Pain Killer, formed in 1991, includes John Zorn (b. 1953, New York, NY) on alto sax, Bill Laswell (b. 1950) on bass, and onetime Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris. Zorn is a well-known bebop and free jazz artist, while Laswell has played free jazz with several groups and produced albums for jazz, metal, alternative, and pop artists; both are very active on the New York City avant-garde jazz scene. Pain Killer grew out of Zorn's admiration for death-metal/grindcore groups like Napalm Death, whom he praised as having the same intensity as 1960s free jazz; the music is a unique and challenging hybrid of the two. ~ Steve Huey