SPIN magazine -- a periodical I fleetingly interned for back in 1989 --- recently compiled a laughably revisionist list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time." Seemingly designed to fan the flames of outrage by deliberately bucking the canonical, some of the list's inclusions (non-guitarists like Skrillex and Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay) are as confounding as the list's omissions (suffice to say, your favorite guitarist probably didn't make the cut). I was naively hopeful, however, that SPIN might finally get it right and cite my favorite, the criminally under-praised Geordie Walker of Killing Joke. No such luck, of course -- his spot was obviously taken by that dude from Built to Spill (no kidding -- he's in there).
I first witnessed Geordie brandish "The Golden Harp," his signature vintage 1953 Gibson ES295, in the indelible video for "Eighties" in the summer of 1984, and was immediately entranced. Quite unlike any guitarist before or since, Geordie conjures the most unique sounds from the massive, hollow-bodied instrument. Somewhere between an incendiary rockabilly TWANG and the chime of a giant golden bell, the tone of Geordie's guitar is inimitable and unmistakable (at its most distinctive, for my money, on the Fire Dances and Night Time albums, but others may beg to differ). Though he didn't play it on the band's first few albums, the guitar in question has gone on to become inexorable and synonymous with Killing Joke.
I've actually touched it. Well, them. Geordie owns at least two of them. In 2005, I flew over to England for a two-night stint of Killing Joke shows wherein they rung in their twenty-fifth anniversary (although their math is a bit fuzzy, there). In any case, through the auspices of the late, great Killing Joke bass player Paul Raven, I managed to witness the band' s soundcheck, and ended up hunched right beside Geordie's gear, gobsmacked to be in the presence of the fabled guitar -- the very same one he plays with such nonchalance, but that produces the most resonantly special sound imaginable.
Why am I harping -- pardon the pun -- about all this now? Well, quite mysteriously, one of Geordie's guitars (and it is the definite article) is worryingly up for sale on eBay!! There have certainly been instances in the past of band's pawning off various bits of their gear to raise funds, but it doesn't make any sense in this case. Killing Joke have only just released and album, have a full schedule of touring plans and were conceivably firing on all cylinders. Moreover, selling one of these guitars seems comparable to the man selling one of his own limbs. It just doesn't add up.
Perhaps, as has happened before, the band is newly convinced of the looming apocalypse and is getting ready for the great cull?
Anyway, if anyone wants to spot me about seven grand, I'll happily give it a loving home.
The guitar in action....
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