Roy Jurgens on September 7th, 2018

0

Amid the presence of a thousand gleeful goth punks, Killing Joke roared through a career-spanning set on a sweltering Wednesday night at the sold-out Regent Theater in downtown Los Angeles. The occasion was the fourth of their 45-date “Laugh at the Your Own Peril” 40th anniversary tour, another chapter in a litany of reminders of the influence the band has wielded in post-punk and industrial music.

Emerging from the wings in like a mad king, an elegantly garbed Jaz Coleman opened his arms and welcomed his adoring flock. “Love Like Blood,” the hit off 1985’s “Night Time” kicked off the proceedings nicely, as Coleman crooned his way through the band’s most mainstream hit. At 58, Coleman plays the raving madman onstage. Rumored to have an IQ that bounces around 180, he once hid away to Iceland to escape a nuclear apocalypse that never came. Like all great frontmen, he is at once terrifying, transfixing and awe-inspiring.

The rest of the band ingredients are pretty simple, and impressive. Guitarist Geordie Walker wields an ancient 1952 Gibson hollow body that emits the sonic blast of a jet engine. How something that old can be that loud is beyond comprehension. Rounding out the band rhythmically are a thundering “Big Paul” Ferguson on drums and the esteemed producer Youth on bass. Youth, aka Martin Glover, is not playing bass in Killing Joke for the money, as he has twiddled knobs for the likes of U2, the Verve, The Cult, Crowded House, James and The Orb, etc., while collaborating with some fellow by the name of Paul McCartney. And when was the last time you heard of a 40-year-old band touring with all its original members?

Killing Joke is a band that has gone through three distinct stylistic phases. Starting out as tribal punks in the late seventies, songs such “Follow the Leaders” and “Wardance” were political and industrial driven. The mid-’80s saw them dabble in sweeping goth anthems for a couple releases, while the ’90s brought forth a return to Walker’s wall of sound guitar, melting metal riffs with world music percussion. Previous tours had seen them shun their mid-’80s material in favor of a more bruising set. Hearing Coleman actually croon intermittently was a welcome respite from his usual full-on gutteral roar. Oddly, their 1986 hit, “Sanity,” didn’t make the setlist. “Eighties,” commonly known for the riff lifted by Nirvana for “Come as You Are,” sounded as furious as ever. “Asteroid” and “The Death and Resurrection Show” showed off Coleman’s rasping bellow. The closer, “Pandemonium,” was a glorious mashup of Middle Eastern textures and Zeppelinesque guitar. The 20-song set left a sweaty and exhausted crowd sated.

While Killing Joke isn’t a band that rests in the forefront of most people’s psyche, their profound influence surely does. Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, Ministry, Rammstein, Faith No More and Soundgarden are among the acts who regard the Notting Hill legends as an important touchstone early in their careers. Dave Grohl is such a fanboy that he demanded to play drums on their 2003 self-titled release while refusing payment.

Killing Joke’s tour wraps up in London, where they are rumored to be playing with an orchestra, continuing Coleman’s parallel flirtations with the classical world. Coleman is in the midst of collaborating with the St. Petersburg State Symphony Orchestra on interpretations of classic Killing Joke songs.

Photos by Roy Jurgens