[kj] KJ & zigzag

Tue Jan 18 19:32:10 EST 2005

I must admit, I've never heard anything remarkable about Primal Scream. 
Their cover of "Motorhead" on VANISHING POINT was interesting-ish, but 
they've always seemed like awful, posey, idiotic losers to me otherwise.

Alex in NYC

On Tuesday, January 18, 2005, at 07:32 PM, The Stranger wrote:

> I read a book by Kris Needs recently.  It wasn't his biography 
> though....and in mentioning what it was, I have to admit 
> that.....well....I thought the last two Primal Scream albums were 
> sweeet!  Cue the feces and fish guts....  Anyway, it was a biography 
> about Primal Scream.  It was a pretty good read and he spoke a lot 
> about his trials and tribulations but I can't remember if he mentioned 
> a hysterically laughing Killing Joke fanatic in it, Alex.  Might be 
> worth another look.  He did write a lot about forming Secret Knowledge 
> and so on.  Also, there's a picture in the book of the band and him 
> hanging out in Youth's apartment.  He produced some of their stuff I 
> believe.  My favorite quote from the book is when one of Primal 
> Scream's songs is compared to "a junkyard having a nervous breakdown!"
>  
> Adam
>
> Alexander Smith <vassifer at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>
> Is Dave the same guy as "The Wizard"?
>
>
> Kris Needs is now a successful club deejay, I gather. At the time I
> knew him (`89-`92), he was -- well, let's face it -- a drunk junkie.
> He'd been working thanklessly at Bleeker Bob's (storied record store)
> on W.4th Street, where he'd be treated to daily abuse courtesy of
> Bleeker Bob Plotnick (storied asshole...now in a wheelchair...karma's a
> bitch). After a run of bad luck, he ended up living on the couch of my
> editor Brad Balfour's, who put him to work editing and writing for the
> NEW REVIEW (he wrote under the oh-so-clever nom de plume of R.S. Hole).
> The magazine sucked and my "job" there sucked, but I looked forward to
> working with Kris everyday, who had me in hysterics from morning until
> late afternoon. A funnier, nicer guy has never existed, i'd say.
> Trouble was, he was sinkin g into the throes of a heroin problem, and
> living with Brad (himself out of his fucking mind) was no help. In the
> interim, he was working with a vocalist named "Wonder" (though I
> certainly didn't think she was a wonder), and was putting together a
> club/dance/disco act called Secret Knowledge. After hitting rock bottom
> (and getting badly beaten up), he de-camped back to the UK and cleaned
> up. I gather he toured with Primal Scream (as their resident deejay)
> and eventually got Secret Knowledge up and off the ground, and is now
> doing quite well. He actually wrote an autobiography a number of years
> back called "Needs Must". Worth checking out. Sadly, I didn't get a
> mention it it (though Brad did).
>
> Anyway, wherever he is today, my hat's off to him.
>
> Alex in NYC
>
>
> On Tuesday, January 18, 2005, at 05:50 PM, juliet pleming wrote:
>
> > Bloody hell! I remember Kris Needs. I'd totally forgotten him until I
> > read that. He was like a smaller, weedier version of Youth - lots of
> > dreads. I can't even remember where I remember him from. Probably
> > general clubbing  & seeing him hang out with Youth. I DO remember him
> > - I can actually see him in my minds eye.
> >  
> > What about Dave, the nutter who used to breathe fire to start the 
> show
> > off  ?  Does anyone remember him? ( I know I have asked that before
> > and noone answered) Was he a precursor of Miss Weasel or whatever 
> that
> > american woman was called who breathed fire out of somewhere else.
> >  
> > Juliet
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: Alexander Smith
> > To: A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 2:55 PM
> > Subject: Re: [kj] KJ & zigzag
> >
> > Well, ZigZag was also the mighty KRIS NEEDS' magazine, and Kris was
> > huge pals with Youth. I had the p leasure of working with Kris in the
> > early 90's (when he was in pretty bad shape, actually) at the
> > long-since-defunkt NEW YORK REVIEW OF RECORDS, and he'd constantly
> > regale me with stories about Youth and Jaz (Jaz apparently put a hex
> > on him at one point).
> >
> > Alex in NYC
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tuesday, January 18, 2005, at 08:57 AM, wrote:
> >
> > ... and on the subject of the ZigZag magazine, KJ did get some good
> > coverage, most especially within the original publication
> > (http://home.clara.net/antoni/zzback.JPG), whose last issue (No 130)
> > appeared in October 1982, with Siouxsie Sioux on the cover. It
> > contained a rare interview with Youth's Brilliant & I have a copy. 
> The
> > magazine was relaunched as New ZigZag in October 1983 with issue
> > number 1 (http://home.clara.net/antoni/zznew01.JPG) being a goth's
> > paradise, with Sex Gang Children on the cover - plenty of Alien Sex
> > Fiend, Sisters Of Mercy, Death Cult, X-Mal Deutschland and the 
> Cocteau
> > Twins.  
> >  
> > Back to the original ZZ magazine, there were major pieces on KJ in
> > issue 100, with an interview and that infamous page sized photo of 
> the
> > KJ lads in the builder's skip with a brick in hand, issue 105 with a 
> 4
> > page centre spread article about the recording of the first album 
> plus
> > Youth & Geordie on the cover. Issue 116 contained an interview with
> > Youth about the WTF album - KJ rarely got any coverage in the "new" 
> ZZ
> > (and if so it was hardly complimentary) and that was probably as much
> > down to the fact that Mick Mercer became the editor. KJ was not one 
> of
> > his bands. I'm not sure why. Did they once tell him to f*ck *ff ? 
>  The
> > truth is out there somewhere.
> >  
> > Regards,
> >  
> > Antoni
> >  
> > * http://home.clara.net/antoni/ *
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> >
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