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Kevin “Geordie” Walker, guitarist with industrial band Killing Joke whose ringing, richly textured tone influenced generations of musicians, has died aged 64. The band wrote in a statement on Sunday: “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.” With a beautifully multi-layered guitar sound that pointed the way to the shoegaze scene, and which also took in the spiky urgency of punk, the acute melody of pop and the crushing weight of heavy metal, Walker was – alongside frontman Jaz Coleman – the only consistent member of Killing Joke since the band’s formation in 1978. Born in County Durham in 1958 and schooled in Buckinghamshire, where he acquired his “Geordie” nickname, Walker initially responded to an ad Coleman had placed in the music press. “This guy kept calling saying ‘Hi, I’ve never been in a band before, I’ve only ever played in my mum’s bedroom, but I’m the best guitarist ever’,” Coleman later said. “I couldn’t get rid of him … He comes in for a cuppa and spots my fishing rods, so we have a conversation about fishing for six hours. After which he announced that he had nowhere to live so I said he could stay with me. Geordie moved in three weeks before I actually heard him play. When he did it was like a fire from heaven.” The quartet released their seething self-titled debut album in 1980, which cracked the UK Top 40. Coleman decamped to Iceland and Walker soon followed him, with Coleman claiming the pair worked as hashish dealers (“we were on to a good thing – I got a grand piano out of it”, Coleman said). The pair returned to London and after finessing a more commercial sound had their biggest success in 1985 with the gold-certified No 11 hit Night Time, featuring the Top 20 single Love Like Blood. Walker situated his sound around a Gibson ES-295 hollow body electric guitar, saying: “When you find something that you express yourself through the best – something that is completely your sound – why would you use anything else?” In a brief early-90s hiatus, Walker formed the industrial rock supergroup Murder, Inc, and Steve Albini recorded their debut album in 1992. Walker also auditioned for Faith No More, with their bassist Billy Gould later saying: “His personality is so strong that he dwarfed us. For Faith No More, it wasn’t the right thing but I wish it would have been.” Come the mid-1990s, Killing Joke were back together and chimed with the pop-industrial sound they had come to inspire, and their 1994 album Pandemonium returned them to the UK Top 20. They went on hiatus again after 1996’s Democracy, when Walker formed another new outfit, the Damage Manual, which featured Jah Wobble. Another Killing Joke re-formation came in 2003, with a self-titled album featuring longtime fan Dave Grohl on drums; similarities have long been noted between the riffs on Killing Joke’s Eighties and Nirvana’s Come As You Are. Other admirers included Metallica, who covered The Wait; Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, who called Walker’s guitar sound “really, really strong … really intense”; and Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine, who cited Walker as a key influence in a 2013 Guardian interview, heralding “this effortless playing producing a monstrous sound”. The original Killing Joke lineup recombined in 2007 and continued to perform, with their most recent album being 2015’s Pylon, another Top 20 hit. Reflecting in 2013 on what made the band so potent, Walker said: “When we started making records, playing gigs wasn’t that much different. You’d rehearse, you wrote the songs, you mic’d it up and you played it! And now if you’re not careful, you might not even see the fucking drummer and the maker of the fucking record. It’s all bits of this, cut-and-paste. It can sound impressive on first listen but after subsequent listens, it’s lacking human imperfection. The imperfection is what makes it magical somehow.” Tim Burgess of the Charlatans was among those paying tribute saying: “His guitar sound defined my youth.” Acclaimed illustrator Daniel Danger said Walker’s guitar sound evoked “the power of all endless worlds across all endless time dancing at once, an earthquake deeper than the combined existence of everything”.

Matt Rife maintains fierce stance on ‘offensive’ joke in Netflix special as he boasts about huge achievement after viewer backlash Matt Rife has remained steadfast about a domestic violence joke in his recently-released Netflix special, taking to Twitter to brag about its popularity. A joke told by the Ohio-born comedian at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington DC, was labelled as sexist and to be making light of domestic violence by critics. Rife is seemingly unfazed by the backlash, boasting his special Natural Selection was number two on US Netflix. Alongside a screenshot of his comedy special on the charts, he penned: ‘Rack ’em up baby! Let’s goooooooo.’ The comedian recently hit back at criticism regarding the jibe. He wrote on his Instagram story: ‘If you’ve ever been offended by a joke I’ve told, here’s a link to my official apology,’ linking to a website that sells helmets for people with certain disabilities. Slammed: Matt Rife has remained steadfast about a domestic violence joke in his recently-released Netflix special, taking to Twitter to brag about its popularity Boasting: The comedian maintained his fierce stance on the controversial joke, bragging on Twitter about his special ranking second on US Netflix Doubling down: ‘If you’ve ever been offended by a joke I’ve told, here’s a link to my official apology,’ Rife, 28, said in an Instagram Stories post Rife kicked off the controversial joke with a comparison between the American capital and it’s largest nearest city – Baltimore. ‘I’ve only been to Baltimore one time, and the hostess who seats you had a black eye – a full black eye.’ Rife, who gained exposure on TikTok, said in the special. ‘It wasn’t like, “What happened?” It was pretty obvious what happened. ‘But we couldn’t get over, like, this is the face of the company? This is who you have greeting people?’ Rife’s story continued: ‘And my boy, who I was with, was like, “Yeah, I feel bad for her, man, I feel like they should put her in the kitchen or something where nobody has to see her face.”‘ ‘And I was like, “Yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye.”‘ Amid pushback from members of the crowd, he acknowledged the strong subject matter he covered in his material, then segued into another routine. ‘Testing the water, seeing if y’all are going to be fun or not,’ Rife said. ‘I figured we start the show with domestic violence, the rest of the show should be pretty smooth sailing. ‘Of course I felt bad for her. She should have had her protection crystals, you know what I mean?’ Rife’s joke drew a number of critics on Twitter, many of whom said they were satisfied to see the TikTok sensation in hot water. Backlash: To kick off his set in the special, which was filmed at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington DC , Rife told a joke critics said was sexist and made light of domestic violence Not so funny: The Columbus, Ohio-born comedian did a bit about the contrast between the nation’s capital and its biggest nearby neighbouring city in Baltimore Furious: Rife’s joke drew a number of critics on Twitter, many of whom said they were satisfied to see the TikTok sensation in hot water Shocked: One user commented on Rife’s response, saying, ‘BIG YIKES’ Defence: Another person said they were surprised at the joke Rife told after thinking it had been an ‘overblown’ controversy One user said: ‘Matt Rife opens his special with a “if a woman could cook she wouldn’t have a black eye” joke. Really? This is your god?’ Another said, ‘The way women catapulted matt rife into popularity and the second he gets a comedy special on Netflix he immediately betrays them with a joke about domestic violence … crazy innit.’ Said one user: ‘Matt Rife: my special is for guys… Immediately opens up with a domestic violence joke.’ One user posted a meme of Stephen Colbert eating popcorn with 3D glasses on, with the caption, ‘Me witnessing the downfall of Matt Rife after saying from Day 1 that he gives off ‘president of the frat that women warn other women about’ vibes.’ Another person said they were surprised at the joke Rife told after thinking it had been an ‘overblown’ controversy. ‘My TikTok fyp has been a tonne of people complaining about the Matt Rife domestic violence joke, and to be honest because of the way my fyp is I kinda assumed it was being overblown,’ the user said. ‘When I finally saw the actual “joke” though… I have to apologise, y’all were so correct.’ One user commented on Rife’s response, saying, ‘BIG YIKES.’ Rife last week spoke with Variety in a Q&A in which he said he doesn’t ‘really adhere to this whole sensitivity rumour in the comedy world that you can’t say anything anymore,’ calling the notion ‘bulls***.’ Won’t back down: Rife last week said he doesn’t ‘really adhere to this whole sensitivity rumour in the comedy world that you can’t say anything anymore,’ calling the notion ‘bulls***’ He added: ‘You can say whatever you want. Now, you have to prepare for repercussions. ‘But at the end of the day, it all comes down to how do you sleep at night. You know what I mean? Other people’s perspective of you isn’t your responsibility.’ Rife said that he goes onstage with the intention of ‘making people laugh’ and isn’t afraid on delving into topics that could be considered ‘dark humor.’ Said Rife: ‘I don’t believe there’s anything you can’t talk about if you do it correctly, in the right way, at the right time. ‘You have to be yourself and not worry about offending a certain amount of people. You might miss out on a joke that you’re worried might offend somebody, but might make you a million new fans.’

New Jersey’s funny traffic signs are back this holiday season MOORESTOWN, NJ – If you ever drive in New Jersey, you might’ve seen a few signs that have been popping up along major roadways featuring a play on words to remind drivers to obey the rules of the road. Similar signs were taken down by the Federal Highway Administration this time last year after it said the signs were too distracting. This year, some of the signs read: “Reckless drivers are worse than fruitcake” or “only Rudolph should be lit.” They’re certainly catching people’s attention. “They are appropriate to the season, and they are cute, and they remind people don’t be a Grinch!” said Nataliece Moore. Ultimately, drivers say it’s a helpful reminder during the busy holiday season. “It gets your attention. It makes you think about it, rather than just stating the obvious,” said Mike Matakonis. Local officials say they’re meant to pack a punch while delivering an important message. It was November of last year when the Federal Highway Administration said they were too distracting- and ruled to have them taken down. This year, the Department of Transportation says they’re toning it back. “We are being mindful of the kinds of messages we put up – that they’re not too edgy or what they consider distracting.” said NJDOT Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti, “I think we see some of our neighboring states still putting the signs up, and I feel like if we stay within those same parameters, then I think we are in a good place.” The FHWA issued the following statement in response to the resurrected signs: “The safety of all road users is the priority. The Federal Highway Administration supports the use of changeable message signs, which are operated by state transportation departments, in conjunction with traffic safety campaigns. The nature of the specific messaging displayed on the sign is governed by the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD), which sets the standards for traffic signs, signals, and markings. The MUTCD applies to all roads open to public travel in the U.S. FHWA will soon issue an updated version of the MUTCD.”