As we move further into the new normal and as restrictions drop away and we begin the learning process of living in a “post pandemic world” as things move towards becoming endemic, live music has a huge part to play in the healing process, and re-invigorate our thoughts, attitudes and ability to function in a Tory led new world order. Thinking about new world order takes my thought straight to killing joke a band that have constantly pushed against the barriers of genre, attitude and predictability.

 I mean as scribes we constantly bounce our thoughts around look for influences get hooks to our writing and try and introduce the reader to band’s they might like based on their current listening, now ask yourself two questions

1. Who are the influences that have helped build the Killing Joke sound?
2. Who do Killing Joke sound like?

The answer to the first is there aren’t any, Killing Joke are constantly shifting the boundaries of music, they draw their power and intensity from fantastic musicians exploring the scope of their instruments with a frontman looking both inwards and  outwards from an almost visionary perspective pulling the threads together.

The answer to the second? No-One !! Killing Joke stand out on their own an enigma pulled together by an enigmatic frontman, present post punk/post modernist future reaching music, moving ever outwards and dictating where music can go rather than following the masses.

Pulling things back there is a support tonight Brooklyn based anglo-American ‘The Imbeciles’

The Imbeciles are: Butch Dante (guitar and backing vocals), Ben Rice (guitars, lap steel, backing vocals), John Kent (lead vocals, bass guitar, backing vocals, drums, percussion), Joshua Lattanzi (guitars and backing vocals), Charlie Culbert (drums).

Youth played bass guitar and co-write the songs on their new album ‘Imbelica’.

Now I have to hold my hands up I didn’t dive in and research them prior through choice, sometimes its worth making your mind up raw without prior influence in the live setting and myself alongside the crowd  really took to the band again not really a band you could pin down to a specific genre, at times hinting at REM, at times drawing on the grunge attitude Nirvana in particular, but staying in the Seattle sound with the Meat puppets and Soundgarden again coming through and all underpinned with almost a classic rock sound. The new LP will be well worth exploring and I would urge people to check them out live.

In all the times I’ve seen Killing Joke alongside the H Bomb’s experiences who provided tonight’s photos well into double figures between us ‘Love like Blood’ has only been  experienced once and never by yours truly and they only opened with it tonight!!! Fair play and then to follow it with ‘Wardance‘ and ‘The Fall Of Because’ I was a happy man, in fact the whole gig was both intense and relentless, presided over by a frontman on top form, engaging and driven, the intensity just continued to ramp up as the band locked in and by the time we’d gone through ‘Money is Not Our God’ and ‘This World Hell’ we were on fire and then ‘Bloodsport’ just tore the roof off. There were so many highlights until we got to the end of the main set with ‘The Wait’ and ‘Pssyche’.

Time to take a breath and we’re back with Requiem dedicated to Taylor Hawkins, ‘I am the Virus’ and ‘Pandemonium’.

So returning to my initial thoughts Killing Joke are still bang on point as relevant today as they were in the beginning moving and dictating what music should sound like tearing their own path Brutal, intense, challenging and forward thinking as all music should be standing alone an Enigma but one that needs to be experienced by one and all.  

Author: Nev Brooks pics Johnny Hayward