[kj] PlayLouder.com : Fuck this for a laugh

[Will E Scheipers]

Poor Alex from the Orb.

From,
Will

On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 21:55:07 +0100 Tom Moohan <moohant@btinternet.com>
writes:
> http://playlouder.com/feature/+thelastlaugh/?key=2248d2-207c7d
> 
> "Ha ha ha."
> 
> It's that laugh.
> 
> The insane cackle. The laugh of a man who knows that he is right. 
> Jaz Coleman has been right for 25
> years. His dark vision and cathartic explosive music have been 
> hammering the message home for a
> quarter of a century. Democracy is a scam, the goons are in control, 
> the world is run by sick
> weirdos. Every conspiracy theory you ever read is true.
> 
> "Ha ha ha."
> 
> It's the punch line of the The Joke.
> 
> The Killing Joke.
> 
> Killing Joke emerged in the post punk fallout. A time of death to 
> trad rock, a re-writing of the
> rule book. A time when anything went as long as it wasn't a twelve 
> bar. Tearing down the house and
> all that. Don't let flimsy Rough Trade "post punk" compilations 
> retell the story for you… There was
> plenty of deranged wild action going on in the period, and the 
> Joke's powerful mix of the power of
> punk rock with the rhythmic sensibility of dance music combined with 
> a dark vision and some pile
> driving guitars marked them out as one of the most influential bands 
> of period.
> 
> Period.
> 
> Jaz Coleman is the wild eyed frontman of Killing Joke and he1s on a 
> roll. The new eponymous Killing
> Joke album is an awesome reaffirmation of the primal raw power that 
> made the band's name way back in
> the post punk years. It's a dark, dangerous, feral piece of work - 
> precision production, and powered
> by some incredible drumming from Dave Grohl. It restates just what a 
> rock album should sound like in
> 2003 and, sound-wise, is the yardstick for every rock band in the 
> world to measure themselves
> against.
> 
> Jaz Coleman is naturally on a high. In the stinking backdrop of the 
> current world situation rock had
> to react, had to kick back sometime, when the multi nationals are 
> poisoning our air, stealing our
> lives away and starting wars to satisfy their greed, only music like 
> this can make you feel better.
> And as for the music business itself…
> 
> "We are living in a period of time which is has been a dark time for 
> music. The entire music
> industry was taken over by non-musicians and DJ's and they are 
> finished now. Yeah! I hope Alex from
> The Orb [ex Killing Joke roadie] is listening to this - you're 
> finished baby! Ha ha ha... put the
> fucking drum kit up you cunt! Ha ha ha!"
> 
> Revenge is sweet for Jaz Coleman, a man who doesn't dig into our 
> glorious heritage for inspiration.
> 
> "I'm glad the vile retro 60s - everyone wants to sound like The 
> Beatles - is over. I didn't want
> that Britpop and now all those people who flirted with Tony Blair 
> going to number 10 are over - all
> that was a bunch of fucking assholes banging their tambourines - 
> yeah, I'm glad that's all over and
> their Lennon and McCartney music is all over as well... fuck 'em."
> 
> Coleman cackles again. He just hasn't got the patience for the pop 
> parade. This is someone who
> conducts orchestras and writes classical music when he's not doing 
> Killing Joke. This is someone who
> is fascinated by theology, tribalism, the apocalypse, the dark 
> magiks; when your head is full of
> that shamanic stuff, the dreary world of the pop parade and tedious 
> UK fashion seems, well,
> pathetic.
> 
> "This album is a great experience for me, I'm buzzing, I can't 
> fucking sleep. I'm in preparation in
> Prague to rehearse, to get ready for the road... I've never been so 
> excited before a release. Before
> this I was doing a classical album with Nigel Kennedy and Sarah 
> Brightman and before that conducting
> at the royal opera house and lots of thing lots of gypsy music...so 
> plenty of contrasts."
> 
> So is doing Killing Joke the same mentality as conducting an 
> orchestra?
> 
> "Fuck yeah! You cant fuck up when you conduct, you can't drink or 
> smoke or anything. You have got to
> be really on it - orchestras always play behind the beat anyway. I 
> enjoy it because every time I
> work with orchestras I find reasons why I got out of classical! 
> Conducting fills me with a sense of
> terror and I'm a sucker for putting myself in situations that 
> intimidate me. I like the challenge…"
> 
> Does working with orchestras bring much to Killing Joke?
> 
> "Nothing whatsoever! Not even a bottle of champagne! Classical music 
> is about creating a more
> desirable reality whereas Killing Joke is the opposite - It's about 
> a catharsis, an exorcism, it's
> about getting rid of the knot in my stomach, its about dealing with 
> the panic attacks that I'm in a
> perpetual state of - I don't sleep - sleep three hours a night is 
> all I get - when death comes it
> will be a blessing I'm telling ya!"
> 
> Listening to the new album I can hear snippets of lyrics about the 
> fucked up world situation. What
> you saying in there?
> 
> "I've never voted. Things piss me off. I'm reminding people that 
> whatever they say about free speech
> and democracy what a load of bollocks… Killing Joke in terms of 
> intellectual coherence? It doesn't
> matter! It's about gut feeling and I'm for ever amused by people's 
> ideas of what I'm singing about
> on the first two albums because we didn't print the lyrics. I piss 
> myself laughing about it - I'm
> not singing about that at all, it's down to my bad diction... it's 
> an animal thing is what I'm
> trying to say… it's a gut feeling thing - a feeling."
> 
> And working with David Grohl, amazing not only because he is the 
> best drummer in the world right
> now, but I understand there is some history between you guys…
> 
> "I really fucking liked the guy... Funny how we all got together 
> because we all know how it could
> have been! We could have been looking at each other over a corpse! 
> It is something I'm very proud
> of. I'm proud of everyone in Killing Joke for the decision we made 
> not to sue the Nirvana camp once
> our man had taken himself out (over the blatant lift of the riff 
> from Killing Joke's 'Eighties' for
> Nirvana's 'Come As You Are') it's a short fucking life mate - we 
> could be going fishing or something
> sensible! There is a lot of goodwill from that camp- Grohly 
> especially."
> 
> How did you meet up with him?
> 
> "In January in New Zealand I was at the Big Day Out. It was one of 
> those really bizarre things. It
> was the day after I was ordained a priest. I met Dave Grohl - we 
> were in the mood to celebrate -
> there was me in my dog collar and we got blind drunk together and I 
> said, 'Dave, is there something
> you'd like to confess?' And he did! And I sang onstage with the Foo 
> Fighters. I did 'Requiem.' He's
> like this guy that I've always known. He understands the - how shall 
> I say this - the ceremonial
> aspect… lets say the tribal aspect of Killing Joke's tom-tom 
> patterns. The drums that make Killing
> Joke. He's brought up on it. The guy listens to more fucking Killing 
> Joke than I do, ha ha, and it
> was just like a natural process working with him… most people think 
> of him as a singer and guitarist
> these days, but his first love is the drums."
> 
> So what church are you ordained in?
> 
> "Its my own bloody church mate! I got a masters in theology, the 
> good thing about the church in New
> Zealand is we accept god as a female as well as a malev - I've 
> always seen god as a woman..."
> 
> Like the earth mother?
> 
> "Absolutely. We have venerated the feminine principle from the very 
> beginning of Killing Joke and we
> have always celebrated the moons and we use lot of the drums on those 
> occasions as well. Ha ha ha."
> 
> I love the primal, feral side of Killing Joke…
> 
> "Its a strange chemistry of people. When I get together with Geordie 
> and Youth something really does
> happen. I really cherish it… These people are irreplaceable... Raven 
> and Youth played on this record
> and they have both done five albums each - so I'm in the fortunate 
> position of having two bass
> players and Raven fortunately likes the live thing and they both 
> want to do this tour but I'm going
> out with Raven on this. Raven spends his time breeding pitbull 
> fucking terriers and cock fighting
> with Mexicans in dodgy suburbs of LA... he's a very strange man, and 
> a fucking laugh, is Raven!"
> 
> What do you think of all this nu-metal business?
> 
> "I don't like guitar solos. I don't like clichéd drums or lyrics. I 
> like a tribal thing. We never
> liked guitar solos - you know in that way I lean more towards that 
> tradition that came from punk I
> suppose - but not exclusively. Killing Joke always had a better 
> rhythm section than the punk bands.
> We were always affected by lots of dance music and black music."
> 
> So are you living in New Zealand now?
> 
> "I don't really live anywhere. I live between the Czech republic and 
> Geneva sometimes, New Zealand
> sometimes. I pop back to England and the Middle East. I don't live 
> anywhere mate. I live out of a
> bag. I like what I do. You won't get me moaning about the music 
> industry. Its been really marvelous
> fun... this album is a celebration, the concerts… wow! They really 
> will be a gathering of the tribes
> and I think everyone needs it under current run of events in the 
> world…"
> 
> And as Jaz disappears into the Prague night he leaves us with one 
> last foul laugh.
> 
> "Hahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaa! The heaviest band in the world is going 
> off and everyone fucking knows
> it!"
> 
> 
> 
> John Robb
> 
> 
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