Geordie Walker

Geordie Walker
Geordie Walker performing at the 2009 Ilosaarirock festival, with his golden, hollow-bodied Gibson ES-295
Geordie Walker performing at the 2009 Ilosaarirock festival, with his golden, hollow-bodied Gibson ES-295
Born 18 December 1958 (1958-12-18) (age 59)
Chester-le-Street, County Durham, England
Occupation British musician
Geordie Walker (2005)

Kevin "Geordie" Walker (born 18 December 1958, in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, England) is a rock musician, best known as the guitarist from the post-punk group Killing Joke. His unorthodox style of electric guitar playing is widely acclaimed; Byrds-like chiming arpeggios of repetitive and somewhat somber melodies with a hypnotic long-sustain tone.

Life and career

When he was fourteen, Walker's family moved south from Newcastle to Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, 45 miles northwest of London. It was here that he acquired his nickname due to his northeastern "Geordie" accent (which he has subsequently lost).

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 music supergroups Murder, Inc. and The Damage Manual.

Although most known for playing electric guitar, he has also used acoustic guitars; sparingly on the albums Outside the Gate (1988) and Pandemonium (1994), and more liberally on Democracy (1996).

Like Guns N' Roses' Slash, Walker is known for smoking cigarettes on stage, even in United States venues where smoking is prohibited.

Walker now lives in Royal Oak, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit with his wife and son, Lloyd (Atticus). During his recent work with Killing Joke, Hosannas from the Basements of Hell (2006), he was based in Prague where he has been involved in various other projects too, including overseeing the work of UK girl punk rock act Mary-Jane at Faust Studios.

Equipment

His preferred guitar of choice is a golden, hollow-bodied 1952 Gibson ES-295:[1]

Having started out with a Burman amplifier with custom Burman 8 x 10 cabinets, He currently uses 2 x Framus Dragon Head amplifiers, he has also recently experimented with a Marshall Vintage Modern which he describes as being similar to the Burmans (specifically the use of 4 pre amp tubes and KT66's although the Burmans had KT77's power amp valves).[2]

Prior to his ES-295, he used a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, which had been a Christmas gift from his mother[1] when he was 15, and a Gibson SG Junior, which he had bought later.[3]

Walker's effects include two PA:CE (Parmee Acoustics and Collins Electromagnetics) Automatic Double Tracker units, one under the Bell Electrolabs brand (one of the many sub brands PA:CE sold their products under) and the other under the PA:CE brand name. He has also been known to use an Electro-harmonix Memory Man for echo effects during the 1980s, and recently has been using two Line 6 Delay Modelers, as well as a T-Rex Roommate (reverb effect).

References

  1. 1 2 "June 1984 Music UK". killingjoke.org.uk. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  2. ↑ "Geordie Walker Talks About His Rig". 10 February 2011. Retrieved 4 July 2012 – via YouTube.
  3. ↑ "» Interview With Killing Joke Guitarist Geordie Walker | Metal Assault: Interviews". metalassault.com. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
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