Killing Joke

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Killing Joke
Live in Nottingham (1994)
Live in Nottingham (1994)
General information
Genre (s) Post-punk , alternative
founding 1979, 2002
resolution 1996
Website www.killingjoke.co.uk
Current occupation
Jaz Coleman
Kevin "Geordie" Walker
Martin "Youth" Glover (1979–1982, 1994–1996, since 2008)
Paul Ferguson (1979–1987, since 2008)
Important former members
bass
Paul Raven († 2007) (1982–1987, 1990–1991, 2003–2006)
Drums
Martin Atkins (1988-1991)
Drums
Dave Grohl (2002-2003)
(Former) studio musicians and live members
bass
Dave "Taif" Ball (1988–1989)
bass
Troy Gregory (1996)
bass
Kneill Brown (2006)
Drums
Tom Larkin (1994, some songs on Pandemonium )
Drums
Geoff Dugmore (1994-1996)
Drums
Ted Parsons (2003-2004)
Drums
Ben Calvert (2005)
Keyboard
Dave Kovacevic (1983-1986)
Keyboard
John Bechdel (1989–1990)
Keyboard
Nick Holywell-Walker (1994–1996, 2002–2005)
Keyboard
Reza Udhin (since 2005)

Killing Joke is a Founded in 1979 British post-punk - band .

history

The early years (1979–1982)

Singer and keyboardist Jaz Coleman and drummer Paul Ferguson ("Big Paul") placed an ad in the British music magazine Melody Maker on February 24, 1979 about guitarist "Geordie" ( Kevin Walker ) and bassist "Youth" ( Martin Glover ) Band joined and Killing Joke completed. The band gave their debut concert on August 4, 1979 at Whitcombe Lodge in Coleman's hometown of Cheltenham as opening act for The Ruts and The Selecter .

The first single Turn to Red , released in 1979 on the label “Malicious Damage”, which the band also supports , became an underground hit , not least thanks to the support of radio DJ John Peel . A record contract with EG` Records, won by this promising debut, allowed the production of several albums. A few singles ( Follow the Leader , Empire Song , Let's All Go (to the Fire Dances) ) also landed in the top 30 of the British charts.

After the third album, singer Jaz Coleman increasingly fell victim to the occult mysticism and in 1982 believed that the end of the world was imminent, which is why he withdrew to Iceland . Since the apocalypse was a long time coming, he continued to make music there. Among other things, three demo songs were created with the Niceland project, consisting of members of the wave band Þeyr (Theyr), from which the Sugarcubes then formed.

Fire Dances , Night Time and first successes (1983–1988)

1983 played Killing Joke, now with Paul Raven instead of Youth on bass, the fourth album Fire Dances in London .

Commercial success came in 1985 with the fifth album Night Time, recorded in the Berlin Hansa Studios and produced by Chris Kimsey , and above all with the single Love Like Blood . The title was the only killing joke piece to hit the German charts to this day. The band released the album Brighter Than a Thousand Suns in 1986 with a more commercial sound that was controversial among fans and critics. Killing Joke continued their successful tour until the end of the year.

In 1987 Coleman began working on different types of music as a solo project, including a tribute to the late Conny Plank . The record company, however, released the long-playing record Outside the Gate , recorded with Geordie's support, in 1988 under the supposedly more selling band name Killing Joke , in order to recapture the costs that had gotten out of hand. Ferguson and Raven refused to work on the album. After increasing tensions, the two were fired from the band. Jimmy Copley took over the drums for the LP, Jeff Scantlebury played the percussion.

Extremities , side projects, Pandemonium and Democracy (1988–1996)

Jaz Coleman, 1991

In late 1988, Coleman and Geordie got back together to reactivate Killing Joke as a live band. With Martin Atkins (Ex- Ministry , Ex- PIL ) on drums and Dave "Taif" Ball on bass, the first concerts were given in December 1988 after an almost two-year break and in 1990 the studio album Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions was recorded and released. Paul Raven was recruited on bass for the studio recordings, while John Bechdel ( Prong ) was behind the keyboards. After the tour with the final concert in London in June 1991, the band fell apart again.

Coleman was now interested in oriental music and released the Egyptian-looking album Songs From the Victorious City with Anne Dudley from The Art of Noise , Youth temporarily became bassist with Godflesh and founded the Goa label Dragonfly, Raven went to Prong . Atkins left the band to start the all-star indie project Pigface .

The New Zealander by choice Coleman pursued his wide-ranging musical interests and became composer and conductor of the New Zealand symphony orchestra and published his Symphony No. , which was still written in Iceland . # 1 . While he was busy with classical music, the rest of the band and other guests formed the Murder Inc. project , which produced an album and an EP .

It wasn't until 1994 that Coleman and Youth came together again, reactivated Killing Joke and recorded the commercially successful album Pandemonium . This album and the two years later, Democracy , both present very contemporary rock songs with strong metal and industrial influences . In terms of content, the dramatically staged pieces deal with rather dark aspects of life. AIDS , drug abuse and time and time again corruption and fascist tendencies in politics play a role. Religion is also processed metaphorically. The vocal track for the song Exorcism was illegally recorded in the great burial chamber of the Great Pyramid of Cheops. Both albums were highly praised by critics.

Band break (1996-2002)

In the following there were various compilations (remixes, rarities) and re-releases of live recordings. From Murder Inc. during which was The Damage Manual .

With either the Prague or London Symphony Orchestra, Coleman played on the side and in between orchestral versions of bands such as Led Zeppelin ( Kashmir ), The Doors ( Concerto , with Nigel Kennedy ), The Rolling Stones , Pink Floyd ( Us And Them ) or The Who ( Who's Serious ) to which Youth sometimes made Goa mixes. Coleman also worked as arranger for violinist Nigel Kennedy.

Killing Joke and Hosannas From the Basements of Hell (2002-2007)

Concert 2005

In 2002 the band was reactivated by Coleman, Geordie and Youth and recorded a new studio album, released in 2003 with Dave Grohl on drums, which represented a return to the musical roots of the band and was accordingly simply called Killing Joke . Grohl's collaboration surprised many because of the differences between his former band Nirvana and Killing Joke, as Come as You Are by Nirvana was heavily based on the intro of Killing Jokes Eighties , a cult song of the 1980s. However, Grohl had already come out several times as a fan of Killing Joke , including a cover version of the song "Requiem".

A live album with a corresponding DVD was released for the band's 25th anniversary . In 2006 a new studio album Hosannas From the Basements of Hell, recorded in Prague , followed . On October 20, 2007 bassist Paul Raven died of a heart attack . In his honor the band wrote The Raven King on the album Absolute Dissent (2010).

Back to the original line-up (2008 – today)

Jaz Coleman at the 2009 Ilosaarirock Festival in Joensuu, Finland

Killing Joke announced on February 29, 2008 that the band with their original line-up had reunited and prepared a new studio album. At the reunification concerts in September and October 2008, mainly the pieces from the early years 1979 to 1981 and from the 1994 album Pandemonium were presented.

In 2009 the band performed at various festivals. Her thirteenth studio album, Absolute Dissent , originally announced for April , was released on September 27, 2010, accompanied by a tour of Europe. In 2012 the band released the next studio album MMXII and went on tour again in Europe.

In October 2015, Killing Joke released their next studio album, Pylon, and embarked on a tour of the UK and USA.

background

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Killing Joke
  UK 39 10/25/1980 (4 weeks)
What's THIS For ...!
  UK 42 06/20/1981 (4 weeks)
Revelations
  UK 12 05/08/1982 (6 weeks)
Ha!
  UK 66 11/27/1982 (2 weeks)
Fire Dances
  UK 29 07/23/1983 (3 weeks)
Night time
  UK 11 
silver
silver
03/09/1985 (9 weeks)
Brighter Than a Thousand Suns
  UK 54 11/22/1986 (1 week)
  US 194 04/11/1987 (1 week)
Outside the gate
  UK 92 07/09/1988 (1 week)
Pandemonium
  DE 72 08/15/1994 (7 weeks)
  UK 16 08/06/1994 (3 weeks)
Democracy
  DE 89 04/29/1996 (3 weeks)
  UK 71 04/13/1996 (1 week)
Killing Joke (2003)
  DE 65 08/11/2003 (3 weeks)
  UK 43 08/09/2003 (1 week)
Absolute dissent
  UK 71 10/09/2010 (1 week)
MMXII
  UK 44 04/14/2012 (1 week)
The Singles Collection 1979–2012
  UK 75 05/18/2013 (1 week)
pylon
  DE 76 10/30/2015 (1 week)
  UK 16 05/11/2015 (1 week)
Singles
Follow the leaders
  UK 55 05/23/1981 (5 weeks)
Empire song
  UK 43 03/20/1982 (4 weeks)
Birds of a Feather
  UK 64 10/30/1982 (2 weeks)
Let's All Go (to the Fire Dances)
  UK 51 06/25/1983 (3 weeks)
Me or you
  UK 57 October 15, 1983 (2 weeks)
Eighties
  UK 60 04/07/1984 (5 weeks)
A New Day
  UK 56 07/21/1984 (3 weeks)
Love Like Blood
  DE 24 April 8, 1985 (10 weeks)
  UK 16 02/02/1985 (9 weeks)
Kings and Queens
  UK 58 03/30/1985 (3 weeks)
Adorations
  UK 42 08/16/1986 (7 weeks)
Sanity
  UK 70 10/18/1986 (2 weeks)
America
  UK 77 04/30/1988 (3 weeks)
My Love of This Land
  UK 89 07/23/1988 (2 weeks)
millennium
  UK 34 05/07/1994 (3 weeks)
The Pandemonium single
  UK 28 07/16/1994 (3 weeks)
Jana
  UK 54 02/04/1995 (2 weeks)
Democracy
  UK 39 03/23/1996 (2 weeks)
Loose cannon
  UK 25th 07/26/2003 (2 weeks)
Hosanna's From the Basements of Hell
  UK 72 04/01/2006 (1 week)

Jaz Coleman explains the band name Killing Joke as follows:

“The feeling of a guy in the First World War who's just about to run out the trenches… and he knows his life is going to be gone in ten minutes and he thinks of that fucker back in Westminster who put him in that position. That's the feeling that we're trying to project ... the Killing Joke. "

"The feeling of a guy in World War I about to storm out of the trenches ... and he knows he's going to be dead in about ten minutes, and he thinks of that ass back at Westminster that got him into this situation . That's the feeling we're trying to get across ... the deadly joke. "

- Jaz Coleman : Rip It Up And Start Again

Discography

Studio albums

  • 1980: Killing Joke
  • 1981: What's THIS For ...!
  • 1982: Revelations
  • 1984: Fire Dances
  • 1985: Night Time
  • 1986: Brighter Than a Thousand Suns
  • 1988: Outside the Gate (actually Coleman / Walker solo project)
  • 1990: Extremities, Dirt and Various Repressed Emotions (re-released in 2007, including as a box set with a bonus dual disc )
  • 1994: Pandemonium
  • 1996: Democracy
  • 2003: Killing Joke
  • 2006: Hosannas From the Basements of Hell
  • 2010: Absolute dissent
  • 2012: MMXII
  • 2015: pylon

Compilations, live recordings, remixes, etc.

  • 1979: Nervous System ( EP , 3-Track-10 ″, also as 4-Track-12 ″ Almost Red )
  • 1982: Ha! (Live EP, 6-track 10 ″, only re-released as an album in 2005)
  • 1989: The Courtauld Talks (Spoken Word)
  • 1992: Laugh? I Nearly Bought One! ( Best of )
  • 1995: Wilful Days (rarities)
  • 1995: BBC in Concert
  • 1996: Alchemy ( Remixes )
  • 1998: Wardance (Remixes)
  • 2001: No Way Out But Forward Go (Live Loreley WDR Rockpalast 1985)
    (CD 2 (VCD) with complete film material, later republished as LOVE LIKE BLOOD - without VCD)
  • 2003: The Unperverted Pantomime? (Rarities, demos, live)
  • 2003: Chaos For Breakfast (5-CD box with the first four singles and a demo CD)
  • 2004: For Beginners (Best-of and Rares)
  • 2005: XXV Gathering: Let Us Prey (Live, also on DVD)
  • 2007: Inside Extremities, Mixes, Rehearsals and Live
  • 2007: Bootleg Vinyl Archive Vol. 1 & Vol. 2
  • 2008: Rmxd (12 ″ compilation)
  • 2008: The John Peel Sessions 79-81
  • 2008: The Original Unperverted Pantomime (Live-CD and -DVD)
  • 2008: Live at the Forum London Part 1 & 2 (two double CD sets)
  • 2008: Duende - The Spanish Sessions (Live in the studio)
  • 2009: The Gathering 2008 (Live, 4-CD box, compilation of the "Live At The Forum" CDs)
  • 2010: Live At The Hammersmith Apollo 2010 (3 CDs)
  • 2011: Down By The River (Pledge project, live album)
  • 2012: The Singles Collection 1979–2012 (Pledge project as 33-CD version, commercially available as 2- or 3-CD version)
  • 2013: In Dub (pledge project, remix compilation)
  • 2016: The Great Gathering (Pledge project, live album)
  • 2018: Laugh At Your Peril (Live In Berlin) (Live double album)
  • 2018: Laugh At Your Peril (Live At The Roundhouse) (Live double album)

Web links

Commons : Killing Joke  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Musicians Wanted" classifieds section in Melody Maker , music magazine of February 24, 1979, page 60
  2. Killing Joke - Outside The Gate. Discogs , accessed January 26, 2011 .
  3. Killing Joke - Extremities, Dirt And Various Repressed Emotions. Discogs , accessed January 26, 2011 .
  4. Interview with Jaz Coleman from September 24, 2008, published by metal.de on February 5, 2009
  5. Past Killing Joke Tour Dates . KillingJoke.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2008. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 7, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.golfrecords.co.uk
  6. Latest News . KillingJoke.com. Archived from the original on January 12, 2014. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 7, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.golfrecords.co.uk
  7. KILLING JOKE with a new album in the original line-up . POWERMETAL.de. Retrieved July 29, 2010.
  8. Killing Joke in the Official UK Charts (English)
  9. Chart tracking / Killing Joke / Longplay. OfficialCharts.de, accessed on May 9, 2009 .
  10. ^ Artist Chart History - Killing Joke - Albums. Billboard.com, accessed September 6, 2016 .
  11. Music Sales Awards: UK
  12. Simon Reynolds : Rip It Up And Start Again: Throw it all down and start again - Postpunk 1978–1984 . Hannibal-Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-85445-270-6 , p. 433 .