OFF: Killing Joke

[Doug Pearson]

On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 19:15:12 -0500, Nick Medford <nickmedford at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

>On Tue, 1 Mar 2005 22:41:09 +0000, Jon Jarrett
><jjarrett at CHIARK.GREENEND.ORG.UK> wrote:
>
>>I think they'd be
>>horrified to know that someone could be into both Gong and Killing Joke...
>
>That would be me then. And it would probably be at least some members of KJ
>themselves. After all original (and sometime current, but not right now) KJ
>bassist Martin Glover (aka Youth) went on to become one half of The Orb,
>who are well known to be huge Gong fans.

( ... and collaborated with Steve Hillage)

>I'd be equally sure that KJ have at
>least a passing acquaintance with the classic HW material- as an exercise,
>dig out yer trusty old copy of KJ's debut album (whaddaya mean ya haven't
>got it??) and check out "The Wait", specifically the instrumental part at
>the end. I'm not suggesting it's a steal- it's not- but it's very much in a
>Hawkwind *style*.

Definitely has a vibe similar to that of Hawkwind from the same era (1980,
although it really makes me think of the early-80s versions of "Magnu").
And thanks for the recommendation/reminder, I did pull out the first two KJ
albums and enjoyed 'em quite a bit, it's been a while.

>Talking of influences, the "support band" on Friday was Alex (Orb) Paterson
>doing a DJ set, which was an eccentric affair, but in amongst the
>booming dub and oddball novelty songs he played "Transmission" by Joy
>Division (another of my favourite bands)- now I've heard this song a good
>few hundred times I should think, but I had never noticed just how utterly
>Hawkwind it gets towards the end.

Joy Division have at least a few Hawkwind-like moments.  Especially in the
rhythm guitar crunch and the synth noises.  (I was recently drafted into
playing keys/2nd gtr in a Joy Division cover band, which is a TON of fun,
getting to pound out stuff like "No Love Lost" and "Shadowplay" on guitar,
"Isolation" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart" on keyboards, and stuff like
"Insight" on pure synth tones.)

>Anyway... David Yow, the guy from the Jesus Lizard? They're a band that
>passed me by at the time, but I heard some recently and was cautiously
>impressed. Anyone have any thoughts on them?

They were a great live band, and Dave Yow is one of the most amazing
punk/rock frontmen I've ever seen (easily up there with Henry Rollins and
Lux Interior, for instance).  The Chrome cover (a medley of "TV As Eyes" and
"Abstract Nympho") they put on the B-side of their first 7" was also very cool.

    -Doug
     jasret at mindspring.com

(Damn, the off-topic conversation has been just *too good* this week!)