Band Members

ABOUT

South African grindcore pioneers. Groinchurn was one of the first to obtain a record contract overseas, in this case with Germany’s Morbid Records. The name was given to the band by a friend of Groinchurn’s drummer Christina. The band was formed as a side-project of the Sepsis guys at first in 1993 with the trio issuing the demos Human Filth and Every Dog Has Its Decay in 1994. Christo had been the last to join as the band needed a singer. This project played a local show and opted to continue as a formation. The band further released a split 7″ EP with Captain 3 Leg and a live 7″ EP.

For Sixtimesnine, which is a reference to The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, the band travelled to Europe and toured with Krabathor and Sanity’s Dawn. The original label was Happy Hamster Records, which was nothing more than Mark’s imprint. Happy Hamster records issued the debut CD when MMI out of Germany, which was to release the debut album, went broke. As mentioned, this was later licensed to another German label, namely Morbid Records. This label also assisted the band’s aforementioned tour of Europe. The tour favour was soon returned with Krabathor trekking across South Africa with the Brutal Truth-influenced grinders.

The band released an Agathocles tribute CD in 1998 through its own Marbil Entertainment. Whoami was released in April of 2000 in South Africa and, with long delays, in autumn of the same year by Morbid Records elsewhere. The release gave the band the opportunity to tour the USA alongside Total Fucking Destruction. The group travelled to Europe and even stayed in the Czech Republic for several months. Whoami proved to be the last full-length CD for the band although several split releases kept coming. Christo and Mark had become estranged and were not speaking. Moreover, Christo reported being arrested by German police as he was illegally entering that country from the Czech Republic.

Groinchurn reunited to open for Sepultura on a South African tour in 2014. A bigger surprise was that Christo climbed the stage ill and in pain. Rules of the metal scene are no different in South Africa as they are elsewhere in the world and the act returned in 2019 and issued a single called Change Is Change. Sergio was unavailable and a drummer called Emil played live for Groinchurn.

Played at

GIGLIST