The age of destruction is 68.
A Canadian grindcore band has captured international attention thanks to its senior citizen vocalist, a 68-year-old woman known as "The Grindmother."
The granny from Windsor, Ont., is following in the tradition of bands like Napalm Death, Pig Destroyer and Carcass, as the screaming voice of her eponymous band. Her videos have racked up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, and she even earned a Twitter shout-out from Ozzy Osbourne, the "Prince of Darkness" himself. "What the f---?" Osbourne tweeted last year, in response to a Grindmother video. (Ozzy is also 68, by the way.)
The Grindmother started unleashing her rage through music in late 2014, when her son, who goes by the name Rain Forest, and his friend invited her to join their band. The two had been struggling to find the missing ingredient for their sound.
"We were recording an EP… and we had her come over and do a guest vocal scream," Rain Forest told a British TV show, in a video posted online earlier this year. "As soon as we did the first screams on the video I could see that she had the rage behind it," he said.
"I just let this scream out and he thought it was terrific," the Grindmother told CTV News Channel on Thursday.
She said her friends are still bewildered by her vocal stardom, but she doesn't blame them for feeling alienated by it. "When I was young my parents used to say, the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, that was just noise, not music," she said. "So I can understand."
Watch the Grindmother's hardcore journey begin in the following video, which has been viewed more than 327,000 times over the last two years.
The Grindmother said she's angry about "the condition of the world today. There's a lot of things wrong."
The Ozzy tweet catapulted them to iternet fame last year, sending thousands to view the band's video for a song called "Any Cost." The video is still their most watched of all-time, with nearly 358,000 views. Other songs on their YouTube page have tens of thousands of views.
"I was very surprised by all the wonderful feedback we were getting, right from the beginning," the Grindmother said.
"Any Cost" appears to be a reference to former prime minister Stephen Harper, based on the lyrics in the video description (because all we can hear is screaming).
"10 years of your leadership, to benefit the rich, every trick in the book," says the lyrics, in part. The video was posted on Nov. 2, 2015, a few days before Harper handed over leadership of the country to Justin Trudeau, following 10 calendar years in office.
The band released its debut album, "Age of Destruction," earlier this year, with a live tour planned for some time next year.
"Grindmother is ready to rock in 2017!" the band said on its Facebook page.
Hardcore.
