Well where do I start with this article? Surely enough has been written about seminal (overused word) Apocalyptic Godfathers of Grunge…KILLING JOKE. But i have to add my account not least as I not only met JAZ COLEMAN at two incredible sets, but we discussed UFO’s, conspiracy theories, even my old book! As for the performances the band is as tight as ever and the intensity in old and new songs as well as the performances to a passionate and familiar alternative audience was extraordinary and with all the diversity of thought and mind that you could have in an audience. This is as unique as the band itself. The followers are refreshing. They are even the only group to record in the Pyramid of Giza, which would have impressed the BEATLES. PAUL works with YOUTH so PM may have been jealous. The band were powerful, tight and as great as ever. At one point JAZ exclaimed…
“You lot there…you lot are supposed to be the proletariat E WORKER SLAVES! It has been a nightmare two years and now a war…its only going to get worse….so we embrace the fire!”
There is only one KJ. The odd person looked stunned or perturbed at the odd political comment but most are alternative thinkers which seems a very positive and a dangerous thing to some. JC would say he is more a protest commentator in lyrics as opposed to politics as he has no fixed ideology. We also had a brief chat on London as we are from the same part of Notting Hill/Paddington. I have always found the underground nature of the band with Honesty, integrity and passion being at the forefront, makes them in an old fashioned timeless sense stand out as unique in those aspects…be they musical or or not. Not just in Music but in all Arts forms from entertainment to architecture and design. I gave him the message from his Icelandic friends i had met the week before and it led naturally to me asking more. They had recommended JAZ’s rather wonderful classical works and I would also recommend the DOORS symphony which one hopes the poetic lover of romantic poetry JIM MORRISON himself, might be enjoying in the beyond. The Icelanders from Bath had asked me to give JC an esoteric message. This seemed a nice connection with the prophecy of 1982 that led to JAZ being replaced by a stand in while he escaped to Iceland and potential escape from the end of the world. JAZ has always been into prophecy…take his lyrics long long before COVID. from THE GREAT CULL…(see song below)
“Develop virus market cure exploit the panic
Contaminate by guile and stealth, a quick strum of the harp
Depopulate, initiate pharmaceutical companies…All fall down, all fall down, Codex Alimentarius
Thin the herd, thin the herd
The great cull is coming down, Instigate wars in population density centers
Maintain population below five hundred million…Immunize, irradiate, deregulate all toxins”
From I AM THE VIRUS (2014)
“False flags and Black Ops…Tavistock manufactured shocks
Something’s gone horribly wrong…Hot flushes for the Neo-con
A population In deep denial…Contagion released…From a Phial”
We must also contemplate his political songwriting not only with the current LORD OF CHAOS but also I AM THE VIRUS (From LORD OF CHAOS “Fatal attraction to bright lights and loud explosions…All things must pass, oceans bereft of life. A fungal bloom allows no light, the depths no longer rise…As we dine in streets of filth and close our eyes…While the world is burning and all the sеas rise…Flash points everywhere…And everybody’s scared…Complex systems failure…And the lord of chaos is in…”
Radical and still political (or rather, protesting) youthful ideologies meet aged experience unique belief and esoteric magical power. KJ do not fake image they believe in real spiritualism beyond the realms of most. No wonder JAZ could not wait to tell me of death threats. “This song is about the last two years basically…”, he said when they began a thundering rendition of VIRUS. I asked COLEMAN about the current World War 3 possibilities to which he replied,
“Well it could all kick off but you must understand it could be all about control…I have nearly lost my life, and I have had death threats….Perhaps I am a marked man! Haha! I refuse to Kill myself because I dont believe in Suicide…you must understand the last two years are about oppression and Control. The powers that be dont want us to protest or create art of any kind or connect ideas to make new ideologies as they want us to stay indoors and be controlled…they would tag us if they could….I have been targeted”. Such are the perils of being political or controversial or alternative in esoteric beliefs, and such is the fact that JAZ is a Rosicrucian (my gran was too actually). During the set BIG PAUL thundered on the drums in TRIBAL fashion with his boots being filled back in 2003 by GROHL notably. Speaking of GRUNGE, COLEMAN did do a project called LEVEE WALKERS with PEARL JAM members and I recommend the beautiful “TEARS FOR THE WEST” by them.
I then mentioned my out of print VRIL CODEX book due to the UFO and Cult esoteric Wicca magic connection which all interested COLEMAN. I was right, he knows the subject well. Indeed he then whispered an initiation ceremony series of numbers and a odd code…
(YOUTH was at one point in the background looking on in a stoned haze and BIG PAUL said farewell to some close friends and modestly exited while a very annoyed boozy unrecognizable MATT BERRY also left the concert but looked in no mood to converse). Me and JC shook hands and he agreed to read my work. He gave me his details. I can say he was the best experience i have had with a figure I admire…He was very nice and as for 1982 when he went missing…from that incident I bring you the infamous JAZless TOP OF THE POPS performance…Who is the mysterious figure?
U2, ULTRAVOX (KJ’s REVELATION LP had CONNY PLANK produce, who produced VIENNA), GARY NUMAN/TUBEWAY ARMY, BIG COUNTRY, BAUHAUS, THE CULT, SIMPLE MINDS, THE CURE, JULIAN COPE SIOUXSIE AND THE BANCHEES THE STRANGLERS and ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN were in some cases contemporaries that never capitalized long term (other than U2/THE CURE/GARY NUMAN/COPE) on early unique sounds, instead to transplant it musically with somewhat compromising sell outs to the fashions of the day whether to produce the next JOSHUA TREE stadium appeal or to go in an ill suited DANCE direction. Though sometimes the new direction for whichever band worked well as was the case with THE CULT for ACDC fans (!) but too many bands tended to try to copy U2 whom had been a contemporary in the same boat as the others not so long before. The CULT I felt remained a strong force after LOVE but the original GOTH material that the CURE capitalized on went, lost in production, perhaps deemed too British for US marketing execs…as far as the CULT were concerned but not so with the CURE and to a certain degree KJ who were a cult band stateside. They still had success. But The CULT i felt had the sound compromised by AEROSMITH type production so the original sound whilst still there was as drowned out as those possibly undefinable original influences had been on the earlier strongest potentially prototype sound. KJ had their own mini crisis but still kept afloat as an alternative force, a unique aspect. JC is a ROCK singer for sure but he has unique aspects in that like BOWIE he loves the esoteric but is alone perhaps in the belief he shows and passion for the alternative rather than it just being an image. He equally personally embraces classical composing writing and architecture too. As for the U2 route, the American market was a lot to do with it perhaps, in a similar way to the WHO. However KJ never went down that route because they were there so early on (1978) that the undoubted influence on both contemporaries as well as even DANCE MUSIC (as a result of YOUTH’s electronica innovations…In fact the DUB REGGAE that influenced YOUTH in Ladbroke Grove was the soundtrack to my childhood). THE STRANGLERS carried on but to me were never as good without founder HUGH CORNWELL and whilst he and the STRANGLERS with JJ BURNEL are as strong as ever, I still prefer the original line up. (As a side note ULTRAVOX for me had two heydays…both with FOXX and URE…The same with GENESIS’s GABRIEL and some of the COLLINS heydays). For a band to be relevant and potent and to have an original line up is unheard of but here we have it with KJ. Also later on the admitted influence on PEARL JAM and NIRVANA lead one to surmise that in the annals of rock JAZ is probably only true Psychic performer out there. The band began in witchcraft Magik (watch the incredible documentary below if you dont believe me!). PEARL JAM and NIRVANA members have even worked with KJ or JAZ solo in homage but I am still staggered by how many do not know the influence or even know of the band. Its pretty common for musos to correct one and say “no its the PIXIES that mainly influenced NIRVANA” when KJ were NIRVANA’s admitted main musical muse. They are as influential on some levels as their friends LED ZEPPELIN (JIMMY PAGE is a fan and worked with JAZ) and the BEATLES (MACCA has worked with YOUTH) and KRAFTWERK in terms of influence on bands who then went on to be seen as seminal and influential themselves…such as NIRVANA (not that KURT and co werent those things but they admitted KJ were the main influence with DAVE GROHL drumming on the 2003 LP in humorous homage. I will end with a set of JAZ lyrics arranged by me like a poem which symbolize the same values as COLERIDGE and WORDSWORTH back in 1797 as revolutionaries…and JAZ with his honestly is surely the honest BONO…the ROLLING STONES to the U2 (BEATLES)…the BLUR to the OASIS, the ULTRAVOX to the DURAN DURAN…the MANICS to the….Radical and strange they still are cutting edge and they have the intensity of rebellion that i thought was lost in the young let alone guys their age (which is meaningless in itself nowadays). From the PUNK of ARE YOU RECEIVING? with its quirky unusual perhaps DEEP PURPLE style keys which already began with an original style evoked perhaps by the magical ceremony that began the band. I saw a anti establishment edge reflected in controversial comment on the War and Pandemic so it was like a time travel machine had taken me back to a rebellious era of 50 years ago, yet via todays madness which in LORD OF CHAOS has spawned perhaps another defining era anthem as a result of an original line up which flourishes against the grain of the norm. The group have never compromised…particularly JAZ, unique as he is in not conforming or changing to contradict earlier passion. JAZ is far from in a time warp of his youth, he still has that youth (I mean in age not the bassist!) anger which is virtually unheard of and as honest as the day they started with the Anti establishment genuine menace also unheard of in its matured ferocity and so potent that contemporaries might be as startled by KJ as a conservative politician might be. The MANICS might have similar uncompromising elements but KJ take it to a new level having complete control at every level.
Lastly let me quote these moving lyrics on humanity as meaningful now as when written in 1990…If only the above was a Church of KILLING JOKE. This would be the anthem/Hymn…
MONEY IS NOT OUR GOD…”So busy trying to make a living i forgot about living
So busy trying to make a living i forget about life . The best things i found in life were my birthright
Green fields mean more to me than a brand new car
Will you swap your hi-fi for a clear blue sky?
Will you cash in all your shares for Gods clean air?
Is your answer yes, or no, to these painful truths? Do you grovel to your master?
Do you beg like a dog? First things first, repeat to yourself…AHHH MONEY!, Money is not our GOD! Mine! The best things in life are free
I own the beach and the blazing sunset. Mine!
I own the waves and the fresh air…Mine! I drink the milk of the stars in this beautiful moment
Say to yourself. ALL THESE THINGS ARE MINE! Do you grovel to your master?
Do you beg like a dog? First things first, repeat to yourself. AHHH MONEY!
Ben Manning's Music + Arts 