Leaving Normal: Killing Joke’s Paul Raven
‚ÄúWe are all deeply stricken with grief at the unannounced departure of possibly the funniest man on planet Earth and a brother to us all. Paul Vincent Raven unimaginable sadness is felt by all‚Äù – Fellow band members Jaz Coleman and Geordie Walker (from Killing Joke’s Official Site)
This is a sad week indeed, what’s with the death of The Ruts’ Paul Fox and also Cringer and J Church’s Lance Hahn (report coming).
I first discovered Killing Joke via John Peel’s Show on BBC shortwave back in the late 70s when the band was at the forefront of the post-punk fever; fusing tribal drums, jagged chords, dub reggae and brutally oppressive atmosphere into the then tired 3-chord punk rock formula.
Paul Raven replaced the Sid Vicious-lookalike Youth as the de facto Killing Joke bassist in time for the 1983 album Fire Dances. He was previously with the short-lived Neon Hearts, one of the many unsung punk bands of the era.
Raven went on with the Killing Joke crew for many years and recently joined the band for a reunion album. He also worked with the early industrial crew; from Pigface to Ministry and more; from Prong to Treponem Pal etc.
here’s the news:
Paul Raven, bassist of seminal industrial post-punk outfit Killing Joke, has died after suffering from a heart attack at his home in Geneva, Switzerland (20 October 2007).
Raven was recently involved in the reunited Treponem Pal with, among others, Jesu drummer Ted Parsons. Parsons, according to his MySpace ‘blog, found Raven’s body the day after the pair had been out drinking with other collaborators.
Though Raven did not join the Killing Joke roster until 1982, replacing original bassist Youth for 1983‚Äôs Fire Dances, he went on to release seven records with the act, most recently with 2006’s Hosannas from the Basement of Hell.
Having left the act in 1988 Raven went on to form Murder Inc. and Pigface, as well as later lending his services to urban sprawl Prong, later rejoining Killing Joke in 2003. – from here
[audio:https://vintage.ricecooker.site/mp3_wp_rc/jk_dom.mp3]
Dominator from the Fire Dances LP 1983
To the younger person reading, remember that song The Wait as covered by Metallica on their Garage Days EP? Well, that’s originally a Killing Joke song boss!
more info: here
I saw them back in 1995 playing in a frikkin dump of a warehouse in Austin Tx.
My wife and I were going out to see a movie, can’t remember what it was, we bought the tix, then the radio announced Killing Joke live (supporting the Pandemonium double album) ..the show was to start in an hour.
We dumped the movie tix and hauled ass over to the Killing Joke gig.
They fucking rocked that warehouse.
RIP Paul.
Say hey to Sid.
He was in Godflesh replacing G. C. Green for bassist duty in a short while circa 2001 before the band had (sadly) defunct in 2002. Rest In Peace Paul Raven. Thanks for the good noise you made.
http://www.austin360.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/music/entries/2007/10/21/rip_lance_hahn_1.html
Rest in Peace Lance Hahn
I got to see Paul when he was playing as a live musician for Ministry when they were touring in support of ‘Rio Grande Blood.’ Killing Joke was definitely a band for the ages-if there was no Killing Joke there would be no Ministry,Godflesh,Prong,Helmet,Metallica,etc…