His steely chords will be sorely missed. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2...tial-guitarist-with-killing-joke-dies-aged-64 Kevin ‘Geordie’ Walker, influential guitarist with Killing Joke, dies aged 64 Guitarist celebrated by Jimmy Page and Kevin Shields for his intense, multi-layered sound suffered a stroke over the weekend Kevin “Geordie” Walker, guitarist with industrial band Killing Joke whose ringing, richly textured tone influenced generations of musicians, has died aged 64. The band wrote in a statement on Sunday: “It is with extreme sadness we confirm that at 6.30am on 26th November 2023 in Prague, Killing Joke’s legendary guitarist Kevin ‘Geordie’ Walker passed away after suffering a stroke, he was surrounded by family. We are devastated. Rest In Peace brother.” With a beautifully multi-layered guitar sound that pointed the way to the shoegaze scene, and which also took in the spiky urgency of punk, the acute melody of pop and the crushing weight of heavy metal, Walker was – alongside frontman Jaz Coleman – the only consistent member of Killing Joke since the band’s formation in 1978. Born in County Durham in 1958 and schooled in Buckinghamshire, where he acquired his “Geordie” nickname, Walker initially responded to an ad Coleman had placed in the music press. “This guy kept calling saying ‘Hi, I’ve never been in a band before, I’ve only ever played in my mum’s bedroom, but I’m the best guitarist ever’,” Coleman later said. “I couldn’t get rid of him … He comes in for a cuppa and spots my fishing rods, so we have a conversation about fishing for six hours. After which he announced that he had nowhere to live so I said he could stay with me. Geordie moved in three weeks before I actually heard him play. When he did it was like a fire from heaven.” Killing Joke in 1982 (from left) Jaz Coleman, Paul Raven, Big Paul Ferguson and Geordie Walker. Photograph: David Corio/Redferns The quartet released their seething self-titled debut album in 1980, which cracked the UK Top 40. Coleman decamped to Iceland and Walker soon followed him, with Coleman claiming the pair worked as hashish dealers (“we were on to a good thing – I got a grand piano out of it”, Coleman said). The pair returned to London and after finessing a more commercial sound had their biggest success in 1985 with the gold-certified No 11 hit Night Time, featuring the Top 20 single Love Like Blood. Walker situated his sound around a Gibson ES-295 hollow body electric guitar, saying: “When you find something that you express yourself through the best – something that is completely your sound – why would you use anything else?” In a brief early-90s hiatus, Walker formed the industrial rock supergroup Murder, Inc, and Steve Albini recorded their debut album in 1992. Walker also auditioned for Faith No More, with their bassist Billy Gould later saying: “His personality is so strong that he dwarfed us. For Faith No More, it wasn’t the right thing but I wish it would have been.” Come the mid-1990s, Killing Joke were back together and chimed with the pop-industrial sound they had come to inspire, and their 1994 album Pandemonium returned them to the UK Top 20. They went on hiatus again after 1996’s Democracy, when Walker formed another new outfit, the Damage Manual, which featured Jah Wobble. Another Killing Joke re-formation came in 2003, with a self-titled album featuring longtime fan Dave Grohl on drums; similarities have long been noted between the riffs on Killing Joke’s Eighties and Nirvana’s Come As You Are. Other admirers included Metallica, who covered The Wait; Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, who called Walker’s guitar sound “really, really strong … really intense”; and Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine, who cited Walker as a key influence in a 2013 Guardian interview, heralding “this effortless playing producing a monstrous sound”. The original Killing Joke lineup recombined in 2007 and continued to perform, with their most recent album being 2015’s Pylon, another Top 20 hit. Reflecting in 2013 on what made the band so potent, Walker said: “When we started making records, playing gigs wasn’t that much different. You’d rehearse, you wrote the songs, you mic’d it up and you played it! And now if you’re not careful, you might not even see the ******* drummer and the maker of the ******* record. It’s all bits of this, cut-and-paste. It can sound impressive on first listen but after subsequent listens, it’s lacking human imperfection. The imperfection is what makes it magical somehow.” Tim Burgess of the Charlatans was among those paying tribute saying: “His guitar sound defined my youth.” Acclaimed illustrator Daniel Danger said Walker’s guitar sound evoked “the power of all endless worlds across all endless time dancing at once, an earthquake deeper than the combined existence of everything”.
Guitar like a chainsaw. A band I saw many times, first back in 1980. Some great tunes, compelling artistic sense and a great vibe. First two albums terrific. I did see them a couple of years ago and thought they had not moved on, in fact had become a bit of a dirge, but maybe that was me. RIP Geordie.
The First Side of Revelations is also cracking, the second side not so. Also, a big fan of Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions and like tracks off the other albums, some of which are stonking. However, I concur that the most recent ouput has found a particular trough which they continue to plough. I suspect Jaz's voice, often electronically distorted, can only manage this current style. Only got into them when I was a student around the time Night Time and Love Like Blood Came Out. Saw them live the following tour At the Hammersmith Palais in 1986 and they were excellent, so bloody loud. In 2003, when they re-formed following another acrimonious split, and were about to release their second eponymous album and also do an extensive Tour, saw them at the Roadmender in Nothampton, in one of the loudest gigs I've ever experienced, I was writing for a music/film/alternative culture website and posted an article about the band. To spice it up I mentioned every outlandish rumour and anecdote I had read about, to justify their reputation as complete nutters, including: fleeing to Iceland from the impending apocalypse during the early eighties; lighting large bonfires inside gig venues; capturing a music critic, strapping him to the PA, and carrying out a soundcheck through him; bassist Youth's bad acid trip resulting in him withdrawing all his money from a bank, then proceeding to burn it outside in front of astonished onlookers; frontman Jaz Coleman allegedly hiring an assassin to bump off an "enemy" at a record company, only to call it off at the last minute, attributing this rush of madness to a nervous breakdown. Oh, and how about entering a music paper editor's office and chucking maggot infested meat at him! I then received an e-mail from the Band's former (first) manager confirming the incidents, providing details and context such as with the maggot incident. Evidently, said journo, after writing a bad review, made himself unavailable when Jaz went round to see him personally. He then chucked the stuff over a receptionist who did not react well, Coleman left building in a hurry and initially claimed it was a 'fan', until the stink went away. Said music paper never mentioned them again. Some additional info was also provided and that along with those other details, I am unable to repeat here. Suffice to say it was quite eye opening and didn't paint the band in a good light. Last time I saw them was in Cambridge during the Hosanna's Tour, where they impressively managed to change the Bass drum mid-song, after it had been battered into submission. Bandcamp is currently freely streaming The Deluxe version of Hosannas From The Basements Of Hell: https://killingjoke.bandcamp.com/album/hosannas-from-the-basements-of-hell-deluxe A live recording from last year: https://killingjokelhn.bandcamp.com/album/honour-the-fire-live And a recentish offering from a Glasgow gig: https://punk4rt.bandcamp.com/album/killing-joke-40th-anniversary-glasgow The very eyebrow levitating The Death and Resurrection Show (2020) Killing Joke doc is here: The only time the manager mentioned above crops up is regarding an anecdote about phoning him up from Iceland and trying to bump him off with some sort of sonic device.
Interesting details! I am a bit dubious of Jaz and his whole schtick. However, I heard I am the Virus for the first time around the end of 2021 or start of 2022 and I thought ‘wow’ they’ve distilled the anti-vax, conspiracist, Qanon, Twitter rage into one thrilling, if uncomfortable moment. Then I saw it was from 2016 and so feels like it was prescient. One for @hartvix
Did he go for the chicken or the mystery meat Lasagne? Did he try and blag 2 glasses of wine to help wash it down?
Well, now you're asking, both. Did either snag the last one? Was there an in-flight communal film? Was it as bad as National Treasure: Book of Secrets, which myself and a colleague had to endure on an internal flight to Chicago. We were the only Brits it seemed as our gaffawing, cliche groaning, and pointed cultural criticisms attested.
Sadly my Dad passed away almost 30 years ago, so I am unable to answer these questions. What passed between them will forever remain a mystery, unless you can get Jaz to open up on the issue.
Sorry to hear that. I'm sure Jaz has many medium friends, probably talks to the spirits in his spare time. Mind he is a shy, retiring, modest fellow. Here is his acceptance speech as he receives his Honorary Doctorate in Music from the University of Gloucester from his own dedicated YouTube Channel. Well, who else is going to put it up. His brother is/was a rocket scientist at NASA, a genuine Doctorate. The superego doesn't like being upstaged.
Dear Lord, they must have had to crowbar his big head in through the door. Universities need a thorough kick up the arse for this pomposity.
Having watched the video, I’m changing that to the sax player from the Muppets crossed with Colonel Gaddaffi.
