Killing Joke frontman Jaz Coleman remembers Geordie Walker: “It’s been an incredibly difficult time”
The Killing Joke frontman Jaz Coleman has remembered his late bandmate and friend, Geordie Walker.
Kevin ‘Geordie’ Walker was the guitarist of the influential post-punk and industrial outfit, and he passed away in Prague at 6:30am on November 26th, 2023, following a stroke. A member of the group since 1979, Walker became known for his unique approach to his instrument, which included tuning his semi-acoustic Gibson ES-295 down a whole tone lower than standard and utilising the swells of the chorus effect to create immense atmosphere.
Walker created numerous significant moments on the guitar, with two of the most famous being 1985’s ‘Love Like Blood’ and ‘Eighties’. The latter has been rumoured to have been ripped off by Kurt Cobain for Nirvana’s ‘Come as You Are’, a claim that has been nearly confirmed by Nirvana’s head of management, Danny Goldberg. This speaks to Walker’s profound influence on alternative rock, with musicians such as Kevin Shields and Billy Gould acknowledging his brilliance.
Killing Joke would creatively metamorphose over the years and develop their sonic character, gradually becoming heavier, with Walker playing a crucial role. The difference between his efforts on 1986’s goth classic ‘Adorations’ and 2003’s chugging groove, ‘The Death and Resurrection Show’ are stark.
“I’m still in terrible shock,” Coleman tells The Guardian about his friend’s death in a new interview. “It’s been an incredibly difficult time for everybody around Killing Joke.”
“Geordie was a national treasure,” the frontman adds of his late friend, saying he was his “constant companion, at every single gig and recording”. According to Coleman, both might have had opposing musical tastes, but as avid readers, they shared a love of politics, philosophy and mysticism.
Before his death, Walker was the only constant member of Killing Joke alongside Coleman. He was born in 1958 and moved from the Newcastle area to Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, at 14. It was in the south of England that he earned his nickname, ‘Geordie’ and picked up the guitar. Walker joined the band after responding to an advert in Melody Maker that read: “Want to be part of the Killing Joke? We mean it man. Total exploitation, total publicity, total anonymity. Bass and lead wanted.”
According to band lore, Coleman – a lifelong believer in the occult – and drummer Paul Ferguson first tried to find a guitarist and bassist for their new project by using a black magic ritual, but their flat strangely burned down. So, they opted for the traditional means, placing an advert in the national music publication. When Walker responded, he admitted he had never been in a band before but maintained that he was the best around.
In total, Walker recorded and released 15 albums with Killing Joke. The run kicked off with 1980’s self-titled debut and concluded with his last studio length, 2015’s Pylon. His final work with the band was March 2022’s EP, Lord of Chaos.
Later in the month, Coleman will be heading out on a spoken word and Q&A tour, and he tells the publication that he knows the death of his friend will come up but is not yet willing to speak about it or the future of Killing Joke as he is “still in mourning”.
Elsewhere, Coleman likened Killing Joke to a “dysfunctional family” and revealed that in one of his final conversations with Walker, the influential guitarist had told him that he didn’t want to continue working with the band’s original lineup alongside Ferguson and bassist Youth. “I tried to reason with him,” Coleman explained. “Then he died.”
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