Deep Dive: Grief Scene – British Petroleum

With a new album on the way, Berlin-based Grief Scene have dropped British Petroleum, part polemic, part lament for the planet.

Band member Ian has taken us on a Deep Dive of the song, whose brash and powerful political post-punk will appeal to fans of IDLES, The Murder Capital, and Big Black.

Genesis of the song and lyrics

I spend a lot of time basically mourning our destruction of the biosphere – it’s the same for my friends, probably most people – so it’s something that tends to crop up in my songs. This one is about a high-flying oil executive reckoning with his terrible past.

There was a previous version with some extra verses and a different riff, that I was never quite happy with and had pretty much abandoned, but then weeks later the main “I’ve got a house” part came to me out of nowhere, and everything fell into place like magic.

Instrumentation and recording

We recorded everything in our rehearsal room in Neukölln, which is how we normally do it. The sessions lasted a couple of weekends for the whole album, but we spent a lot of time beforehand planning and assembling the right setup. I was trying to emulate Steve Albini on a budget.

Often when recording DIY, you can spend a lot of time and emotional energy trying to isolate everything and minimise the sound of the room, but this time we decided to embrace it. The final sound is mainly just drums and guitars in the basement, cranked up to eleven.

Making the video

By the time we decided to make a video, it was too late to ask anyone else to shoot it for us, so we knew we had to do it ourselves. Sally had an old handycam which felt good to use, and it fit in my coat pocket, which was useful when getting in and out of boats.

None of us had ever tried making a green screen before, but I bought some green polyester curtains from the shop across the street, which did the job pretty well. Sally made fake oil from cream and black food colouring, which also worked out great, although there was a lingering cream smell in my flat for a while afterwards.

Where does this particular track fit within your wider body of work?

This track is taken from our upcoming album Minoans, which is largely concerned with themes of environmental and social collapse.

There are a few different characters who appear across the album; this one is about an oil executive, and there’s also Organ Donor, about a paranoid loner at breaking point, and Goldtown, about a washed-up city trader.

What are you up to in the coming months?

The album is coming out July 11th on Delikassetten Records. MINOANS will be available on vinyl, CD and digital platforms. We’ll play a release show in Berlin on the 18th and hopefully tour later this year. If anyone knows any like-minded bands in their town, then please get in touch!

British Petroleum can be downloaded on Bandcamp and streamed on Spotify. For news on Minoans and upcoming gigs, follow the band on Instagram or Facebook.