“Just bear with me, I’m making myself a morning cup of tea,” hollers Killing Joke frontman Jaz Coleman, on the phone from an island off the coast of Thailand.
A cup of tea That’s not exactly a rock ‘n’ roll scenario for the British post-punk industrial band who have influenced the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Metallica.
Coleman, who co-founded Killing Joke 35 years ago with Geordie Walker, laughs and stresses that he doesn’t dabble in anything stronger these days, as the band prepare for their first performance in Wellington tomorrow. They will also be playing a show in Auckland tonight.
“The common perception is that going on the road is all sex, drugs and rock’n’roll. It’s just not true. It’s bollocks that is.”
Coleman, 53, says he has given up a lot of pleasures. He used to smoke cigars, but was told by a vocal coach that if he wanted to keep singing they’d have to go. He gave them up last year, but it was a struggle. “The rest of the band had to put up with [me] going through this whole traumatic detox over several months.”
He has almost become a bit of an ascetic. “When I’m on the road I eat porridge in the morning and raw fish at midday, so gastronomically there’s not much to speak of either,” he says, then roars with laughter.
“So basically no vices, but a bit of a dirty mind, I suppose.” More laughter.
The fact Killing Joke have never played New Zealand before will surprise some people. One reason is that Coleman has had strong links with New Zealand for years. Aside from having a bolt hole on Great Barrier Island – one where he recently revealed still hadn’t stopped rabid Killing Joke fans from stalking him – he has worked with New Zealand musicians.
Of considerable importance to Wellington is that Coleman produced Shihad’s debut album, Churn, 20 years ago. A new feature documentary on Killing Joke, The Death and Resurrection Show, includes an interview with Shihad’s Tom Larkin, alongside comments from numerous big names, including Jimmy Page and Nirvana/Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl.
Coleman’s reach has also extended outside rock. Ten years ago he was composer in residence for the Auckland Philharmonia, produced work with the New Zealand String Quartet, had London Philharmonic and other orchestras play classic Pink Floyd and The Doors Concerto, his arrangement of music by The Doors performed by the Christchurch Symphony. He also worked with Maori singer-songwriter Emma Paki and Maori music project Oceania.
Then there’s Killing Joke’s bass player Martin Glover, better known as Youth. He has produced or worked with many big-name acts, including Crowded House, alongside U2, The Orb, Dido, and is one half of duo The Fireman with Sir Paul McCartney.
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But why so long for the band that made it all happen Coleman says until now no one was prepared to take the financial risk. “At the end of the day some poor promoter has got to put his hands in his pockets. They just haven’t done it. That’s the brutal truth.
“And I must confess I’ve had some reservations, because when I [usually] go to New Zealand I like to hang out in the Hauraki Gulf and chill out after I’ve had a busy year. You’ve got to prioritise your major markets to put food in your stomach in this game and to be honest, if you had a No 1 in New Zealand for a year it’s not enough to feed the cat.”
One thing that Coleman can never be called is laconic. As he talks about the history of Killing Joke, the stories and trivia are endless. Coleman was born and grew up in Cheltenham, near London, which he points out is known for producing him, composer Gustav Holst and The Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones. “He went to school with my uncle,” says Coleman on Jones, who died in 1969. “He smashed up my parents’ house on several occasions. He actually knew me by sight when I was a small child.”
Not that it meant that much, however. Coleman, now giggling, says there’s a saying: “If anything’s a success in Cheltenham it’s doomed for the rest of the world.”
Coleman and Walker are the sole surviving founding members, but in comparison to many bands of the late 70s, Killing Joke have had a relatively stable lineup. Coleman says one reason is that they continue to enjoy playing live. It’s where they get maximum enjoyment as musicians, he says, although it’s hard to tell how much he is joking about some aspects.
“I pray for consistency with Killing Joke, I really do, but there are extreme highs and extreme lows,” he says. “The boys in the band enjoy the real lows to the real highs, because they get a good laugh out of it. There’s nothing that cheers my lot up [more] than when everything’s falling to bits.”
Then there are more stories and more stories. Coleman, who says his new health regime means he’s fitter now than he was in his 20s, was saddened at the recent death of The Doors’ keyboard player Ray Manzarek. The band contacted Coleman when they heard about The Doors Concerto.
“I got to know all the surviving members of The Doors, especially Ray. I wasn’t aware that they didn’t talk [to each other]. I got them speaking to each other.
“Ray was really different from all the rest. I turned up [at Manzarek’s Beverly Hills home] with my father-in-law at the time, who looked like a Mexican gangster, so Ray was a bit intimidated. But my god, the conversation went from discussing the Day of the Dead to consciousness surviving death to [The Doors’ drummer John] Densmore’s fascination with UFOs. Ray truly was a great intellect.”
The Doors’ frontman Jim Morrison died in 1971. Coleman says he also learned that all of the surviving Doors believed in life after death, when he was explaining his Concerto concept. “They all said ‘Jim really likes it’ – and I mean in the present tense.”
THE DETAILS
Killing Joke play The Studio, Auckland, tonight and Bodega, Wellington, tomorrow.
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