Geordie Walker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Geordie Walker (born Kevin Walker, 18 December 1958, in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, England) is a post-punk guitarist, best known as a member of Killing Joke.

[edit] Life and career

When he was fourteen his family moved south to Milton Keynes, 45 miles northwest of London. It was here that he acquired his nickname due to his north-eastern "Geordie" accent.

Walker moved to London to study architecture and became a founding member of Killing Joke in 1979 when he responded to an advertisement placed by the singer Jaz Coleman. He had never played in a band before. Walker and Coleman have been the only constant members of the group since.

Walker has also been a member of industrial metal supergroups Murder, Inc., The Damage Manual and Pigface.

Geordie is well known for playing golden hollow-bodied Gibson ES-295 (Electric Spanish) guitars, only produced between 1952 and 1957. These guitars, detuned by a tone to D-G-C-F-A-D since 1982's Revelations album, along with overdrive, chorus and reverb have shaped his distinctive sound.

Most famous for his grinding, hypnotic electric guitar work, he has also used acoustic guitars; sparingly on Outside the Gate (1988) and Pandemonium (1994), and surprisingly liberally on Democracy (1996).

He is noted for smoking cigarettes on stage, even in United States venues where smoking is prohibited.

Whilst recording Killing Joke 2003, Walker was not even paid enough to make his bus fare by the American record label, as irate bandmember Coleman recounted in an interview on the band's 25th Anniversary live DVD 25 Gathering.

Walker lives in Detroit with his wife and son, Atticus. During his recent work with Killing Joke, Hosannas from the Basements of Hell (2006), he has been based in Prague.