RIP Killing Joke’s Geordie Walker: An Influential Yet Underrated Guitarist Who Helped to Shape Post-Punk, Alternative Rock and Metal

For discerning fans of heavy music, a seismic loss has occurred. Kevin “Geordie” Walker, guitarist for UK post-punk icons Killing Joke has died at the age of 65. The band posted the bad news on Facebook: “It is with extreme sadness we confirm that at 6:30 am on 26th November 2023 in Prague, Killing Joke’s legendary guitarist Kevin ‘Geordie’ Walker passed away after suffering a stroke. He was surrounded by family. We are devastated. Rest In Peace brother.”

Killing Joke formed in 1978, emerging from the aftermath of punk, with a sound cobbling together (and helping to create) unlikely bedfellows like disco, metal, dub reggae, new wave, goth and industrial. Walker was their secret weapon, a master in restraint, his less-is-more approach was both brutally simplistic yet texturally complex.

Using a chorus pedal, a pinch of delay and his fingers, his trusty hollow-body Gibson 1952 ES-295 guitar sounded like a cosmic buzzsaw, serrating eardrums without mercy, and providing the ideal balance between rhythm and melody, the perfect foil to the beastly bellows of frontman Jaz Coleman.

His riffs on songs like The Wait, Fire Dances, Eighties, Love Like Blood, Follow The Leader, Asteroid, Millennium, Pandemonium, The Death and Resurrection Show, This Tribal Antidote, Cold New War (and most recently, Full Spectrum Dominance) are impenetrable, relentless, evocative earworms that are as hypnotic as they are enthralling.

And the group’s ever evolving sound, be it atmospheric and ornate, or Spartan and fierce, was carried by his unerring tone and relentless chug , which was something to behold, especially in a live setting.

Standing stoically, with cigarette dangling from his lips, he blasted out power chords and ringing arpeggios while barely breaking a sweat. He made it look easy, but let’s see you try and avoid carpal tunnel pumping out the same riff for songs that often went for five minutes or longer.

He was allergic to guitar solos. His riffs were so great he didn’t need them. His cavernous sonics sounded like three guitarists playing at once.

While never a household name, Walker was still deeply influential. His work with Killing Joke inspired bands including Metallica, Prong (another underrated act), Helmet, Nine Inch Nails, My Bloody Valentine and The Smashing Pumpkins, many of which have covered his songs.

In the 90’s, he was even tapped to replace Jim Martin in Faith No More, but he stuck with his mates (I still would’ve loved to hear his gritty riffing alongside Mike Patton’s powerhouse vocals). Even Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, whose musical ethos seems diametrically opposed to Walker’s, was a massive fan.

His influence was most infamously felt upon Nirvana, who readily admitted nicking the riff off Eighties for their grunge hit Come As You Are. Killing Joke sued them, only to drop it after Kurt Cobain’s death. Later on, Dave Growl would drum on their 2003 self-titled effort as a belated apology (It’s one of their best albums).

His tone also lended itself to sampling, as heard on The Cult’s The Witch, which included a snippet of Requiem (before the band demanded it be removed), and on LCD Soundsystem, who sampled his skittering riff from Change on their classic banger Losing My Edge.

While Killing Joke was his bread and butter, Walker did dabble in other musical projects, including Murder, Inc. and The Damage Manual, two industrial supergroups of which he was inarguably the MVP of both.

When Killing Joke lost bassist Paul Raven in 2007, it was painful, but the blow was lessened given original bassist Youth was still active within the band. Geordie is irreplaceable; while his riffing was minimalistic and isn’t difficult to play (minus that endurance), it’s all about the feel with Killing Joke. It will be interesting to see if they continue with a new guitarist. I don’t envy whoever dares to step into his shoes.

The band were working on a new album, and I hope that material sees the light of day, for one last taste of Walker’s gifts. Killing Joke is the rare group that gets more feral and furious as they age, and he was the driving force.

I’m not much for believing in an afterlife, but it’s a pleasing image imagining Walker and Raven creating an unholy fury in the heavens. They certainly are missed here.

RIP Geordie Walker 1958-2023