Jaz Coleman: Unspeakable – In Conversation with Shane Embury – Bush Hall, London 29th March 2024

April 4, 2024 rocknews

Bush Hall is a gorgeous, intimate venue just down the road from Shepherd’s Bush Empire and was the perfect location for an evening spent in the company of none other than Jaz Coleman: musician, author, composer, lecturer and founding member of one of the most important and influential post-punk bands, Killing Joke.

This was the penultimate date of his spoken word tour, and saw him in conversation with Napalm Death’s Shane Embury.

Embury appeared on the stage first to a packed hall and talked briefly about how much Killing Joke influenced his own band and a host of others before bringing Jaz on, who appeared dressed in black cape and wearing shades. He embraced Embury and smiled warmly at the audience before taking his seat.

This tour was initially billed as an oral history of Killing Joke – the band he formed with Geordie Walker, Paul Ferguson and Youth in 1979, but changed focus due to the sudden death at the end of last year of Geordie, who was not only the bands guitarist and other consistent member, but also a lifelong friend. Geordie was a constant thread throughout the evening, and it was clear that his passing weighs heavily on Coleman – who flitted between referring to him in both the past and present tense. Add to that his mother’s worsening Alzheimer’s, his own near death experience in Mexico a few years ago and dealing with diabetes and one can understand the change of direction.

Unsurprisingly, the evening saw Coleman in a reflective mood, and he weaved these experiences into his stories, which often sounded like streams of consciousness and he delved into a plethora of subjects including mysticism, Gnosticism, the impact of bandmate Raven and his death, his classical music adventures, his move to New Zealand and his own beliefs of impending nuclear war – in many ways articulating through speech what he’s been writing and singing about for years.

Set against a backdrop of slides of images and quotations, and prompted gently by a raptured Embury, Coleman’s stories were fascinating and gripping, in that you really didn’t know where he would go next. It was often confusing, but never boring. Often challenging, funny and doom-laden, but somehow always positive – maybe it was his quiet, calming voice.

Each night on the tour saw a different Killing Joke album or period discussed, and tonight Coleman spoke about “Hosannas from the Basements of Hell’. Released in 2006, it was the last studio album to feature bassist Paul Raven, who died the following year.

This was a show of 2 halves, and following a short break it was over to the audience to pose questions for their hero.

The first person to raise their hand, however, did not ask a question but instead read a poem she had written about Geordie. The room listened in respectful silence, and Jaz was clearly moved, prompting another Geordie anecdote.

Questions ranged from what we might do in the face of the upcoming apocalypse (“The role of counterculture is important. Geordie believed in the power to protect and guard our freedoms in the post war bubble”) to “what was your favourite Killing Joke gig and song”.

The answer to the gig was their 1981 show at the Reading Hexagon – an experience that led Coleman on a path of studying magnetic fields and ritual vortex sights. He recounted the whole experience – something he also told a Time Out reporter back in 2015:
“At the Reading Hexagon on February 1 1981, we played a gig with a fire-eater doing a fire ritual. It was sold out and the place was going crazy. All of a sudden, everything went into slow motion and absolute silence, like everyone in the audience was moving underwater. Then, like a wave, everything just crashed back into reality and the place was pogoing again. It was collective – the whole band experienced it. We’ve talked about it for 30 years, and I’ve written about it in-depth. Basically, we were on a magnetic field and it produced this very strange effect. I’ve studied it with people like Uri Geller and Jimmy Page, who had similar experiences.”

There was a lot of love in the room for Jaz, for Geordie and for Killing Joke in general, although from what he said it seems highly unlikely any version of Killing Joke will exist moving forwards. He sees no future in it without Geordie.

Despite what some may see as a lot of doom and gloom, there were some funny and lighthearted moments, especially when one audience member made reference to the quality of his Hot Sauce (it’s apparently very tasty!).

Coleman was coherent, passionate and erudite. He spoke warmly of all past members of Killing Joke (“even Martin Atkins”). He did often go off at tangents, but he had a lot to say!

He still believes in the power of rock and roll (“Rock music is inseparable from freedom. And freedom is what we’re losing”).

So, a fascinating evening, and an insight into the mind of one of rock’s most creative and complex characters. The audience are often what make events like this, and they did not disappoint.

“The best thing about Killing Joke isn’t the band, it’s the people that follow us” he said. We think maybe it’s a bit of both.