[kj] Minneapolis Jaz interview

[Jiri]

Someone posted this on the Gathering message board.
Typical fare, but the Youth comment was tickling:

He and Geordie are touring with Raven on bass, because
Youth is "a bit fat and going through a conservative
phase in his life," Coleman says.


http://www.startribune.com/stories/457/4180416.html

Killing Joke's Jaz Coleman is the devilish uncle of
punk
Christina Schmitt, Special to the Star Tribune 
  
Published October 31, 2003 MUS31 
    
Jaz Coleman is a wicked punk charmer from way back, a
metalhead who is into mysticism and has a mother lode
of things to discuss -- from politics to the other
punk icons he has known and worked with, from Joy
Division's Ian Curtis to the omnipresent Dave Grohl.

Talk with him long enough, and Coleman is guaranteed
to mention prophecies from Isaiah (not a punk icon)
and the search for islands at the end of the world.

Those who know anything about Killing Joke, which
formed during the late-'70s U.K. punk explosion, seem
to know much about its freaky history, including
Coleman's leaving the band in the mid-'80s for Iceland
because he felt a prophecy told him to do so.

Those who grew up in southern California during that
time will tell you they couldn't go to a school dance
without hearing the band's classic "Eighties." That
song is now best known for supplying the riff that
Kurt Cobain lifted for Nirvana's "Come As You Are."

 British post-punk pioneers Killing JokeHandoutOn the
phone from New York as the band begins a U.S. tour
that stops at the Fine Line in Minneapolis on Monday,
the 43-year-old Coleman is "delighted" to see two
generations of punks bang their heads on the wall. 

"I've had interviews where the people interviewing me,
they've been brought up on Killing Joke, force-fed it
by their parents," he says.

And of course he knows where Minneapolis is. "I've
been coming through Minneapolis half my life," he says
with a laugh. "I've been touring through there since
1980."

Industrial-strength Grohl 

1980 might be four presidents ago, but his band's
latest, "Killing Joke," is not an old man's record.
It's hard, it's fast, and it sounds like the
industrial and death metal the kids are still into
today.

Coleman always has been known as a curmudgeon who
spits out his world views. Current events, especially
the war in Iraq, continue to be his fuel.

"It's in self-defense," he says of Killing Joke's
angry tones. "I believe the war in Iraq has been a
hasty, miscalculated course of action. [The song]
'Total Invasion' -- what we're talking about is that
this action had no U.N. sanction, that we have
basically destroyed all international law. The
implications of this could be horrendous."

Killing Joke songs are complex, but they do rock.
Grohl plays drums on the new CD, and Coleman says it's
his heavy hitting that makes the industrial rhythms
groove.

"Our original idea was to have three drummers play on
the album: Dave Grohl; the drummer from Tool, Danny
[Carey], and John [Dolmayan] from System of a Down.
When Dave heard it, he said, 'I want to do the whole
album,' " Coleman says. "He's a sheer delight. We got
drunk massively together. He's a demon of a drummer."

When Coleman, a classically trained musician, isn't
setting diatribes to hardcore music, he's busy with
other projects, such as penning songs for classical
orchestras in New Zealand. To appreciate the
complexity of his songwriting, listen to the song
"Implant" and its 6/4 meter. "That's six crotchet
beats [whole notes] to the bar, my darling," Coleman
says. "It's not a normal rhythm. Most rock records are
in 4/4 -- how dull." 

The record also features other Killing Joke
trademarks: Coleman's growls and otherworldly rasps;
the evil metal guitar from Geordie, the band's
co-founder; bass lines from the two bass players who
have done stints in the band through the years, Youth
and Raven.

The whole thing was brought together by producer Andy
Gill, guitarist from the legendary U.K. funk-punk act
Gang of Four. "His very rare vintage wine has been
very depleted," Coleman says of Gill. "There's not a
lot of people who could keep up with this lot, my
little nest of vipers, as I call them."

He and Geordie are touring with Raven on bass, because
Youth is "a bit fat and going through a conservative
phase in his life," Coleman says. On drums is Ted
Parsons, a veteran of the very evil New York band the
Swans. Things have been going well, Coleman says,
"although I have already driven one of my assistants
mad."

You could spend days asking him for stories from his
other 20 years of touring, such as when Killing Joke
played shows with Public Image Limited and Joy
Division.

"They used to refer to us in the press as 'Northern
Gloom,' as in Joy Division, and 'Southern Stomp' for
Killing Joke," Coleman says with a laugh.

Word has it that he also worked with the Sugarcubes
when they were just a nascent band from Iceland, but
even if you didn't get the chance to ask him if he
knew Björk, that can wait until another rap session.