Contents
- 1 History
- 1.1 1979–1982
- 1.2 1983–1988
- 1.3 1989–1991
- 1.4 1992–1996
- 1.5 2002–present
- 2 Discography
- 2.1 Albums
- 2.2 Singles
& EPs
- 2.3 Live
albums
- 2.4 Compilations
- 2.5 Videography
- 3 Side
Projects
- 4 Influence
- 5 References
- 6 External
links
History
1979–1982
Ferguson was drummer in the Matt Stagger Band when he met
Coleman (originally from Cheltenham,
Gloucestershire) in Notting Hill, London.
In early 1979, after Coleman was briefly keyboard player in that band,
he and Ferguson defected to form Killing Joke with Geordie
and bassist Martin "Youth" Glover. According to
Coleman, their manifesto was to "define the exquisite
beauty of the atomic age in terms of style, sound and
form".
Cover of Killing Joke's eponymous debut in 1980.
In late 1979, they began the Malicious
Damage record label with graphic artist Mike
Coles as a way to press and sell their music; Island
Records distributed the records, until Malicious Damage switched to E.G.
Records in 1980. The songs on Killing Joke's early singles were
primitive punk rock sometimes mixed with funk ("Nervous System") and dub/reggae ("Turn to
Red") styles. Their 'Nervous System/Turn To Red' EP came to the
attention of legendary DJ John Peel, who was keen to champion the
band's urgent new sound and gave them extensive airplay. They quickly
progressed this sound into something denser, more aggressive, and more
akin to heavy metal, as heard on their
first two albums, Killing Joke
(1980) and the more abrasive What's
THIS For...! (1981). They toured extensively
throughout the UK during this time, and both fans of post punk
and heavy metal took interest in
Killing Joke through singles such as "Follow the Leaders" (1981).
Killing Joke became notorious largely due to the controversies
that arose from their imagery. The images that appeared on their
records and on-stage while performing live were, typically, bizarre and
potentially shocking and inflammatory. One promotion poster featured an
undoctored photo from the Spanish Civil war, of Pope Pius being shown
off to rows of saluting Nazis. Shortly afterwards, the band was banned
from performing a concert in Glasgow, Scotland. Strangely
enough, at that time some NME's leftist journalists were suspicious
about Killing Joke's image and wrote that "Killing Joke's music
includes certain fascist tendencies...". This was a common
misconception because, if anything, Killing Joke were a politically
left-leaning band, with much of their disturbing imagery acting as
ironic or cynical symbols for a world which they perceived was becoming
ever more materialist, unjust and conservative. However, following
various 'run-ins' with a number of music journalists, Killing Joke were
far from being the industry darlings of the era, regardless of their
actual output.
Killing Joke's 3rd album, Revelations,
produced by Conny Plank, was issued in 1982, and
supported by a pair of performances on The John Peel
Show and by the singles "Chop-Chop" and "Empire Song".
By 1982, members of Killing Joke, especially Coleman, had
become immersed in the occult, particularly the works of occultist Aleister
Crowley. In February of that year, Coleman, with Geordie and Youth
following shortly after, relocated to Iceland to survive the Apocalypse,
which Coleman predicted was coming soon. While in Iceland, Coleman and
Geordie worked with musicians from the band Theyr. After a few
months, Youth decided there was no indication of the Apocalypse, and
decided to relocate back to England. Youth then began the band
Brilliant with Big Paul, but the latter defected and traveled to
Iceland to rejoin Killing Joke with new bassist Paul
Raven (previously of Neon Hearts and the rock / glam band
Kitsch) in tow. After spending some time in Iceland, Killing Joke
returned to England and began touring and recording again.
The new lineup soon produced, again with Conny Plank, the
single "Birds of a Feather / Sun Goes Down / Flock the B-Side" and HA!,
a 6 track 10" EP of a live performance recorded in Toronto in
August.
1983–1988
Killing Joke's 4th album, Fire
Dances (1983), contained music that, like that
heard on the "Birds Of A Feather" single, was artier and relatively
calmer than before, which, in hindsight, began a new direction. This
was continued with the non LP singles "Me Or You" (1983, b/w "Wilful
Days") and "A New Day" (1984, b/w a dance remix or dub mix of the
same), the latter promoted with a music video.
Mixing their sound with a slightly pop style,
and with Coleman singing and not growling, Killing Joke had developed a
decidedly unique variation of new wave, which was heard on their fifth
album, Night Time
(1985). They unexpectedly achieved mainstream success with the single
"Love Like Blood" (from Night Time), which became a
big hit, peaking at #16 in their homeland. Night Time
was also supported with singles for "Eighties" (1984), "Kings and
Queens" (1985) and "Love like Blood (Gestalt mix)" (1985), which all
reached the UK Top 75.
Lead singer Jaz Coleman dominates the cover of
Killing Joke's 1986 release Brighter than
a Thousand Suns.
The music on Killing Joke's sixth album, Brighter than
a Thousand Suns (1986), was mostly similar in
sound and mood to Love like Blood. While no less
aggressive and heavy than their older work, Brighter than a
Thousand Suns diverged musically (as is common in Killing
Joke's broad oeuvre) in ways that lead to controversy among listeners.
In this case disagreements between fans and critics alike included
opinions on whether the band was conforming with pressures from EG
Records to develop a more commercial sound, to whether the songs were
relevant for those listeners more comfortable with their proto
post-punk beginnings. Those who are strongly approving of the work
consider it a milestone - and quite intense - progressive rock album,
and their most consistent work to date. Two singles were released from
the album - "Adorations" and "Sanity" - and the band continued touring
successfully until the end of the year.
In 1987, Coleman began plans for a solo record of unusual
music, and he made demos of his songs, on which he performed with Geordie's
assistance. The project ran way over budget and so, despite Coleman's
objections, the record company decided that the music would be released
under the name "Killing Joke" in order to best recoup the costs.
Attempts were made to include Killing Joke rhythm section members Raven
and Ferguson, but it didn't work out and tensions ultimately led to
both being fired from the band. Session player Jimmy
Copley was then brought in to provide the drumming on the songs, along
with percussion player Jeff Scantlebury.
The resulting album, Outside
the Gate (1988), is Killing Joke's most
controversial album, with opinion ranging from admiration to total
disgust, owing to its synth-led sonics (experimentally, there is even a
brief rap
on one song) and disagreement over the quality of the material. It is
not signature-sound Killing Joke, being built around Coleman's
orchestral keyboards instead of Geordie's distinctive guitar riffs. Had
the album been released as "Coleman/Walker" (as the cover graphic
implies) it might have been better received. Released as "Killing Joke"
however, it was panned by confused critics and fans alike. Two singles,
"America" and "My Love Of This Land", were released from the album but
did little to improve its fortunes. The video for the former features
Coleman and Geordie with drummer Jimmy Copley and session bassist Jerome Rimson, who never actually
recorded with the band. No live dates were played to support the album
and the band spent much of 1988 in a legal battle as they tried to
split from their management and record company, E.G.
This struggle resulted in Coleman suffering a nervous breakdown.
On 19th September 1987 Coleman had delivered a lecture at
London's Courtauld Institute outlining
the thinking behind the then-unreleased Outside
the Gate album, touching on numerology
and the occult. Geordie and percussionist Jeff Scantlebury provided a
minimal musical backing at the event. A recording of the lecture was
eventually released under the title The
Courtauld Talks on Martin Atkins' Invisible
Records in 1989.
1989–1991
Towards the end of 1988, Coleman and Geordie decided to get
Killing Joke up and running again as a live band, and they began
looking for full-time bass players and drummers. First on board was
drummer Martin Atkins, who had
gained notability in Public Image Ltd. and
later Ministry and Pigface. A
suitable bass player proved more difficult, however. Former Smiths
man Andy
Rourke was hired, then fired again after only 3 days.
Eventually the band settled on Welsh bass player Dave
"Taif" Ball, and played their first gigs in almost two years
in December 1988. These were seen as a return to form, and featured the
best of their 1980 to 1985 work, alongside powerful new material which
alluded to the band's earlier, harsher sound. Nothing from Brighter
than a Thousand Suns or Outside
the Gate was played (and indeed, never has been
since). Touring continued across the UK, Europe and the US until August
1989, when the band took a break to record its new material in Germany,
and to allow Jaz Coleman time to record Songs From the
Victorious City with Anne
Dudley of Art of Noise.
However, for reasons which remain unclear, the German Killing
Joke sessions were scrapped and bass player Taif left the band to be
replaced by old hand Paul Raven. The revised line up
began recording again, this time in London, and the result was Killing
Joke's eighth album, the ferocious Extremities,
Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions,
released on the German Noise International label in
1990. It included some of the heaviest, noisiest and harshest music
ever to appear on a Killing Joke record, although the progressive
musical spirit of the previous two albums remained as well. The many
highlights included "Solitude", "Slipstream", "Age of Greed" and the
single "Money Is Not Our God". Once again the band toured Europe and
North America, but by the middle of 1991 this promising new line up had
imploded. Coleman emigrated to New Zealand to live on a remote Pacific
island, and it looked like Killing Joke was over for good.
Geordie Walker, Martin
Atkins, Paul Ferguson, Paul
Raven and the band's live keyboard player John
Bechdel (Ministry, Fear
Factory, Prong,
Pigface,
Abstinence,
False Icons, Ascension of the Watchers)
added Scottish vocalist Chris Connelly (Finitribe,
Revolting
Cocks) and continued as the short-lived Murder,
Inc., releasing a self-titled album in 1992.
1992–1996
A Killing Joke anthology, Laugh? I Nearly Bought
One!, was released in 1992, and during its
production Geordie was re-acquainted with Youth,
who suggested that they reform the band with himself back on bass. That
same year two singles (on cassette and CD) appeared featuring the early
songs "Change" and "Wardance" in several new versions remixed by Youth,
by then a very successful producer.
The reactivated Killing Joke released two strong and
well-received albums on Youth's Butterfly
Recordings label, Pandemonium
and Democracy,
which saw the band shift back to the simpler arrangements of their
early albums. Pandemonium
(1994) wove a metallesque ritualistic sound with mosh beats and loops
and provided Killing Joke with a memorable Top
of the Pops performance for the single 'Millennium', which was a UK Top
30 hit. Democracy (1996) successfully introduced
acoustic guitar into the mix, as well as adopting more of a "live band"
sound again. Much of Pandemonium and all of Democracy
featured session drummer Geoff Dugmore. He also played live
with the band throughout this era. Youth bowed out of live performance
early in the Democracy tour and was replaced by Troy
Gregory, ex Prong.
Coleman had produced the 1993 debut album Churn
by the New Zealand Band Shihad and Shihad drummer Tom Larkin
played drums on some of the songs on Pandemonium.
However, relations later soured between Coleman and Shihad due to a
dispute over Coleman's production fee for Churn,
and the fact that Shihad considered him a "megalomaniac". Shihad's
second album, 1995's Killjoy,
includes two songs about Coleman and the dispute: Bitter
and You Again. Coleman has also made a number of
disparaging remarks about Shihad in the media. Shihad singer and
guitarist Jon
Toogood says his band have put the dispute behind them, however a song
was recorded by Shihad called "Killing Jaz".
Killing Joke also sued Nirvana during this phase, alleging
that the riff for the latter's song "Come
as You Are" was copied from the riff for their song "Eighties".
The lawsuit was dropped after the sudden death of Nirvana frontman Kurt
Cobain.
After the Democracy tour the band went on
an extended hiatus. Jaz Coleman and Youth produced a string of
well-received orchestral rock albums based on the music of legends such
as Led
Zeppelin and The Doors. Coleman became
Composer-in-Residence for New Zealand and Czech symphony orchestras. He
seems to have become something of a celebrity in the Czech Republic and
made his acting debut with the main role in the film Rok ďábla (Year of
the Devil) by Czech filmmaker Petr Zelenka (who later would direct
the video for "Hosannas from
the Basements of Hell").
2002–present
Coleman, Geordie and Youth reformed Killing Joke in 2002, and
recorded their second self-titled album
with producer Andy Gill, released
to much acclaim in 2003 on the Zuma/Sony label - a powerful addition to
Extremities and other visceral 1990s albums, and
considered one of their finest recordings. The War
on Terror and the invasion of Iraq were cited as
major factors in their reforming and this is reflected in the lyrical
content of much of the album, based on themes of war, government
control and Armageddon.
The album was their heaviest to date and spawned two singles, "Loose
Cannon" and "Seeing Red". The songs are all credited to Coleman/Walker/Glover/Gill,
although Raven's name is also on the
list of musicians on the liner notes, marking his return to the band
after more than a decade. It remains unclear who actually played bass
on which tracks on the album and in some interviews with Geordie he
hints that it may have been he who actually played bass on most of the
songs, with occasional contributions from Youth. Raven played on the
subsequent tour however, with Youth appearing to have retired from the
band by this point. Dave Grohl (Nirvana,
Foo Fighters, Probot),
a longtime fan of the band, occupied the drum stool for all tracks. The
original plan had been to use many different drummers on the album,
including Grohl, but he was so enthusiastic about the material that he
persuaded the band to let him do the whole thing. The album was
accompanied by a tour of the United States, Europe and Australia in
2003/2004, with ex Prong
drummer Ted
Parsons on board.
In February 2005, now with young Twin Zero and Sack Trick
drummer Ben Calvert, they
played two consecutive shows at London's Shepherds
Bush Empire to commemorate their 25th anniversary. DVD and CD
recordings from these concerts were released in on Cooking
Vinyl in the fall of 2005 as XXV
Gathering: The Band That Preys Together Stays Together.
In June 2005 remastered and expanded editions of their two
1990s Butterfly Recordings albums, Pandemonium
and Democracy, were released by Cooking
Vinyl. These were followed in July by their first 4 albums (Killing
Joke to Ha!) on EMI, who by then owned
the E.G.
Records catalogue. The second batch of EMI reissues has yet to appear
(as of July 2007), although they are rumoured to include a completely
remixed version of Fire Dances and the original
Chris Kimsey mix of Brighter Than A Thousand Suns.
In summer 2005 they provided unlikely support on the British
leg of Mötley
Crüe's world tour and then began work on their next album in Prague. Coleman
had been working there for a few years on classical and traditional
music projects and it had come to be Killing Joke's de facto
base.
Opting for simplicity and raw energy, the band recorded the
new album in its basement rehearsal studio, going for live takes with
the minimum of overdubs. The result was Hosannas from
the Basements of Hell, released in April 2006
on Cooking Vinyl. Once again it was well received by the critics.
Killing Joke began a European tour in support of the album in
April 2006. However, bass player Paul Raven abruptly departed
after a few dates to tour with Ministry and was temporarily
replaced by Kneill Brown. The tour included an
appearance headlining the MySpace stage of the Download Festival on June 10, 2006, which received
four K's from Kerrang! magazine.
Other highlights of the summer included a memorable set in Japan at the
Fuji Rock festival where there were joined on stage by Orb
frontman Alex Paterson (once a Killing Joke
drum roadie) and headlining the Beautiful Days festival in the UK. The
band's momentum suffered another blow however, when health problems
caused the autumn leg of the tour to be cancelled.
In October 2006 it was announced that Coleman had been chosen
as Composer in Residence for the European
Union. As Composer in Residence he will be commissioned to write music
for special occasions.
Early in 2007 Killing Joke released 3 archival collections
via Candlelight Records. The first,
"Inside Extremities", is a double CD of material taken from the band's
preparations for the "Extremities" album: rehearsals, rare mixes, a
previously unheard track "The Fanatic" and a full live show from the
Extremities tour.
This was followed by "Bootleg Vinyl Archive" Volumes 1 & 2,
each of which is a 3 CD box set of live-in-concert bootleg recordings
originally released on vinyl in the 1980s, plus the Astoria gig from
the "Pandemonium" tour which was voted one of the greatest gigs of all
time by Kerrang.[1]
In May 2007 it was announced that Candlelight
Records will be reissuing the classic 1990 album Extremities,
Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions, which has long been out of
print [2]. This is planned for October
2007, and it is hoped that the long-delayed second batch of EMI reissues will be
released at around the same time, completing the Killing Joke reissue
series.
Discography
Albums
- Killing Joke
(1980)
- What's THIS For...!
(1981)
- Revelations
(1982)
- Fire Dances
(1983)
- Night Time (1985)
- Brighter than
a Thousand Suns (1986)
- Outside the Gate
(1988)
- The Courtauld Talks
(1989)
- Extremities,
Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions (1990)
-
- (Also available as Double Vinyl)
-
- (Also available as Double Vinyl)
- Democracy
(1996)
- Killing Joke
(2003)
- Hosannas from
the Basements of Hell (2006)
-
- (Also available as Double Blue Coloured Vinyl)
See also: list
of musicians with multiple self-titled albums
Singles & EPs
- Turn To Red EP 10" (Oct 1979)
- Nervous System 7" 12" (Dec 1979)
- Wardance/Pѕyche 7" (Mar 1980)
- Requiem/Change 7" 12" (Oct 1980)
- Follow the Leaders/Tension 7" 10" (May
1981) – UK #55
- Empire Song/Brilliant 7" (Mar 1982) – UK
#43
- Chop Chop/Good Samaritan 7" (Jun 1982)
- Birds of a Feather/Sun Goes Down/Flock the B side
7" 12" (Oct 1982) – UK #64
- Let's All Go/Dominator 7" 12" (Jun 1983)
– UK #51
- Me or You/Wilful Days 7" 12" (Oct 1983)
– UK #57
- Eighties/Eighties Common Mix 7" 12" (Apr
1984) – UK #60-Theme song to That 80's show
- A New Day/Dance Day 7" 12" (Jul 1984) –
UK #56
- Love Like Blood/Blue Feather 7" 12" (Feb
1985) – UK #16, Germany #24
- Kings & Queens/The Madding Crowd
7" 12" (Mar 1985) – UK #58
- Adorations/Exile 7" 12" (Aug 1986) – UK
#42
- Sanity/Goodbye to the Village 7" 12"
(Oct 1986) – UK #70
- America/Jihad 7" 12" (Apr 1988) – UK #77
- My Love of This Land/Darkness Before Dawn
7" 12" (Jul 1988) – UK #89
- Money is Not Our God CDs 12" (1991)
- Change: The Youth Mixes CD (1992)
- Exorcism CDs 10" (1994)
- Millennium CDs 7" 12" (May 1994) – UK #34
- Pandemonium CDs (Jul 1994) – UK #28
- Pandemonium in Dub CDs (Jul 1994)
- Jana CDs (Feb 1995) – UK #54
- Jana Live EP (Feb 1995)
- Jana/Millennium Double CDs (1995)
- Democracy CDs (Mar 1996) – UK #39
- Democracy dif. Mix CDs (Mar 1996)
- Love Like Blood/Intellect
(Mar 1998)
- Loose Cannon 12" CDs DVDs (Jul 2003) –
UK #25
- Seeing Red CDs (2003)
- Hosannas from the Basement of
Hell/Afterburner/Universe B CDs (Apr 2006) – UK #74
- Hosannas from the Basement of Hell/Afterburner
(Alternate Vers.) Limited 7" (Apr 2006)
Live albums
- Ha!
10 inch live EP (1982)
- BBC In Concert
(1996)
- No Way Out But Forward Go
(2001)
-
- (Also available as Double Vinyl)
- XXV Gathering: Let Us Prey
(live, 2005)
-
- (Also available as Double Orange Coloured Vinyl)
Compilations
- An
Incomplete Collection 1980-1985 (1990)
- Laugh? I Nearly Bought
One! (1992)
- Wilful Days
(1995)
- Alchemy: The Remixes
(Remix Album) (1996)
- Wardance (Remix
Album) (1998)
- The Unperverted Pantomime?
(2003)
- Chaos for Breakfast
(2004)
- For Beginners
(2004)
- Inside
Extremities: Mixes, Rehearsals and Live (2007)
- Bootleg Vinyl Archive
Vol. 1 (2007)
- Bootleg Vinyl Archive
Vol. 2 (2007)
Videography
- Rok Dabla/Year of the devil feat. Jaz Coleman
Czech Rep. (2002)
- XXV
Gathering: The Band That Preys Together Stays Together
[live] (2005)
Side Projects
- Brilliant
- Pigface
- Murder, Inc.
- The Damage Manual
- Transmission
Influence
- In 1982, GC Green & Paul Neville first came
together as Fall of Because, named after the first track on What's
THIS For...! and were later joined by Justin
Broadrick, setting the foundations of Godflesh,
who covered Requiem live, with Raven on bass.[3]
- In 1985, the main riff of Killing Joke's song "Eighties"
bears a striking resemblance to the riff of The
Damned's 1982 "Life Goes On."
- In 1987,
Metallica
covered Killing Joke's The Wait for their E.P.
Garage Days Re-Revisited.
- In some early interviews, the members of Soundgarden
cited Killing Joke as one of the bands they listen to most.
- In 1989, German gothic band Love Like Blood covered the
name-giving track on the "Love Like Blood EP" and on the "Snakekiller"
album.
- The main riff of Nirvana's song "Come
as You Are" bears a striking resemblance to the riff of Killing Joke's
single, "Eighties." The band, however, did not file a copyright
infringement lawsuit, which according to Rolling
Stone was "due to personal and financial reasons." Some transcripts of
Nirvana's songs (including commercially sold sheet music for Nevermind)
have indicated that Nirvana's guitarist Kurt
Cobain recorded the songs with his guitar detuned a whole step, which
is the same tuning that Geordie is known to prefer.
- In 1993, Helmet covered Killing Joke's
"Primitive" for the B-side to the single "Born Annoying".
- In 1993, Econoline Crush covered Killing
Joke's "Psyche" (a B-side from their "Wardance" single) for their Purge
EP.
- In 1995, Icehouse covered "Love like Blood"
on their album "The Berlin Tapes".
- In 1997, the Foo Fighters covered Killing Joke's
"Requiem" for the B-side to the single "Everlong." Dave
Grohl, leader and drummer of Foo Fighters, played drums for the
recording sessions of Killing Joke's second self-titled album in 2003.
- In 1998, Metallica covered Killing Joke's first
single "The Wait" for the cover album Garage, Inc..
- In 2001, Amen covered Killing Joke's "Europe"
during a session on BBC
Radio One in 2001. The recording of this song was later the B-side for
their single "Too Hard to Be Free."
- In 2001,
The Mad Capsule Markets covered
Killing Joke's "Wardance" on their album 010.
- In 2002, Blacklight (Oliver Heydt, Olaf Wollschäger) made a
double 12" with their 5 remixed versions of "Love like blood".
- In 2002, LCD Soundsystem released Losing
My Edge which is based around b side Change.[4]
- In 2003, German band blackmail
covered "Love Like Blood". It was released as a download track on their
homepage and as a bonus track on the Japan edition of their album "Friend
Or Foe?" as well.
- In 2003, the German death metal band Disbelief covered
"Democracy" on the album "Spreading The Rage".
- In 2004, Nouvelle Vague covered "Psyche" on their
self-titled debut album.
- In 2005, Swiss band MXD covered "Pandemonium" on their
album "Frustration Is Fuel".
- In 2005,
Fear
Factory covered Killing Joke's "Millennium" on their album Transgression.
- In 2007, Foo Fighters re-release 'The Colour and the
Shape'to commemorate the album's tenth anniversary, it was re-released
on July 10, 2007. It includes a bonus CD of six previously released
B-sides, consisting of "Dear Lover", "The Colour and the Shape", and
four covers, including "Requiem" by Killing Joke.
- Other professed fans of Killing Joke including Ministry,
Amebix,
Front Line Assembly, TOOL, Nine
Inch Nails, Faith No More, KMFDM The
Complications, Born Dead Icons, Godflesh,
Napalm
Death, Mr. Bungle, VX, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, I Am
Spoonbender, Primus, Jello
Biafra, Prong,
Morgoth and Project
86.
References
External links