1983 Interview with Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke

Update - review of my first ever live Killing Joke experience at Hull's Spring Street Theatre, July 1983 as featured in Kindred Spirit issue one has now been added at foot of page.

As Killing Joke’s 40^th anniversary tour comes to a close, now seems the ideal time to share the interview we did with singer Jaz Coleman, which was featured in issue 3 of Kindred Spirit.

I couldn’t believe my luck when through the daughter of a friend of my mum’s (believe it or not) we managed to secure a back stage pass to interview Killing Joke. The interview followed a mesmerizing performance at Tiffany’s, Leeds in December 1983, several months after the release of the brilliant Fire Dances album.

Glitzy Tiffany’s seemed a somehow unfitting venue, but once KJ took to the stage the surroundings suddenly became irrelevant. They had us all in the palm of their hands from start to finish as they stomped their way through an awesome set. With his painted face and menacing expressions, Jaz dominated the scene; whilst guitarists Geordie and Raven swayed effortlessly from side to side in time to drummer Paul’s pounding tribal beats.   Wow! It’s all coming back to me…

The highlights of the set for me were Psyche, Wardance, Dominator and one of my personal favourite KJ tracks – Change. I managed to find the full set list at setlist.fm

Once the gig finished we waited back stage not quite knowing what to expect or how we would be received. We were beckoned to come in after about ten minutes, and here follows the interview that was featured in Kindred Spirit.

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On the surface it seemed like a chance too good to miss. Face to face with Killing Joke, showering them with ridiculous questions, making them promise to play a gig in Hull within the next two weeks at least… The list was endless. But as we cruised along the M62 at a cool 100 MPH I couldn’t help thinking about all those cruel pictures the national music press have painted of the band over the last couple of years: fascists? Raving lunatics? People who ought to be locked away? It doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, and when you see the power mad almost evil expression on lead singer Jaz Coleman’s painted visage as he leaps around the stage to the pounding tribal beat (he totally refused to admit to consciously having any sort of control over the audience but I’m still not convinced!) you can’t help wondering if there might just be a grain of truth in all the nasty rumours.

Having said all that however, by the end of the gig I’d somehow managed to convince myself that this most definitely was a chance too good to miss. One shouldn’t be fooled by everything one reads after all, should one?

Once backstage it soon became apparent that we hadn’t chosen the best of nights to hold any sort of level headed conversation with the band. It was lead guitarist Geordie’s birthday and celebrations were well and truly underway by the time we were permitted to join the post-gig pandemonium.

The birthday boy himself remained almost silent, apart from scrounging the odd cigarette and agreeing with Jaz when necessary. Bassist Raven (a fan of the Red Guitars incidentally) was for 99% of the time nowhere to be seen and Paul the drummer appeared to be deep in discussion somewhere on the other side of the room.

The only member of the band who was in fact prepared to make a few comments was Jaz.

Sat silently in the corner regaining his breath and having removed all traces of war paint, he didn’t look anywhere near as forbidding. After making the expected general enquiries about who we were, flicking through the fanzine and handing us drinks, party hats etc Jaz seemed quite content to be bombarded with questions.

We all agreed that glittering Tiffany’s, complete with Christmas decorations, bow-tied bouncers et al wasn’t exactly the ideal venue for a Killing Joke gathering and Jaz seemed somewhat disappointed about the manner in which the audience had reacted to their performance.

“They were a bit tame tonight. I thought they were getting a bit tired of us by the end. We’ve played here before, I don’t think we’ll be playing here again somehow.”

Do you think your change of style has attracted a slightly different type of crowd?

“No. They’re all the same. One or two still spit and they all wear leather jackets and dance crazy. I’m glad they are still hardcore thought – I’d rather they were.”

Do you class yourself as a “hardcore” band?

“No. We make savage music that has got feeling and feeling is nothing to do with uniform. We’re more of an ‘80s band than a ‘70s band.”

Were you influenced in any way by any of the ‘70s punk bands?

“I liked the Pistols, “Neat Neat Neat” by the Damned and bits and pieces of the early Ants, but I only liked a certain amount from that period, it lacked imagination or musicianship. I liked the guitar, the wall of noise and letting yourself go. That’s part of our roots isn’t it? Part of our entire heritage because I’ll tell you now there’s a lot of heritage and a lot of tradition in Killing Joke. We’ve got four years behind us now, a long tradition and we celebrate that. That’s what a lot of these young bands don’t have. That’s why they go down so badly in Europe. Sex Gang Children, Death Cult… they just don’t work abroad. The same goes for Kirk Brandon’s boys too. We’ll clean up over there, we’re the first band after punk to establish a new style. We’ve got good rhythm and a lot of tradition”

As a total contrast you may have already heard about the symphony which Jaz has written. Hopefully it shouldn’t be too long before we’re given the opportunity to see it performed.

“The only thing that’s holding me up is the publishing deal. Once I’ve got that I’ve had acceptances from two orchestras. I’d like to invite quite a lot of fanzines to that to see what they make of it.”

What inspired you to write it?

“I got my inspiration from making a drastic change to my life by going to Iceland. I started writing it the day I got there. I wanted to evoke my visions of the future, describe landscape and capture more romance in the music as well. I don’t mean like silly love songs, I mean more romance, like love of the land.”

Would you like to live in the outdoor for a while, in a hut or a cave perhaps?

“Yes but I’d like to make it more than that. I have done already thought. I love camping for example and I lived in the desert for two months. I behaved like an animal – rubbed dirt all over myself – it was great.”

Why did you do it?

Sketch of Jaz Coleman from
 Kindred Spirit issue one

“Because I like that sort of thing. Sometimes I like walking for miles in the middle of nowhere… think… hear music in my head… feel breeze on my face… do a bit of writing… maybe it’s a real hot day, blue sky and sunshine and I get so hot I’m sweating all over so I stand under a mountain stream… feel elements… feel shivers down my back. Maybe I’m with a girl that I love… feel how good it is to be human. We forget these things y’know.”

Do you believe in God?

“Not as a separate entity. I love to see the divine in ourselves. That is, if I see someone who is talented, like a good cook or a good gardener I see the divine in them. Therefore by seeing the divine in our individual selves, we can realise our full potential. Then we can move into a world of myth and legends where we all become a living legend, all become gods. I see God in man. It’s more colour, more richness, more fun.”

And talking of fun it was time for yet more helpings of Killing Joke’s favourite poison – sake. Nice stuff if you can afford it.

“Oh I’ve no objections to a high standard of living let me tell you, none whatsoever! I’ll take all I can get, won’t you? I think a high standard of living is very credible itself.”

Is that why you’ve moved away from England to live in Switzerland?

“No, I hate England. I like the tea, the individuals and the sense of humour, that’s all I like about England. I hate the ominous feeling of cruise missiles, Margaret Thatcher and the whole depressing outlook of the country. I hate the escalation of patriotism, I hate seeing miles and miles of industrial wasteland when I’m up north. I can’t tolerate it, it depresses me and I have the choice right! I don’t want to live here, so I live over there.

I’ll tell you what I do like, I like waking up in a morning – it’s a nice big house, we all have our own rooms – then I like coming down and a nice big breakfast to be waiting for us all, put on a bit of Beethoven, nice morning, mountains outside, have some coffee and maybe a bit of peace and quiet. Paul reads a book, Geordie plays his guitar, then when we feel like it we go down to the studio and do some rehearsing. Then we get drunk, go down to a club and ponce drinks off everybody.”

But there are a great many people who can’t do that. Don’t you ever think about them?

“That’s bollocks! We couldn’t do that once. We pushed for it. I came from a little village; they came from Milton Keynes and Newcastle. We didn’t have it all; we had to kick hard in the balls for it. No-one gives us anything, you’ve got to push! If you don’t people will walk on you. That’s why we like inspiring the savage in people. There’s a lot of push and struggle in the music, a lot of conflict. That is what it’s all about!”

What other main themes are there running through your music?

“Fire and drums. It’s extrovert music, it’s offensive music, it’s music about willpower. I think we’re moving towards a time now when the willpower is more important than the intellect. You see, I’ve experienced that intellect within its analysis (?) goes nowhere, but a person who has willpower sets everything into motion. No matter how naïve they are they’ll achieve far more than the intellect.

I think there’s a fair amount of intellectual capacity with Killing Joke but we enjoy the simple things in life. I come from the countryside and I want basically to be able to offer a future to others. The lifestyle we have, I want to be able to offer to others.

Do you think there is anyone else moving along the same lines?

“You tell me.” (Pause for thought) “Boy George!”

Really? What do you think of Boy George?

He irritates me. His music is the sort I detest. I’d rather listen to Beethoven’s 5^th or Wagner than Boy George. It’s music which is there for making money and adding a bit of glamour and glitter to people’s dull, mediocre lives. I’ve no time for it.”

But isn’t he doing what you do – taking all he can get?

“Oh as an individual I can respect what he’s doing… I don’t like it though! From the financial side I can see his point of view perfectly.

Are you planning on making any more videos?

“Yes, a few videos. We made one to Fire Dances but it didn’t get shown very much at all over here. They said it was too violent. It was shown in all the clubs in America. I mean we had a very small budget to do it on but it was great. We’ll be doing a few more of them, more live stuff I think. People like Killing Joke live because it’s rougher. People like a bit of dirt.”

Do you think Killing Joke will ever be played on a regular basis on daytime radio?

“I don’t think so. Our music’s too savage. It stops you from doing what you’re doing and demands your full attention. Most of the stuff played on the radio is to perpetuate the mediocrity and slavery that goes on half the time. Our music is hardly commercial, but I think situations will make it so next year. I think we’ll go quite big next year because we’re selling well in Europe and America now, better than England.”

So supposing you become megastars ’84?

“I couldn’t give a fuck! It wouldn’t change my life. I’d still be with the people that I like and we’d still make savage music, in fact it would become more savage. It would just meant that I’d get more sake!”

Between making sure that his glass didn’t run dry and singing happy birthday to Geordie, Jaz talked non stop on a wide range of subjects: drugs, mythology, the music press, his family… all fascinating stuff. Had we printed every word the entire fanzine would probably have been filled with Coleman statements only.

Before calling it a day however, we did just ask whether or not the band had any plans to return to Hull to give us all another taste of Killing Joke power. Here is what Jaz told us:

“Of course we’ll be playing in Hull again. How could we not play Hull again? We love it up there, love all the people. It’s not the prettiest of towns but the people are some of the warmest I’ve ever met. There’s a strong sense of community. It’s as if a cup of tea has got a secret significance in Hull that it hasn’t got anywhere else isn’t it? We will definitely be playing in Hull again – definitely.”

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Here is the review of a Killing Joke gig that took place at Hull's Spring Street Theatre in 1983.

Although not a Hull band, Killing Joke had something of a cult following in Hull during the 1980’s. The very first gig review I wrote for Kindred Spirit was of a Killing Joke gig I was lucky enough to witness at Hull's Spring Street Theatre in July 1983. 

It was a sticky evening and there were hoards of (mainly) young punks lining the pavements around the theatre. There was a real tension in the air, but by the end of the gig that tension was well and truly released.

This and other poems featured in Kindred Spirit
can be found here

This was the first time I personally ever saw Killing Joke play live but I was an instant convert. When we later went on to carry out the above interview with Jaz Coleman after the gig at Leeds Tiffanys it was an altogether different experience, but for me the up close and personal nature of the Spring Street gig made much more of an impact and seemed a more fitting backdrop to KJs heavy tribal sound.

Support act for this gig was the excellent Play Dead, who we also later went on to interview in Kindred Spirit. The Play Dead interview will be published here on the blog in due course, bear with me on that one!

Whilst digging around online I came across a blog entry written by a die hard KJ fan which includes photos taken by fellow fan Simon Hill at the Spring Street gig reviewed in Kindred Spirit. I've included a couple here in this article, but you can see the full set here 

Here follows the review which appeared in Kindred Spirit issue one.

You could almost see the word ‘aggression’ written across every face in that sweaty crowd. You could see it in their clenched fists, outstretched arms and stamping feet. Superfluous energy and pent up aggression all released quite painlessly to the pounding tribal beat.

Not really knowing a great deal about Killing Joke, I managed to view their performance without any great expectations.

For the first ten minutes of the show I was absolutely mesmerised by the expression on lead singer Jaz Coleman’s brightly painted face. There was an almost evil glint in his eyes as he leapt to and fro, laughing scornfully and beckoning to his followers.

The small theatre was literally overflowing with doting fans and without trying too hard Jaz dominated the scene.

Strangely enough there weren’t any really noticeable high spots. Each number was delivered with all the power of the Clash, finishing in a blaze of glory every time.

“Frenzy” screamed out, almost rocking the foundations and driving the audience into a frenzy, whilst “Empire Song” inevitably caused the crowd to leap a little higher. If anything though, the old favourites “War Dance” and “Pssyche” received the most enthusiastic response. The bouncers were virtually useless in their attempts to keep fans from climbing on stage, not helped by Jaz who, with that evil glint in his eyes used his backside to try and push them flat on their faces.

Bass guitarist Paul scowled and cursed as one rather hefty skinhead continually grabbed his ankles, determined to join his heroes one way or another.

Never before have I seen such fervour last throughout an entire performance.

All credit must surely go to Jaz. He never showed any signs of turning his back on the faithful supporters. From the first drum beat to the last guitar siren, he was with them all the way.

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