[kj] KJ for MTV: Before and.....

Steve Hackett thepunisher at blueyonder.co.uk
Thu May 4 14:06:34 EDT 2006


nice one Alex
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Alexander Smith 
  To: Alex Smith ; A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!) 
  Sent: Thursday, May 04, 2006 12:04 PM
  Subject: Re: [kj] KJ for MTV: Before and.....




  Well, folks, here it is.... the edit wasn't *TOO* bad, all things considered.


  http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1530113/20060503/index.jhtml?headlines=true


  Do me a fave and hit it repeatedly. Multiple page clicks ensure that the story "does well". 


  Cheers,
  Alex in NYC








  On May 3, 2006, at 5:50 PM, Alex Smith wrote:


    Indulge me for a moment, my siblings....

    So, I handed in my Killing Joke piece (which is set to publish on MTVNews.Com tomorrow at 6am), and was summarily told to cut it down by several hundred words. In any case, I begrudgingly did so and have since handed it back in (and the editor will invariably CONTINUE to make cuts to it). Not that it really matters, but here's my story IN ITS ORIGINAL, UNEDITED GLORY for that elite smattering of you tolerant enough to sift through my overwritten fluff. When the finished piece goes up, I'll let you know --- and ask you to kindly hit it and KEEP hitting it so that it "does well."  Thanks! - Alex in NYC

    Here's what it might have been:

    Their music has amassed disciples ranging from Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden through Kate Bush and the LCD Soundsystem. Their songs have been covered by everyone from Metallica to Sarah McLachlan, and there was even a mash-up of one of their singles with Christina Aguilera’s "Make Over" making the rounds not too long ago. Despite this, Killing Joke, one of the more notorious bands to have risen from the smoldering pyre of late 70’s British Punk, is not a household name here in the States. Lead singer Jaz Coleman, laughing down the phone from Cologne, Germany, where the band are currently touring to promote their latest album, Hosannas from the Basements of Hell, isn't bothered. "I get a fucking CD every week with a Killing Joke cover song --- and they all go in the bin."

    "We don’t have anything to do with fucking fashion! We’re a sound and a lifestyle. HAHAHAHA!" Coleman, the self-christened "Black Jester," has a disconcerting tendency to punctuate his frequent declarations with a robust laugh that suggests a tenuous grasp on sanity. For nearly three decades, Coleman, along with guitarist Geordie Walker, has been preoccupied with musically defining the malaise of the atomic age. Fusing the stealth and aggression of punk to the weighty wallop of heavy metal and a relentless tribal beat, Killing Joke has managed to elude classification over twelve studio albums in their quest to emulate, in the words of original drummer, Big Paul Ferguson, "the sound of the earth vomiting." 

    For Hosannas..., Killing Joke converged in Prague to break things down to their rudimentary elements. "This album, for me, is really special," explains Jaz, "because we all went collectively to Prague and hammered out loads of demons and had a great time with the beautiful excesses that a beautiful city like Prague provides. We recorded at will in an inferior studio with a wine cellar below it, where we actually put the drums down…. I think it was probably one of the most honest Killing Joke albums, if you’re looking at the band’s collective input. Everyone hammered out their demons. It was a huge pressure on everyone. HAHAHAHA!"

    The end result is collection of music that finds the band in feral form, anchored by Geordie Walker’s signature guitar maelstrom. "Killing Joke’s never been better," Jaz enthuses. "Working with Geordie Walker – he’s a magic player. He’s one of those guitarists who sound like fucking eight guitarists. There’ll never be anyone like him. It’s my deepest pleasure to have spent more years with him and more time with him than my own blood brother." Coleman’s foil throughout all of the band’s incarnations, Geordie provides an inimitable style, with an emphasis on chugging riffs and harmonics rather than masturbatory soloing. The rhythm section, however, has taken on a rate of attrition comparable to vintage Spinal Tap. Since afore-mentioned original drummer, Ferguson, left the band in 1987, their drum stool has fleetingly played host to Martin Atkins ( Public Image Ltd., Ministry , Pigface), Ted Parsons (Swans, Prong) and even former Nirvana sticksman, erstwhile Foo Fighter and Killing Joke superfan, Dave Grohl. Grohl leant his talents to their eponymous 2003 album, putting to rest the simmering hostility between Killing Joke and Nirvana following a lawsuit over the similarity between Nirvana’s "Come As You Are" to Killing Joke’s "Eighties" that was dropped after Kurt Cobain’s death.

    Boasting a history fraught with bouts of madness, violent in-fighting, flirtations with the occult, multiple changes in line-up and flights to the far corners of the earth (Coleman, who currently resides on an undisclosed island somewhere in the South Pacific, once infamously jumped ship from the band in the early 80’s, retreating to Iceland when he became convinced that the world was about to end), Killing Joke may not have achieved global dominance, but their songs appear on countless punk, goth and industrial compilations, and last year, they won popular British heavy metal magazine, Kerrang’s "Lifetime Achievement" award. "I was only 45 when I got it," laughs Coleman. "That’s probably the youngest lifetime achievement award you’re going to get. And we never expected gongs or shit like that. Everyone knows who we are. Everyone knows from Jimmy Page right on through the rest of’em. You don’t have to shout out about it." 

    The latest development in the band’s soap opera, meanwhile, is the departure of bassist Paul Raven, who fled the nest just prior to the album’s release in April to tour with Ministry. "Paul is always part of our family," counters Coleman. "Always, right? To be perfectly frank, what we have here is geographical differences. Paul has got commitments to his children and his gorgeous lady [in the States] and we’re completely at peace with him working with "our Al," Al Jourgensen, who I’ve known for years since he was a young lad at our early gigs. I’m very happy for them. It’s the extended family. The only thing I really regret about it is not smoking some cigars with my old mate, Raven, at the moment, but that’ll come later. HAHAHAHAHA!"

    A study in contradiction, Jaz Coleman thrives on polarity. When not onstage with the band, exhorting as a war-painted harbinger of doom, he’s an accomplished composer who has worked with some of the world’s most revered symphony orchestras, revised the national anthem of New Zealand and scored films for Walt Disney. But it’s his work with the `Joke that gives him balance. "For me, Killing Joke will always be how I deal with my anger," he says gravely, "…how I deal with waking up to this world where we’re just basically destroying everything. It’s how I deal with my sleep deprivation, because I can’t fucking ever seem to sleep without sedatives. It’s how I deal with these things. I guess, for me, it has a social function. It’s my exorcism, it’s my catharsis and it is a tradition, and not just for me. There’s actually quite a lot of people out there who love the ceremony of it also."

    To celebrate that love of ceremony, Killing Joke embarked on an anniversary tour last year, culminating with the release of a live album and DVD, XXV Gathering. "Well, actually, this is our 28th year," asserts Jaz, "and we actually did three recordings before that 25th Anniversary [one], so someone’s cheating me out of fucking two years of my life, -- and it I think it was the promoter." Fuzzy math notwithstanding, Jaz acknowledges the band’s longevity. "Twenty-five years sounds like a marriage, doesn’t it? HAHAHAHA! It’s harder than fucking marriage. .HAHAHAHA. And I should know. I just got my last divorce last year, and now I’m back with her. Do I get my money back? HAHAHAHA!"

    With the intent of always looking forward, Coleman is currently plotting both a summer tour of the States and another album, but looks beyond that as well. "There are so many things I want to do," he gushes. "I’d like to do one year working for the Green party in New Zealand, and possibly the experience of a political career. Because, I’m a Green. Even Bill Clinton’s a Green these days. Slick Willie – ya gotta love him, haven’t ya? HAHAHAHA! We’ve got to do something about this fucking planet. My response is to get rid of fan clubs and start eco-villages with sustainable resources. There’s a Killing Joke movie coming out. We’ve got one scene left to shoot on it, and it’s done. It’s taken eight years of my life to put it together, but that’s good fun. I’m working on a big Hollywood movie soundtrack at the end of the year, and then I’m moving to Sydney and working with a great Australian orchestra. Life’s colorful, what can I say? Get the barbecue out. Let’s go fishing! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

    For a man who has made his name predicting the apocalypse, Jaz Coleman is incongruously optimistic. "Watching the world go nuts," laughs Jaz, "that's important because it reminds you to eat, drink and be merry with the people you love, because sometimes that's the only way out of this madness!"

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