first Stench Festival with Chaos UK, Hellbastard, Ripcord, Deviated Instinct and Napalm Death. During this gig I was on talking terms with Mick from ND and a fair few other Birmingham scenesters and band members of ND, DI, etc. From that we all got to know each other more through the mail and the huge tape trading scene.

Which photos on "Scum" were you responsible for taking?

I took the back cover photos and then there are quite a lot of my photos on the collage on the lyric sheet. The two back cover photos are outside the practice space and one obviously in the van that they transported the equipment to the studio in. There's a couple more outside the practice space on the lyric sheet inner. Also quite a few close up shots from the practice room and a few live shots that I took at the Mermaid and a few other places. There's also a shot on the inner lyric sheet from Rich Bitch studios. Digby Pearson is in that shot as he was waiting at the studios along with Mick the engineer for ND to turn up.

Do you remember anything interesting about the session or where they were taken?

We went to the practice rooms where they jammed out the B-side recording on the Saturday evening. I took photos while they practiced and then we took a few outside the practice room in the hall way. We stayed overnight at Jim's the bass players along with Lee and his partner. We called back in at the practice studio on the Sunday morning to pick all the equipment up and took some photos whilst that was happening. I think they had a very quick run through a couple of songs before we headed to the studio. We then drove over in convoy to Rich Bitch Studios and I helped them load the gear into the studio along with Dig who was already there. I hung around for a short time while they sound checked the drums, guitars and bass. Just as they were about to record I decided that I was going to drive back home to West Yorkshire to go skating with my mates. It was a glorious day outside and when you skate in the UK you don't mess around as the rain is pretty damn regular in this country. In hindsight, it was a wonderfully stupid idea as I should have taken photos of them recording but as much as I liked those guys I was getting itchy feet and I can't sit still for long. The thought of being stuck in the studio whilst it was so hot and sunny outside dragged me away. Before I left Mick asked me to send him a photo of myself for the lyric sheet. My mum took my photo in my bedroom. Thanks mum. That's me in the home made Minor Threat shirt on the inner lyric sheet.

*Nick Royles with the Mick Harris googly eyes*

How many photos were taken?

Well I definitely used up a whole roll of film so that's 36 pictures there. But I may have even taken more, possibly two films worth. Most of the photos were taken in the practice room and then several outside as they loaded up equipment. I think I may have gone on to 2 films as I have recently found a couple of photos from outside the practice room, one of me and one of Mick. Mickey had an obsession with these fake plastic eyes at the time and you can see him with them on in several of the photos on the lyric sheet and one of the photos on the back cover of the LP sleeve. I think there may have been a few live shots from when they played with the Stupids in London at the Clarendon Ballroom on that film I gave Mick as an ND backstage photo of mine from the Clarendon turned up in the Choosing Death book credited to someone else so they must have had the photo of that shot. There also looks to be a shot from Leeds Adam & Eve's that was with Sacrilege and a photo of Lee that was from his first gig with ND from Coventry Hand & Heart Pub. Lee actually put that gig on and that was with Heresy and Antisect.

Were the photos taken specifically for inclusion on the "Scum" LP sleeve?

Yeah, totally. That was its sole intention.

What happened to the photos from that session?

I gave the film reels to Mick which he asked for, I paused for a short time wondering if I should but I handed them over due to the urgency to get this release moving. I did think that I should have taken them home and get them processed myself but he was eager to get these all sorted out for the cover in super quick time so I handed them over. I was promised 12 copies of the LP for my expenses but they never appeared but I did receive an unmixed demo tape of the recording in the post a couple of days later. Many years later when in Earache Records offices Dig gave me lots of Earache releases on CD. Dig actually contacted me a few years ago asking if I had the negatives from this session but told him that I'd given them to Mick at the time of the recording. I recently spoke to Mick and he says that he has lost the negatives.

*Mick Harris bashing on Andy Baker from Sacrilege's kit*

Were you ever involved with Napalm Death for additional photos, as a roadie, or in any other capacity?

No, nothing else really. I think there was a stage when ND were between vocalists and they played at least two gigs if I remember rightly - the Mermaid and Planet X in Liverpool without a singer to fulfill gig obligations. Various members of the crowd took the mic at times, including me. It was funny for a short time, though I think a few that took the microphone at those couple of gigs developed serious pretensions that they could be the next ND singer. I'm so glad Lee got the job. He was perfect. If I remember rightly I was asked to take photos for the second LP but I couldn't make it down for the session. As I said before I took quite a few live ND photos as I was at a lot of their gigs in that '86-'88 period. Having a car I travelled to quite a lot of ND gigs in the UK up until they broke really big. I drove Mick to the Lärm gig in London that also featured ND and Heresy. That was it. They used a batch of my live photos for stuff but other than that no other ND connections during that period.

Anything else you'd like to add about your association with Napalm Death?

It has previously been mentioned in book interviews that Mick and Jim from ND were going to be in Sore Throat which I and another person were in the process of forming. Personally I don't recall any of that discussion taking place that ND members should be in Sore Throat. The full Sore Throat line up obviously went on to feature two members of Doom. Mick and Jim loved their noise particularly Mick, he even begrudgingly admitted at the time that the Sore Throat EP was cool though he did tell me that I was cheating at drums on the record though. I laughed as I couldn't even really play drums at the time. You only need to listen to that record to see that I couldn't play. It's hilarious, so out of time. All over the place. A later connection was with Jim ND as we eventually hooked up in a band for a short time in the mid '90s releasing 2 EPs under the name of Cracked Cop Skulls until he left the band. I played drums in that band and Jim handled vocals and bass.

Nicolas Royles is still active and can be found on Instagram.

We previously used a few of Nick’s photos for a piece on his and Jim Whiteley's band Cracked Cop Skulls.

Siege Of Power: Nicolas Royles and "Scum" Photography

*Note that this interview goes along with the Negative Insight component of the A Network Of Friends vol. 5 zine, which features an interview with former Napalm Death bassist Jim Whiteley and Nick's photos.

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