[kj] OT: Sign Language on MySpace

[Antoni Adamiak]

Never heard of them before Oliver ... but that doesn't mean that they didn't genuinely have Joy Division and Kiling Joke leanings ... my experience was KJ went kinda hip in 1981 for a brief period ... I remember folks coming up to me around time of Follow The Leaders with "yeah, Killing Joke, blah blah blah" ... it didn't last long ... when the new session came out in mid-December 1981 (The Hum, We Have Joy, Chop Chop, Empire Song) of course I was shouting from the rooftops but KJ was definitely yesterday's news ... oddly the NME did a great weekly blog from the Iceland escapade but the about the only magazine I found that raved about Revelations was Flexipop (I think) !!!
 
Bands that I considered to have some KJ affinity were The Pack/Theatre Of Hate, Ski Patrol, Red Beat, (very very much) 1919 (lots of Jaz credits on the sleeves etc) and later The Headhunters. Their sole JP session surfaced in the summer of 1983 - by that time, Killing Joke were soon to be fazed out from John Peel airtime.  That later KJ session was recorded AFTER Firedances (of the previous ones certainly #2 #3 & #4 were recorded and broadcast a few months before official releases, which partly explains why they are revered so much - plus many of the versions were better !!!) and I think "A New Day" was the last current Killing Joke song I ever heard of his show & he made a point to say that they had lost some of their sinister edge - better still to play the Bhundu Boys eh John (that was about the time I stopped to listen with regularity) !
 
Back at the time, it was far more difficult to pick up on obscure bands, therefore we depended on John Peel and maybe the odd pirate station, but Peelie was the man. Funny that the first KJ session was the most requested ever ! It doesn't say that in the books. History rewritten as usual. Back in 1982, I was lucky enough to see the manic Purrkur Pillnikk (featuring Einar Orn and Bragi) supporting The Fall and The Birthday Party at the Top Rank in Reading - legendary performance but I finally only found recordings about 5 years ago when Smekkleysa/Bad Taste brought out some CD's (same goes for Peyr/Theyr with the Niceland tracks being the only songs I ever heard).
Maybe I just wasn't trying hard enough (I mean some of the Peyr vinyl had been released in the UK but it was still difficult to track stuff down) !
 
So, with great irony by the time that Love Like Blood came out, Peel was no longer playing them at all and neither were the vast majority of his Festive 50 voters ! I see that this band set up their Myspace page in 2006 ... no disrespect but I do wonder if they would have claimed KJ as an influence if they'd set it up in 2002 ... hmmmm.
 
Regards, Antoni  
* http://home.clara.net/antoni/ * > Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2008 10:22:51 -0500> From: bigblackhair at sbcglobal.net> To: gathering at misera.net> Subject: [kj] OT: Sign Language on MySpace> > http://www.myspace.com/signlanguageuk> > > Never heard this band before today. Great early 80s Brit post-punk with > a claimed Killing Joke influence, they say. Anyone heard of 'em r seen > 'em back in the day?> > -Oliver> _______________________________________________> Gathering mailing list> Gathering at misera.net> http://four.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/gathering
 
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