December 18, 1958 – November 26, 2023
Tributes have been paid to Geordie Walker, guitarist and founding member of the seminal post-punk band Killing Joke, after he died at his home in Prague, Czech Republic, following a massive stroke. He was 64 years old.
Walker’s bandmates voiced sadness and disbelief at the news. “No man was cooler than Geordie, one of the very best and most influential guitarists ever,” wrote bassist Martin ‘Youth’ Glover in a touching, epic statement. “He was like Lee Van Cleef-meets-Terry Thomas via Noel Coward. Very charming, inscrutable and gracious.
“He was my teacher, partner and at times a terrifying foe,” Youth continued. “Geordie is now flying high with The Valkyries, on his way to the halls of Valhalla, where his seat at the table of legends is most certainly assured.”
Frontman Jaz Coleman added: “I spoke to Geordie last week. He was in fine spirits and looking forward to the future with optimism. We reincarnated before and we will reincarnate again. I never left his side in 44 years.”
Born in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, Kevin ‘Geordie’ Walker took classical guitar lessons as a child but developed a technique and sound that was all his own.
In an interview with Metal Hammer magazine, Coleman explained how Geordie came to join Killing Joke: “We had put an ad in Melody Maker, and this guy kept calling saying: ‘Hi, I’ve never been in a band before, I’ve only ever played in my mum’s bedroom, but I’m the best guitarist ever’… I couldn’t get rid of him. So at last I said: ‘Alright, alright, come round.’”
At the audition, Coleman and Walker bonded over a love of fishing, and the pair soon ended up sharing a flat. “It was three weeks before I actually heard him play,” Coleman said, laughing. “When he did it was like a fire from heaven. I thought: ‘Thank god.’”
Killing Joke formed in 1978, and went on to release 15 albums during two spells of existence, having been dormant from 1996 to 2002. During the hiatus, Walker assembled the industrial-metal supergroup Murder, Inc.
Killing Joke broke into the mainstream, briefly, with their hit single Love Like Blood in 1985.
Three years earlier, Walker had followed globetrotter Coleman to live in Iceland, where the singer had moved to escape the apocalypse: “I told everybody the end of the world was coming, but that was to get people off my back,” Coleman later admitted. In reality, Iceland became a front for Coleman and Walker to launch alternative careers as drug dealers.
Surprisingly, in 2008 the band’s original line-up regrouped following the death of Paul Raven, the bassist who had replaced Youth. “Everything came together when we all met at Raven’s funeral,” Coleman told Terrorizer magazine. “The unifying effect it ha
