Killing Joke - Pandemonium (1994) Interview to Youth by Diego Centurión.
It all started with this interview. I contacted him and asked if I could ask you some questions about "Pandemonium". He accepted immediately and after a few timing problems because he was on tour with Killing Joke. We ended up with two interviews. But now… Pandemonium. This album marks his return to Killing Joke. How did this happen? It’s well documented, but I first reconnected with Geordie when he asked me to help compile the laugh I nearly bought one comp....I suggested a jam also suggested we sign to my label to retain production criteria in the recording and off we went... (While we chat I hear Transmission - "Beyond Light") Love that album, Wow! Paul’s drumming is immense. Your last album with Killing Joke was in 1982, "Revelations." What was the feeling of returning to the band? Well I wasn't very happy with revelations so I was determined to make at least one album I could really be uncompromising with no one.
What you did not like of the sound of "Revelations"? It was too dirge like the mix wasn’t great although working with Conny was immense The sound of "Pandemonium" has a lot of industrial rock of those years, but the intensity is simply fabulous. The bass hits hard and with distortion achieved thunderous and powerful sound. Did you notice the sound change of the band with your entry? Thanks ...yes obviously I produced this album...although I liked extremities I wanted to indulge our love of 70s classic heavy rock a la Zeppelin... mashed up with some industrial tech noise. How was the process of writing the songs? The famous chemistry between you was intact? Because the change in the structure of the songs is amazing. Maybe not as fast, but with much more power load of the industrial metal. We flew to New Zealand , although Paul refused to come a couple of days before so Jaz arranged two local other drummers to step in. I ended replacing most of their contribution when we returned to London to mix ....Geoff Dugmore stepped in to replace drums and sorted us out. We rehearse for a week in a strange room overlooking a motor way and that’s where most of the music was composed ...lyrics vocals always come much later. How was it working with Greg Hunter? How has he helped you get the sound of the album? Greg and I had worked extensively for the previous 3 or 4 years, we were coming towards the end of our tenure as a team.....Greg is a genius and with the first orb album he realized that...with Pandemonium it was a risk bringing an electronica engineer into such a rock project but he was well trained and it worked really well… there were some personal issues that didn’t help resolve the problems we were beginning to encounter. Killing Joke albums can bring up some very repressed emotions and cause people to spin out band and crew this one affected everyone. Your production work is remarkable. Did it take long to get the sound you wanted for this album? It was fraught with problems but there was a flow that carried us through and to the pyramids Do you take long? Six weeks in New Zealand, a week in Egypt, two weeks mixing in London not too bad Now as I usually do with the interviewees, we will appeal to their memories for each track of this album, we asked a memory or a feeling. Do you agree? "Pandemonium". Which opens the album. What can you tell us about this song? Epic call to arms introduction, wanted to invoke the desert and the apocalyptic times we live in ....sounds like Scottish bagpipes in the fray of battle.... "Exorcism" tremendous sonic twister. It's like being in the middle of a storm.
Ok yeah! Exorcism was a biggie, it was one two we recorded in the kings chamber. It was super emotional Jaz broke down, it was a cosmic vortex not unlike taking strong DTM....our egyptian guide ran out screaming ....quite a dramatic genesis to this track "Millennium" To me, the big hit from this album. And that was helped by the video channels such as MTV and "Much Music". Ok that was a bit of a struggle and really only came together at the end with the cyberpunk remixes where they went even more industrial and electro, the production was way more organic and zep like and I loved it Geordie wasn't so sure but once we did it live he was convinced why. "Communion" Great track, the ones I like. “Communion� yes moody and mystical we would sometimes open the set with this and have the strange drones going for ages before we kicked in Geordie was very involved in the construction and sampling of these drones they are very disturbing still! "Black Moon" A nod to the natural sound of the band. The usual sound of "Killing Joke". "Black moon" is a heavy stomp, it was fairly straightforward to record.... It goes down well live too pedal to the floor nonstop thunder and fire "Labyrinth". Great chorus. Was a good one combining some heavy dub rhythms in a strange time sequence that makes it easy to lose where you are very hypnotic and slower pace reveals heavier hidden depths great lyric. "Jana". Great song. Another hypnotic song. Is the quiet track on the album and is a theme Jaz has returned to many times... his alter ego, his Janus or more feminine psyche he would compare it as the ocarina player versus the black jester he's a very good ocarina player in fact.... "Whiteout", Toxic, tremendous speed. Unable to sit still. Whiteout started as phrase to describe the band in the full white hot heat of performance, occasionally this would result in a strange phenomenon that even now I have no idea how to explain. at the peak of the racket and noise when we were super tight and intense, suddenly there would be a pop and then hissing static and silence and everything going slow motion, we would all experience it as would the audience and discuss afterwards in awe "Pleasures of the Flesh" Like falling into a black hole. An intense track with a great lyric, Jaz was really getting on it on this album lyrically. "Mathematics of Chaos". The best song on the album. This was another electro experiment with the end spiraling out in chaos... we were really into chaos theory and discordant philosophy, fractal mathematics an Zen... all mashing up into this runaway train of a track. I've seen some footage of concerts this Tour, and some had guests, such as the group that did the Haka New Zealand, or the couple who threw fire in a festival. This happened throughout the Tour? Do these ideas were Jaz?
We were into making the shows an event the Astoria London show I brought in the late Frazier Clark who had run megatripolis and warp and the multi university where I had dj's a lot ...also go a was a big influence then the go a freaks echoing the late 60's ...so Frasier brought in people on stilts , crazy decoration everywhere , we had dj's till 4 am we brought the angle grinders on and that was a tradition from the early days ...we brought a wizard that blew fire on tour with us an ritualized the space How long you do not hear the full album? Probably in full not for 20 years... I don’t look back... that often “Pandemonium”, what place has on your life? It’s a very important album... for me it was resolution to get the Killing Joke production and sound nearer to our personal vision then ever before... it was our biggest selling album and the reinvention kept us motoring through the 90s until 2003, which is one of my personal favorites... both are still cited as hugely influential Can we say it was a dream return, due to the success in the rankings and among the press? It was fraught to make but worth it Thanks Martin!!!! I hope I have asked interesting things. Yeah cool!!! Questions just would take a book to answer them all properly! Martin Thank you for answering our questions.