Killing Joke

In their formative years, Killing Joke operated as a near-metal outfit locked into rhythms of despair and pessimism, delivering deliberate, weighty music. Over time the ensemble shifted toward a lighter, more experimental approach that embraced greater danceability, yet they still produced intense, incendiary recordings saturated with dense guitar textures, pounding percussion, and theatrical vocals. Their abrasive style grew out of British punk while foreshadowing industrial music, yet the visceral force of their attack also resonated with segments of the metal audience outside the mainstream, allowing the band to maintain an independent stance across differing scenes. Their 1980 self-titled debut album served as a fierce declaration of intent, Night Time from 1985 broadened their sonic palette, the 2003 self-titled release featured longtime admirer Dave Grohl on drums, and 2021’s In Dub Rewind (Vol. 1) presented radical reinterpretations of earlier material. The ensemble returned to original studio work with the 2022 Lord of Chaos EP.

Killing Joke’s roots trace back to the Matt Stagger Band. Paul Ferguson was handling drums for that act when he encountered Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards) during the late 1970s. Coleman spent a short time with the Matt Stagger Band before he and Ferguson departed to establish Killing Joke near the end of 1978. The pair enlisted bassist Youth (born Martin Glover Youth), previously a member of the punk outfit the Rage, along with guitarist Geordie (born Kevin Walker) to round out the initial configuration. Relocating to Notting Hill Gate, the group financed and recorded the debut EP Almost Red using funds borrowed from Coleman’s girlfriend. BBC radio presenter John Peel responded enthusiastically to the EP by granting the band a session that ranked among his most popular late-1970s broadcasts. Before 1979 concluded, the musicians secured a deal with Island Records that permitted them to launch their own imprint, Malicious Damage.

Killing Joke issued their first Malicious Damage single, “Wardance,” in February 1980. After that release the band and label moved from Island Records to EG, enabling the appearance of their self-titled debut album. Regular performances across England earned the group a reputation for provocation; their visual imagery frequently employed grotesque or inflammatory motifs, and a concert poster depicting the Pope blessing ranks of Nazis led to a performance ban in Glasgow. Notwithstanding such disputes, the quartet cultivated an audience spanning punk and disco listeners through aggressive yet rhythmic singles such as “Psyche” and “Follow the Leader.” Their second album, What’s THIS For…!, arrived in 1981.

Following completion of the third album, 1982’s Revelations, vocalist Jaz Coleman—who had become absorbed in occult studies—concluded that the end of the world was imminent and therefore abandoned the group, traveling to Iceland alongside Geordie. While there, Coleman and Geordie collaborated with several Icelandic acts, notably Theyr, the ensemble that later developed into the Sugarcubes. Youth soon joined them in Iceland. After several months passed without apocalyptic events, Youth returned to England and co-founded Brilliant with Ferguson. Ferguson exited that project shortly afterward and relocated to Iceland with Killing Joke’s newly recruited bassist, Paul Raven. Youth persisted with Brilliant while the revised Killing Joke lineup of Coleman, Geordie, Ferguson, and Raven recorded briefly in Iceland before returning to England to produce Fire Dances, issued in 1983. That album revealed a more restrained and direct incarnation of the band compared with prior releases.

Throughout the remainder of the 1980s, Killing Joke continued releasing albums that never recaptured their early-decade audience. Following Outside the Gate in 1988 the group disbanded, only to reconvene two years later for Extremities, Dirt & Various Repressed Emotions. That record introduced drummer Martin Atkins and restored the noisy, dance-oriented experiments of earlier work. After its release the ensemble observed a four-year hiatus. In 1994 Killing Joke reformed as a trio comprising Coleman, Geordie, and Youth, resulting in Pandemonium, an album heavier and more aggressive than its immediate predecessors. Subsequent releases included Democracy (1996), another self-titled album (2003), and the live document XXV Gathering!. After supporting the reunited Mötley Crüe on a 2004 U.K. tour, the band based itself in Prague to record Hosannas from the Basement of Hell, which surfaced in 2006. Paul Raven died of heart failure in Geneva, Switzerland, in October 2007. The original members Coleman, Geordie, Youth, and Ferguson all attended the funeral and resolved to reunite in tribute to both Raven and the band’s history. Following an international tour, this configuration entered the studio and completed the 2010 album Absolute Dissent. Subsequent years brought continued touring and archival projects, among them The Singles Collection: 1979–2012 in 2013 and, in 2014, both the remix collection In Dub and the live album Down by the River. The reunited Killing Joke maintained a high level of activity, delivering the powerful studio album Pylon in October 2015. In 2021 the group issued In Dub Rewind (Vol. 1), a collection of remixes crafted by Youth. The four-song EP Lord of Chaos, the band’s first studio recording in seven years, appeared in 2022. Guitarist Geordie (also known as Kevin Walker) passed away on November 26, 2023, at the age of 64.