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Killing Joke  

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Though Killing Joke never entered the mainstream, their influence on alternative music and pop culture can not be stressed enough. The band is most notably recognized as a key figure in the English post-punk movement; however, their gloom ridden style helped pave the way for goth and industrial music.

The band formed in Notting Hill, London, England around the late 70s. The group was initially started by drummer Paul Ferguson and singer Jaz Coleman. They were briefly in a band together led by Mataya Clifford, but left to form their own group. Ferguson and Coleman put up flyers around town to recruit new members for their project and eventually got responses from bass player Martin Glover and ex-Rage guitarist Kevin Walker. Not long after the group’s formation they established their own record label Malicious Damage with Mike Coles, who provided the graphic art.

They released their first EP “Turn Red” on 26 October 1979, which racked up quite a bit of attention before it was even put on the shelf. Influential critic/DJ John Peel was impressed with the group’s EP and frequently played it on his radio station. The band’s reputation further grew with John Lyndon’s supportive statement in the new NME publication. With all the positive attention the band was receiving Island Records signed a contract with the band and re-released their first EP.

The band’s early releases channeled the primitivism of punk rock, but dressed it up with eccentric electronic sounds. Their first self-titled full length release ventured into dark sludge rock territories and extreme metal tendencies. It was their first recording to be released through the E.G. label and was moderately successful on the charts, reaching No. 39 in the UK.

The band’s eclectic display of musical ideas appealed to many different crowds, including the metal and punk scene. With their more upbeat, but nevertheless warped songs like “Psyche” and “Follow the Leader” they even gained the interest of disco fiends. Their second album “What’s THIS For....!” went in an even more abrasive direction. The band’s third album “Revelations” was released in 1982 and entered the UK charts at No. 12.

During this time lead singer Coleman became infatuated with the occult and the teachings of Aleister Crowley. He believed that the Apocalypse was coming soon and convinced bandmate Walker to come to Iceland with him to escape it. Youth joined them slightly after. The members formed the project Niceland with some of the musicians from the group Þeyr; however Youth was not convinced that the Apocalypse was coming and joined Ferguson back in England to form the band Brilliant. Ferguson left Brilliant to rejoin the Killing Joke in Iceland and the members of Þeyr went on to form KUKL and eventually the Sugarcubes with lead singer Bjork.

The Killing Joke moved back to England and began recording and touring again. In 1983 they put out their fourth LP “Fire Dance”, which exhibited a more artistic and softer tone than their previous albums. The band continued to release albums in this vein; however, they consequently lost touch with their formative fans. Coleman wanted to make a solo album in 1987, but with pressure ensuing from his label he released it under the name of Killing Joke in hopes of selling more copies. Despite efforts to have other members of the band perform on the album; Coleman, was the only member of the group featured on this release. Unsurprisingly it featured a stylistically different sound, built largely around keyboard leads.

Killing Joke went back to their earlier sound in the 90s and also toured more frequently. The group was back on track with the release of 1994’s “Pandemonium” and 1996’s “Democracy”. Both albums were praised by critics and fans alike. After the “Democracy” tour Jaz Coleman and Martin Glover began crafting heavily orchestrated rock albums in the style of Pink Floyd and the Doors. These releases were also very well regarded critically.

Killing Joke put out their follow up to “Democracy” 7 years later. Their second self-titled album was their first to feature Nirvana/Foo Fighter member Dave Grohl and was also their first to be produced by Andy Gil of Gang of Four.

Killing Joke has since gone on to release “Absolute Dissent” in 2010 and “MMXII” in 2012. They have toured extensively throughout the 2000s and in 2008 they toured with all the original lineup.

Killing Joke has influenced a countless number of artists ranging from industrial troopers like Ministry and Marilyn Manson, heavy metal giants such as Metallica, alternative rock superstars like Nirvana and Soundgarden, and even ambient house groups like the Orb (frontman Alex Paterson was once a roadie for the band).

Live reviews

As alignment of the planets go, this one was pretty unlikely! The chances of Killing Joke (*****) and me both being in Glasgow at the same were pretty far-fetched a few months ago ( I live and work in the USA), but here we were, together again, at the O2ABC Glasgow.

The crowd was bigger than the last time and the performance seemed much better. I have lost count of the times I have seen the band over the years but this was definitely one of the better shows.

In these days of pyrotechnics, flying pigs, numerous guitar and costume changes it is somewhat reassuring to see Geordie stick with the same guitar the entire set (looked like the same one as he used the first time I saw them in 1978!) and Jaz keep the same outfit on!

Surprisingly there was no support, just 90+ minutes of KJ.

The songs were, predictably, mostly from early in the bands career and five culled from new disc, with not a lot in between, which is my main gripe. Some of the songs they have done in recent years have been amongst their best, but they seem to lack the courage to play then live. Oh to hear Gratitude, Invocation, On a hallows eve, or Fema Camp.

Having bought a ticket for this gig from the USA, fate has scheduled another even less likely planetary alignment for 22nd January 2016, Killing Joke and yours truly will both be in Austin at the same time!! Not only will the planets be aligning but a few stars have been thrown in for good measure, one of the support acts is the Soft Moon, my fave band from SXSW 2013.

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Have been my favourite band for 37 years. Seen them live on many occasions and they always put on a good show and have always been 'tight'. The first time was at Night Moves in Glasgow when I was still at school and had the pleasure meeting Jaz - coming into the audience afterwards, signed my t-shirt and to me and my mate back stage to meet the band.

Was really looking forward to seeing them at the Barras and its legendary acoustics, after the last show was interrupted by a power cut at the ABC.

They are so good it is easy to ignore the pensioners and high concentration of fat/old/baldy men - I match a few of those criteria. So disappointed. Everything, apart from the vocals, was drowned out by the bass guitar. Was a dull and flabby blanket muffling the other instrument. Drums sounded miles away and the guitar (which define the unique sound of the band IMHO) were barely audible. Some songs that I known and loved since I was 16, were barely recognisable.

Maybe this is a one off. If not, and I hate to say it, but perhaps it is time to throw in the towel.

Saw the Prodigy the previous week, and they really know how to make a good sound - and that was in a shed (SEC Glasgow).

Killing Joke kicked-off the second part of their glorious 40th anniversary tour to a sold-out show at Le Poisson Rouge in NYC. The venue was great because the stage was low and there was no separation between the fans and the band. We were so close that we spoke with the keyboardist Roi Robertson (who was very friendly). The set-list would satisfy fans of every era of their body of work, going back to their first album with Wardance, The Wait and Psyche to Autonomous Zone from 2015's Pylon. They were tight--the sound was excellent and the dramatic movements of Jaz Coleman emphasized the message that the lyrics conveyed. Geordie's guitar was as smooth and fierce-sounding as ever and Youth's bass punctuated and complemented the rhythm of Big Paul Ferguson attacking the drums. Psyche was particularly special as Big Paul Ferguson and Youth both sang. The encore was particularly satisfying with "The Death and Resurrection Show". Despite thinking nothing could top such a tremendous performance, we stuck around after the crowd left and actually met and spoke with Big Paul Ferguson AND Jaz Coleman! Killing Joke--a show not to be missed.

Thinking of going to a Killing Joke gig? Well it’s time to get the eyeliner out and release your inner punk! These gigs are not for the faint-hearted, but for the intense rock fan that wants to be immersed in the dark, dangerous atmosphere that follows the band.

Front man Jaz Coleman commands the stage with a presence like no other, an air of mystery and a purpose bigger than just playing music fills the room. Most memorably, their gig at the Roundhouse in 2012 was indeed a moment that will not be forgotten. Crowd favourite ‘European Super State’, dubbed by many one of the best pieces of ‘death disco’ ever written, receives an ear-piercing roar as everyone lifts their hands to clap in time with the bass line.

Plagued by controversy the band may not have had as much commercial success as their peers but they are said to have paved the way for bands such as Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden, to have a lasting effect on modern rock music. And they sure know how to put on an incredible live show, and once you have experienced one, you will never want to miss out!

The concert venue was nice. If last night’s show was your first opportunity to see Killing Joke live it was probably entertaining. I think I realized that there really is a time when a band should consider not performing live anymore. That time was when I watched Jazz Coleman, after the third song stagger over to the speakers brace himself head down while he took a sip of water. He then paused for a few seconds hand gripping the speaker to gather himself. Finally turning back to face the crowd staggering forward he began a rant that his country was considered third world, then he got back to the grind. It didn't appear that he was intoxicated (the roadie lit incense just before the show started to set the tone) just that it was all a bit too much. Hopefully the show in Brooklyn will be more energetic.

What a grand pleasure it was to see an iconic band such as Killing Joke. 40 years in the business and still a personal favorite of mine. Being able to hear the classics was superbly appreciated and awesome. I would have liked to hear a few if the newer songs but they kept it old school and still shined. For me the highlight was hearing "The Wait" by the original band of Killing Joke and not the cover by Metallica. Although a great cover, you can never get the true gritty feel of the original that K.J. can deliver. Bucket list has a new check...in bold, highlighted and coveted. If you ever want to see them live, start planning a trip to the UK because the chance of seeing them live in the U.S. again is highly doubtful.

Columbus, Ohio's Skully's is a great venue; however, I think the bands could have done a bigger venue. PIG opened up with a brutal set of harsh industrial and also played two old KMFDM songs. Raymond Watts is a great musician and was signing, taking pictures, and chatting with the fans after the show. Very personable and approachable guy. I was very impressed by his humbleness and friendly interaction with everyone. Killing Joke absolutely killed it with a brutal set of songs from all their albums. Their stage persona is still highly engaging and full of energy. Amazing show.

Really a great show! I'd never seen KJ in concert before and they didn't disappoint. The band was playing great, Jaz was doing his odd dance/march and singing in his usual way, talking to the audience a bit between songs. I managed to get right in front of them for the hour and half they played. KJ covered a good range of songs from Wardance to newer stuff. It was awesome! Best show I've ever been to, closest I've ever been to a headlining band!

Killing Joke more relevant than ever in an age of greed and inhumanity, a voice of dissent that says NO! you don't have to follow this path. The thinking man's band that have dabbled with musical styles and forged them into conscious songs that encourage the listener not only to think but to act - framed by a colossal unique wall of guitar. Challenging, inspirational and not for the faint of heart.

They seem to be getting better with age without losing any of their edge. The sound was awesome, best yet. Jaz was as animated and intimidating as ever.

It's a great venue and a great crowd. Despite the mean average age getting higher, it was still a mixed bag of young and old who manage to mosh away to a great playlist.

I just wish I could see them again on this tour...

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• London (69)
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Killing Joke at 40: Why These Trailblazing Veterans Are Still in Their Prime

By Hank Shteamer

Hank Shteamer

A little after 10pm on Wednesday, Killing Joke frontman Jaz Coleman was stomping around the stage of New York’s Irving Plaza, bellowing out the band’s brutish 2003 industrial-metal anthem “Loose Cannon,” which as he told the crowd beforehand, was inspired by a period when excessive drinking sent him off the rails. “I’m an urban animal!” the 58-year-old shouted. “One step from a cannibal.”

Like so much of the show — from dreadlocked, raggedly dressed bassist Martin “Youth” Glover reminding the crowd of his days spent spinning records   at bygone NYC nightspots like Twilo and Tunnel, to the Eighties-goth-night attire favored by a certain sector of the audience   — Coleman’s display could have come off as tired, or even a little corny, given that he’s been playing this role since the late Seventies. But instead, Killing Joke’s 90-minute set, part of the deeply influential London band’s ongoing tour to mark 40 years since it formed , felt brisk, urgent, even celebratory, the work of an outfit that’s thriving rather than going through the motions.

The ever-unpredictable Coleman deserves plenty of credit for that. With his shoulder-length black hair, craggy features and long black coat, he looks a little like Gabriel Byrne playing the part of a spooky undertaker. Around half the time he’s onstage, he’s playing up that dark image by grimacing, convulsing in time with the music or fixing the audience with wide-eyed horror-villain stares. But at other moments, as hinted at by the band’s name (which Coleman has said alludes to “the laughter that overcomes all fear”), he’s projecting pure joy: beaming, shimmying in stiff, endearingly dad-like fashion or telling the crowd how good it is to see them again. There’s duality in his vocals too: He’s equally convincing whether he’s crooning a supple melodic postpunk tune in the vein of 1985 Top 20 U.K. hit “Love Like Blood,” which opened Wednesday’s show, or roaring his way through a breakneck riff workout from the band’s later era like “Asteroid.”

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It doesn’t hurt that he’s got an incredibly tight, efficient band behind him. The version of Killing Joke that’s currently on the road — Coleman, sometime Paul McCartney collaborator Glover, guitarist Geordie Walker and drummer “Big” Paul Ferguson — is the original lineup, which appeared on their first three albums in the late Seventies and early Eighties and reunited in 2008 after a lengthy period of shuffling lineups and a six-year break from ’96 to 2002. Their long history together shows. The grinding, hypnotic groove the musicians established on their self-titled 1980 debut, a blend of Walker’s brittle, rusty-wire riffs, Glover’s relentless bass throb and Ferguson’s machine-like, tom-tom-heavy beats, only sounds more insistent in 2018.

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Several Killing Joke tracks stood out as highlights of Wednesday’s set, from tribal-punk crusher “The Wait” ( covered by Metallica in ’87) to the danceable, downtempo “Requiem.” But it says a lot about the consistency of the band’s output over the years that there was no drop-off in intensity when they drew on their later catalog. Some of the wildest moments in the set came during the eerily driving “New Cold War,” from 2015’s Pylon (named by Rolling Stone as one of the best metal albums of that year ), and the frenetic “Corporate Elect,” off 2012’s MMXII .

The set zig-zagged across the catalog, showing just how many styles this band has attempted and mastered in its four decades, and how much their legacy has been mined by later artists. Balloons bounced over the crowd during peppy postpunk fist-pumper “Eighties,” the direct inspiration for Nirvana’s “Come as You Are.” And the skillful combination of sleek synths, courtesy of auxiliary member Roi Robertson, and harsh vocals on songs like “Butcher” pointed directly to bands like Nine Inch Nails, whose Trent Reznor has cited Killing Joke as an influence and even remixed one of their songs.

But as Wednesday’s set proved, Killing Joke are much more than your favorite band’s favorite band. To their fans, who were out in force for the sold-out show, singing along, moshing or dancing furiously as the moment demanded, they’re an institution. “This is a place of freedom,” Coleman told the crowd before the Pylon dance-metal rager “Autonomous Zone.” He was referring to the show itself but he could have been speaking about the niche that Killing Joke have carved out during the past four decades, a weird little world out of sight of the mainstream. It’s a space where diverse musical styles clash, where menace presses up against mirth and where these four veteran loose cannons will keep sounding off for as long as they damn well feel like it.

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KILLING JOKE Announces 'Laugh At Your Peril' 40th-Anniversary World Tour

KILLING JOKE will embark on a 40th-anniversary world tour, "Laugh At Your Peril" , in the fall. The band will kick off the trek in the United States at the Studio Seven in Seattle on Saturday, September 1 before heading into mainland Europe. This run of 45 shows concludes at the Roundhouse in London on Saturday, November 17.

To celebrate this extensive and ambitious tour, KILLING JOKE has announced the release of a career-spanning, strictly limited-edition flight case, which includes 16 colored double vinyls, a set of headphones, a signed lyric book and assorted pieces of art. The collection will also be available on CD.

"Forty years ago this summer I met Big Paul . One year later, we released our first EP," says frontman Jaz Coleman . "Our 40th-anniversary celebrations will therefore be stretched over two years and begin with a world tour, parties and talks by Youth and myself, a new magnum opus by KILLING JOKE , who is, after all this time, recognized as one of the most innovative and influential bands of all time. Love is the law. Let the festivities begin!"

"Forty years in the wilderness... Thought that was supposed to be 40 days," adds bassist Youth . "As Jaz reminds me, 'Survival is success,' and although the band have never been fiscally fat commercially, it has allowed us to have incredible lives, both individually and collectively, and we have created a very rich wealth of uncompromising music. It's a legacy that spans four decades… 40 years of spine-tingling, uncompromising beautiful noise. The band continue to inspire and bludgeon down the bullshit in the world into a white-hot, blast furnace dub of unrelenting passion, a roller-coaster, white-knuckle punch in the face of beautiful agony/reality and timeless cosmic joy and soul.

"To commit to the creative beauty and vision you have as an artist is an almost perverse way to live a life and the cost and consequences are immense... yet this is how we inform ourselves as a society of what is real and important in a world of fake news and fake emotions. Like Shiva dancing the world into existence, we are all simultaneously destroying and creating every moment of our reality. It is not through politics that the world is changed but through art. Art alone can tell us who we really are — emotionally, intellectually and physically — far better than anything else. That is why we have committed so much, for so long to this one idea... KILLING JOKE . Thanks to all the fans and gatherers that have supported and joined us in this endless quest."

"Laugh At Your Peril" world tour dates 2018

Sep. 01 - Studio Seven - Seattle, WA Sep. 02 - Star Theater - Portland, OR Sep. 04 - DNA Lounge - San Francisco, CA Sep. 05 - Regent Theater - Los Angeles, CA Sep. 07 - Oriental Theater - Denver, CO Sep. 09 - Skully's Music Diner - Columbus, OH Sep. 10 - Soundstage - Baltimore, MD Sep. 11 - The Paradise - Boston, MA Sep. 12 - Irving Plaza - New York, NY Sep. 17 - Granada Theater - Dallas, TX Sep. 18 - The Mohawk - Austin, TX Sep. 19 - Warehouse Live - Houston, TX Sep. 21 - Lunario del Auditorio Nacional - Mexico City, Mexico Sep. 23 - Carioca Club - Sao Paolo, Brasil Sep. 24 - Roxy Live - Buenos Aires, Argentina Sep. 27 - Blondie - Santiago, Chile Sep. 29 - Cocos - Lima, Peru Oct. 15 - Markthalle - Hamburg, Germany Oct. 16 - Neue Theaterfabrik - Munich, Germany Oct. 17 - E-Werk (Erlangen) - Hamburg, Germany Oct. 19 - Huxleys - Berlin, Germany Oct. 20 - Stodola - Warsaw, Poland Oct. 21 - The Roxy - Prague, Czech Republic Oct. 22 - Bratislava - Majestic Music Club, Slovakia Oct. 23 - Durer Kert - Budapest, Hungary Oct. 25 - Campus Industry - Parma, Italy Oct. 26 - L'Usine / PTR - Geneva, Switzerland Oct. 27 - Cabaret Sauvage - Paris, France Oct. 28 - Live Music Hall - Cologne, Germany Oct. 30 - Da Roma - Antwerp, Belgium Oct. 31 - Melkweg - Amsterdam, Netherlands Nov. 02 - Rock City - Nottingham, UK Nov. 03 - O2 Academy - Leeds, UK Nov. 04 - Northumbria University - Newcastle, UK Nov. 06 - Barrowland - Glasgow, UK Nov. 07 - Manchester Academy - Manchester, UK Nov. 09 - The Institute (The O2) - Birmingham, UK Nov. 10 - O2 Academy - Bristol, UK Nov. 11 - Guildhall - Southampton, UK Nov. 13 - Corn Exchange - Cambridge, UK Nov. 14 - UEA - Norwich, UK Nov. 16 - O2 Academy - Oxford, UK Nov. 17 - Roundhouse - London, UK

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Sick new world, latest setlist, killing joke on march 12, 2023.

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Geordie Walker, Guitarist of Killing Joke, Dead at 64

The influential guitarist reportedly died away after suffering a stroke.

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Killing Joke Unveil New Song "Full Spectrum Dominance": Stream

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As the world outside seems to get worse and worse, Jaz Coleman’s apocalyptic rantings seem more and more prescient.

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The Sex Pistols , arguably the great catalyzing force of UK’s punk scene, broke up in January 1978. Less than a year later, four young men from London’s Notting Hill neighborhood – singer Jaz Coleman, guitarist Geordie Walker, bassist Martin “Youth” Glover, and drummer Paul Ferguson – formed Killing Joke . The band made its debut on vinyl in October 1979 with the three-song Turn To Red EP, with its self-titled album following one year later .

Killing Joke were immediately different from their predecessors, far less interested in the “rock and roll” verities still present in the music of The Pistols and The Clash . Their music blended deep bass with fiercely aggressive guitars and tribal drumming, almost like a dubbed-out version of the raw D-beat hardcore of Discharge, with sci-fi synth zaps creeping in at the margins. Coleman was a street preacher, ranting breathlessly about the apocalypse in a manner that traced its roots back to the psychedelic sci-fi roar of Hawkwind. Even their debut’s cover art displayed their end-of-days mindset; the stark black-and-white photo of seemingly feral children crawling up and over a wall pointed to a decidedly dark future for England. It was hard to tell whether the band intended it as a warning or a celebration.

Listen to the best Killing Joke tracks on Apple Music and Spotify .

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The band released three albums and a scorching live EP in three years, gradually shifting their sound toward a dark, almost romantic goth rock, while the electronic elements hinted toward the industrial acts that would follow in their wake. When Youth was replaced by Paul Raven in 1982, it signaled a move toward greater accessibility. On parts of Fire Dances , they sounded like an angrier Adam and the Ants. As the ’80s rolled on, though, the band seemingly lost their way.

In 1990, they surveyed the landscape, saw who had taken up their mantle (Ministry, and Metallica with a cover of “The Wake”), and reemerged with the titanic, roaring Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions . On that album and its follow-up, 1994’s Pandemonium , they showed the youngsters how it was done, exploding with righteous rage and a post-industrial roar. But it couldn’t last, and 1996’s Democracy was both another creative falling-off and the beginning of another hiatus.

This hiatus lasted nearly seven years, but it ended with a bang. Since returning in 2003 with a self-titled album featuring Dave Grohl on drums, Killing Joke have been on a creative hot streak. Their music has maintained the feverish intensity of the old days (and since 2010, they’ve been back to their original lineup) while embracing enough modern touches to keep them creatively relevant. And, as the world outside seems to get worse and worse, Jaz Coleman’s apocalyptic rantings seem more and more prescient and tuned-in.

The list below will take you from the first Killing Joke tracks to their most recent work, so gather around the fire.

The initial explosion

Killing Joke’s debut track, “Turn To Red,” was very different from what came after. It began with a throbbing, trance-like bassline and skittering cymbals, the guitar thin and piercing at the margins, Coleman’s lyrics chopped off and swallowed up by echo. It was ominous and stark – a warning you could dance to. “Wardance,” the first single from their self-titled album, begins with an electronically modulated cough, followed by a scratching guitar and a massive, tribal beat. Coleman’s voice is electronically warped throughout, sounding almost like a Dalek, and the background vocals are a martial shout from the back of the room. Killing Joke opens with the crawling, dirgelike “Requiem,” the kind of thing most bands would close an album with. A one-finger synth melody is the through-line, with Geordie Walker and Paul Ferguson building a scaffolding of noise guitar and death-march drums around Coleman.

When Metallica covered “The Wait” on The $5.98 EP – Garage Days Re-Revisited , it felt like a relic from the distant past, the kind of song that had simply always existed. But it was only seven years old and managed to prefigure both U2 (the ringing chorus guitar) and Metallica (its grinding main riff and jackhammer beat).

The early 80s

When you come out of the gate as strongly as Killing Joke did, the follow-up album has to be something fierce. “The Fall of Because,” which opened 1981’s What’s This For…! , featured Ferguson’s tribal drumming and Walker’s scraped-nerve guitar, but Coleman’s vocals were more incantatory than hectoring.

The single “Follow the Leaders” was a foot-stomping track, a pulsing sequencer line, and Youth’s thick bass line giving it an almost Giorgio Moroder-esque dancefloor energy. Ferguson erupts repeatedly in massive, tumbling outbursts like he’s playing standing up. The chorus is another chant-along.

On 1982’s Revelations , the established Killing Joke sound got an early 80s polish. The guitars and drums were a thunderous roar, Coleman’s vocals a lightly distorted wail, more like John Lydon than ever before. “Empire Song,” the first booming single, sounded as if the band was playing in a cave. The band’s fourth album marked the debut of new bassist Paul Raven. The single “Let’s All Go (to the Fire Dances)” was classic Killing Joke, but the video showed them conforming (slightly) to the times, with the three instrumentalists sporting rockabilly-ish clothes and hair, while Coleman painted his face like a demented – and frightening – circus ringmaster.

The mid-’80s

Killing Joke returned in 1985 with Night Time . You don’t have to listen all too closely to “Eighties,” the first single, to hear Nirvana’s inspiration for “Come As You Are.” (N.B.: A Damned song from 1982, “Life Goes On,” has basically the same melody.) “Eighties” abandons Killing Joke’s then-standard tribal rhythms for a pounding hardcore beat, as Coleman shouts about capitalism.

“Love Like Blood,” also from Night Time , is one of the rare Killing Joke track that sounds like they’ve been listening to other bands. Between the crooned vocals, the bouncing, throbbing bassline, and Walker’s guitar echoing from a distance, it’s remarkably Cure-ish. On 1986’s Brighter Than a Thousand Suns , Killing Joke’s label took the drastic step of remixing virtually all the songs to increase their commercial potential. The result was not well received by the band or their fans. When the album was reissued in 2008, they insisted on restoring the original mixes. Songs like “Adorations” had a Gothic romanticism far from the band’s grimy, bellowing origins anyhow.

“Sanity,” the second single from Brighter Than a Thousand Suns , is even more reined-in and mid-’80s than “Adorations”; it could have appeared on the soundtrack to a John Hughes movie. Still, Coleman’s innate intensity comes through. You can practically hear his eyes bulging as he sings.

The 80s ended badly for Killing Joke. The Pauls, Raven, and Ferguson, quit the band during the making of what became Outside the Gate . Coleman and Walker hired drummer Martin Atkins, formerly of Public Image Ltd. After working with bassist Dave “Taif” Ball for a tour, they brought Paul Raven back in. The result was Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions , an album that added a Ministry-esque industrial edge to their pounding post-punk style. The first single, “Money Is Not Our God,” was as wild-eyed and shouty a “we’re back” statement as anyone could ask for. Its follow-up, “Age of Greed,” hammered the theme home even more aggressively, opening with a hilariously over-the-top commercial for meat.

Four years later, Raven was gone again, but Youth was back. Pandemonium , the band’s heaviest album, was released on his Butterfly label. It combined post-punk, metal and Arabic music, effectively creating a 21st century equivalent of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” on first single “Millennium.” The follow-up, 1996’s Democracy , was another band-fracturing effort. Softer than anything before (it even had acoustic guitars!), it earned mixed reviews. After a short tour, Killing Joke split up again. They wouldn’t reunite for six years.

The comeback

When Killing Joke returned again in 2003, they had a secret weapon. They’d planned to use three different drummers for their second self-titled album. But when they heard Dave Grohl’s contributions, he got the whole thing to himself. His thunderous beat underpins their best, most aggressive work since at least 1990. “The Death and Resurrection Show” is a ritualistic incantation that launches the album, and will fuel the most intense workout of your life (if you let it). In 2006, the band released an even heavier album, the monstrous Hosannas From the Basements of Hell . Coleman’s performance on the title track was absolutely ravenous and unhinged, which the terrifying video reflected. This was bassist Paul Raven’s final album with the band; he died suddenly in 2007.

Coleman and Walker – the only two members to appear on every Killing Joke record – reunited the original lineup in 2010, bringing bassist Youth and drummer Paul Ferguson back into the fold for the first time in almost three decades. The title track from Absolute Dissent had all the death-disco fury of their classic early 80s albums, with Coleman’s enraged-gorilla roar making the music even more cathartic.

Killing Joke have always engaged the present moment, while simultaneously keeping an eye on the future. Sometimes that can prove to be a little bit chilling, like when you listen to “I Am The Virus” from 2015’s Pylon . It begins: “Death, misery and tears/Calculated waves of fear/Drawn up by think tanks/There’s a darkness in the West.” This is not a band that lets you off easy.

Think we’ve missed one of Killing Joke’s best tracks? Let us know in the comments section below.

Danny Stamper

July 24, 2021 at 8:32 pm

You totally left out MMXII. “In Cythera” and “Primobile” are two excellent tracks.

Goober McBrandon

January 2, 2024 at 5:00 pm

The BEST Killing joke song: Pssyche.

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Five things you didn't know about Killing Joke

A druid, a grand master, an art restorer and an ordained priest: meet post-punk legends, Killing Joke.

After almost four decades, influential post-punk rockers Killing Joke are still as sharp and angry as ever. Fiery new album ‘Pylon’ demonstrates their knack for mixing snarling industrial rock with smart, catchy hooks and frontman Jaz Coleman's biting lyrical observations, showing why they’ve influenced everyone from Metallica and My Bloody Valentine to Foo Fighters and LCD Soundsystem. There are enough bizarre stories about this truly wild band to fill the British Library , but as Coleman explains, ‘the truth of Killing Joke is usually weirder than the fictitious notions.’

1. Their ‘weirdest gig’ story trumps  everyone’s .

‘At the Reading Hexagon on February 1 1981, we played a gig with a fire-eater doing a fire ritual. It was sold out and the place was going crazy. All of a sudden, everything went into slow motion and absolute silence, like everyone in the audience was moving underwater. Then, like a wave, everything just crashed back into reality and the place was pogoing again. It was collective – the whole band experienced it. We’ve talked about it for 30 years, and I’ve written about it in-depth. Basically, we were on a magnetic field and it produced this very strange effect. I’ve studied it with people like Uri Geller and Jimmy Page, who had similar experiences.’

2. It was widely reported that members of the band moved to Iceland in the ’80s to escape the ‘impending’ apocalypse.

‘That was the official story. The truth was I wanted to put brakes on Killing Joke and do some other things. I undertook a process that [psychologist] Carl Jung called "individuation", where you lock yourself away and encounter your dark side or unconscious side, so you can really know who you are. The apocalypse thing was the cover story for Geordie [band guitarist Kevin Walker] and myself to keep everybody off our fucking backs!’

3. The apocalypse story may have been fake, but surveillance culture made Coleman leave the UK.

‘It’s shocking and unbelievable how far surveillance has come. There’s so little debate in the UK on the ethics of mass surveillance. For there to be bulk metadata, where details and secrets about individuals are recorded, is disgusting. I hate it and I will speak out against it for the rest of my days. I’m a citizen of New Zealand now and proud of it – I love the British sense of humour, I love the people in UK, but I can’t stand the weather and I can’t stand the politics.’

4.The band’s interests spread far wider than music...

‘In the band, we have a grand master, an ordained priest, a druid [bassist Martin ‘Youth’ Glover], one of the greatest art restorers in the world, and someone who works with David Rockefeller. And I’m a dowser [someone who uses divining sticks to find water] and a student of Rosicrucian history. It’s an unusual group! The principle of self-education and the punk ethos – having no fear of failure – has helped all of us to pursue anything we want.’

5. And their musical interests spread far wider than punk...

‘I went to East Germany, Hungary and Minsk to study orchestration with various masters. I compose and conduct – the United Nations Orchestra are giving me a mandate to form the United Nations Chamber Orchestra, which I’m hoping can do lots of concerts to raise money for various causes. I also have a two-year contract with the St Petersburg State Orchestra. The first time I conducted I only had an hour’s rehearsal, then I was onstage in front of a president. I was fucking terrified!'

‘Pylon’ is released on October 23.

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Killing Joke announce Honour The Fire UK tour

Killing Joke promise to "sonically destroy" the unwanted future on Honour The Fire UK tour in 2022

Post-punk icons Killing Joke have announced a UK tour for 2022. The 'Honour The Fire' tour will kick off at the Tramshed in Cardiff on March 28 and climax at London's Eventim Apollo on April 9, and it's shaping up to be quite something. 

"It is our privilege to Honour The Fire and celebrate the white heat purification by sound," says bassist Youth. "Join with us in a fearless leap through the sacred flames, into the unknown. Let’s create the future we all desire, by sonically destroying the one we don’t."  

"The fire in our hearts that has sustained and protected us for over 40 years, never goes out," confirms frontman Jaz Coleman .

Last year Coleman collaborated with British pie-makers Piecaramba! on ‘The Joker!', a jerk chicken, red pepper and chilli pie wrapped gluten free pastry. 

Piecaramba!'s stated aim is “to reinvent pie and mash, dragging it kicking and screaming into the 21st century”, but there's no news yet as to whether they'll produce a special tour edition of the treat to sell alongside the band's official merch.

Killing Joke Honour The Fire UK tour 2022

Mar 28: Cardiff Tramshed Mar 29: Nottingham Rock City Mar 31: Bristol O2 Academy Apr 01: Liverpool O2 Academy Apr 02: Birmingham O2 Institute Apr 04: Manchester Albert Hall Apr 05: Newcastle Boiler Shop Apr 06: Glasgow Barrowland Apr 08: Leeds O2 Academy Apr 09: London Eventim Apollo Hammersmith 

Tickets available from  www.myticket.co.uk  on Friday 25 June at 10am.

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Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.  

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‘One time, we achieved levitation’: Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman on magic, mysticism and mourning

In his first interview since the death of the influential band’s guitarist, Geordie Walker, the singer talks about their friendship, transhumanism and his fears that rogue AI will destroy the world

T here are many crazy stories about Jaz Coleman. There was the time he went missing and resurfaced living a nomadic existence in Western Sahara. He has claimed to have seen a UFO – actually seven orange orbs, one bearing the image of a stick man – in central London. Once, he was so annoyed by a Melody Maker review that he stormed into the magazine’s offices and dumped rotting liver and maggots over the reception desk. Today, though, video-calling from Argentina, he is reflective and emotional.

“I’m still in terrible shock,” says the 64-year-old from behind dark sunglasses in the South American daylight. “It’s been an incredibly difficult time for everybody around Killing Joke.” He is talking about the death of Kevin Walker, better known as Geordie. The hugely influential guitarist and band co-founder died in Prague in November , also aged 64, after a stroke.

Playing a semi-acoustic Gibson ES-295 – an instrument once used by Elvis Presley’s guitarist Scotty Moore – but downtuned a tone, with heavier strings and a delay effect, Walker gave the band’s post-punk-industrial-dance hybrid a beautiful intensity which Coleman once compared to “fire in heaven”. His mesmerising guitar-playing propelled numerous albums into the UK Top 20 and gave them a bona fide hit single with 1985’s Love Like Blood . Their admirers range from a younger industrial generation to Metallica and Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page. “Geordie was a national treasure,” says Coleman in his first interview since Walker’s death.

But he reveals that concerns about Walker’s health had mounted for some time. “A year ago, a doctor taking care of him said to me, ‘When it comes, it will come really fast. So I want you to brace yourself.’ Of course I didn’t take it to heart, because I thought Geordie was indestructible.”

This month Coleman embarks on a spoken word/Q&A tour, which he knows will now be overshadowed by his bandmate’s death. But there is one question he is not ready to answer: “I’m asking people not to ask about the future of Killing Joke , because I’m still in mourning.”

Walker had been Coleman’s “constant companion, at every single gig and recording” since 1978. Coleman and drummer Big Paul Ferguson had initially tried to complete the lineup by summoning bandmates in a black magic ritual, but the flat they held it in subsequently burned down. So they recruited Walker and bassist Martin Glover (AKA Youth, later a prolific record producer ) by the more conventional means of an advert in weekly music paper Melody Maker. “Geordie rang up and said ‘I’ve never been in a band before,’” says Coleman, allowing himself a tiny smile. “‘I’ve only ever played in my mum’s bedroom, but I’m the best guitarist ever.’”

The Cheltenham-born, classically trained Anglo-Asian singer and synth player, and the County Durham-born guitarist who was a Siouxsie and the Banshees fan, rarely agreed on music. But both were well-read and bonded over politics, philosophy and spirituality. “I’d had a considerable occult library since I was seven,” Coleman explains. “Geordie was a master Kabbalist” – a believer in esoteric Jewish mysticism. “We shared an interest in all that side of things.”

Thus, Walker accompanied Coleman on one of his most celebrated adventures. In 1982, Coleman turned up in Iceland, telling reporters he was fleeing the apocalypse, although his subsequent explanations have varied from studying ley lines to setting up a marijuana-running operation. “There’s an element of truth in all of them,” he grins, “but I went to Iceland because I wanted to find a part of me that was missing.”

As he tells it now, during a gig in Reading they’d had the “collective experience of playing in a magnetic field which meant everything slowed down around us”. Keen to further explore such geomagnetic energy, they went to Iceland to conduct ritual experiments in volcanic power centres. “Many crazy things happened,” the singer says. “One person working with us was struck by lightning twice and survived, and one time, from what I could see, we achieved levitation.”

Magically or otherwise, Coleman found his missing part in Iceland, and decided to start a parallel career as a composer (he says he now sells more classical albums than Killing Joke albums). And in more recent years Coleman and Walker had socialised less, after the former gave up drinking.

“Killing Joke has always been like a dysfunctional family,” he explains. “We all love each other deeply, and we’re periodically evil to each other. I had three vicious fights with Geordie. The last time we did so much damage to each other that we both ended up needing stitches. He was making the tea afterwards and went, ‘Do you think we’re drinking too much?’”

Shortly afterwards, in January 2006, Coleman made a vow to stop. “I have a 100% success rate with my system,” he says. “Because the solemn vow is that if you fall off the wagon, you invoke death.”

Coleman still has the empty tequila bottle which Walker drained during his final Killing Joke performance, at the Royal Albert Hall last March. He has filled it with flowers. “He would not stop drinking two bottles a day. He’d start two hours before a gig and as soon as he went to the loo, I’d half empty the bottle and refill it with water.” Coleman sighs, softly. “We’d been doing that for 20 years. I’ve got a vendetta against alcohol because ultimately it cut short the life of my friend.”

After Walker’s death, Coleman had to get out of Prague, where they’d both been living – he also has a farm in New Zealand, and is now drawn to the “creativity and chaos” in Argentina. However, he is disturbed that almost 60% of the population live in poverty and warns that the UK is headed the same way, blaming “the succession of governments culminating in the current prime minister, whose wealth in contrast to what people are suffering really is obscene. In the US, too, 80% of citizens are two paycheques away from homelessness.”

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Warning of impending global chaos or disaster has been Coleman’s stock in trade ever since the likes of 1979 debut single Turn to Red or 1980 classic Wardance. But if anything, his vision of the future is now even more dystopian. “The economic bubble is about to burst in ways we’ve never seen in our lifetimes,” he insists, predicting famine, warfare and a widening gulf between an elite and a growing underclass. The tensions between nations is another favourite subject. Having lived near the Ukraine border and worked with orchestras in Russia, he felt war brewing.

“People in Russia were always keen to talk to me about how as a nation they feel encircled,” he says. “But another reason I left Europe is because of the push towards conflicts and the lack of diplomacy everywhere. Like a lot of people, sometimes I simply cannot bear to watch the news. We spend more money on weapons of mass destruction than we do our health systems. We’re 90 seconds away from midnight on the Doomsday Clock, but people don’t seem bothered.”

He fears that we could tumble into nuclear conflict by accident, “because complex defence systems are being run by artificial intelligence and when one AI system misreads another it leads to catastrophic decisions”. He is not the first musician to voice fears about AI, but warns: “It’s the first step to transhumanism, so some people will be able to download an IQ of 600-plus and access life extension programmes, but most of us won’t. So there’ll be two types of humans in the future that will look visibly different to each other.” This seems wild, sci-fi stuff, but he points out that 1982’s Empire Song predicted the Falklands war – it was released two weeks before Argentina invaded – and that his songs contain “prophesies; warnings for humanity”.

Walker’s final recordings with the band appear on the 2022 EP Lord of Chaos, which came after a particularly difficult two years, including a “near-death experience” for Coleman amid a diabetic coma in Mexico in 2021. Life in Killing Joke is certainly never dull, but he says that in one of their final conversations, the guitarist had told him that he didn’t want to continue with the original lineup. “I tried to reason with him,” Coleman says. “Then he died.”

Walker was the second Killing Joke musician to die prematurely. Paul Raven, who replaced Youth for several years before all four founder members reunited in 2008, died aged 46 in 2007 . “But I believe in reincarnation and the ancestral spirit,” says Coleman, “which is to say that Raven and Geordie are together. There are times that I can hear them, so when it comes to the future of the group, their will will be taken into consideration.”

Jaz Coleman’s spoken word tour , Unspeakable, begins at Glasgow Garage on 19 March.

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