Geordie Walker obit

Killing Joke guitarist Geordie Walker has died, aged 64

The news was confirmed by Martin Atkins

 He was not on the list.

Killing Joke guitarist Kevin “Geordie” Walker has died, aged 64.

The news was posted on former Killing Joke drummer Martin Atkins’ Facebook page this evening (November 26). He shared a video of The Damage Manual’s ‘Laugh Track’ – a supergroup of which they were also both a part of – with the caption “gutted”. He also wrote in the comments section: “Geordie has passed.”

He also later posted on Twitter/X writing: “#GodBless Geordie Walker”.

The band released a statement this evening saying they were “devastated” and confirmed that Walker died from a stroke on November 26.

The band’s statement on Instagram read: “It is with extreme sadness we confirm that at 6:30am 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.”

A POST SHARED BY KILLING JOKE (@KILLINGJOKEBAND)

Walker was best known for playing guitar in the post-punk group where his unorthodox style earned him much acclaim – including from Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and My Bloody Valentine’s Kevin Shields, who once described Walker as having “this effortless playing producing a monstrous sound.”

Walker was a founding member of the band after answering an advert from Killing Joke founding member, Jaz Coleman in Melody Maker. He was also a member of industrial music supergroups The Damage Manual and Murder, Inc, but played on all of Killing Joke’s albums through the years.

Walker lived in the US until moving to Prague in recent years, where it is thought he died.

Faith No More bassist Bill Gould was among those to pay tribute on social media, sharing: “RIP Geordie Walker, one of, if not THE, the most natural, intuitive, original guitarists I’ve ever seen.”

DJ Marc Riley wrote that “it seems we have lost one of the greatest guitarists I’ve ever seen and possibly the coolest man on the planet,” while writer Simon Price added: “There was a jagged toughness to Geordie Walker’s guitar. He, as much as anyone else you care to mention, defined the sound of 80s Alternative Rock. Those three notes at the start of ‘Love Like Blood’ alone opened up a whole world.”

The band Therapy? meanwhile, hailed him as “a key architect in one of our favourite bands” and an “effortless player with a monstrous sound”, while The Charlatans‘ Tim Burgess revealed: “Killing Joke were one of the first bands I ever saw aged 14, and his guitar sound defined my youth.”

Former Public Image Ltd bassist Jah Wobble simply wrote: “RIP GEORDIE WALKER.”

 Killing Joke were formed in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire in 1978 by Coleman, Walker as well as Paul Ferguson and Youth. While adopting a post-punk musical style, their heavier sound was a key influence on industrial rock and had elements of goth, synth-pop and electronica.

Their first album ‘Killing Joke’ was released in 1980 but it wasn’t until their 1985 studio album ‘Night Time’ that the band earned mainstream success with ‘Night Time’.

Walker and Coleman were constant members of the Killing Joke line-up and had been reunited with founding members Ferguson and Youth since 2008 following various line-up changes over the years.

Bands including Metallica, Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden have all cited Killing Joke as influences on their music.

The band’s last album was 2015’s ‘Pylon’; an EP, ‘Lord Of Chaos’ was released in 2022 with the band’s original members. The band’s single ‘Full Spectrum Dominance’ was released in March this year to celebrate their sold-out show at London’s Royal Albert Hall.